Let's Talk Tactics - Battlefield Control Spells Part 6
Let’s finish up our miscellaneous battlefield control spells. Last week we discussed up to the 2nd level. There were five really good spells and hopefully we can find just as many spells starting at 3rd level. I’ve found it is much harder for people to want to use battlefield control spells at higher levels. Most spellcasters have come online by now and can do massive amounts of damage. Players have a tendency to focus on blasting away at monsters instead of taking advantage of their potential to shorten combat and therefore reducing the overall number of spell slots used by the party. We can also forget that as we increase in levels, so do the bad guys, and just because our characters can drop 40-50 points of damage per round, it does not mean we won’t miss occasionally. That, along with the fact they too have more hit points, higher AC, increased damage output, lair actions, and legendary actions make it critical to know how to use your control spells now more than ever.
Once again, let’s review the list of the spells that we've been using to control the battlefield, with the spells in bold being the one's we shall discuss today:
Cantrips - Create Bonfire, Mold Earth
1st Level - Entangle, Fog Cloud, Grease
2nd - Darkness, Flaming Sphere, Gust of Wind, Moonbeam, Silence, Spike Growth, Web
3rd - Call Lightning, Erupting Earth, Major Image, Plant Growth, Sleet Storm, Stinking Cloud, Wall of Sand, Wall of Water, Wind Wall
4th - Control Water, Hallucinatory Terrain, Sickening Radiance, Wall of Fire
5th - Cloudkill, Control Winds, Dawn, Insect Plague, Maelstrom, Transmute Rock, Wall of Force, Wall of Light, Wall of Stone, Wrath of Nature
6th - Blade Barrier, Programmed Illusion, Wall of Ice, Wall of Thorns
7th - Forcecage, Mirage Arcane, Reverse Gravity, Whirlwind
8th - Control Weather, Earthquake, Incendiary Cloud, Tsunami
9th - Prismatic Wall, Storm of Vengeance
It’s apparent that there has been a shift from just controlling the physical landscape of the battlefield to doing damage while making the area of effect harder to traverse. As we mentioned above, doing damage usually has become the primary goal of the players, so most of these spells should satisfy their bloodlust.
Sickening Radiance
Classes - Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard
Spell Level - 4th, Casting Time - 1 Action, Damage/Effect - See below
Range/Area -120 ft./30 ft. sphere Duration - 10 minutes, Contrentration Required - Yes
This spell is similar to most of the other sphere area of effect spells but with a few key differences. The 30-foot radius is average for a spell this level, and the fact that it spreads around corners is standard. We’ve spoken in previous articles about how 10 minutes is forever in D&D, but it’s not out of the ordinary. You have to make your Constitution save when you enter the sickly green light for the first time or start your turn inside it, which once again is standard practice. We wouldn’t expect it not to require concentration so the fact that it does isn’t surprising. You’ll need to keep your concentration or all those levels of exhaustion your enemies have taken will go away but we’ll get into that in a bit.
The effects of the spell are where things get interesting. Your enemies will take 4d10 in radiant damage (average 22 damage), which is a surprisingly high amount of damage for a 4th level spell. A spell such as Blight does 8d8 damage (average 36 damage) but it can only target one creature and is instantaneous. Individuals in the cloud are engulfed in the green light, ending any invisibility effects they may have upon themselves. The last effect is they suffer one level of exhaustion. Exhaustion is fun…as long as your not the one under its effects. Starting with disadvantage on all ability checks with one level of exhaustion doesn’t seem that bad, but things get dangerous with your second level of exhaustion. Once your speed is halved, it makes it that much harder to get out of the icky green light. God forbid you are stuck in the light for 3 turns in a row and manage to fail your save again, then the next check is at disadvantage on attack rolls and saving throws. Things get much, much worse from there as you lose half your hit points, your movement speed becomes zero and then you die.
Now I know you’re thinking, “Good luck with that.” Keeping your mortal enemy within the sickening radiance when it’s only a 30 ft. sphere isn’t going to be easy, but here’s an idea. Combine sickening radiance with the grease spell. If you can slow your target’s movement and keep them in the green light things can get steadily worse for the bad guy. Timing, location, and a little bit of luck are all involved, but that’s the nature of combat in most situations.
Dawn
Classes - Cleric, Wizard
Spell Level - 5th, Casting Time - 1 Action, Damage/Effect - Radiant
Range/Area -60 ft./30 ft. cylinder Duration - 1 minute, Contrentration Required - Yes
Now here’s a great offensive battlefield control spell. A massive beam of sunlight in a 30-foot radius and 40 feet high comes down from the heavens to make your enemy’s lives unbearable. You have to love when your control spell affects both us common people stuck on the ground and those glorious flying creatures. The saving throw is Constitution, which is unfortunate since you aren’t going to be running into many creatures without some sort of Con modifier at higher levels. The spell does radiant damage and it isn’t a massive amount at 4d10 (avg. 22 damage). That said, failing the save still causes the creature to take half damage, so an average of 11 damage is still damage. Constitution saves are made when the cylinder appears and a creature is inside its area of effect, or if they end their turn inside it.
What makes the spell so potent is that if you’re within 60 feet of the cylinder, you can move it up to 60 feet as a bonus action on your turn. That’s a huge range of terrain you can cover, given its 30 feet on all sides from the center of the spell, and you can move it an additional 60 feet! Needless to say, you’ll need to be very cautious if you decide to cast this spell indoors.
We haven’t been much of the bonus action spell effects in our conversions. There are some fun combos you can employ against those mean old monsters trying to kill you, hopefully killing them first. Once you rain sunshine down upon them, they will probably do the smart thing and get out of the bright light as quickly as possible. On your next turn, cast anyone of these lower-level spells that do not require concentration before you center the dawn spell over them again. It may make it extremely difficult for them not to end their next turn inside the light.
Earth Tremor - Failing a Dexterity save will cause this 1st level spell can knock creatures prone, cause 1d6 bludgeoning damage, and create difficult terrain if you’re not on cobblestone streets or in a dungeon.
Grease - Like the example in the spell above, a failed Dexterity save has the creature falling prone and have to deal with difficult terrain.
Ice Storm takes a 4th level spell slot, but things can go bad real quickly for your enemies. Hailstones rain down in a 20-foot-radius, 40-foot-high cylinder centered wherever your heart pleases. Creatures inside the cylinder make Dexterity saving throws, taking 2d8 bludgeoning damage and 4d6 cold damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. Where’s the control aspect, you ask? The hailstones turned the entire area of effect into difficult terrain until the end of your next turn.
Insect Plague
Classes - Cleric, Druid, Sorcerer
Spell Level - 5th, Casting Time - 1 Action, Damage/Effect - Piercing
Range/Area -300 ft./20 ft. sphere Duration - 10 minutes, Contrentration Required - Yes
It’s time to get biblical on our foes. When you cast this spell, you create a 20-foot-radius sphere filled with locusts centered on a point you choose within range. A bug bite is annoying. Getting bitten by hundreds of bugs at once hurts…a lot.
The rundown is as follows: 20-foot sphere with a 300-foot range, lasts for a long 10 minutes, and the locusts do 4d10 piercing damage if you fail your Constitution save, half that if you make it. You’ll be making that save when the spell first appears, or you’re stupid enough to enter the area or end your turn there. Bonus control aspects include the sphere spreading around corners, the sphere’s area is lightly obscured, and difficult terrain.
It isn’t much different from many of the spells we’ve already talked about, except for the bugs. Bugs suck.
Blade Barrier
Classes - Cleric
Spell Level - 6th, Casting Time - 1 Action, Damage/Effect - Slashing
Range/Area -90 ft. Duration - 10 minutes, Contrentration Required - Yes
This should probably have gone with the Wall Spells, but I focused on the word “wall” I skipped right over it. The more I look at the spell, I am glad I didn’t include it with them because this 100 foot long, 20 foot high, and 5 foot thick whirling mass of blades belongs in a Hellraiser movie, not with some boring old wall of ice. It’s a little odd that this is a cleric only spell, but I’m sure the creators had their reasons.
Your wall of whirling horror can be in a straight line, or if you want to trap your enemies inside a circle of death blades, you can create a ringed wall up to 60 feet in diameter, 20 feet high, and 5 feet thick. The wall provides three-quarters cover to creatures behind it, so no more of this weak, lightly obscured bullshit. I’ll take a +5 bonus to AC and Dexterity saving throws over disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight every day, all day. The space is difficult terrain, but with only a thickness of 5 feet, something horrible has to happen to stop your movement inside the blades.
It’s a Dexterity save when entering for the first time or starting your turn inside the barrier. Fail, and you’ll be taking 6d10 slashing damage, or half that if you make your save. The damage is good for a 6th level cleric spell (avg. 33 damage), especially considering the only other damage spell at the 6th level is harm, which does 14d6 necrotic damage (avg. 49 damage), and it is an instantaneous spell targeting one creature. Sure, nothing guarantees anyone will enter the blade wall and take damage, but it’s all about control right now.
This is a great defense battlefield control spell. When casting this spell, your two primary options are to keep the bad guys out or trap them inside, possibly with you if you are casting it as a ring. As with the other wall spells, you can split your enemy’s forces with proper placement. I’m a big fan of trapping the BBEG inside a ring made of spinning knives, allowing you time to pound away on them while its minions contemplate the spinning blades and how much they truly love their boss. Please make sure not to trap any of your party members outside the ring, unless they are a raging barbarian who wants to hit as many things as they can. With a 60 foot diameter, this shouldn’t be a problem, but remember to communicate with your party. While I’m not promoting metagaming, make sure you know your foe since nothing prevents them from teleporting out of the circle to safety. Of course, that works both ways, so when the barbarian mops the floor with the boss’s lackeys, feel free to misty step out of the ring and away from the evil boss if things aren’t going your way.
Forcecage
Classes -Bard, Warlock, Wizard
Spell Level - 7th, Casting Time - 1 Action, Damage/Effect - See below
Range/Area -100 ft., Duration - 1 hour, Contrentration Required - No
Jail sucks, even if it’s only for an hour. When you cast forcecage, you have the option of creating a holding cell that can be up to 20 feet on a side and is made from 1/2-inch diameter bars spaced 1/2 inch apart or puts you in solitary, a solid box that can be up to 10 feet on each side. The box is solid preventing all matter and spells from going in or out of the area. Both prisons are made of magical force that you can’t see, but you can’t move either.
Creatures inside either of these jail cells are trapped. If a creature is only partially within the area, or those too large for the cage, they are expelled from the center until they are completely outside the area. If you are inside the cage get comfortable. Creatures inside cannot leave by non-magical means, so you can forget about digging an escape tunnel. Teleportation and interplanar travel are an option, but you’ll have to make a Charisma saving throw. Success and that teleportation spell get you out from behind bars. Fail and you’re waiting for an hour and you’ve wasted a spell slot. Don’t try and get sneaky, as the cage extends into the Ethereal Plane, so you won’t be escaping via that plane.
A few important items of note. Dispel magic has no effect on the cage, so save the spell slot. The spell does not require concentration, so cast and forget about it. Finally, the spell requires 1,500 gp worth of ruby dust as a material component, so it doesn’t come cheap. Is it worth the cost? Depends on what you need, but don’t be above putting yourself in a time out.
The first thought that comes to most people is to trap the BBEG inside the cage, kill any minions, heal up, apply your new buffs and when the spell ends, pound the ever-loving crap out of it at full health. You can also fit your party inside the cage if there are just too many bad guys to fight and try to wait them out. You can also heal up and prepare for round two. Worst case scenario you have a snack, smile at the baddies, and teleport out of there the second the cage drops.
Maybe jail doesn’t suck after all.
Reverse Gravity
Classes - Druid, Sorcerer, Wizard
Spell Level - 7th, Casting Time - 1 Action, Damage/Effect - See below
Range/Area -100 ft./50 ft. cylinder Duration - 1 minute, Contrentration Required - Yes
Forced flying is never fun. Falling damage is even less fun.
When you cast the spell, everything inside the 50-foot radius, 100-foot high cylinder that isn’t tied down start falling upwards. You keep fl up till you reach the top, all in the span of the 6 second round in which the spell is cast. Unless I’m a monk, my character isn’t ever coming close to moving that fast. Unfortunately, I’m moving up into the sky, against my will. I can try to grab onto something by making a Dexterity saving throw, but it needs to be in reach and anchored down. So if the spell is cast in the middle of a field, creatures will be hovering 100 feet in the air.
This spell reverses gravity in a 50-foot-radius, 100- foot high cylinder centered on a point within range. All creatures and objects that aren't somehow anchored to the ground in the area fall upward and reach the top of the area when you cast this spell. A creature can make a Dexterity saving throw to grab onto a fixed object it can reach, thus avoiding the fall.
So when you fall upwards, if you slam into the ceiling that is 60 feet up, you’ll take 6d6 falling damage. Lucky you will also take 6d6 falling damage when the spell ends, and you plummet to the ground. Objects are also affected the same way by the spell. You could break all the furniture in an inn/tavern this way, but it seems a little excessive.
Here’s the interesting thing about this spell; all creatures are affected, including flying creatures. That annoying Aarakocra that’s been flying around 20 feet above you is going to fall up right along with you, and while it takes 2d6 less in fall damage and won’t fall when the spell ends, there will be some satisfaction in seeing it getting hurt and being prone next to you.
From a control aspect, what I recommend is this. Since the spell has a decent area of effect, cast it and neutralize as many of your foes as you can for 1 minute. During this time, you can fight the remaining earthbound enemies. Once they are all defeated, position yourself correctly and end the spell. Rush in when you can and attack with advantage as they are prone. If the fall doesn’t kill them, you will.
Our final set of battlefield control spells will be next week when we look at dominating your surroundings with illusions.
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