Let's Talk Tactics - Battlefield Control Spells Part VII
As we arrive at the end of the series, I hope that people have realized how many spells allow you to have a huge impact on any encounter without doing any damage. As I have stated before, it’s a hard sell getting a player to create a primary control caster, but the worth to any party can be immeasurable. It’s hard to let go of the concept of not doing damage means you aren’t helpful to the party. Hopefully, you play with a solid group of people who understand your importance and will be thankful when you funnel the gang of kobolds straight into the welcoming arms of the party’s barbarian.
We finish up with the illusion control spells. There are several illusion spells available, but only three that fit the definition of battlefield control spells. Illusion spells, in general, are a funny thing. In the 1st edition, you could play an Illusionist class, but very few people did, and it fell by the wayside in 2e. It has its own school of magic in the 5th edition, but how many people do you know to play a spellcaster that belongs to that school? We use illusion spells mainly out of combat when we need to disguise ourselves to steal the royal jewels, sneak out of the town we have started a riot in, or stroll by the city guards on our way into the castle. In actual combat, not so much.
For example, mirror image is a lovely 2nd level spell if your wizard wants to wade into melee combat for some odd reason. I’ve seen it used by players who have taken a dip into sorcerer, but even then, only sparingly. Invisibility is probably the most commonly used of the illusion spells in and out of combat, but I would argue that it is primarily cast outside of combat. Of course, if you count using the spell to sneak up on some poor unsuspecting giff to start a fight, then I’d have to say that it’s used quite often in combat.
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, 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
So without further ado, let’s wrap this series up and take a look at illusionary battlefield control spells.
*Note - I remove programmed illusion from the list. After further review, while it does have some benefits in the battlefield control area, I decided it did not meet the criteria.
Major Image
Classes - Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard
Spell Level - 3rd Casting Time - 1 Action Damage/Effect - Illusion
Range/Area -120 ft./20 ft. cube Duration - 10 minutes Contrentration Required - Yes
When you cast the spell, you create an illusion of your choice. Think of an object or creature and that’s what you can make. Even better is the illusion not only looks like whatever you create, but it sounds, smells, and generates the heat or cold that the real object or creature would. It won’t cause damage, but your opponent won’t know that. This object can be quite large, as you can create anything your twisted mind can up with that fits within a 20-foot cube. As with most illusions, you’ll need to maintain concentration to be up the ruse. Interestingly enough, if you cast the spell using a 6th level spell slot or higher concentration is no longer needed.
Stay with 200 feet of the illusion, and you can use your action to cause the image to move to any other spot within range. If your creature walks, you can make it look like it walks; if it flies, you can make it look like it flies. You can even make it talk and hold a conversation without if you want, or you can have it taunt and heckle your foes. Don’t get too sassy, because if your adversary walks up to slap the illusion, it’s revealed to be an illusion because their hand will pass right through. The taunted foe can also use its action to examine the image and make an Intelligence (Investigation) check against your spell save DC. A success, and they will figure out the illusion for what it is…an illusion.
There are many ways you can use this spell to control your enemy’s movements. A giant ball of fire will freak anyone out, especially if it’s headed in their direction. With a movement of 120 feet, you can roll the ball up to your target, and since they’d be able to feel the heat coming off of it, why wouldn’t they think it’s real? Throw up an illusionary wall of ice and give yourself false cover. Make it look like you summoned a T-Rex instead of creating an illusion of one and chase your foes around the battlefield. Its stomping and roaring will scare the crap out of those supposedly tough hobgoblins you've been fighting. If you use your imagination, I’m sure you can come up with much better ideas than these three simple suggestions.
Hallucinatory Terrain
Classes - Bard, Druid, Warlock, Wizard
Spell Level - 4th Casting Time - 10 Minutes Damage/Effect - Illusion
Range/Area -300 ft./150 ft. cube Duration - 24 hours Contrentration Required - No
Make your own swamp, quiet pond, or arid desert. Within a 150-foot cube, you can make the landscape look like whatever you want it to. Once again, you can also mimick the sounds and smell of your newly illusioned terrain. This only affects the area's natural landscape, so anything built or manufactured won’t change. Neither will any animals or creatures, so if you are making a body of water, you may want to make sure there aren’t any random owlbears milling about.
Since you aren’t changing the physical structure of the terrain, it won’t feel any different from what it would in its natural state. So that lovely pond you’ve created won’t be wet, nor would you be able to run your fingertips across the golden wheat in the field you created. This means that a creature entering the illusionary area will probably figure out pretty quickly that something is afoot. They can attempt an Intelligence (Investigation) check against your spell save DC to call bullshit. If successful, the illusion will look like a vague picture that you superimposed on the terrain.
This spell is only useful when you have time to set it up since it takes 10 minutes to cast. That said, it does last twenty-four hours, so you’ve got plenty of time to set up. No concentration is required, which is good since your brain would explode if you had to hold it for 24 hours.
It’s a great spell for setting up an ambush for the incoming bad guys. Bodies of water are an excellent way to redirect creatures into a location where you can be waiting, swords drawn, and spells ready. If you don’t feel like fighting, project the image of a grassy field over a cliff and watch your foes plummet to their deaths. This is especially effective when you are fighting one giant evil creature, as a pack of gnolls will know something is terribly wrong when the scout drops out of sight, and all they hear is screaming followed by a loud thud.
Mirage Arcane
Classes - Bard, Druid, Wizard
Spell Level - 7th, Casting Time - 10 Minutes, Damage/Effect - Illusion
Range/Area -Sight, 1-mile cube, Duration - 10 days, Contrentration Required - No
Mirage Arcane has all the effects of hallucinatory terrain, along with a few big bonuses, as you would expect since you are using a 7th level spell slot. Structures such as buildings can be altered or added. Since a 150-feet area of effect is a child’s play, with a mirage arcane spell, your illusion can extend for as far as the eye can see…literally. Your illusion covers a 1-mile cube, which in D&D is how far most humanoids can see on a clear day. It still takes ten minutes to set up, but the spell lasts for 10 days! As with hallucinatory terrain, you don’t need to maintain concentration.
Another major difference is that the illusion includes changes to tactile elements. You can now change the ground into difficult terrain if you wish, create a difficult to climb rock wall, or make water actually wet. If you try to take anything you’ve created out of the spell’s area of effect, it will disappear, so those pebbles you grabbed for your rock collection will be gone. One last interesting tidbit is that will creatures with truesight can see the terrain's proper form, but everything you’ve created within the illusion remains, allowing them to interact with the illusion physically.
If your campaign involves mass combat, this is the spell for you. When you know an invading army is quickly approaching, take ten minutes and change the battlefield to whatever you need it to be. While you’re at it, change the castle your protecting into a crumbling building or a rugged mountain while creating another castle in a different location. Let the enemy forces tire themselves out laying siege to the fake castle, only to realize ten days later that their new home isn’t a castle at all.
I hope you enjoyed reading this series as much I did writing it. Battlefield control casters are such an underrated part of the game, and I hope these articles will motivate you to try it out. I know in my upcoming campaign, I am going a control wizard. Don’t get me wrong. I’ll still cast the occasional fireball. But hopefully not before I’ve managed to herd all the bad guys into the exploding ball of fiery death’s area of effect.
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