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Message: <blockquote data-quote="I'm A Banana" data-source="post: 2111432" data-attributes="member: 2067">Though the 'tude was smarmy, Saeviomagy actually has a pretty okay point at the core. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />Basically: You want to make the party feel the effects of the environment, but the game is set up in such a way to actually make the effects of the environment rather...well, timid. They don't fear the desert heat so much, because they can make it magically go away. You want them to fear the desert heat. Aside from cheating them out of fair use of their spells or changing the basic way magic works in your game, you're kinda limited in your options -- struggling against being *hot* is just not something that most heroes really have to bother with based on D&D's assumptions, and that spell. But they're something right?Well, like any other power in D&D, casting a spell requires a choice -- do I use this slot, do I save it for something I'll need later? I would say, to make them feel the effects of the environment, make them *regret* casting that spell so often, by sapping up their other magical rescources. Plenty of monsters that fight from a huge distance -- maybe ones weak to magic your characters have. Basically, buffing a party full of a spell means that the spellcasters can't do as much in battle. When a million and one little rats swarm down on the party, those area-effect things that you're now out of would've come in mighty handy....Instill a value in the spell not by making the conditions worse, but by depleting the rescources they actually *do* care about; namely, spell slots. Those Protection from Elements spells sap up energy -- make them need that very same energy. The choice between casting that spell and saving it to cast Magic Missile should be a hard one, and if they're only feeling pressure from the heat, it won't be that hard -- so put on multiple pressures, and make them *hurt* for rescources. Every protection they use is one less Cure they can have when they need it. They should have problems with running out of spells on a regular basis, struggles with monsters that Magic Missile would be a useful tactic against -- if they hadn't only memorized the protection, of course. Buffing four people is a lot of magical energy, even for some of the higher-level spells.Popular ways to use up their magic is to have them use it on passers-by (who may even offer to pay them for it): the tired pilgrim, the wandering nomad tribe, the nearly ruined city they stumbled accross -- all those people could benefit from water and protection from the heat. Are the PC's gonna selfishly hoard it while those out there suffer? Again, hitting them with monsters is a good way, too. You don't need to worry about making the mages feel useful -- they obviously are. So remove them. Attack them. Take them out. Or make them spend their magic rapidly in some way -- magic missile is useful on flying monsters and distant monsters and element-proof monsters, so have them use it up as much as possible. These talents (and combos of them) should mean that for at least a day or two, they're really making hard choices about which rescources to expend.But if you don't want to play by the game's rules and bother with besieging your players with monsters or NPC's that use up their precious magic, change the spell. If it only gives you a +4 bonus to those saves vs. environment, or only stops one of them (or even half of them), or works like a Survival check, it's a lot less effective. And that's a house rule I'm sure a lot of DM's could get behind.</blockquote>

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