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13 months ago ::
May 29, 2012 - 8:37AM
#1
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Date Joined:
Aug 22, 2007
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This thread may not last very long, but I feel like I owe it to 'Greasy' Sal, my second 2E Wizard, to at least spark discussion about the other spells available besides boring old burning hands and sleep.
Just for some quick background on 'Greasy' Sal:
He was a grumpy old Human who wore boller hats and a handle bar mustache. He prefered Leather Dusters to moldy old robes and his go to spell was 'grease'. There wasn't any combat situation that Sal couldn't solve with the "...proper application of a little 'grease'!" This may have been because Sal was a cook while putting himself through the Wizarding academy, or it could have been because the monsters burned better with a little bit of oil on 'em, but Sal always made sure he had a ready supply of butter and spell slots full of grease.
So now that you know about Sal, has anyone else playtested the other 1st Level spells? For any of the classes?
I plan on making Sal 5.0 and swapping Sleep for Grease when I run my second playtest tonight.
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13 months ago ::
May 29, 2012 - 9:29AM
#2
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we did in our 2nd playtest. It did slow down the approaching goblins
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13 months ago ::
May 29, 2012 - 12:53PM
#3
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Date Joined:
May 25, 2012
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Also of note, they then dropped a flask of alchemist's fire on top of the grease. This incinerated 3 goblins but then reduced the grease spell's duration.
the flames last a round but left the corridor ungreased (there would have been 5 more rounds left)
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13 months ago ::
May 29, 2012 - 12:53PM
#4
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It got cast under some kobolds but then immediately set on fire with burning hands from the other wizard (which killed the creatures anyway before factoring in burning grease or anything).
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13 months ago ::
May 29, 2012 - 1:46PM
#5
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Date Joined:
Jan 13, 2012
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Grease is a great spell but it is definitely a right place right time spell when it’s good it’s really good but most of the time not so much.
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13 months ago ::
May 31, 2012 - 2:13AM
#6
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Date Joined:
Jun 15, 2006
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I have got two questions:
Can that magic grease burn? (to be used in a fire trap)
Could that speell create infammable grease to go out fire?
"Say me what you're showing off for, and I'll say you what you lack!" (Spanish saying)
Book 13 Anaclet 23
Confucius said: "The Superior Man is in harmony but does not follow the crowd. The inferior man follows the crowd, but is not in harmony"
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13 months ago ::
May 31, 2012 - 4:37AM
#7
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Date Joined:
Aug 18, 2007
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I have got two questions:
Can that magic grease burn? (to be used in a fire trap)
Could that speell create infammable grease to go out fire?
The greasy material conjured by the Grease spell is clearly a magical effect, not real world grease, since it suddenly goes away at the end of one minute. The rules do not specify if it can burn to increase fire damage or be burned away to get rid of it. Without these effects being specified in the rules the DM is free to decide how the "grease" reacts to fire or anything else.
In his play test article today Mike Mearls stated "We want to make it easy for a DM to improvise and use the rules as guidelines. ...we hope to allow them [DMs] to really own their campaigns and take on the referee part of the DM's duties, rather than relying on the book to do so." So it is clearly the intention of this rule set to empower DM to make decisions on areas that aren't covered in the rules. Therefore the answer to your questions is, yes those things happen if (and only if) the DM wants them to happen.
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13 months ago ::
May 31, 2012 - 7:39AM
#8
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Date Joined:
Sep 11, 2007
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I have got two questions:
Can that magic grease burn? (to be used in a fire trap)
Could that speell create infammable grease to go out fire?
[...] In his play test article today Mike Mearls stated "We want to make it easy for a DM to improvise and use the rules as guidelines. ...we hope to allow them [DMs] to really own their campaigns and take on the referee part of the DM's duties, rather than relying on the book to do so." So it is clearly the intention of this rule set to empower DM to make decisions on areas that aren't covered in the rules. Therefore the answer to your questions is, yes those things happen if (and only if) the DM wants them to happen.
This can be a slippery slope (pun semi-intended). I like and even champion not specifying every situation so that the GM has freedom to adjudicate... but for something like Grease, which has a very specific in-game effect, I'd prefer the book specify if it were flammable or non-flammable especially when it has a very direct impact on damage output by the PCs (given the Grease/Burning Hands combo). It definitely bears pre-game discussion with one's players to make sure everyone has the same expectations.
The d20 SRD doesn't specify, but IIRC from editions prior to 3.x, the Grease spell was NOT flammable... but I may be mis-remembering.
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13 months ago ::
May 31, 2012 - 8:12AM
#9
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Date Joined:
Apr 21, 2011
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Grease THEN burning hands  i will continue saying this, the wizard is a utility caster, and burning hands (alone) is his LEAST useful spell
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13 months ago ::
May 31, 2012 - 11:45AM
#10
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Date Joined:
Aug 22, 2007
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I've used grease to do everything from combat multiplying to fixing wagon wheels in past games.
Trying to make battlements for War? In 3.5 you could cast a permanent Grease spell in a pit and make it burn, literally, for ever.
In my second playtest, I suggested our Wizard, not played by me, use Grease instead of one of the other spells. She chose to take it instead of burning hands, surprise, surprise. And then she spent the rest of the night making me, the DM, regret it.
She greased the floor so that the rats would slide into the pit, then greased the sides of the pit after the rats fell in so they couldn't get out. She greased floors and walls so that she could make low grade walls of fire, and she greased monsters armor so that we could make the monsters "flamey".
On the one hand, from a DM perspective, I was furiously infuriated at her ability to come up with creative uses for the spell that enhanced combat without "breaking" it and made my monsters look like fools. On the other, as a one time Grease Champion [self given title - yep, I'm a nerd], I couldn't stop smiling when she'd start a sentence with "I cast grease on..." and listened to the rest of the players groan.
On a side note the Rogue, played by me, loved being able to get Advantage on a DEX check to escape the Ogre because I was sliding on a greased floor, that I knew about, while he was slipping, sliding, and falling on his butt.
I think the big difference is that I love seeing people use that spell, and I figure that if a Wizard, especially a 1st level one, chooses to include it among on of his precious spell slots, he should be able to use it in any sort of creative fashion that he can think of.
I mean, after all, this guy somehow figured that he could go out into the world armed with nothing more than a handful of sand and some slightly melted butter and battle monsters for a living. I think I'll always give that guy the benefit of the doubt.
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