Control Weather: Mild with a Chance of Scattered Usefulness

Usable By: Cleric, Druid, Wizard

Spell Level: 8

School: Transmutation

Casting Time: 10 minutes

Range: Self (5-mile radius)

Duration: Concentration, up to 8 hours

Components: V, S, M (Burning incense and bits of earth and wood mixed in water)

You take control of the weather within 5 miles of you for the Duration. You must be outdoors to cast this spell. Moving to a place where you don't have a clear path to The Sky ends the spell early.

When you cast the spell, you change the current weather Conditions, which are determined by the DM based on the climate and season. You can change precipitation, temperature, and wind. It takes 1d4 x 10 minutes for the new Conditions to take Effect. Once they do so, you can change the Conditions again. When the spell ends, the weather gradually returns to normal.

When you change the weather Conditions, find a current condition on the following tables and change its stage by one, up or down. When changing the wind, you can change its direction.

Precipitation:
Stage 1 - Clear
Stage 2 - Light clouds
Stage 3 - Overcast or ground fog
Stage 4 - Rain, hail or snow
Stage 5 - Torrential rain, driving hail or Blizzard

Temperature:
Stage 1 - Unbearable heat
Stage 2 - Hot
Stage 3 - Warm
Stage 4 - Cool
Stage 5 - Cold
Stage 6 - Arctic cold

Wind:
Stage 1 - Calm
Stage 2 - Moderate wind
Stage 3 - Strong Wind
Stage 4 - Gale
Stage 5 - Storm

Review by Sam West, Twitter: @KoboldCrier

Imagine a world where the weather was what you wanted, all the time. You could make it warm and partly cloudy any time you wanted to go outside, command a light drizzle of rain to lay the perfect cozy backdrop for a day in, and make it so every winter got the exact right amount of snow for outdoor activities. Seems pretty epic.

In the fantasy world of Dungeons and Dragons, you can do that, but because of the bulk of magic most groups will already have seen, it actually ends up feeling underwhelming. An eighth level spell slot is a huge ask, and the ten minute cast time means it can’t be used flexibly. Once you’ve cast it, changing the environment takes minutes of time; no spontaneous heavy rain to obscure yourself and allies, no breaking of a storm to protect your ship from immediate danger. At minimum, going between stages will take ten minutes plus cast time. To go from calm to storm will take nearly an hour on its own, assuming you roll 1s every time. Worst case scenario it could take over three hours to get to either extreme from the other.

Practical uses primarily exist in the exploration pillar of play, but the concentration prerequisite weighs down its actual utility tremendously. One or two unforeseen encounters can waste the slot by just breaking concentration. Whatever weather was a concern before can manifest again. Sure, you temporarily got rid of ice storms protecting the ancient white’s lair, but a single bad concentration check from its minions assaults make the storm start back up with you and your party right in the center of it.

This leaves the spell in a grey worldbuilding area as its practical uses in initiative and exploration are suspect. Powerful druids could use it to perpetually decimate cities in storms and blizzards for as long as they were within five miles. New York City, for comparison, is only 2.3 miles wide and 13 miles long. A druid standing in the center of NYC could cover nearly all of it in whatever weather they choose. Fantasy cities are going to be tiny in comparison; you could stand two miles out of the city limits and drouse everything in an unending deluge of sleet and hail.

This spell is undoubtedly a cool effect; a druid mastering nature to the point of controlling the weather is a highlight for top end spellcasting. The in-game practicality of the spell is suspect at best, and probably is reserved for ancient NPCs of near unlimited power who want to craft a specific perpetual atmosphere in their domain.

5e Spells

Control Weather: Mild with a Chance of Scattered Usefulness