D&D 5E Wind Walk

[FormerlyHemlock]

While in mist form the only action you can take is Dash... reverting to human form incapacitates you for one minute... No ability to move through solid objects...

You couldn't catch me dead tromping into an enemy lair with that spell. Sure it lets you move at 30 mph, but if anyone so much as shuts the door on you, you are trapped and incapacitated for one minute of free attacks from them. The spell looks like a giant gaping vulnerability to me.

 

[Schmoe]

I guarantee you, if a funny-looking mist man starts swirling around in a giant's lair, that giant will try to smash the funny-looking mist man.

Adapt the preceding to the situation, and season to taste.

 

[DaveDash]

I'll have to look at the spell description again, but unless it specifically indicates otherwise, I'd rule that your "mist form" retains its shape and overall appearance. You're a humanoid figure made of white fog, like a photo-negative of a wraith. As such, you can't just stroll through some monster's living room and expect it to ignore you. It may not know quite what you are, but it knows something is up. Intelligent monsters will raise the alarm. Even unintelligent monsters will be on guard. You can scout all you like, but if you put the enemy on alert in the process, it's not clear you gained anything. You know about them, but they know about you.

Also consider the possibility that a few monsters may be able to trap your wind-walking shape! A spellcaster could throw a wall of force around both you and her... and then you're stuck in a bubble, unable to do anything for a full minute, while the spellcaster hits you with a barrage of blasting spells. You don't have to do it often. Just one experience like that would make the survivors much more cautious.

Wind walk would still be very powerful--as it should be, given its level--but not a win button for exploration.

After some thought this is basically the same conclusion I have come to.

Just because the spell turns you into mist it doesn't give you any inherent advantages when it comes to stealth and such, I think we were adding some assumptions that don't need to be added.

Basically the way I'm going to treat it is that it simply is a spell that allows you to fly and move really fast, other than that monsters are still going to be alerted to your presence, and in a world filled with magic creatures, will take steps to deal with you and not simply ignore the mist.

Also you cant stealth really because you have to dash.