Help with Repel Wood tactics

[Brown Jenkin]

I just recieved Repel Wood as my domain spell and am not sure how to use the 3.5 version properly in combat. The 3.0 version with its wide spread essensialy forced all opponents to drop any wooden items before they could engage in combat. The new version is only a 5-10 foot wide (the width depending our your definition of line in the new rules but that is a different debate) wall of repelling. What are the tactics for this spell as I want to get some use out of it if I have to take it.

Repel Wood
Transmutation
Level: Drd 6, Plant 6
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: 60 ft.
Area: 60-ft. line-shaped emanation from you
Duration: 1 min./level (D)
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No
Waves of energy roll forth from you, moving in the direction that you determine, causing all wooden objects in the path of the spell to be pushed away from you to the limit of the range. Wooden objects larger than 3 inches in diameter that are fixed firmly are not affected, but loose objects are. Objects 3 inches in diameter or smaller that are fixed in place splinter and break, and the pieces move with the wave of energy. Objects affected by the spell are repelled at the rate of 40 feet per round.
Objects such as wooden shields, spears, wooden weapon shafts and hafts, and arrows and bolts are pushed back, dragging those carrying them along. (A creature being dragged by an item it is carrying can let go. A creature being dragged by a shield can loose it as a move action and drop it as a free action.) If a spear is planted (set) to prevent this forced movement, it splinters. Even magic items with wooden sections are repelled, although an antimagic field blocks the effects.
The waves of energy continue to sweep down the set path for the spell's duration. After you cast the spell, the path is set, and you can then do other things or go elsewhere without affecting the spell's power.

 

[Pielorinho]

Wow -- I hadn't read it, but that's pretty silly. The only real way I can see using it is to set up a line:

Cleric---------------------------------------------

and then go stand behind it:
----------------------------------
...................Cleric......................

so that anyone who tries to cross the line while carrying wooden weapons gets pushed to the side.

But I agree: this is a dorky spell change, for no reason I can see. Did folks regularly use this psell before the change, so much so that it needed nerfing? And do we really want to encourage the silly strategy mentioned above?

Daniel

 

[Nail]

Huh.

Like Pielorinho, the only thought that struck me was "Gee, the caster makes a line, then steps behind it."

That's .....sub-optimal.

Perhaps this could be used in a 5' wide corridor? That might work well against archers......

....perhaps you cast it at an archer, forcing him to lose his bow and arrows? The range is decent enough to allow you to do that in most dungeon settings.

Actually, the more I think about this, the more I see this as a "make the enemy archer irrelevant" spell. It would take a bit of set-up, as you'd like to be "off to one side" of your party.

 

[Altamont Ravenard]

Hm.

Are you guys sure that the wall is immobile?

"Area: 60-ft. line-shaped emanation from you"

If you move "behind" the wall, the spell isn't "emanating" from you anymore, no? I think it's intended (I could be wrong) that the line always emanates from you, but you can't change the orientation (North, Southwest, etc.) once it is cast.

AR

 

[Pielorinho]

It sure reads to me like it's immobile; it says the path is set, which is ambiguous, but sounds immobile to me.

Even if it's not the strategy you'd want to use with it is to skip back and forth sideways while taunting your enemies, in order to cover as wide a swath as possible. That's almost as goofy-looking as creating the line and stepping behind it.

Daniel

 

[Brown Jenkin]

Wow -- I hadn't read it, but that's pretty silly. The only real way I can see using it is to set up a line:

Cleric---------------------------------------------

and then go stand behind it:
----------------------------------
...................Cleric......................

so that anyone who tries to cross the line while carrying wooden weapons gets pushed to the side.

But I agree: this is a dorky spell change, for no reason I can see. Did folks regularly use this psell before the change, so much so that it needed nerfing? And do we really want to encourage the silly strategy mentioned above?

Daniel

The only problem with this is that it only delays the advance of an enemy by 1 round as he is pushed 40' to the side before getting through and continuing to advance at you fom the side. Alternatively he steps into the line 40' upwind and uses the momentum to carry himself to you before stepping out next to you.

The only uses I see are if you have a 5-10 corridor to use it in (Very limited for a 6th level spell) or to use it as a Wind Wall (3rd level spell) to protect from arrows (But not Bolts like a Wind Wall and its length is Shorter than a Wind Wall).

 

[Brown Jenkin]

Huh.

Like Pielorinho, the only thought that struck me was "Gee, the caster makes a line, then steps behind it."

That's .....sub-optimal.

Perhaps this could be used in a 5' wide corridor? That might work well against archers......

....perhaps you cast it at an archer, forcing him to lose his bow and arrows? The range is decent enough to allow you to do that in most dungeon settings.

Actually, the more I think about this, the more I see this as a "make the enemy archer irrelevant" spell. It would take a bit of set-up, as you'd like to be "off to one side" of your party.

Again only useful if you have a 5 foot wide corridor. If you cast it at an archer otherwise he mearly steps to the side and continues on unbothered.

 

[Nail]

Again only useful if you have a 5 foot wide corridor. If you cast it at an archer otherwise he mearly steps to the side and continues on unbothered.

Not so fast bucko!

You are assuming the caster isn't casting it from the best possition possible.

If I were the cleric, I cast it at an angle across a room. I (cleric) am standing at one wall, and the end of the repel wood beam is at the other wall. The archer is on one side of the "beam", my party is on the other side.

All of a sudden, the archer can no longer affect the party with arrows, nor can he cross the beam without loosing his bow and arrows.

Ooops.

 

[Brown Jenkin]

Not so fast bucko!

You are assuming the caster isn't casting it from the best possition possible.

If I were the cleric, I cast it at an angle across a room. I (cleric) am standing at one wall, and the end of the repel wood beam is at the other wall. The archer is on one side of the "beam", my party is on the other side.

All of a sudden, the archer can no longer affect the party with arrows, nor can he cross the beam without loosing his bow and arrows.

Ooops.

He dosen't loose his bow and arrows, they drag him along with them at 40' round. The archer spends 1 round moving through the field including being dragged backwards for 40' (not a problem for an archer) then next round opens fire on you again. With a fixed range of 60' feet if you are outdoors the archer happily stays at the end of the line and fires to either side. Even indoor in the room you mention once the archer is at the end of the emination (assuming it is at a wall) he can move back and forth across it with no penalty since the wall prevents any further backwards movement.

Once again a Wind Wall (3 levels lower) achieves the same effect with a better deplyment and length and the ability to stop bolts as well.

Surely there is some tactic out there that warrents this being a 6th level spell.

 

[Nail]

<reads over spell description>
Hmmm. I was under the mistaken impression that wooden items might be "pinned" against the far wall.

Now that might warrant a 6th level spell.