Wind Walk is killing my campaign!

[WampusCat43]

I'm just whining about how much work it is for me - now I have to be able to quickly find 'the magic shop owner in Hill's Edge' when they were 500 miles away just a few minutes ago. Disorganization and laziness on my part, mostly.

 

[WampusCat43]

They had a ready action to throw the stone at him as he leapt? Wow. They are psychic as well...

The mage had ended his last turn by moving to the edge of the tower. The PC's had no idea he was going to jump, they were just trying to keep him from casting a spell on him. John Elway had his turn right before the mage and threw a touchdown (19 on his throw). The whole image of this cocky magelord (Lost Empires PrC) doing a swan dive was just too good to pass up.

 

[WampusCat43]

Dispel Magic Glyphs of Warding.

That could be funny, at least once. I'll remember that, thanks.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

That could be funny, at least once. I'll remember that, thanks.

The great thing about it is that it isn't merely a tactic designed to screw the players on Wind Walk; it's a pretty handy tactic for NPC's to use in general. The other thing is it puts the PC's in a terrible bind - let's say 6 PC's go through the glyph as it triggers, at least one will get dispelled, on average. Then the others have to make the decision to take 5 rounds to slowly materialize (meaning whoever got dispelled is likely in big trouble, with many enemies and few targets for them to hit), or instantly end the spell to materialize, landing them in dangerous territory, probably with no other clear, simple way out.

It'll make them think twice, that's for sure.

 

[ZuulMoG]

Um, Wind Walk is a divine spell, and it's 6th level. Abusing a power like that to go to the 'mall' straight from the dungeon is not likely to earn much favor. If you haven't been paying much attention to your cleric's relationship with his diety at low levels, bear in mind that doing so now is warranted, not just to jack him out of the easy travel, but also because he's approaching the point in his career where he'll be interacting with the Great Powers. This is the time when a priest can either be part of the diety's legacy, and end up in the holy writings, or end up tending the flock in Willip.

Fact is, ALL of the PCs in that power group (13th +) are going to attract attention from people who couldn't have cared less about them when they were dungeon-crawling at 5th level. Fighters are going to be sought out by rebel groups appealing for generals, rangers by backwoods communities that have had a recent 'Drizzit sighting' (Dove Falconhand, anyone?), etc... Abusing their powers now can greatly damage their reputations.

 

[Stalker0]

Wampus, I feel your pain, but nerfing this one spell is not going to help...its just going to get worse. The higher the level the more stuff the dm has to prepare. Its bad now, wait till someone actually gets teleport....or gate!!!

I would recommened starting over at a lower level.

 

[WampusCat43]

Um, Wind Walk is a divine spell, and it's 6th level. Abusing a power like that to go to the 'mall' straight from the dungeon is not likely to earn much favor. If you haven't been paying much attention to your cleric's relationship with his diety at low levels, bear in mind that doing so now is warranted, not just to jack him out of the easy travel, but also because he's approaching the point in his career where he'll be interacting with the Great Powers. This is the time when a priest can either be part of the diety's legacy, and end up in the holy writings, or end up tending the flock in Willip.

Fact is, ALL of the PCs in that power group (13th +) are going to attract attention from people who couldn't have cared less about them when they were dungeon-crawling at 5th level. Fighters are going to be sought out by rebel groups appealing for generals, rangers by backwoods communities that have had a recent 'Drizzit sighting' (Dove Falconhand, anyone?), etc... Abusing their powers now can greatly damage their reputations.

Good way of putting it. That's pretty much what they've used it for, although it was also used to approach/ruin an encounter. All in an afternoon.

They're 11th level, btw, but yes, they are drawing 'attention' of Darkhold. In fact, they've severely p*ssed them off more than once.

The PC is a cleric of Tempus, and has done a good job of playing him, but maybe he should get a busy signal once in a while.

 

[WampusCat43]

Wampus, I feel your pain, but nerfing this one spell is not going to help...its just going to get worse. The higher the level the more stuff the dm has to prepare. Its bad now, wait till someone actually gets teleport....or gate!!!

I would recommened starting over at a lower level.

I'm thinking very seriously about this. I miss those days when one mistake wasn't likely to take a PC down to -27 hp in one shot, which happened last week. The cleric blew his climb check while trying to get into flanking position on a frost giant with the fighter. *WHUMP*

"You look up to see brave Wadi's head bouncing down the hillside past you."

"Uh...I stop climbing and cast Flame Strike."

 

[Hjorimir]

/shrug

I'm going to get lynched for saying this, but I removed the spell (along with Phantom Steed, Overland Flight, Teleport, etc.) for the same reasons. Granted, my players knew this going into the game.

For me it came down to three points.
1) (Like you) I don't want to have to prepare tons and tons of extra adventure material just in case the players decide to zoom off across the world.
2) I don't like working on content to only have the players bypass everything (makes my world seem too small for my tastes).
3) Long distances move the calendar and I like the idea of characters aging a reasonable amount (I hate seeing 20th level characters at age 21).

Obviously, to remove the spell now would be more like pulling the rug out from underneath your player's feet and that's not really cool on your part. You may want to give them the option to start over or remove the spell(s) and let them decide what they prefer to do.

 

[Goolpsy]

As a DM myself, i dont prepare much... thought about trying it, but it didn't happen yet. Let your fantasy take flight... they suddenly teleport to the shop, let them witniss a Robbery, back to the dungeon? well a lizard saw them disappear, he called for reinforcement, all searching the spot.. oops, big encounter. Or he just told the lizard king which happe nt obe a wise sorceror, and they set up a trap.
It doesn't take much time to run through your books for a monster... u can do it while u explain how the place looks like or something...