Control Weather
- Level: 8
- School: Transmutation
- Class: Cleric, Druid, Wizard
- Casting Time: 10 minutes
- Range: Self
- Components: V, S, M (burning incense)
- Duration: Concentration, up to 8 hours
You take control of the weather within 5 miles of you for the duration. You must be outdoors to cast this spell, and it ends early if you go indoors.
When you cast the spell, you change the current weather conditions, which are determined by the GM. You can change precipitation, temperature, and wind. It takes 1d4 × 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 | Condition |
|---|---|
| 1 | Clear |
| 2 | Light clouds |
| 3 | Overcast or ground fog |
| 4 | Rain, hail, or snow |
| 5 | Torrential rain, driving hail, or blizzard |
| Temperature | Wind | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Stage | Condition | Stage | Condition |
| 1 | Heat wave | 1 | Calm |
| 2 | Hot | 2 | Moderate wind |
| 3 | Warm | 3 | Strong wind |
| 4 | Cool | 4 | Gale |
| 5 | Cold | 5 | Storm |
| 6 | Freezing |
Tactical Usage
Massive Area Weather Control: Control Weather provides unparalleled environmental manipulation over a vast 5-mile radius. This 8th-level transmutation spell excels at strategic battlefield control and long-term area denial.
Optimal Timing: Most effective for siege scenarios, large-scale battles, or when you need extended environmental control lasting up to 8 hours.
Resource Management: Uses an 8th-level spell slot - available only from character level 15+. The 10-minute casting time requires safe preparation.
Target Selection: Choose weather conditions based on strategic goals - storms for area denial, calm for travel, extreme temperature for environmental pressure.
Spell Combinations
Synergistic Spells:
- Environmental Magic: Combine with other area control spells for comprehensive battlefield shaping
- Duration Extension: Layer with spells that benefit from specific weather conditions
- Tactical Magic: Weather conditions can enhance or hinder other magical effects
Class Feature Interactions:
- Wild Shape: Druids can maintain concentration while transformed for enhanced mobility
- Divine Domain: Storm clerics gain thematic bonuses to weather magic
- Elemental Magic: Weather control synergizes with elemental spells and abilities
Multi-Caster Coordination: Multiple weather control areas can create regional climate effects.
Material Component Details
Component Acquisition: Burning incense - easily obtained from temples, merchants, or crafted from aromatic materials.
Component Handling: Simple material component that doesn't consume resources during casting.
Roleplay Opportunities: Different incense types might reflect cultural traditions, divine connections, or elemental affinities.
Economic Considerations: Minimal cost makes this economically viable despite the high spell slot requirement.
Creator Notes
Encounter Balancing: Dramatically reshapes encounters across a massive area. Weather effects can advantage or disadvantage different creature types and tactics.
NPC Usage: Ancient druids or powerful clerics might control weather for ritual purposes, creating atmospheric campaign moments.
Environmental Considerations: Requires outdoor casting. Weather changes affect visibility, movement, and spell effectiveness across the area.
Campaign Integration: Excellent for epic-level adventures, siege warfare, or scenarios requiring massive environmental manipulation.
Environmental Interactions
Terrain Effects: 5-mile radius affects entire regions. Weather interacts differently with forests, plains, mountains, or urban areas.
Weather Influence: Existing weather determines starting conditions. Extreme changes might create dramatic atmospheric events.
Structural Interactions: Buildings provide shelter from weather effects but don't prevent the spell's influence on outdoor areas.
Elemental Interactions: Weather control can suppress or enhance elemental magic, fire spells, cold effects, or electrical magic.
Common Rulings & Clarifications
Timing Questions: 10-minute casting time with 1d4×10 minute delay for effect changes. Can modify conditions repeatedly during duration.
Target Limitations: Must be outdoors to cast and maintain. Going indoors ends the spell early.
Duration Interactions: Concentration up to 8 hours. Weather gradually returns to normal when spell ends.
Mechanical Interactions: Stage changes limited to one step up or down per modification. Wind direction can be changed freely.
Alternative Applications
Non-Combat Uses: Agricultural assistance, drought relief, storm prevention, or travel condition optimization.
Social Encounters: Demonstrate divine power, provide community services, or create impressive displays of magical authority.
Exploration Applications: Clear weather for aerial travel, create storms for cover, or generate specific conditions for magical research.
Utility Functions: Disaster relief, agricultural support, navigation assistance, or regional climate management.
Related Spells
Same School: Other transmutation spells like control water (4th level water manipulation), move earth (6th level terrain shaping), reverse gravity (7th level gravity control).
Similar Effects: call lightning (3rd level storm magic), wind wall (3rd level wind control), control winds (5th level air manipulation).
Progression Options: druidcraft (cantrip minor weather), call lightning (3rd level storm), control weather (8th level regional control).
Complementary Magic: wind walk (travel enhancement), commune with nature (weather information), plant growth (agricultural synergy).
Scaling Analysis
Level Progression: Ultimate environmental magic that provides unmatched strategic control at the highest character levels.
Upcast Benefits: No improvement from 9th-level slots, making this a pure 8th-level epic magical investment.
Campaign Phases: Peak effectiveness in epic-level play (15+) where regional environmental control becomes strategically crucial.
Comparative Value: Unparalleled area control that justifies the massive spell slot investment for strategic scenarios.
Narrative Flavor
Casting Description: Ancient words of power invoke elemental forces as burning incense carries your will across miles, commanding the very atmosphere.
Effect Manifestation: Clouds gather or disperse, winds shift direction, temperatures change, and the entire region responds to your environmental authority.
Personal Style: Druids might channel primal nature forces, clerics invoke divine weather authority, while wizards demonstrate mastery over atmospheric elements.
World Integration: Represents ultimate environmental magic available only to the most powerful casters, often associated with ancient weather magic, divine intervention, or druidic mastery.