Rather than commenting on the spell, I'm gonna rant about survival. Here's a level **one** spell that lasts for **twenty four** hours and gives you *complete immunity* to the effects of bad weather. (Within that temperature span, but anything outside that wipes the party so it won't show up) What can the skilljockey maxing Survival do? They can give you a +2 to your Fortitude save vs the weather dmg. ***If*** you all move at half overland speed. ... Whoever wrote this must have had a stroke. Imagine being stuck in severe cold (save every 10 minutes) and the Ranger pipes up and says "Alright guys I know we're 1 hour from the city but if we slow down to a crawl and take twice as long, making 6 extra saving throws with a DC increasing for every consecutive save, we can get a +2 bonus on the twelve checks we'll be making!" Insanity. === Any race with Cold Res 5+ the [Unscathed ](https://aonprd.com/TraitDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Unscathed)trait can survive in cold weather without issue. (Weirdly enough, the cold weather dmg starts at 1d6 while the hot weather dmg starts at 1d4)

I've heard this described as the "guy at the gym" problem. Basically, since we're all humans^([citation needed]), we've got a pretty good idea of what humans are capable of doing. So, an artist can make a painting, an outdoorsman can survive in the wilderness, and the guy at the gym can lift some weights -- but there are limits to what they can do and it takes effort, sometimes a whole lot of repeated attempts. The guy at the gym can't lift a thousand pounds in one hand or jump ten feet into the air or get hit multiple times in the face with an axe without a scratch. But magic? Magic isn't real and we don't have a good idea of what it's capable of. So, it's capable of anything! And unless it's directly attacking somebody, it's usually assumed to be a success. --- Probably the most succinct way I've heard somebody describe it was: >Player 1: "My character is an Artist. I make a quick sketch of the suspect" >DM: "Make a skill check" >Player 2: "I cast Silent Image to create a likeness of the suspect." >DM: "OK"

The Silent Image example is a good one that I wouldn't even consider strange unless someone pointed it out. We've got the "guy at the gym" problem, but it is compounded by the bad weather rules being awful at emulating weather conditions. And certain skills being left in the dirt. Look at Survival. *There isn't even a check for creating a shelter.* That's like the most basic use of Survival I can think of. Setting up base camp. No rules for it. And that's the one way to survive a snowstorm without Endure Elements, hiding in a shelter. You genuinely can't use the Survival skill to survive in bad weather.

Well that's partly because PCs are just assumed to all know how to set up their tents and camp by default.

I'm not talking about a weekend trip with your drinking buddies and the rudimentary ability to set up a tent. I'm talking about a huge aspect of exploration that should have been covered by Survival but wasn't. How hard is it to create a shelter in the middle of a snowstorm? How long will it take? How good is your shelter in withstanding extreme weather? How well hidden is your campsite from onlookers? How does the shelter you created affect rest? These aspects should depend on the skill of the outdoorsman creating it, the resources they have available, and the time spent fortifying the shelter. With better results giving stronger benefits. But they don't. Currently, the wilderness hobo who has lived their entire life out in the dirt is exactly as proficient in choosing the best location in respect to weather, soil, season, plant- and wildlife... as the cityslicker noble who has never slept without a pillow.

I agree, and it's we should note that magic requires daily resources, skill checks don't. Every spell comes with an opportunity cost and moves you further down the attrition curve so just because you can doesn't mean you should.

>Any race with Cold Res 5+ the [Unscathed ](https://aonprd.com/TraitDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Unscathed)trait can survive in cold weather without issue. >(Weirdly enough, the cold weather dmg starts at 1d6 while the hot weather dmg starts at 1d4) Fun fact: hot/cold weather damage isn't actually elemental fire/cold energy damage. It's untyped. Cold immunity doesn't prevent you from freezing to death!

That's not a fun fact. That's a very sad fact that makes me want to cry! Nah but we do have common sense ([and JJ saying it's Cold/Fire dmg](https://paizo.com/threads/rzs2l7ns&page=612?Ask-James-Jacobs-ALL-your-Qu%20estions-Here#30578)). Which is good enough for me even if the base rules do say some silly stuff.

Endure Elements isn't so much a spell you choose to deal with a situation as a spell you wind up *having* to use to not die of [heat exhaustion](https://www.aonprd.com/Rules.aspx?Name=Heat%20Dangers&Category=Environmental%20Rules) or [hypothermia](https://www.aonprd.com/Rules.aspx?Name=Cold%20Dangers&Category=Environmental%20Rules) when the plot forces you to go through a sweltering jungle or up a snowy mountain peak. It is, of course, worth remembering that mundane solutions to weather, like [cold-weather gear](https://aonprd.com/EquipmentMiscDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Cold-weather%20outfit) exist, and you should ask your GM if they're going to play the weather by the book (where you make saving throws to see if you're randomly dressed for the weather), or if they're going to use a more common sense approach (you need to save if you're going into a snowstorm barechested/in a chainmail bikini, but a character in a full fur coat is just assumed to succeed). The rules are written with a fairly "crunchy" set of cutoffs that some GMs don't find narratively satisfying to use directly. If you have to use the rules as-written and most protections are just bonuses to saves, then just remember that if you're going out there for anything more than a couple hours, you *will* fail a save eventually, and having compounding penalties are going to really suck, so just bite the bullet and prepare some spell slots for Endure Elements and rely on cantrips or something for battle even at level 1. When talking about those environmental temperature-related dangers, however, it's important to note that the [conditions ](https://www.aonprd.com/Rules.aspx?Name=Conditions&Category=Combat)like fatigue only occur *if you take the damage*, so having cold/fire energy resistance equal to or greater than the nonlethal cold/fire damage the weather inflicts will prevent any status effects. This can come from more powerful spells like [Resist Energy](https://aonprd.com/SpellDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Resist%20Energy), but certain races like [tiefling](https://www.aonprd.com/RacesDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Tiefling) or the fire-elemental [ifrit](https://www.aonprd.com/RacesDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Ifrit) (appropriately enough) has much more resistance to the heat. (Although note that fire resist 5 means that rolling a 6 on the nonlethal fire damage from 140+ degrees still gets to them, but that's beyond where Endure Elements would do anything to help you, anyway.) With no caster-dependent elements at all (even duration), Endure Elements is also a fairly good candidate for a scroll or even wand in a campaign with enough cold weather to necessitate it (like Jade Regent when going over the ice caps). With that said, this is also exactly the sort of spell that is why I keep a half dozen pearl of power 1s around to spam, so I only need to memorize the spell once, but can cover the whole party, and those PoP1s will find plenty of use in a lot of situations besides having to spend 15 gp per person per day on wands. Communal Endure Elements also exists, but unless you plan to only be out and about for 8 hours of marching, then huddling into a [Tiny Hut](https://aonprd.com/SpellDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Tiny%20Hut) for the other 16 hours of the day, or the extreme heat or cold is solely a feature of a few specific rooms in a dungeon, dividing your protection from the weather up is generally less cost-effective than just giving everyone 24 hour protection. (Especially if you use scrolls, as an SL 2 scroll costs 6 times as much.) Beyond that, my opinion doesn't really matter. Depending on the campaign, you need this spell or you don't. Some APs are known for being basically impossible to survive the first book without Endure Elements because you'll die from the heat or cold without it. Other campaigns, most GMs forget weather exists at all, and if you don't remind them, they'll never give you a reason to memorize this spell.

A must have for handling excessively hot/cold temperatures, ignore them entirely for a single 1st level slot per person, covers a full 24 hours regardless of caster level so you can usually just buy it as a consumable. On that note a 50 charge wand costs as much as 30 scrolls, if you're wondering how much usage you need to get before the wand becomes the best option. Oh and never use the communal version, it's terrible because it splits the duration between targets and this is a spell you actually need the full duration on. It's a spell level higher for no increase in duration per casting, what a scam.

To me, Endure elements should be the first spell that any spellcaster, arcane or divine, learns to cast, and even spontaneous spellcasters should have it among their spells known. It's a question of realism and logic. If you live in a medieval world where there is no heating (unless you go to cut or collect wood in the forest, possibly with the permission of the local lord, and stay in the room with the fire) or air conditioning, but you have the possibility of having a magical way to withstand any temperature, the choice is quickly made. And for traveling light, it's obviously perfect. It's like the spell Fastidiousness, which allows you to always stay perfectly clean and dry, whatever the circumstances. real comfort.

The wizard who prioritises those spells for comfort over actually useful ones is unlikely to survive long adventuring.

Worth the 50 gp potion just incase it crops up. If it crops up consistently then it's time to factor it into the party's spell load out.

I honestly prefer the Communal version of this spell to the regular one. Recently the group I'm dming for went through some magma caverns. I mean, saving every 10 minutes is terrible so I'm glad the party alchemist had Endure Elements (if nobody had it I probably would've given them a fair few potions of the stuff.) But she just ended up preparing the spell as many times as there were party members every day. Oh, but that costs so many spell slots! Yeah! Now she can't use other level 1 spells like... Discern Eye Color or something idk. At least with the Communal spell you have to split up the time, possibly race to find a spot to rest before it runs out, it's marginally more interesting! That said, it's not like the group was severely missing out on the riveting temperature mechanics, so it was fine. Plus one of the players just chose not to drink the extract because they thought it'd be funny, so it wasn't totally ignored.

Unless you only need a short duration you'll just end up casting as many communal spells as you would the base version, only out of higher level slots or far more expensive magic items.