Pathfinder 1E DMing a Tornado

[Aberzanzorax]

I'm curious if anyone has ever DMed a Tornado, and any elements of the event.


I've randomly rolled a Tornado that lasts 60 minutes, and will be hitting the structure (a huge mountain with caverns) that the players are in. Though rules systems are not necessarily important for your comments, I"m running this in pathfinder.

There are actually surprisingly few rules regarding running this:
[TABLE="width: 1"][TR][TD="bgcolor: #CFE2F3, align: center"]Wind Force[/TD][TD="bgcolor: #CFE2F3, align: center"]Wind Speed[/TD][TD="bgcolor: #CFE2F3, align: center"]Ranged Attacks Normal/Siege Weapons¹[/TD][TD="bgcolor: #CFE2F3, align: center"]Checked Size²[/TD][TD="bgcolor: #CFE2F3, align: center"]Blown Away Size[/TD][TD="bgcolor: #CFE2F3, align: center"]Fly Penalty[/TD][/TR][/TABLE][TABLE="width: 1"][TR][TD="align: center"]Tornado[/TD][TD="align: center"]175–300 mph[/TD][TD="align: center"]Impossible/impossible[/TD][TD="align: center"]Huge[/TD][TD="align: center"]Large[/TD][TD="align: center"]–16[/TD][/TR][/TABLE]
Tornado (CR 10): All flames are extinguished. All ranged attacks are impossible (even with siege weapons), as are sound-based Perception checks. Instead of being blown away (see Table: Wind Effects), characters in close proximity to a tornado who fail their Fortitude saves are sucked toward the tornado. Those who come in contact with the actual funnel cloud are picked up and whirled around for 1d10 rounds, taking 6d6 points of damage per round, before being violently expelled (falling damage might apply). While a tornado's rotational speed can be as great as 300 mph, the funnel itself moves forward at an average of 30 mph (roughly 250 feet per round). A tornado uproots trees, destroys buildings, and causes similar forms of major destruction.

I'm wondering how to run this in a meaningful fashion that the players will remember/enjoy (rather than you guys bunker down and survive 60 minutes of wailing wind).





All ideas/suggestions welcome!

 

[Piratecat]

Blatantly off-topic but awesome nonetheless: SHARKNADO! The tornado sweeps across a bay full of man-eating sharks, carrying them across the land...

 

[Jester David]

I'd give them a couple rounds to find some shelter that might give them a situation bonus on saves/checks. Then have the tornado move in a random-esque direction towards them, possibly only hitting half the party.

the other option is it striking in mid-combat. The wind effects increase over a couple rounds and then it hits, blasting through the battlefield.

 

[Piratecat]

A more serious response: I have run a major encounter in a hurricane. The confrontation took place on the roof of a 300' tall tower, and every round every combatant was pushed 25' downwind towards the edge of the tower. It was amazing watching the players try to use this to their advantage in defeating their foe.

If your players are inside that mountain, they're probably not even going to notice the tornado. Can you force them outside somehow? Perhaps a storm sorcerer is channelling the power of the tornado into a ritual or a bound monster?

 

[Aberzanzorax]

Some more info/some thoughts:

I'm running Way of the Wicked book 2 (minor spoilers likely to follow), and they're defending an abandoned mountain/keep known as the Horn of Abbadon.


It's a mountain that is also a fortress (carved out of the mountain by cultists hundreds of years ago) so there are four major openings as well as populated caverns below. Three of these openings have doors on them, and I suspect the doors may be pulled off of their hinges.

The caverns are definitely going to flood (forcing player minions to die or be consolidated in the upper levels of the fortress)...the tornado hits in the middle of a several day hurricane.

There are also arrow slits at the entrances...the guards inside will be affected somehow...though exactly how, I'm unsure.


Their most important area and the most open part of the place is the sanctum, which is wide open to the outside and requires a very important ritual 3x daily---one of which will just have to be during the tornado (and the others during the hurricane). I can see the tornado rules being important here, as they struggle to perform the ritual and not get sucked out of the top of the mountain.

The players have cut, but not cleared a wide swath of forest around the keep (using skeletons, trees used to be 50 feet away and are now felled up to 120+ feet). I'm not sure what to do with these trees, and what aftermath will result.

Additionally there are currently recurring antagonists---2 moon dogs and a lillend performing hit and run attacks on the lair. Maybe they get trapped inside due to the tornado? They'd have to be attacking during a hurricane for this to happen, though.



Some more general thoughts for others who may run tornadoes:
1. I like the suggestion of having a combat affected by the tornado a lot. I'm going to have to find some way to incorporate that!
2. I'm considering adding either real air elementals (attracted to, or perhaps summoned by, the strong winds) or adding the element of whirlwinds in or near the entrances (that careen through the keep randomly probably using the rules for grenade like weapon misses for a set/random time before dissipating).
3. In addition to wind, I'm considering elements of water and lightning as well. I'd be interested in thoughts on this.
4. Is there a randomizer or randomization rule anyone knows about for debris? My tornado is going to be chucking trees left and right practically the entire time. I imagine most tornadoes would be tossing some heavy stuff that could potentially hit players/houses/etc. I figure a reflex save makes sense for half or no damage if someone is randomly targeted, but I'm unsure how to adjudicate random targeting and what that save might be.
5. I've researched the size of tornadoes that have the Pathfinder level of winds and damage. They're, potentially, freaking huge - 1,500 feet across.
6. I'm also unsure how long the tornado will remain present/harrass the mountain. Tornadoes move 250 feet per round, so I could simply move its 1500 feet across the mountain at 250 ft per round...though tornadoes are unpredictable. Perhaps more randomization for movement somehow?
7. I'm unsure what "close proximity" means to the tornado. I'm also dissatisfied with a single difficulty for the wind pulling on players. Perhaps using variable winds based upon distance--the closer the stronger?

Here is a link to the weather rules for pathfinder:
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/environment/weather

 

[Squirrel Dude]

Have the tornado carry a couple of trees or noticeable objects from the surrounding area, only to throw them at the fortress, maybe smashing a wall or large window. Don't have the damage just be "it hurts you." make it so that the tree destroys a wall and then becomes part of the terrain and interferes with movement somehow.

As for how much damage the objects do? I dun even know.