RSA: Part Water

Let's just get the Heston screen cap out of the way, OK?

An amusing and powerful spell. And, like most RSAs, one I've rarely seen a PC use. It's odd that this is a MU/Elf spell in BX rather than a clerical spell given –like some other spells– its obvious mythological origins, but who am I to blow against the wind?

Its pretty high level (6th), so it's understandable why you don't see it cast all the time. Also, it's really only useful when dealing with a large body of water, which isn't too terribly frequent in most campaigns. 

Part Water (from Cook)
Level: 6 (MU)
Range: 120'
Duration: 6 turns

This spell creates a path through a body of water, enabling creatures to walk on the bottom. The path will be up to 120' long and 10' wide. The spell may be ended at any time by the caster before the duration is over.


The first thing I notice about the spell description is the dimensions/AoE. Why? No depth! It doesn't care whether you are making a path through a fish pond or an ocean, it goes ALL THE WAY DOWN! Obviously it's hard to do the Red Sea Stroll without it reaching the bed, but still!

The second thing about the dimensions is, well, the other dimensions. Only 120' x 10'? That's not getting you very far. One hour duration is nice if it's only for one combat, but you aren't getting a lot of overland travel done in that time. It would be handy for some river crossings and the like, though.

Now, one fun use of this spell that comes to mind is when it comes to a naval battle: Opening a gap in the water right in front of an enemy vessel? Good times! Of course, you'd want to angle it just right to maximize the effect, but I would say even a big ship would stand a real risk of capsizing or dipping its prow low enough to be swamped.

Like many of these higher level, unusual spells, I would be tempted to place a scroll in a campaign just to see what fun the PCs might come up with.

RSA (Random Spell Assessment): Sticks to Snakes

So in true random form, I rolled on the Labyrinth Lord treasure tables for spell scrolls to arrive at today's spell. There's only a 25% chance of a clerical spell popping up, but I got the 4 on the d4. A % roll of 76 meant a 4th level spell. Finally, an 8 on a d8 while referring to the spell lists brought us to Sticks to Snakes.

(Moses was at least 7th level)

Now, that's not bad, changing kindling into a cobra. But let's look at the spell as listed in Labyrinth Lord and Cook Expert.

First off, you aren't changing one stick with the spell, you're changing 2d8 sticks. That's a lot of reptiles suddenly popping up. 

Also, you can change sticks over a hundred feet away! (120') In the wilderness, that changes to over a hundred YARDS! Frankly, I find that pretty cool. Imagine flinging this spell into the firewood pile in the middle of some enemy camp. That's a pretty nice diversion right there.

There's only a 50% chance that the snakes are venomous, but unless they've got a ranger or druid handy, are the targets really going to test that out? I suppose a rat bastard GM might roll for each individual snake, but that might be a headache to track.

Did I mention the cleric can give the snakes orders?? Snakes are deaf! I guess that means he doesn't have to be within earshot, then! Not to mention that the spell lasts over half an hour, so unless they are killed, these serpents are hanging around for a fair bit.

The snakes themselves are relatively wimpy (1HD, bite for 1d4 damage, AC 6) much like the spitting cobra. But the spell's effectiveness is in its distraction and surprise value, more than its combat power.

When you look at the other "go-to" 4th level clerical spells, you usually see things like Cure Serious Wounds and Neutralize Poison. These are great spells, to be sure, but I think a cleric PC (or NPC) might get serious mileage out of the old "S2S" under a lot of circumstances.