Vermin Blight's Reach
In Dungeon Crawl Classics, Vermin Blight projects a swarm with a range of 200 feet plus 10 feet per caster level. That is not a short leash. A fifth-level caster is reaching 250 feet, which means the swarm does not have to erupt on top of the nearest enemy. It can erupt anywhere the caster can see within that radius, including the ground a formation is about to march across.
The spell check determines the swarm’s size and lethality, so the result does double duty. A strong check is not just more damage per round. It is a larger body of vermin occupying more squares, and that footprint is what controls space. Most players read the number, apply it to hit points, and stop thinking. They have turned a terrain weapon into a dart.
The failure here is conceptual, not mechanical. Spending Vermin Blight on the closest goblin is legal and wasteful. The range and duration exist to let the caster place a hazard between the enemy and its objective, or to seal an approach, long before contact.
At the table: Drop the swarm across the corridor the enemy must cross, not on the enemy, and let the terrain do the forcing.
Related
- Spells Are Not Just Damage Buttons
- Spells Solve Problems, Not Squares
- Spells Are Verbs, Not Damage Rolls
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