Quote from ReinMiku >>

The spell has 60 feet radius,the cloud itself appears above you. So no,they can't just move 20 feet in any direction,they'd have to move 60 feet away from it,which might be bit hard for them to figure out considering how it's a cloud in the sky and most creatures,including other spellcasters don't really know the specifics of the spell. Also if you cast it during a storm the enemies would basically have no idea that you're controlling a specific point in the storm rather than the whole thing. It's a fantastic spell if you know how to use it,it's the only 3rd level spell that can potentially deal 300d10 damage to multiple creatures during it's full duration so depending on your situation this might be the only spell you cast per combat.

 It's 400d10, if there's an existing storm. This a great spell, as long as you protect the caster from getting damaged.

True, but pretty much all casters can learn hold person. Unless you're the sole caster or for some reason you'rethe only one with Hold Person/Mosnter, you can prevent enemies from fleeing the AoE.

Casting word is:

Bellowcus Boltium

No no. It makes a cloud with a 60 foot RADIUS an area of 120 ft takes a minimum 2 rounds to get out of. Makes it a great spell

Does the cloud stay in place once it's conjured? It doesn't stay centered directly above the caster when they move, does it?

I used this spell for the first time tonight. Playing a moon druid i cast it and burrowed into the soft sand of the beach my party was camping on. undead started coming up from the water on each side of us in waves.  I was burrowed underground and striking every enemy i could with lightning. Tremmor sense 60 as a cave badger. Having total cover against enemies and dropping lightning bolts on them was fun.

yes i agree

Quote from Flynn >>

No no. It makes a cloud with a 60 foot RADIUS an area of 120 ft takes a minimum 2 rounds to get out of. Makes it a great spell

 

 

Beyond 20

 

 

 

 

 

Quote from jasonort91 >>

Is this spell as useless as I think it is? You create a storm cloud than you can call lightening down directly below it... can't the enemies just, you know, move like 20 feet in any direction and now the spell no longer useful? You can't even couple it with spells that hold people in place because its concentration.... 

 

The cloud is 120' across in any direction. Not too many PC's or monsters have that kind of movement, even over 2 or 3 turns. In essence, you light up a circle with a radius of 60' on the ground. You can hit anyone you want to who is inside that circle, which will take up most battle maps. Casting outside in a storm is even scarier--you literally take control of the weather and Thor-slap your enemies to the Nine Hells while your party looks on in horror, all thinking to themselves about the times they made jokes about nature and Druidic voodoo. Jokes on them though, because you can just swing your Big Druid Energy around and smite people like a GOD.

tl;dr - my favorite low-level Druid spell in 5e, be a God. Make your enemies kneel and beg for mercy after witnessing the sheer mass of your fury.

No, the range is pretty terrible and easy for enemies to escape from (at least if you interpret it as only striking directly underneath the cloud, which a good number of people seem to do.  Personally I allow the cloud to shoot lighting 120 ft diagonally out from the disc).  Enemies only need 60 feet to get out of it MAX.  And that is if the druid is right on top of the enemy when he casts the spell (why?).  If you could cast the cloud over the enemies instead of only directly above you, maybe that wouldn't be so bad.  But druids are usually in the back line, so half of the storm is going to be wasted since it's behind you and the enemies are in front of you.  

|------------------------Cloud-------------------------|

|------waste----------You--------enemy--------|

In almost all cases upcasting moonbeam will be better than using call lighting. 

1. It has the huge benefit of only requiring your action to move it, so there's a good chance your action will be free for another spell, dodging, etc. 
2. Moonbeam has a far superior range.  You can move it around the battlefield and onto backline archers/casters easily.  You can chase fleeing enemies down with it.
3. Moonbeam does damage when enemies enter its area, so you can have your barbarian grab enemies and move them into it, making them take the damage immediately and then again on their turn.  You can do the same by thorn-whipping enemies into it.  Lots of other ways to get multiple damage rolls from it in a single round.  
4. Moonbeam is a superior damage type, although it's save is probably worse.  I'll give that to CL
5. If you have multiple front-line fighters, moonbeam will force an enemy to choose between sitting in the area or moving and taking an AoO.  

Call Lighting is only really  useful IMO if you are defending a position or during a storm.  Unfortunately, but it is what it is.  Stick with moonbeam folks.  

P.S.  Well, I guess it would be useful against huge creatures since they are immune to moonbeam (doesn't cover >50% of their area).  Point remains, in most cases just stick with moonbeam.  Use Druid Craft at the start of the day.  If it's stormy, maybe prep call lightning instead.

’tl;dr - my favorite low-level Druid spell in 5e, be a God. Make your enemies kneel and beg for mercy after witnessing the sheer mass of your fury.‘

This is exactly how I used my call lightning the first time! People were sacrificing someone to a god of storms and seas. I made a stormvloed appear right above them and had lighting strike just beside the ones doing the sacrifice. The bard in our party (with the actor feat) pretended to be possessed and spoke in the storm gods voice (which we had heard) against the killing. Everyone, including the priest all kneeled and we saved a life!

Would activating the call lightning down break stealth?

Thinking of a scenario like I cast the spell turn 1, then I stealth turn 2, and then turn 3 I activate the ability to call down another lightning strike. 

I know casting a spell normally would break stealth, but not sure about the activation bc you can still activate it even in wildshape

If a tempest cleric / storm sorceror had this, would it make sense to cast this as a BA with quickened spell, strike with the first lightning, and then action to call another lightning. With destructive wrath, that seems to be a whole lotta damage in one turn as an aoe.

> A storm cloud appears in the shape of a cylinder that is 10 feet tall with a 60-foot radius, centered on a point you can see within range directly above you.

> If you could cast the cloud over the enemies instead of only directly above you

So I'm a 5e noob with an AD&D THAC0-type background, but doesn't Range/Area = 120 ft(60 ft cylinder*) indicate that this spell has a range of 120 ft, i.e., it can be cast centering on a point up to that far away? Wouldn't a centered-on-the-caster spell have Range/Area = Self(60 ft cylinder*) ?

 Many people remark on how it is centered on the caster, but isn't that just plainly not correct? What am I missing?

The spell specifically says "centered on a point you can see within range directly above you. "

The spell description is conflicting, it lists the range as 120 feet, which would imply that the centre of the cloud can be anywhere within 120' of the caster, but also that it must be a point directly above the caster. If that case why is the range not "Self (60 ft Cylinder)"?

Edit: Or is the Range 120 ft supposed to mean that the clouds can be up to 120 ft above you (eg so you can hide them in natural clouds)?

I think, with the right strategy it would be a great spell, I only question if you can still move, block and attack while concentrating on it or rather you need to take the hits from your opponent if they strike you.

According to the PHB rules for cylinder areas of effect, the base of the cylinder must be placed at an altitude of 10 feet, because the cylinder must be placed on the ground or in the air a set distance based on the height of the cylinder. Furthermore, the spell itself forces you to target an origin point directly above you. This means that there is only one place where the origin point can go. Why, then, is the range of the spell 120 feet?

Player's Handbook says this is a concentration spell--but not here. Could you please fix that? Thanks!

Next to the duration there is a small C, that's how you  distinguish concentration and concentration spells on DND Beyond. 

Would "stormy conditions" count for a blizzard?

God i wish there was a warlock that could learn this spell, it'd be SO GOOD. Hell, I'll take an invocation that spends a spell slot and can only be used once a long rest.