I am currently in a homebrew game and a companion and I are stuck across a 100 foot gap of lava. Our party is on the other side where the rope bridge broke after a battle. I currently have a gem that can summon a water elemental.
My thought was summon the elemental and have it whelm us. With a 90 foot swim speed it could dash across to safety taking minimal lava damage. And we only take the 2d6 damage once.
Does anyone think that could work? Also could I command it to damage us while whelmed? That way we take no damage and I don't have to make concentration checks.
Uhh. Hmm. Well first, I see no reason why at least 1 or 2 creatures can't ride it, so that's an option. Second, the elemental can't swim in lava, so it would move at 30 ft (60ft dash). And third, whelm does 2d8+4, not 2d6.
I love it. I don't see why the elemental couldn't do a non-damaging Whelm. You hold your breath, it slowly (as opposed to crushingly and violently) whelms, and you're off. Size would be the only thing--does it have the volume to hold you both?
Lava is molten rock; I wouldn't bet on the DM allowing the water elemental to use its swimming speed. It might have to use its walking speed, and since the lava isn't solid ground, it might be considered difficult terrain too. The other issue is that Whelm works by grappling you, and moving a grappled creature halves your speed.
Depending on how much damage the DM decides the lava deals, you might have to heal the elemental along the way or give it resistance to fire. Once you've solved that problem, I don't see why the DM wouldn't allow the elemental to carry you.
It might have to use its walking speed, and since the lava isn't solid ground, it might be considered difficult terrain too. The other issue is that Whelm works by grappling you, and moving a grappled creature halves your speed.
At a halved speed of 15 (moving while grappling), the water elemental is going to require 7 turns to cross the lava. This means its passengers are going to take a total of 16d8+32 damage (including the initial turn when the elemental whelms its targets).
The improvising damage rules in the DMG suggest that wading through lava does 10d10 damage, so that elemental is going to end up with 70d10 damage (which will take out its 114 HP pretty quickly). If I were the GM I would certainly be applying damage to the passengers as well.
As a whelmed person, you are underwater as well as being grappled and restrained. These will all have an impact on your actions. You'll only get one chance to cast a spell (once you have used your breath to speak the verbal component, you are no longer holding your breath) so it better be a really good one. As a warforged, you don't need to breathe to survive but you do need to breathe to speak (and thus to cast spells).
Hey, how is your Constitution save? You are concentrating on controlling that water elemental, right? Don't want the concentration to drop because of all that damage you are taking…
Finally, if I were a water elemental and some nasty little prime material creature told me to wade through lava, I'd be telling it where it can stick that magic gem. :-)
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I am currently in a homebrew game and a companion and I are stuck across a 100 foot gap of lava. Our party is on the other side where the rope bridge broke after a battle. I currently have a gem that can summon a water elemental.
My thought was summon the elemental and have it whelm us. With a 90 foot swim speed it could dash across to safety taking minimal lava damage. And we only take the 2d6 damage once.
Does anyone think that could work? Also could I command it to damage us while whelmed? That way we take no damage and I don't have to make concentration checks.
Uhh. Hmm. Well first, I see no reason why at least 1 or 2 creatures can't ride it, so that's an option. Second, the elemental can't swim in lava, so it would move at 30 ft (60ft dash). And third, whelm does 2d8+4, not 2d6.
I love it. I don't see why the elemental couldn't do a non-damaging Whelm. You hold your breath, it slowly (as opposed to crushingly and violently) whelms, and you're off. Size would be the only thing--does it have the volume to hold you both?
Looking for new subclasses, spells, magic items, feats, and races? Opinions welcome :)
It can hold 2 mediums or 1 large creature, so yes. I am also playing a warforge so I don't have to breath.
Lava is molten rock; I wouldn't bet on the DM allowing the water elemental to use its swimming speed. It might have to use its walking speed, and since the lava isn't solid ground, it might be considered difficult terrain too. The other issue is that Whelm works by grappling you, and moving a grappled creature halves your speed.
Depending on how much damage the DM decides the lava deals, you might have to heal the elemental along the way or give it resistance to fire. Once you've solved that problem, I don't see why the DM wouldn't allow the elemental to carry you.
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At a halved speed of 15 (moving while grappling), the water elemental is going to require 7 turns to cross the lava. This means its passengers are going to take a total of 16d8+32 damage (including the initial turn when the elemental whelms its targets).
The improvising damage rules in the DMG suggest that wading through lava does 10d10 damage, so that elemental is going to end up with 70d10 damage (which will take out its 114 HP pretty quickly). If I were the GM I would certainly be applying damage to the passengers as well.
As a whelmed person, you are underwater as well as being grappled and restrained. These will all have an impact on your actions. You'll only get one chance to cast a spell (once you have used your breath to speak the verbal component, you are no longer holding your breath) so it better be a really good one. As a warforged, you don't need to breathe to survive but you do need to breathe to speak (and thus to cast spells).
Hey, how is your Constitution save? You are concentrating on controlling that water elemental, right? Don't want the concentration to drop because of all that damage you are taking…
Finally, if I were a water elemental and some nasty little prime material creature told me to wade through lava, I'd be telling it where it can stick that magic gem. :-)