Call Lightning - Underground?

[darkstorme]

LORE: Call Lightning

As much as this spell has occasionally saved my bacon, it has also occasionally fried my bacon - and in either case, astonishes me when it occurs indoors, or worse below ground.

Basically, what I'm suggesting is that

Code: [Select]


if (!GetIsAreaInterior(GetArea(oCaster))){
...
}

wrap the spell, to prevent lightning from striking a mile underground.

As much as the spell is powerful, it makes no sense to call lightning from the sky when the sky is a rock, stone, or wood ceiling 10 feet overhead.  And to the argument that a thatched-roof cottage might not stop a lightning bolt, I say, true - but it's unlikely the inhabitants will look kindly on you.

I'm just suggesting that the spell work as its LORE page suggests:

Note: This spell requires an outdoor, open-sky setting to function.

Thoughts?

[Dorganath]

Just going off the top of my head...

There's two key considerations at work here, and a third one that is itching at the back of my mind.

The two main things are that this was originally very likely a balance consideration, and there is unfortunately enough areas out there which are mis-tagged as Natural/Artificial, Above Ground/Underground, Indoor/Outdoor.  

I do agree in concept, and were this a PnP game, I'd fully enforce that.  NWN is a bit of a different animal, however.  I'd actually be more inclined to suggest that the setting had to be outdoors or "natural" for indoor/underground areas, but again...area-tagging issues.

On the balance thing, like it or not, Bioware coded this spell without a sense of indoor/outdoor when casting, so it may have been thought more "fair" to work it that way.

Honestly, were it not for the potential bugginess of area tags and the length of the update cycle, I'd not be terribly opposed to this.  However, these things make me leery.

EDIT: The third thing is the feeling that there was a discussion on this a while back within the GM team and it was decided to leave it be...though I could be mixing it up with another spell.

[ycleption]

Well, my OOCtake is "it's magic." Druids don't have the greatest selection of damage dealing spells compared to some of the other classes, so from a game-balance standpoint as well, I might be leery about this change. (also, the "note" in lore has only been placed there a couple months ago, so I wouldn't use that as evidence that your suggestion is the way it was intended to be...)

If you want a scientificish explanation, so long as there is air to rub together and make friction, lightning could certainly be created indoors.

ICly, Pallena has repeatedly smugly talked about how mere walls and ceiling cannot stop the forces of Mist. Call lightning is the only level 3 spell Pallena ever memorizes, and it would be difficult to rationalize how suddenly she can't use it in places she has before.

[Stephen_Zuckerman]

I need only point to the pen and paper rules to explain why this can be used anywhere: Call Lightning :: d20srd.org

It's really a REALLY cool third-level spell.

[LordCove]

In agreement in regards to Balance.... and for awhile, in cave areas.... I didn't cast the spell unless I rolled a +10 spot check (( hole in the ceiling ))....

.. but with the same pen... wouldn't you have to brush Storm of Vengance... FireStorm.... FlameStrike.... Ice Storm... ect as the same.

Descriptions for most of these indicate them coming from the sky.... I know Flamestrike is something along the lines of ( " A column of fire from the heavens...")... or some such.

[Stephen_Zuckerman]

They come down from the nearest available up-place, not necessarily the sky.

[Chazzler]

Technically lightning strikes from the ground to upwards too

[gilshem ironstone]

Maybe the magic simply recreates the conditions for lightning wherever they are.  Lightning does not require rainclouds necessarily.  You can have lightning in the dust cloud of a volcanic eruption as well.

[merlin34baseball]

OK... my Ilasrain Bard Cleric has call lightning, because if Ilsare's chosen domains. I view that as Islare's gifts, above and below ground.O.o

[lonnarin]

Ever walk across a wooly carpet and touch a metal doorknob?  Static electricity works both indoors and outdoors in my opinion, and that's all that lightning really is.  Either you could sit there and wait for cloud particles to rub against eachother in a storm, or you could agitate the molecules in the air manually via the weave.  If wizards can do it with a fireball, I figure druids could do it with a volley of lightning bolts.  I don't see Palpatine scurrying outside to use his force lightning in any case.

That being said, the resulting shockwave of the thunderclap might cause a cave-in, however.

[Xiaobeibi]

That being said, the resulting shockwave of the thunderclap might cause a cave-in, however.

Slippery slope here - next someone might argue that casting fireballs/firestorms in caves will consume the oxygen and cause asphyxia.

Or that casting earthquake deep underground isn't overly wise


I have to admit I find this whole discussion about "how to call lightning indoors" rather humorous since we have:

1) Shifters turning into undead creatures
2) Priests walking about resurrection the dead as a daily chore
3) Mages teleporting all about the place
4) People getting clubbed/axed by 4000 pound giants and surviving with barely a scratch because "hey I got 400 hitpoints"
5) Warriors doing a thousand mile run in the afternoon with a 150 pounds of armour and carrying 600 pounds of ore without breaking a sweat

If it comes to realism I think there are more pressing problems than electricity indoors.

In a serious note. Making fundamental changes to spells doesn't add realism as much as they alter gamebalance.

Call lightning is a fantastic spell that gives druids and clerics with air domain an edge. Mages have lots of spells that give them an edge and other cleric domains  (animal, magic and trickery springs to mind) offers - arguably – more.

[gilshem ironstone]

The thunderclap via call lightning and fireball asphyxiation are both devious ideas for the GM's.

[Stephen_Zuckerman]

The thunderclap via call lightning and fireball asphyxiation are both devious ideas for the GM's.

"Fireball" isn't actually fire, just a rush of extreme heat. No concussion, no ignition, just heat.

[gilshem ironstone]

Stephen, stop being a scaredy-cat

[Stephen_Zuckerman]

Stephen, stop being a scaredy-cat

I've gotten this junk from my players before. It's just that I want to rescue Game Balance from the dastardly clutches of Science.