I noticed that this spell has an interesting size restriction.
You cause up to six pillars of stone to burst from places on the ground that you can see within range. Each pillar is a cylinder that has a diameter of 5 feet and a height of up to 30 feet. The ground where a pillar appears must be wide enough for its diameter, and you can target the ground under a creature if that creature is Medium or smaller.
How come this spell only allows creation of a pillar under a "Medium or smaller" creature? If you have power to literally pull beams of stone out of the ground, why can't you use this spell to pin a Giant or a Behir?
I'm guessing the answer is something along the lines of "it would be too powerful if you could use it on Large or Huge creatures." But 6d6 points of damage isn't much for a 6th level spell. Lightning Bolt upcast to 6th level does 11d6 points of damage. Ice Storm upcast does 4d8+4d6 and creates short term difficult terrain.
It may be wrong to look at this as a damage issue; the spell does more than just deal damage, it also creates lasting obstructions, total cover etc., and I've seen a few stranger utility uses, e.g- if you can obstruct the tops you can use this to create (large) stairs.
Not that it isn't a legitimate issue; I can understand only being able to lift a Medium creature with single pillar, but if I were DMing I'd rule that if you summon enough pillars under a creature to fill its space (10x10 foot for a Large creature, so four pillars required) then that should be sufficient to lift it. That said there may be a counterargument that four times the pillars may not be enough to lift a creature that could be 8 times the weight; a Large creature is also roughly twice as tall as a Medium sized creature, not just wider, so double in all dimensions means potentially 8 times the weight.
The restriction is probably just there because the designers didn't want the spell to create funny situations with boss type monster where they have to balance on (for them) tiny rock stilts. The damage doesn't really have much to do with it I'd say. Basically it's not that it'd be powerful, they probably just didn't like the idea of having giants and co lifted this way. Sometimes a designer's personal bias just gets in the way for no good reason.
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I've never encountered a forum where I got this many "talking to a wall" impressions as this one...
Okay, while I think it would be cool if the DM houserules that you need 1 pillar for every 5X5 space that the creature takes up on the map in order to lift a creature up, then doesn't that end up causing 6d6 + 6d6 + 6d6 + 6d6 damage on some large creatures? I suppose this is where the spell might start to seem to strong.
Okay, while I think it would be cool if the DM houserules that you need 1 pillar for every 5X5 space that the creature takes up on the map in order to lift a creature up, then doesn't that end up causing 6d6 + 6d6 + 6d6 + 6d6 damage on some large creatures? I suppose this is where the spell might start to seem to strong.
Yeah I wouldn't multiply the damage, just allow it to lift a larger target; i.e- the damage is for being restrained/crushed, not for each pillar. That keeps it from just annihilating Large but relatively weak targets.
It's also likely the designers don't want a Large or Huge size monster to take falling damage after a difficult Dex-based ability check to maintain balance due to size. That would be 3d6 on top of the 6d6 from the pillar itself.
That brings up the question of why they didn't include language for multiple pillars to lift a larger-than-Medium-sized creature, but since each pillar arguably does 6d6 damage on its own, the power-scaling changes. Or, if they had gone with Haravikk's reasoning, all pillars only doing 6d6 damage on impact with the ceiling, that would look weird for the players on paper.
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I noticed that this spell has an interesting size restriction.
How come this spell only allows creation of a pillar under a "Medium or smaller" creature? If you have power to literally pull beams of stone out of the ground, why can't you use this spell to pin a Giant or a Behir?
I'm guessing the answer is something along the lines of "it would be too powerful if you could use it on Large or Huge creatures." But 6d6 points of damage isn't much for a 6th level spell. Lightning Bolt upcast to 6th level does 11d6 points of damage. Ice Storm upcast does 4d8+4d6 and creates short term difficult terrain.
It may be wrong to look at this as a damage issue; the spell does more than just deal damage, it also creates lasting obstructions, total cover etc., and I've seen a few stranger utility uses, e.g- if you can obstruct the tops you can use this to create (large) stairs.
Not that it isn't a legitimate issue; I can understand only being able to lift a Medium creature with single pillar, but if I were DMing I'd rule that if you summon enough pillars under a creature to fill its space (10x10 foot for a Large creature, so four pillars required) then that should be sufficient to lift it. That said there may be a counterargument that four times the pillars may not be enough to lift a creature that could be 8 times the weight; a Large creature is also roughly twice as tall as a Medium sized creature, not just wider, so double in all dimensions means potentially 8 times the weight.
Characters: Bullette, Chortle, Dracarys Noir, Edward Merryspell, Habard Ashery, Legion, Peregrine
My Homebrew: Feats | Items | Monsters | Spells | Subclasses | Races
Guides: Creating Sub-Races Using Trait Options
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Please don't reply to my posts unless you've read what they actually say.
The restriction is probably just there because the designers didn't want the spell to create funny situations with boss type monster where they have to balance on (for them) tiny rock stilts. The damage doesn't really have much to do with it I'd say. Basically it's not that it'd be powerful, they probably just didn't like the idea of having giants and co lifted this way. Sometimes a designer's personal bias just gets in the way for no good reason.
I've never encountered a forum where I got this many "talking to a wall" impressions as this one...
Okay, while I think it would be cool if the DM houserules that you need 1 pillar for every 5X5 space that the creature takes up on the map in order to lift a creature up, then doesn't that end up causing 6d6 + 6d6 + 6d6 + 6d6 damage on some large creatures? I suppose this is where the spell might start to seem to strong.
Yeah I wouldn't multiply the damage, just allow it to lift a larger target; i.e- the damage is for being restrained/crushed, not for each pillar. That keeps it from just annihilating Large but relatively weak targets.
Characters: Bullette, Chortle, Dracarys Noir, Edward Merryspell, Habard Ashery, Legion, Peregrine
My Homebrew: Feats | Items | Monsters | Spells | Subclasses | Races
Guides: Creating Sub-Races Using Trait Options
WIP (feedback needed): Blood Mage, Chromatic Sorcerers, Summoner, Trickster Domain, Unlucky, Way of the Daoist (Drunken Master), Weapon Smith
Please don't reply to my posts unless you've read what they actually say.
It's also likely the designers don't want a Large or Huge size monster to take falling damage after a difficult Dex-based ability check to maintain balance due to size. That would be 3d6 on top of the 6d6 from the pillar itself.
That brings up the question of why they didn't include language for multiple pillars to lift a larger-than-Medium-sized creature, but since each pillar arguably does 6d6 damage on its own, the power-scaling changes. Or, if they had gone with Haravikk's reasoning, all pillars only doing 6d6 damage on impact with the ceiling, that would look weird for the players on paper.