Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Peni Griffin" data-source="post: 3411207" data-attributes="member: 50322">It's a heck of a spell and deserves to be better known.&nbsp; It only appears on the list for druids and the Earth domain, which is why more people don't use it.&nbsp; The trouble with Jump is that the AOE is huge - one 20-foot square per level, and it's a 4th level spell.&nbsp; Also, you can't see the spikes so you don't know which way to jump!&nbsp; The minotaur at Vraath Keep was relatively close to the party - he came charging out through the hole in the wall of the billet, and the party was using the battered-down wall as cover - but by the time he jumped close enough to reach anybody with his greatax he'd been cut down by missile fire and damage taken from movement.&nbsp; Therein lies the effectiveness of the spell against ground troops.&nbsp; Unless they have lots of hit points or regeneration they can't run out of the area of effect; they don't know where to run in any case; and they are then limited to ranged attacks, can't do any tactical movement to gain cover or support each other, and are sitting ducks for the (usually much better) ranged attacks of the PCs.&nbsp; The troops with the main horde and the skirmishing parties will tend to have air support and better ranged attacks than the unprepared first batches, but Ulwai's cadre have a problem.&nbsp; The Darkness is a good idea.&nbsp; The Doom Hand priests can have that spell, and it won't inconvenience the bad guys at all.&nbsp; And if they have enough warning to set a trap and the positioning works out right, the Doom Fist monks may be able to drag/push the PCs into the AOE, forcing Wulfgrim to dismiss the spell.&nbsp; But the only arcane caster there is Ulwai, so no spider climb (which would only work anyway if someone's next to a wall and Wulfgrim doesn't put the spell on the walls too - he's capable!)</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Peni Griffin, post: 3411207, member: 50322"] It's a heck of a spell and deserves to be better known. It only appears on the list for druids and the Earth domain, which is why more people don't use it. The trouble with Jump is that the AOE is huge - one 20-foot square per level, and it's a 4th level spell. Also, you can't see the spikes so you don't know which way to jump! The minotaur at Vraath Keep was relatively close to the party - he came charging out through the hole in the wall of the billet, and the party was using the battered-down wall as cover - but by the time he jumped close enough to reach anybody with his greatax he'd been cut down by missile fire and damage taken from movement. Therein lies the effectiveness of the spell against ground troops. Unless they have lots of hit points or regeneration they can't run out of the area of effect; they don't know where to run in any case; and they are then limited to ranged attacks, can't do any tactical movement to gain cover or support each other, and are sitting ducks for the (usually much better) ranged attacks of the PCs. The troops with the main horde and the skirmishing parties will tend to have air support and better ranged attacks than the unprepared first batches, but Ulwai's cadre have a problem. The Darkness is a good idea. The Doom Hand priests can have that spell, and it won't inconvenience the bad guys at all. And if they have enough warning to set a trap and the positioning works out right, the Doom Fist monks may be able to drag/push the PCs into the AOE, forcing Wulfgrim to dismiss the spell. But the only arcane caster there is Ulwai, so no spider climb (which would only work anyway if someone's next to a wall and Wulfgrim doesn't put the spell on the walls too - he's capable!) [/QUOTE]

Verification