Is The Web Spell Broken?

[Lasher Dragon]

2nd level spell, no SR, reflex save to not be rendered immoblie (albeit temporarily, if you can STR-check out or escape-artist out, plus further checks just to be able to move), 20 foot radius... opinions?

 

[Shin Okada]

Web is a good spell when situation is right. You can use it to separate some of the opponent out of combat (temprally). Or you can use it to block a corridor when you wan to run away. But usefulness of this spell is very situational. Unlike wall spells, Web is not shapable. So whether you can sepalate appropriate opponent is uncertain. Also, you can't kill opponents with this spell (usually, I mean).

 

[Lasher Dragon]

The reason I ask is this. I play in a game as a halfling rogue-ranger with a Cloak of Arachnida, granting me Web once per day. I used it all the time, it worked awesome. I could tell I was somewhat irritating to the DM. We recently had a Sorceror join the party, and one of his favorite tactics is to Web the enemy and then Fireball them. Now I can see the DM is getting pretty annoyed. BTW we are playing Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil, so lots of dungeon-space setup perfectly for web. Web has become THE 2nd level spell to have, and it comes into play in nearly every combat where there are more than a few enemies.

Another reason I got to thinking about this is that Web is specifically discouraged in the WLD, and I can see why... any encounter in a relatively confined space, dealing with multiple opponents is just incredibly ripe for Web.

 

[Shin Okada]

Clever DM does not place all the creatures within the area of one web.

Also note. While web is flammable, it provides cover/total cover to people within it. AFAIK the text does not say that entire web vaporizes with one cast of fireball. All it say is "Any fire -- a torch, burning oil, a flaming sword, and so forth -- can set the webs alight and burn away 5 square feet in 1 round." So someone on the other side of web may not be harmed by fireball I guess.

In my experience, Glitterdust is more like "THE 2nd level spell to have".

 

[Sejs]

Needs to be anchored, can be thwarted by a tindertwig.


Meh. It's okay.

 

[Plane Sailing]

I think the big problems with it are:

a) you can save against it but still get effectively removed from the combat - effectively a DC15 Str check to move 5ft even if you saved?

b) no size benefits to escape? I would have thought that large or huge creatures would find a much easier job of brushing through the webs.

(a) is the worst though. Even with Solid Fog you can at least move 5ft per round. With web most PCs will spend several rounds struggling to move and not getting anywhere.

Personally I would allow characters with evasion or saved against it to step free of the web as it was forming by the shortest route possible. If they can dodge an exploding fireball, I think they should be able to dodge webs.

 

[Pinotage]

I think it's fine due to limited circumstances where you can actually use it, combined with the fact that it provides cover. In one not-so-recent scenario in my game, the PCs were attempting to prevent an enemy from escaping. The Wizard cast web, and centred it on the enemy, giving him total cover from the PCs. He was standing right next to a window at the time, so he smashed that to pieces in a bid to escape. The PCs heard the glass break and quickly dispelled to web before catching him with Hold Person. It might render them immobile but it doesn't kill them, similar to spells like confusion - they're prevented from acting but not dead.

Why bother using Web and Fireball when you can just Fireball to start with?

Pinotage

 

[Mark Chance]

Why bother using Web and Fireball when you can just Fireball to start with?

Does seem a bit silly. A target with at least 20 feet of web between it and caster has total cover and couldn't even be targeted since they'd be effectively invisible. This isn't likely to be constant problem, but it is worth remembering.

Recently my 10 STR gnome rogue/cleric was accidentally webbed by the party's wizard. Without aid of magic or a checks, he freed himself from the web. Of course, the high STR undead crocodile also caught in the web helped a little.

A DC 15 STR check isn't that hard to make. Many monsters - especially Large or larger ones - have high STR and can easily score a 20, 25, or even higher on a STR check. A 5th-level character, such as a rogue or monk, with ranks in Escape Artist can easily have a +10 bonus to his check, thus getting up to a 30 on his check for 15 feet of movement. Web is, at best, a one to three round delaying tactic against these. It is, of course, complete ineffective against incorporeal creatures and next to useless against burrowers.

Let's also not forget that web must be anchored "to two or more solid and diametrically opposed points or else the web collapses upon itself and disappears."

 

[Plane Sailing]

In my recent experience, a PC saved against the web (it was inside a dungeon room, not an uncommon location for adventuring). He had an 18 Str, and that gave him a 50% chance of no movement each round he tried to escape out of it. A DC15 str check IS hard to make. It would be better if it was DC10 - it would still hamper those no longer trapped, but it is no longer superior to the higher level spells like Solid Fog (where you can't target them because of concealment)

You only get full cover if there are 20ft+ webs in the way. 15ft or less? It is just ordinary cover which isn't a great help.

 

[beaver1024]

If you thought Web is overpowered, what about Entangle? Twice the area effect of Web and 1 level lower.