1ST LEVEL SPELL #38: Fog Cloud (5E)

[@ChancesSpellbook]

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[@sir0s388]

There was a time that my party was getting pretty screwed by some archers in a very strategic posittion so i cast fog cloud on them and proceed to use my abilities. I used my Moon circle druid wild shape and transform myself into a giant spider gaining a +7 to stealth with advantage (blinded condition) and the Blindsight Sense of 10ft. Later turn i put a spider web on the only exit available. Basically i single handedly an entire archer's squad with just a spell. The DM described the scene more like an alien movie.... with ppl screaming and begging for their lives .... .... It was fun.....

[@ChancesSpellbook]

That's amazing! I'm happy you got such a great experience out of this spell!

[@edsiefker1301]

2:50 You don't touch on the implications of attackers and defenders both being blinded by the fog. This is the most important thing to understand about Fog Cloud. If you have advantage against someone because they're blinded, and you have disadvantage because you're blinded, you just get a straight roll. If you have both, it's always a straight roll. That means, by granting both with fog cloud you can disable any attacker's source of advantage/disadvantage at the cost of disabling your own. Or, if you're stuck with disadvantage for some reason Fog Cloud will negate that. Even cooler, is that if you can conjure creatures with blindslight or tremorsense they'll have advantage and everyone else will have disadvantage. It's a heck of a buff for a first level spell.

[@ChancesSpellbook]

Sorry about that! You are 100% correct

[@richardvambasters793]

Good point! I was asking myself about the fact that the attackers can't see their enemies too

[@chrisframe2227]

This spell is a great equalizer when enemies have advantage on you for some reason. Are they invisible? Can they see in darkness but you can’t? Etc. well with fog cloud on everyone, you are all even again. No advantages. That is unless someone has blindsight or blind fighting.

[@ChancesSpellbook]

Great point! It'd be a great way to hit the reset button in a lot of rough encounters!

[@joshuaortega2708]

Yes, while that is true it does not stop the dm from pretending it doesn’t exist and just pretending it’s reduced visibility which practically just makes the spell useless, that was kind of frustrating. I cast fog cloud on a group of enemies that we did not want to fight head on and then the sorcerer cast fireball into the fog for a small amount of damage since they “all saved” he keeps trying to describe how things look and then retcons it because they all have the blinded condition in the fog, a pc hugs the wall and goes into the fog to flank and the enemies see him as soon as he goes in the fog and he gets obliterated, after that the fog is a detriment to only us as we can’t see but they can, and no the enemies did not have any way of seeming through the fog. “As you step into the fog you can see them standing over there they go over to you and all attack”

[@chrisframe2227]

@@joshuaortega2708 sorry. That just seems like a series of bad calls on your DMs part. Everything should always work both ways. I would have asked for an explanation and I am guessing you did.

[@DRSulik]

NOT smoke. Fog is chilled air. This is a cold based spell.

[@ChancesSpellbook]

Fair point! Mechanically it behaves very similar to a smoke bomb though haha

[@hopeforescape884]

It's POG cloud now that blind fighting exists.

[@arkhamrejectscommunitybatr6599]

I just Started playing DND. And this was my First Spell I got I ended up trying to make smoke signals/just disturbances in nature so Help can find the party. Was really cool

[@Ragwar]

As a gloom stalker I took the magic initiate feat for the control flames cantrip and the fog spell, so I can extinguish any source of light while the area is heavely obscured becouse of fog cloud, so that I can be invisible in darkness...

[@ChancesSpellbook]

Haha That's awesome! Great idea!

[@andresmarrero8666]

What I can say about this spell is exactly what I can say about obscuring mist as they are the exact same thing being clouds on the ground that can be dispelled by wind and sunlight. You can freeze them, electrocute them, heck you can even utilize a combination of shape water and a wind spell to directly control the fog and have it attack the poor suckers. See how well they like fighting a cloud that they so happens to be in the middle of. You could even use the cloud itself as a catalyst for some spells.

[@ChancesSpellbook]

Great points, I'll have to pin this comment! Thank you sooo much!

[@TheEmerald97]

What spells would you use in combination with this to freeze or electrocute them

[@andresmarrero8666]

@@TheEmerald97 to freeze cone of cold would work handily and lightning lure would work handily for electrocution. Really any decent cold or lightning spell would be sufficient.

[@ChancesSpellbook]

@@TheEmerald97 Shape Water would allow you to freeze. In terms of electrocution, I'd allow any lightening attack to be made with advantage!

[@TrashJack3000]

And with the Blind Fighting fighting style introduced in Tasha's (and either taking the Fighting Initiate feat or taking a dip in Fighter to get it), you can build around Fog Cloud as an Arcane Trickster Rogue to effectively become a smoke bomb-chucking ninja. Cast Fog Cloud near your enemy, slip in, and stab with advantage while your enemies have disadvantage to hit you.

[@Clepto_and_Co]

A giant crab animal companion can be given cover by the fog, and take advantage of its blindsight and go to town

[@ChancesSpellbook]

Haha what a combo! Take INSPIRATION! I really appreciate you taking the time to comment! Feel free to use the Discount Code 'COMMENT', and get a free One Shot at chancesguild.com/collections/job-board!

[@isaacberesford1284]

I once played an arcane trickster rogue and was fighting some goblin archers I cast fog cloud blinding them Then later cast minor illusion I made a death whistle sound and marked a point on the battle map where I wanted the sound to come from. but instead of being scared of the sound. they shot their bows and arrows at the sound.now the sound was placed in the centre of the fog and the goblins were lined up perfectly .so they ended up accidentally shooting and killing each other. Absolutely loved it

[@ChancesSpellbook]

Now that sir, is what we in the profession call a: High INT Move! Feel free to take some INSPIRATION, on the house! I really appreciate you taking the time to comment! Feel free to use the Discount Code 'COMMENT', and get a free One Shot at chancesguild.com/collections/job-board!

[@isaacberesford1284]

Chance's D&D Spellbook thanks man I love your channel.

[@ChancesSpellbook]

@@isaacberesford1284 I'm happy you like it!

[@kevinoriely6451]

I do appreciate you putting DMs Approval at bottom. each dm will rule differently some strickly what book says some more flexable and others might restrict so its hard to say what DM will do what

[@Blossoming_Fate]

step 1) Bait guards of cave (ie goblins) into forest. step 2) Cast Fog Cloud on the guards. step 2-a) party sneaks into cave step 3) Wild Shape into either a deer, owl, rat, spider, etc. step 4) regroup with party step 5) Undo Wild Shape [optional]

[@ChancesSpellbook]

Haha Great strategy!

[@Zombie8tHeart]

Been going back and forth on this for a minute. Does the first level spell, fog cloud, block sunlight? Asking for a vampire friend

[@carlosacevedo6009]

Fog fort. Cast is so you are near the border. Advance 10 feet, loose arrows or Elderitches Balastes... back 10 feet.

[@moapchan1905]

Heavy obscurement only applies blindness when you are targeting something, you do not count as blinded when something else targets you. The idea that it renders everything to normal attacks is wrong, the actuality is everyone has disadvantage targeting eachother in a cloud- which is obviously the intent of the spell anyways.

[@stateofhibernation]

I killed 5 orcs with a deck of illusions, familiar, and a tiny servant with an item that does this, i think it was called fog cloud bottle? We were trying to rescue some people from an orc camp, i told the party I'd make a distraction while they snuck around the back for the flank attack. Conjuring a little saddle for my tiny box servant to ride atop my owl familiar. i stuffed the fog bottle, sling shot with ammo, deck of illusions, and wand of magic missiles into his box just incase. Popped the bottle open and had them slowly fly up toward the camp clouded by the fog. Then had the servant toss a card outward, got guards who then proceeded to make a bunch of noise yelling and bashing their shields as orcs looked to see before the fog overtook the illusion. The group of orcs ran out to fight the 'guards' as i made my familiar cast poison dragons breathe on himself. the tiny servant and owl took out the entire group of orcs before they could tell what was happening. XD

[@ChancesSpellbook]

Jeez! What a CRAZY fight! I would love to DM something like that!

[@WolfHreda]

Sounds like a good spell for the Arcane Trickster.

[@smatt9132]

Cast this on a Beholder to totally neuter their Eye rays. Their antimagic cone will clear the mist but it won't clear the fog around their eye stalks. As long as the beholder doesn't spot the caster holding concentration with their main eye or fly out of the mist you can prevent them from using their most dangerous attacks against the party.

[@meowmixphd]

When fighting large creatures whose heads are located higher that say 8’ off the ground, you could set the the center of the fog cloud at 28’ off the ground, thereby giving the target the blinded condition, but not your party melee folks. Similarly, use the same strategy for flying creatures that are attacking you. They will be at disadvantage if attacking through the fog cloud, unless they come down to an elevation where the effect is absent, in which case, they will not have advantage on their attack and likely will be in range of your party. Fog cloud also prevents a lot of spells that require line of sight. There are some AOE spells that could be placed on the outer edge of the fog cloud, but with a 40’ diameter area, you could all be outside the affect of the AOE.

[@YCA95]

it works almost like darkness?

[@ryanswing1355]

Here is where I am confused... Can people outside of the fog see the people who are in it?? If so, can they see who is outside of the fog too? And what about the sense of direction where they want to attack, is it like everyone is considered invisible?

[@meowmixphd]

It is like everyone (inside and outside) are invisible and blind. No one gets advantage , because everyone has disadvantage. Attacked by pact of wolves with pact tactics, drop fog cloud, now both you and the wolves are blind, canceling out their pact tactics advantage and cancelling out your concealment advantage. Really levels the playing field when you team is facing opponents that have advantage to attack.

[@marcosguzman7858]

You could say "This Fog Cloud of War".

[@ChancesSpellbook]

Haha that would be quite accurate!

[@erinkarp]

I had a ranger with this spell once. Quite useful for escaping :P

[@bryanmanus6846]

My druid uses this spell a lot because he has blind sight

[@ajjessen5236]

Great tool for blinding giants or any tall creature while you hack away at their legs and HP with no repercussions.

[@slizzlejizzle408]

They really need to allow the caster to see through the cloud

[@bigPapabear1980]

The spell is also a domain spell for tempest clerics

[@ChancesSpellbook]

Very true!

[@ogilow3291]

I picked the blindfighting style on my ranger and I’m going to go head first into the fog with blindsight

[@colinstacy2085]

Could you theoretically control the shape of the cloud say make a small arena for a 1v1 against another player where both of you are in the center

[@ChancesSpellbook]

Hmm although I'd allow it, by RAW it doesn't look like it. That being said, with Shape Water you should be able to!

[@rhetthouse432]

Have a bat familiar and use it's senses. Now you have blind sight in the fog for ten feet. You could Cover a pittrap with fog and make a noise. Cancel out pack tactics.

[@slowlearner713]

Cast fog cloud Wild shape into constrictor snake (blindsight) Sneaky snake

[@ChancesSpellbook]

Haha I like where you're going with this!

[@lonewaffle231]

Dude read the discription 2 times and dindt say what happens in both parties are in the smoke

[@TDSFounder]

Druid's might be able to get a lot of combat use out of this if they can Wild Shape into something with Blindsight or that doesn't get disadvantage in the cloud. I know that at least one high level Rogue gets Blindsense so they can use it too. Or even if they have a Familiar with Blindsight they can literally fly it into the Fog and have it use Touch spells.

[@ChancesSpellbook]

Haha That would be hilarious!

[@jonbaker476]

Edit: This is pretty long Everyone seems to think that once Fog Cloud is cast, everything stays absolutely the same with the exception of outside archers. Essentially, they think that the effects of Fog Cloud have no effect on anyone inside the cloud. Their reasoning is that since everyone is blind, then everyone has disadvantage on all attacks due to them being blind, but at the same time they all have advantage on everyone else due to everyone else also being blind. Honestly I think that's retarded. I'm pretty sure that people are misinterpreting the rule on blindness, because it makes absolutely no sense at all that anyone could possibly have any kind of advantage on attacks against someone else if they themselves are blind to begin with. Unless stated otherwise, every action and attack requires sight, which is why you have disadvantage if you can't see. So once again, how can you gain advantage if you can't see anything? The advantage you have against someone who can't see you is entirely hinged on you being able to see them. UNSEEN ENEMIES: "When you attack a target that you can't see, you have disadvantage on the attack roll. This is true whether you're guessing the target's location or you're targeting a creature you can hear BUT NOT SEE. . . . When a creature can't see you, you have advantage on attack rolls against it." BLINDED CONDITION: "A blinded creature can't see and automatically fails any ability check that requires sight. Attack rolls against the creature have advantage, and the creature's attack rolls have disadvantage." The whole reason you have advantage on the blind creature is because they can't see you but you can see them. But if you also can't see them, then there's no logical way you could have advantage on someone else, because your disadvantage would supersede your advantage. That's the reason the disadvantage is stated first in the UNSEEN ENEMIES section. It clearly states that you automatically fail anything that requires sight, and this same logic is applies to combat, which is why you have disadvantage. It points out multiple times the whole "unseen" aspect of it, which naturally insinuates that you only gain advantage if you can see them. Now here's the thing: If you think I'm wrong, I'm completely fine with that. What I'm tired of is how everyone keeps acting like the idea I presented here is ludicrous and that the whole "advantage/disadvantage stacking scenario" is the ACTUAL rule of the game. According to everything I have ever read in the PHB and other DND books, it does not once say that these stack on top of each other in this scenario. There is nothing specific about that, due to it being a rare circumstance, since someone always has some way to light up a dark room or whatever. The rules presented in the books are just explaining a simple rule, which is that when a creature is blinded (a conditional effect), it gains disadvantage against others while everyone else gains advantage against it. It's written in a very self-explanatory way, and the reason for that is because the rule is obviously directed toward a creature who is blind while others are not (like if someone looks at a dryad or whatever, or if someone has to close their eyes while attacking a basilisk). It never once says these things stack if everyone is blinded. So unless you have an actual quote that specifically states that these effects stack on top of each other in this specific scenario (or scenarios like it), don't act like the "stacking thing" is the ACTUAL rule. I'm willing to be proven wrong here. I'm simply stating my reasons why I think everyone else is wrong, and why I think they're misinterpreting the rule. I think they're applying their logic incorrectly, due to the rule being directed toward a single creature, not toward a whole warring crowd of people. I'll completely change my mind if someone can provide me with an actual quote from official material that states those effects stack in this specific scenario. But so far I haven't found a single thing directed toward a scenario in which everyone is blinded, and because of that, it seems to me that everyone is simply ASSUMING that the actual rule is that they stack. It seems to me that they're making that rule up, and are overthinking it due to the book's simplistic writing (similar to how every church interprets a scripture a different way).

[@chadgoodyear7905]

Where did you get the idea that everyone assumes stacking? Stacking definitely is not the way the rules work, as you say. 1 x advantage vs 3 x disadvantage is just the same as 1x advantage vs 1 x disadvantage. But… Fog Cloud still cancels out. Blinded gives each creature inside both advantage and disadvantage, therefore you can totally ignore all other sources of advantage and disadvantage - it’s cancelled out 1x1 end of story. Where does stacking come in? So it doesn’t matter if disadvantage comes from unseen enemies or blinded. Same, same. I do however totally get your point that it seems weird having advantage at attacking while blinded (because they are blind) and I would totally not care if that was the rule at the table. But you could logically say that people ducking and parrying is part of combat and a blind person will not do that so your lucky swing will simply take their head clean off. I mean we’re all smart enough to find a way to justify it from any angle if we try. I guess your way instead of 2 combatants in the fog balancing out and fighting on as normal, they both have disadvantage against each other so it’s still a level playing field but with lots more misses, right? Certainly feels more realistic that way. Certainly in an open space.

[@SpidermanandhisAmazingFriends]

Ruining a sporting event, or demoralizing commoner uprisings

[@ChancesSpellbook]

Hahah It really would be a buzzkill!