How do you adjudicate Control Weather?

[Mordorandor]

Per the subject line ...

"Control Weather: The Magic-User can perform any one of the following weathercontrol operations with this spell: Rain, Stop Rain, Cold Wave, Heat Wave,Tornado, Stop Tornado, Deep Clouds, Clear Sky."

But no guidance as to what Rain entails, or Cold Wave, Heat Wave, Tornado, and Deep Clouds. (The others seem self evident.)

So I take a look at Chainmail for help.

I see a note about excessive heat, which entails "Fatigue doubled, greater chance of fire in dry grass or woods if dry." Cool ... Heat Wave, check.

I can also use this for Cold Wave, I suppose (excluding the fire in dry grass or woods, of course).

For rain, there's light rain and hard rain, and only hard rain entails, "Three turns of hard rain brings mud, reducing movement by 1/2."

For tornado, I could use or take for inspiration the "whirlwind" entry in M&T under Air Elemental and Djinni, but the whirlwind doesn't seem to be a tornado, really.

What really is deep clouds for? Obscurement/fog-like conditions for flyers?

[Mordorandor]

Also, am I to believe the writer assumed the weather would need to be changed in steps, according to the steps outlined in the weather table in Chainmail?

Or were the effects simply instantaneous without the need for step changes?

I've always thought/played the latter.

[Desparil]

I would say that deep clouds negate the penalty for orcs, goblins, etc. operating in full sunlight.

As for tornado, the whirlwind described under Air Elemental and Djinni sounds to me like it's intended to be a tornado. It's described as a truncated cone with the narrow end touching the ground and the wide end up in the sky, extending over 100 yards upward in the case of Air Elementals, though much more modestly-sized in the case of the Djinni. What makes you say it doesn't seem to be one? As a note, I take the "sweep away" to mean creatures with less than 2 hit dice are automatically killed, which is probably fair if it's in an area with lots of debris - in a wide open field, I might just roll 1 or 2 dice of falling damage as it hurls them away, allowing the possibility of survival. For damage dealt to more powerful enemies, I'd probably go with that as a basis as well, so 1 or 2 dice of damage in a relatively debris-free environment, an additional die for moderate debris, and two extra dice for a total of 3d6 or 4d6 in dense environments such as a city or forest.

Heat waves and cold waves should probably be in relation to the climate, season, and time of day, bringing it up (down) to the maximum (minimum) temperature normally observable. For example, in a hypothetical climate resembling London in July, a heat wave at midday might bring the temperature to 100 degrees, perhaps 105, while a cold wave might bring it down to 50 or 55 - possibly as low as 40 if it's the middle of the night instead of midday. For soldiers on the march, the aforementioned heat wave would certainly cause exhaustion, but the cold wave probably wouldn't cause any penalty since that temperature is within the normal range for productive activity. A cold wave could certainly be used to cancel a naturally-occurring heat wave, though, and in a colder place and/or time it could certainly cause a great deal more consternation.

I would assume there is no need to change the weather in steps, and that you can choose whichever of the effects you desire. the system in Chainmail that does so is intended for determining natural day-to-day changes in weather when a battle goes on for more than one day. I just checked the Chainmail 3rd Edition rulebook and I don't see a Control Weather spell at all, though the CM version of Darkness seems to have more in common with Control Weather than it does with the D&D Darkness spell. Therefore, I don't think that anything in CM contradicts your ability to choose whichever weather phenomenon you wish, regardless of current conditions.

To my mind, the biggest problem with the spell as written is that it completely lacks information on its range/area of effect and duration. I didn't see any corrections or clarifications on the matter in the Greyhawk Supplement, either.

[howandwhy99]

What really is deep clouds for? Obscurement/fog-like conditions for flyers?

I would say it is for obscuring the Sun when the sun matters in the game. At night it is what can bring near total darkness without moon or stars.

[Mordorandor]

These are both very helpful.

I'm inclined to appreciate the lack of detail re: range/aoe. I like imagining the phenomena to fit the situation, and perhaps even encouraging a bit of pulpy atmosphere in its ambiguity.

Similarly, as to the limits of the heat and cold waves, I like the pulpy possibility of the extremes. Like manifesting an abysmal freezing milieu in the middle of a tropic climate.

How long might the effect last ...? Perhaps long enough to be "of consequence," if that satisfies the mind. How far might it extend, well, it has to be, at the farthest, within view.

Not the most precise parameters of course; but then again, who said magic is an exact science?

I'll need to think more on this spell.

[Deleted]

Oct 22, 2022 6:05:25 GMT -6 howandwhy99 said:

What really is deep clouds for? Obscurement/fog-like conditions for flyers?

I would say it is for obscuring the Sun when the sun matters in the game. At night it is what can bring near total darkness without moon or stars.

I think of the dark cloud that Sauron creates and emanates from Mordor for the siege of Minas Tirith. All his trolls, Orcs, goblins etc. suffer in direct sunlight. There are many creatures in D&D, including the aforementioned but also Kobolds, Vampires and a few others from print and your own imagination that could benefit from deep cloud cover. 

[Punkrabbitt]

Ya know, I am in favor of epic stories featuring player characters as inadvertant instruments of destruction. Control Weather will ALWAYS be as unpredictable as the weather itself, and Goddess forbid a tornado going off near a settlement... the Village of Hommlet might be bare ground after Control Weather is successfully cast in the Pomarj.

[dicebro]

Adjudicate Control Weather on the fly and with Extreme Prejudice!