Rain effect items

[minstrel]

Items with the rain effect (robe of clouds and the new storm bow in .10) are thematically interesting, but strategically too risky for anyone but merfolk, octopodes and grey draconians (arguably also post level 15 kenku, but they still risk item destruction). Creating shallow water nearby makes retreating dangerous and slows gameplay because the player must spend time looking under rain clouds for water and the need to remove the items before visiting your stash is gamey. Both items have some strong stats and might see brief use until a suitable replacement shows up but ultimately the nuisance factor outweighs them.

I suggest that the rain effect be made evokable on/off like boots of levitation, or changed to creating rain clouds that obscure sight like fog but do not create shallow/deep water. Fog-type clouds would have a tradeoff that might be worth making - sometimes it could help you escape or move in, other times it might block you from shooting or casting a spell at something important while it moves in for you.

[dolphin]

Or the pools created by the rain could be temporary . . .

I do like the evocation idea - Perhaps with some thunder and lightning and permanent pool generation (and electricity frying the stuff in the water)

[Tiber]

Or maybe items that passively create rain ignore tiles with items on them, since it leads to tedious gameplay.

Evokable rain is currently Fedhas' domain. Well, Xom and the disc of storms can too, but those are rather unpredictable.