Although a sandstorm or blizzard is great for atmosphere, how do you make an interesting encounter (or plot point) out of it? Any suggestions? Blowing out candles and impeding ranged attacks is fine, but will the players care?
One odd aspect of D&D that's contrary to most heroic literature is that the characters rarely get powerful magical gifts or aid; they have to loot enemies for it. Enemies are more common and more powerful than allies; otherwise our heroes don't feel much sense of accomplishment (see DMG p. 100, Bad Structure).
Certainly it takes away from the game to just hand out goodies to the PCs, but having a gnarled old crone give generous PCs a boon of some sort certainly fits the source material (fairy tales and myths), and having a "specialist" ally get them past a deadly encounter can be a kind of puzzle. For instance, befriending the intelligent mongoose can be a cute "flavor" encounter. When the heroes find out about a dreaded basilisk between them and their goal, they can remember to call in the mongoose's aid (since he's immune to petrification). Our heroes don't need their own powerful magic, but they can counter it via allies.
