[DnD 3.5] Rules Question: smokesticks

[Tetnahkshem]

Okay, according to the srd:

Smokestick

This alchemically treated wooden stick instantly creates thick, opaque smoke when ignited. The smoke fills a 10-foot cube (treat the effect as a fog cloud spell, except that a moderate or stronger wind dissipates the smoke in 1 round). The stick is consumed after 1 round, and the smoke dissipates naturally.

Okay, so how long does it take for smoke to dissipate naturally?

[David J Prokopetz]

Okay, so how long does it take for smoke to dissipate naturally?I'd say look to the description of fog cloud, but the spell has a level-dependent duration, so that doesn't help. Ten minutes, maybe?

[Tori Bergquist]

I think that question is answered in Monte Cook's Book of Arcane Meteorology....or maybe in the Goodman Games release "Weather Man Classics #27."

No, wait....it was in the Smoke & Fog sourcebook fro FFG, maybe.

:D

Seriously, I'd say, it lingers for about 1d10 minutes after activation, unless a strong wind arises (i.e. GM decides there is strong wind).

Done. Slap and SRD on it and sell it for a buck on rpgnow.

The lesson abotu D20 is this: When playing 3.0, I had a mage who cast Spider Climb. So my DM said I climb like a spider, and looked up how that works on the spider entry. Spiders had a Climb of 12 or something like that. Sooooo.....I had to roll to Spider Climb, and so ironically did the spiders. Needless to say, it got amusing at how no one would use the spell anymore after I and others lost more than one mage who fell off a roof to his death. And even funnier when many spider encounters resulted in the same terminal end.....

Now, they fixed this in the 3.5 edition of the game, but the truth is, it wasn't really "broken," except in the sense that the book wasn't apparently doing enough common sense thinking for us....

[Agent Oracle]

Having worked in areas where great volumous clouds of smoke have been inadverantly produced (on-site fires are NOT fun.) I'd put the duration at a few seconds when the area is open to the air (20-30), and upwards of ten minutes in a smaller place with poor ventelation.

[Tetnahkshem]

Now, they fixed this in the 3.5 edition of the game, but the truth is, it wasn't really "broken," except in the sense that the book wasn't apparently doing enough common sense thinking for us....

In our case, in the actual session we just ran with a duration of a couple of rounds and moved on without a hitch.

Then I posted for people's opinions here just to get some unbiased thoughts.

I mean as a player, it suits my purposes to have the stuff linger around for awhile. And the nod to fog cloud, while having the issues David mentions, seems to indicate the longer duration.

On the other hand, I definately see the point Agent Oracle makes in that smoke in open air tends to not linger around very often. Also, most of the alchemical items tend to have short durations.

So mostly, I was looking for (and definately appriciate the replys so far) some unbiased opinions. That and it was Monday and I just wanted a casual topic to toss around. :D