You're thinking far too "in-game." That is, the range in question is not from the caster to the clouds, or from the clouds to the target. It's from the caster to the target. So, what's the conflict in question? Let's say that the idea is to scare somebody with your power. Then it's a question of how far it is from the caster to the person to be scared.
Think of it this way, if the spell was "Make Me Scary" then it would be absurd to charge the penalty for the range to clouds - you'd definitely only consider the range to the target. In the case of Call Clouds, the clouds themselves are just the "special effect" that explains the mechanical result.
As another consideration, let's say you were trying to impede the flight of a dragon by calling clouds as he flies over. If he's way high up, then you get a huge penalty. Does this mean that you don't call the clouds? No, the same in-game effect happens as when you call it to scare a person who you are adjacent to, and have no penalty to affect. But the dragon is unlikely to be hindered mechanically. Which is not too hard to explain in terms of in-game plausibility, is it? Sure the clouds converge, but he's just not going to be slowed by some clouds, is he?
If there's no conflict, then it's something that no self-respecting hero would fail at - automtic success. So if the player is just casting the spell to cast it, then he succeeds, and the clouds come. OTOH, if he starts to abuse this, have him roll against 14 as the world's defense to see if he accidentally blows himself up foolishly bandying about his magic this way.
So don't cripple your characters and worry about just how high the clouds are. Just think in terms of what the conflict is, and where the affected target is.
>- the climatic effect : a hedkoranthi with 'start hailstorm' want to
>attack enemies. With what will they oppose ? i think its a magic
>hailstorm so with a magical abilitie ?
This is a subject of some debate. But given the physical effect of the hail I think it's easy to see how mundane abilities could be used to resist here. That is, they could run from it, or just take it if they're tough, whatever.
>Does the hedkoranthi need some sp�cial climatic situation. Thinking
>like a Runequestien i will say yes .. but in HQ it seems like
>everithing is magic, so ... how does it work ?
>RQ : your in desert, not enought humidity you cant land the spell
>HQ : your in desert, land the hail storm with some malus ?, call the
>cloud but the sky shine ?
In some ways, it's not really any different between the games. That is, if you understand the spell not to work in arid places, then it doesn't - basically you assign the -20 level Improv Mod, and just decide not to allow it.
That said, it's more interesting to allow people to try. That is, given them a big Improv Mod, and let them roll if they want. The neat thing is that this way it's not just GM fiat entirely, the player has the choice of whether or not to proceed.
Mike
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