Re: Create Air spell 3rdEd conversion

>From: Dreamer <dreamer@??????.?????.??.uk>
>
>Starting to have a hack at the 3rdEd Cleric/Priest bits.
>
>I spent some time this evening talking through 3rdEd domains,
>etc, and I _think_ that I now understand what is going on.
>
>This is the spec for the first cleric spell, Create Air.
>
>I think there is a typo and a 5th level priest only gets three,
>not five, persons worth of air.

I think you are right too, Dreamer. The stats in the example don't match the 
rule.

It is a real shame that this spell seems to be pitched at people floating in 
the vaccum of wildspace. The spell has the following sentence: "Within a 
larger envelope of air (such as the deck of a ship or the atmosphere of a 
planet), the freshened air will drift off, combining with the existing air." 
This could be two ways, either:
1) Read as "there is no benifit in casting this on a ship because it 
combines with the other air" or
2) Read as "once created this air is no longer magical and combines normally 
with the air on a ship as per the rules about two air envelopes meeting".

Jim Kersh (who did the version currently on Beyond the Moons) seems to read 
the spell the first way, but I prefer to read it the second way.

It would be nice if Create Air actually stated how much extra time you got 
when it was cast on a ship. If we do switch from "tons of air" to "man/days 
of air" (with ships stats stating that each ton of ship has enough gravity 
to hold 30 man/days of air) then the "1 person per two levels" could be 
changed to "1 man/day of shipboard air per two levels".

The description could then be changed to assume that it was normally cast on 
a ship with a paragraph adding that if cast in the vaccum the excess will 
drift off into space leaving the individual with enough air for x-rounds 
(whatever you normally get as your personal air envelope).

>I think that Destroy Air wont actually make air poisonous, even
>if it starts out as foul.

It doesn't say it does and I'm inclined to think it would be far to powerful 
a spell. Perhaps there could be two versions of Destroy Air - one that makes 
air foul and one that makes air deadly.

I'm inclined to think that "Destroy Air" is a bad name as the spell doesn't 
*actually* destroy the air. As it makes the air foul perhaps we could call 
it "Befoul Air". If befoul is too obscure a word then perhaps "Defile Air" 
or "Corrupt Air" could be used.

Befoul Air has the word foul in it - so is probably the most descriptive, 
but I like the name "Defile Air" as it hints that in the distant past this 
spell might have come from Night Druid's Crimson Sphere!

>I am unsure whether the small, stoppered flask should be a
>consumed material, or be a focus - I can see arguments both ways.
>
>I note that the spec doesn't say what is _in_ the flask - I
>assume it is good air. I also note that the spec does not say
>that casting the spell involves opening the flask.
>
>On balance I would be inclined to say that it is a reusable
>focus.
>
>Partly because I don't see clerics carrying around lots of little
>flasks so as to be able to cast these spells.
>
>Comments?

I had a look at the 3rd level cleric spells to see how many 1st level spells 
have material componants or focuses:
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spellLists/clericSpells.htm#firstLevelClericSpells

There are only two spells that need material componants: Bless Water and 
Curse Water. I also checked out Create Food and Drink (as that seems similar 
to this spell) and found that that spell doesn't need a material componant.

I'd say you have two options here:

1) Make the stoppered flask a focus for both spells or
2) Make the stoppered flask a focus *but* the air inside it a material 
componant!

If you want to expand on option 1 the stopper can be pulled out of the 
bottle for "Create Air" and pushed into the bottle for "Defile Air" (Destroy 
Air).

If you want to use option 2 then the cleric could fill the flask with fresh 
air as the material componant of Create Air and fill it with fouled air as 
the material componant of Defile Air!

I like what Jim Kersh with the spell componant in his version of Create Air 
- "The flask is not consumed in the casting, but its contents are, leaving 
hard vacuum there. Opening the flask to refill it therefore requires a DC 15 
Strength check."

The cleric would then need a number of these stoppered flasks, however the 
flasks would probably be viewed as standard ship equpment and a good captain 
may welll carry two dozen prepared flasks in the ships stores.

It's a shame that Jim didn't do the version of the reverse.

I'll have a read through the 2e version you just posted and Jim's version 
and see if I can attempt hacked versions of the two 3e spells that Create 
Air changes into.

>2ndEd:
>-----------------------------------------------------------------
>First-Level Spells
>
>Create Air
>(Alteration)
>Reversable
>
>Sphere: Elemental (Air)
>Range: 30 yards
>Components: V, S, M
>Duration: Permanent
>Casting Time: 2 rounds
>Area of Effect: 1 person per two levels
>Saving Throw: None
>
>By means of this spell a priest may generate a bubble of fresh,
>breathable air around a person.  This air will drive out the
>stale air around a person and restore it to a 'fresh' state.  In
>cases of individuals adrift in space, this permits another
>rolling of the die to determine duration of the fresh air.
>
>Within a larger envelope of air (such as the deck of a ship or
>the atmosphere of a planet), the freshened air will drift off,
>combining with the existing air.
>
>The spell can replace air that may be stale or befouled,
>including air that is poisoned or tainted by a Cloudkill or
>Stinking Cloud spell.
>
>For every two levels over first, the priest may create sufficient
>air for an additional person.  At 3rd level he may create air for
>two human-sized individuals, at 5th level sufficient air for five
>, and so on.
>
>Creating additional air around a single indivual does not create
>a larger envelope; the excess air will simply drift off.  The
>caster can refresh the air within his own personal air envelope
>and that of others within the range of the spell, without needing
>to touch those individuals.
>
>The reverse of this spell, Destroy Air, immediately reduces the
>air around one target to "fouled", with all effects of that
>change.  See Chapter 1 for more on this topic.
>
>If the Create Air spell is used within a gravity field, inside
>otherwise hostile circumstances (such as inside a Cloudkill or
>Stinking Cloud), it will allow the recipient a single clean
>breath before the created air bubbles to the surface.
>
>The material component for the spell is a small, stoppered flask.
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