Heaps of great advice so far. What I normally do in these situations, is ask myself - ‘what would I do if I were a player.’
I’d probably start yelling for anyone not in the void to guide me out.
Or I’d run the way I’d come from, or towards where I saw the creature casting the spell.
Or I’d hunker right down behind a shield, preparing for the inevitable barrage of arrows.
Now your creatures might not be as intelligent as your players - but allowing them to simply flail around in the blind overpowers this spell.
Of course, it does need to be balanced: your player has used a powerful spell, and it should be treated accordingly. But perhaps after one round of panicked flailing, a plucky leader of the creatures rallies everyone together, to make a charge through the void. Or makes a tactical retreat, barking orders at his minions to guide them out.
I know that this is resurrecting an old thread but I think a key thing that people are forgetting in this thread is that without first passing an Arcana check, the characters have no way to distinguish between:
"I am actually blinded" - which is something you cannot run away from
"I am merely in an AoE zone, so I might be able to escape it"
For an NPC to escape the AoE they first need to Succeed on an Arcana Check to know it is AoE rather than just targeting them, or fail some Morale check to choose to retreat, and THEN succeed on something like a survival check.
I know that this is resurrecting an old thread but I think a key thing that people are forgetting in this thread is that without first passing an Arcana check, the characters have no way to distinguish between:
"I am actually blinded" - which is something you cannot run away from
"I am merely in an AoE zone, so I might be able to escape it"
For an NPC to escape the AoE they first need to Succeed on an Arcana Check to know it is AoE rather than just targeting them, or fail some Morale check to choose to retreat, and THEN succeed on something like a survival check.
I mean, it's pretty easy to know that it's cold enough to kill a common person in 6-12 seconds where you're standing and that you're being touched and grabbed by otherworldly tentacles that would likewise kill a common person in seconds. Did I mention that all around and within the Hunger of Hadaar there are... moist noises? Evocative of devouring? Yeah, you'd be an idiot to assume that you shouldn't get out of wherever you're standing, like, Ogre level of stupid.
There's being confused on if you're under the effect of the "darkness" spell or if something has blinded you, and then there's being complicit in your own death as you do nothing to prevent yourself from being ripped apart by the influences of an Elder Evil.
It actually it isn't easy to navigate without eyesight as is so rare to be in total darkness. Moon stars, street lamps, LED on computer all give some hints.
If you try to walk around without vision, (either as a game when you are younger or when the lights have gone on a cloudy night ) you be off quite a bit in your directions, particularly if you bump into things, catch your foot on something etc. the odds are you will pick a direction until you reach a wall and hope to get you bearings from there, and this is when if you are familiar with the room, the floor is even and you know in advance you won't be able to see for a few seconds, until you find a torch or similar.
Now this spell creates an area of a twist in space time between the stars filled with acidic tentacles and as an added bonus is freezing cold with terrifying sounds coming from all directions.
I do not think you are going to navigate that with any else. This has got to be a random walk.
Ogre level stupid to stay put, sure, but bloody difficult to know which way to go. Perhaps Ogre level charge and hope is as good as any.
I'm surprised no one has mentioned the old stand-by: have the enemies do it back to them. Let them enjoy how much it sucks.
Enemy warlock wins initiative, targets PC warlock + his area and slaps it on the party. They now get to be the victims of it rather than the ones who originate it. If the map has lots of small areas and the party has been taking advantage of that, why wouldn't the bad guys do it too?
Last session, after the Sorcerer spending a couple of levels using Fireball with impunity against enemies who mostly couldn't do magic (animals, hydra, things like that), I finally had a spellcasting enemy notice that the PCs were bunched up enough (heck I think in the VTT they must have even seen me using the ruler to do some measuring earlier in the round) and he fireballed all but one of them in a single shot. Two can play at that game, ya know.
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WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
I'm surprised no one has mentioned the old stand-by: have the enemies do it back to them. Let them enjoy how much it sucks.
Enemy warlock wins initiative, targets PC warlock + his area and slaps it on the party. They now get to be the victims of it rather than the ones who originate it. If the map has lots of small areas and the party has been taking advantage of that, why wouldn't the bad guys do it too?
Last session, after the Sorcerer spending a couple of levels using Fireball with impunity against enemies who mostly couldn't do magic (animals, hydra, things like that), I finally had a spellcasting enemy notice that the PCs were bunched up enough (heck I think in the VTT they must have even seen me using the ruler to do some measuring earlier in the round) and he fireballed all but one of them in a single shot. Two can play at that game, ya know.
Not necessarily always an option. Not everyone is going to be super-giddy to have someone on payroll who targets potential threats with an exceptionally unnerving spell with potential for collateral damage that feeds people to the entities of the outer-realms. It's like hiring a cultist of Yeenoghu. Yeah, they'll kill people alright! The lore implications of there being more and more warlocks running around feeding people to The Hungering Darkness is a grim one.
However that ties into more interesting things: a more interesting way to deal with things is put them in situations where they have to deal with the repercussions of their actions. Suppose word gets out that part of this travelling band of adventurers frequently partakes in summoning (it's a conjuration spell) portions of the outer-realm that noisily whispers and slurps with the presence of entities from beyond the stars and that eats away at people that fall into the area. How do you think most people are going to respond to you feeding your enemies to Cthulhu?
Are they a warlock of anything besides a GOO, fiend, or any other sort of inherently evil patron? I don't think a celestial patron would appreciate their Warlock feeding entities of the outer planes as much as patrons who are:
a) interested in just unleashing power and seeing where it goes. b) interested in you killing things. Killing lots of things without remorse.
Anyway, if you do intend on doing this with hunger of hadar, just firing it right back, the lore implications are probably a lot more interesting than just spell in battle. There are a lot more warlocks willing to run around, feeding people to outer-plane entities? Why? Is the Hungering Darkness in all their unfathomable wrath about to brush up against the material plane, are its devouring tentacles about to afflict Toril or whatever your setting is? Why are there more people running around casting spells that are truly evil and cruel by nature nowadays?
Also, with regards to let them see how much it sucks, your job as a DM isn't to TPK the party as efficiently as possible. Just a reminder.
have your tried it before it is far more difficult than it sounds
Heaps of great advice so far. What I normally do in these situations, is ask myself - ‘what would I do if I were a player.’
I’d probably start yelling for anyone not in the void to guide me out.
Or I’d run the way I’d come from, or towards where I saw the creature casting the spell.
Or I’d hunker right down behind a shield, preparing for the inevitable barrage of arrows.
Now your creatures might not be as intelligent as your players - but allowing them to simply flail around in the blind overpowers this spell.
Of course, it does need to be balanced: your player has used a powerful spell, and it should be treated accordingly. But perhaps after one round of panicked flailing, a plucky leader of the creatures rallies everyone together, to make a charge through the void. Or makes a tactical retreat, barking orders at his minions to guide them out.
I know that this is resurrecting an old thread but I think a key thing that people are forgetting in this thread is that without first passing an Arcana check, the characters have no way to distinguish between:
For an NPC to escape the AoE they first need to Succeed on an Arcana Check to know it is AoE rather than just targeting them, or fail some Morale check to choose to retreat, and THEN succeed on something like a survival check.
I mean, it's pretty easy to know that it's cold enough to kill a common person in 6-12 seconds where you're standing and that you're being touched and grabbed by otherworldly tentacles that would likewise kill a common person in seconds. Did I mention that all around and within the Hunger of Hadaar there are... moist noises? Evocative of devouring? Yeah, you'd be an idiot to assume that you shouldn't get out of wherever you're standing, like, Ogre level of stupid.
There's being confused on if you're under the effect of the "darkness" spell or if something has blinded you, and then there's being complicit in your own death as you do nothing to prevent yourself from being ripped apart by the influences of an Elder Evil.
It actually it isn't easy to navigate without eyesight as is so rare to be in total darkness. Moon stars, street lamps, LED on computer all give some hints.
If you try to walk around without vision, (either as a game when you are younger or when the lights have gone on a cloudy night ) you be off quite a bit in your directions, particularly if you bump into things, catch your foot on something etc. the odds are you will pick a direction until you reach a wall and hope to get you bearings from there, and this is when if you are familiar with the room, the floor is even and you know in advance you won't be able to see for a few seconds, until you find a torch or similar.
Now this spell creates an area of a twist in space time between the stars filled with acidic tentacles and as an added bonus is freezing cold with terrifying sounds coming from all directions.
I do not think you are going to navigate that with any else. This has got to be a random walk.
Ogre level stupid to stay put, sure, but bloody difficult to know which way to go. Perhaps Ogre level charge and hope is as good as any.
I'm surprised no one has mentioned the old stand-by: have the enemies do it back to them. Let them enjoy how much it sucks.
Enemy warlock wins initiative, targets PC warlock + his area and slaps it on the party. They now get to be the victims of it rather than the ones who originate it. If the map has lots of small areas and the party has been taking advantage of that, why wouldn't the bad guys do it too?
Last session, after the Sorcerer spending a couple of levels using Fireball with impunity against enemies who mostly couldn't do magic (animals, hydra, things like that), I finally had a spellcasting enemy notice that the PCs were bunched up enough (heck I think in the VTT they must have even seen me using the ruler to do some measuring earlier in the round) and he fireballed all but one of them in a single shot. Two can play at that game, ya know.
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
Not necessarily always an option. Not everyone is going to be super-giddy to have someone on payroll who targets potential threats with an exceptionally unnerving spell with potential for collateral damage that feeds people to the entities of the outer-realms. It's like hiring a cultist of Yeenoghu. Yeah, they'll kill people alright! The lore implications of there being more and more warlocks running around feeding people to The Hungering Darkness is a grim one.
However that ties into more interesting things: a more interesting way to deal with things is put them in situations where they have to deal with the repercussions of their actions. Suppose word gets out that part of this travelling band of adventurers frequently partakes in summoning (it's a conjuration spell) portions of the outer-realm that noisily whispers and slurps with the presence of entities from beyond the stars and that eats away at people that fall into the area. How do you think most people are going to respond to you feeding your enemies to Cthulhu?
Are they a warlock of anything besides a GOO, fiend, or any other sort of inherently evil patron? I don't think a celestial patron would appreciate their Warlock feeding entities of the outer planes as much as patrons who are:
a) interested in just unleashing power and seeing where it goes.
b) interested in you killing things. Killing lots of things without remorse.
Anyway, if you do intend on doing this with hunger of hadar, just firing it right back, the lore implications are probably a lot more interesting than just spell in battle. There are a lot more warlocks willing to run around, feeding people to outer-plane entities? Why? Is the Hungering Darkness in all their unfathomable wrath about to brush up against the material plane, are its devouring tentacles about to afflict Toril or whatever your setting is? Why are there more people running around casting spells that are truly evil and cruel by nature nowadays?
Also, with regards to let them see how much it sucks, your job as a DM isn't to TPK the party as efficiently as possible. Just a reminder.
Just put a spellcaster with dispel magic and counterspell