Miasma: Overpowered?

[Catalyst]

On the Wizards of the Cost boards, a discussion on this spell went on for almost a dozen pages (though as many over there do, it degenerated into whether it was "balanced" as printed).

Anyway, someone finally got a response from some official that the spell is supposed to have a Fortitude: Negates save and that it will be in future errata. I'd post a link but the WotC boards are down for maintenance...ugh...

In any case, with a Fort save I think the spell is much more balanced, about as save or die as Polymorph: Other...

 

[Kip the Bold]

I don't allow this spell in my campaign. As written, it is waaay too good. Pure murder. Kills just about everything with an average constitution score, with agonizing slowness. Adding a fort save to negate makes it a little more reasonable, about right for a 4th level spell.

As an aside (this probably should be in house rules), I was thinking about allowing a character to attempt a Heal check to resuscitate a character who has drowned (which miasma does). Something like a DC 20 +1 per round they have been "dead". Maybe have the character who was brought back be fatigued for a while or something along those lines. 18 seconds (3 rounds) to drown and die, and then lose a level upon being raised doesn't seem quite fair to me.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

It's a good thing wizard/clerics are very rare. But a cleric of Mystra... shudder.

Get a familiar that can fly, except for a bat. A quasit is even better.

Tell the familiar what the plan is. Cast Invisibility on the familiar. Cast Silence on the familiar. Walk around with the familiar on your shoulder (no Move Silently check required) until you see your spellcasting opponent. Have the familiar fly near them. Because the familiar is silent and invisible, the spellcaster has no way of telling where the familiar is. I'm sure even Blindfight wouldn't help the spellcaster out.

Use single target spells on the spellcaster, or Creeping Doom if you can (since it can't hurt flying creatures).