We are playing a seafaring campaign and my very oceanic Druid just reached 7th level and has access to Control Water. It is her time to shine with a spell that will be definitive for her. Except I'm a bit stuck interpreting it. Specifically I want to know how the Part Water effect works in open sea.
At the end of the last game, we had a hell of a cliffhanger - a massive pirate ship just emerged from a fog bank in pursuit of us at sea. Control Water can effect a 100' cube within 300' range. Part Water states "You cause water in the area to move apart and create a trench." So, if done in the open sea, does this mean I just carve out a hole in the water 100' wide, 100' long, and 100' deep, and the enemy ship would just be trapped at the bottom of that, as if in a pit? Then it seems there's no way its cannons could be effective from down in a hole like that, whereas ours still would be? (or maybe there's a Disadvantage or Advantage situation in play here?) And there's no chance in hell a ship can sail out of a pit like that?
The spell goes on to say "The trench extends across the spell's area, and the separated water forms a wall to either side." So if this hole in the ocean is 100' deep, and the separated water forms walls on the sides, does that mean two of the edges of this pit have falls of water towering well over a 100' high above the level of the sea? Do I get to pick those edges?
I understand this spell can't be used to capsize or otherwise do much of anything directly to a size Gargantuan ship, but putting it down in a hole for 100 rounds sure seems useful. Creating walls of water 100+' high seems incredibly useful.
Bonus question - if we keep sailing, does the hole in the ocean drag along with us, or does this spell effect simply go away when I sail out of the original 300' range?
Yeah, it's a pretty potent spell in Ship versus Ship combat. The enemy ship would be effectively immobilized, however, you aren't likely to have any line of fire in return. Obviously ships cannons weren't designed to shoot at sunk ships.
There is no mention of moving water, so no waterfalls, but as long as it isn't mechanically significant, you can flavor the water walls however you'd like.
If you move outside of the effects 300ft range, I would assume and rule that the static effect would end unless you use subsequent actions to shift it step by step. No dragging enemy ships around in a bucket.
RAW I think it would work. At my table? No. I would instead encourage literally any other use of the spell in that situation.
Two of the others effects would have no effect in this situation. Flood only effects Huge or smaller vessels, which pretty much limits it to rowboats, not ships, which are Gargantuan. Redirect Flow works on "flowing water", so wouldn't work in the open sea.
So that leaves Whirlpool. Whirlpool can pull something 10', so it could be used to effectively knock the ship's movement down from 45 to 35 or knock it off course a bit. And it can do 2d8 bludgeoning damage, which isn't a ton of help against something with 500hp worth of hull. Alternatively, you could drop a series of whirlpools in front of your own ship to suck it forward and gain 10' of movement for a while. In this case, since we really need to escape, that could be useful.
But out of curiosity, why would you ban the Part Water effect?
We are playing a seafaring campaign and my very oceanic Druid just reached 7th level and has access to Control Water. It is her time to shine with a spell that will be definitive for her. Except I'm a bit stuck interpreting it. Specifically I want to know how the Part Water effect works in open sea.
At the end of the last game, we had a hell of a cliffhanger - a massive pirate ship just emerged from a fog bank in pursuit of us at sea. Control Water can effect a 100' cube within 300' range. Part Water states "You cause water in the area to move apart and create a trench." So, if done in the open sea, does this mean I just carve out a hole in the water 100' wide, 100' long, and 100' deep, and the enemy ship would just be trapped at the bottom of that, as if in a pit? Then it seems there's no way its cannons could be effective from down in a hole like that, whereas ours still would be? (or maybe there's a Disadvantage or Advantage situation in play here?) And there's no chance in hell a ship can sail out of a pit like that?
The spell goes on to say "The trench extends across the spell's area, and the separated water forms a wall to either side." So if this hole in the ocean is 100' deep, and the separated water forms walls on the sides, does that mean two of the edges of this pit have falls of water towering well over a 100' high above the level of the sea? Do I get to pick those edges?
I understand this spell can't be used to capsize or otherwise do much of anything directly to a size Gargantuan ship, but putting it down in a hole for 100 rounds sure seems useful. Creating walls of water 100+' high seems incredibly useful.
Bonus question - if we keep sailing, does the hole in the ocean drag along with us, or does this spell effect simply go away when I sail out of the original 300' range?
Yeah, I'd say a 100×100×100 foot pit opens in open ocean.
It does only last for 1 round though unless you use your action to repeat it.And no, the effect area does not move with you.
[Edit]Missed a sentence while skimming the effect.
Yeah, it's a pretty potent spell in Ship versus Ship combat. The enemy ship would be effectively immobilized, however, you aren't likely to have any line of fire in return. Obviously ships cannons weren't designed to shoot at sunk ships.
There is no mention of moving water, so no waterfalls, but as long as it isn't mechanically significant, you can flavor the water walls however you'd like.
If you move outside of the effects 300ft range, I would assume and rule that the static effect would end unless you use subsequent actions to shift it step by step. No dragging enemy ships around in a bucket.
The effect lasts for the spells duration. The "1 round" kicks in after the spell ends or a new effect is chosen.
So it does. I missed that line. I edited my comment.
RAW I think it would work. At my table? No. I would instead encourage literally any other use of the spell in that situation.
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Two of the others effects would have no effect in this situation. Flood only effects Huge or smaller vessels, which pretty much limits it to rowboats, not ships, which are Gargantuan. Redirect Flow works on "flowing water", so wouldn't work in the open sea.
So that leaves Whirlpool. Whirlpool can pull something 10', so it could be used to effectively knock the ship's movement down from 45 to 35 or knock it off course a bit. And it can do 2d8 bludgeoning damage, which isn't a ton of help against something with 500hp worth of hull. Alternatively, you could drop a series of whirlpools in front of your own ship to suck it forward and gain 10' of movement for a while. In this case, since we really need to escape, that could be useful.
But out of curiosity, why would you ban the Part Water effect?
One other thing to consider with water control spells, if a PC can do it to an enemy's ship then the enemy can do it to the PC's ship.
I expect that to be true of any useful spell.