Let's Talk Tactics - Battlefield Control Spells, Part 1
Battlefield control is a term thrown around that seemingly applies to everything these days. Does the spell have a ‘control’ tag? Then it can be used for battlefield control. I can cast fire bolt, and since it has a good range, it’s a battlefield control spell. You’re a fighter and decide to shove someone? You’re now a battlefield controller. It just gets bandied about without much fault. We get it, letting loose a fireball is fun, powerful and you’ll be able to eat BBQ goblin later tonight, but have you done anything to manage the field of battle?
So what is battlefield control? In a nutshell, it’s using spells, abilities, and the environment itself to influence or restrict where creatures can and cannot go on the map. Some can impact a large number of creatures, while others may only affect a single target. Done correctly, it can shape the battlefield into an advantageous landscape for you can make your party. There is a wide variety of ways to do this, so today, we’ll scratch the surface and discuss how to obtain control through spells.
Before we get started, there are a couple of things we need to get out of the way. First, killing a whole slew of bad guys with an AOE spell is not battlefield control. Using a spell to herd a pack of gnolls into a 20-foot-radius space so that the aforementioned Fireball can turn them into crispy critters is. If you are lucky enough to have your enemies crowd into the same area by accident, then, by all means, let loose with your freezing sphere spell and watch everyone in a 60-foot-radius sphere take 10d6 cold damage on a failed save. More likely, you will have to figure out a way to get your enemies into that sphere since your DM isn’t stupid. That said, many of the control spells out there are AOE spells in their own right, with many of them causing decent damage. The damage is a nice bonus, but the primary purpose of these spells isn’t to make the bad guys bleed but to set them up to bring a whole bunch of hurt their way.
Second, we must understand that not all control spells are battlefield management spells. tasha’s hideous laughter may be a great control spell but does little to influence the overall scope of combat. Controlling an individual target can be great when it’s gargantuan or you are only fighting two creatures, but we are looking for spells that alter the terrain or space where the fight is taking place.
Various spells will provide the party with an advantage by reshaping the area you are fighting in. We tend to focus on those spells that will change the battlefield and cause damage at the same time. This thought process is understandable, as players have been programmed to think that they should be causing damage as much as possible during combat, but it is a narrow way of looking at it. A wizard can be an offensive juggernaut at later levels. They can also be maestro, manipulating the landscape and thus the creatures in the battlezone as if they were a symphony conductor.
Below is a list of the spells that can be used to control the battlefield:
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, Wall of Wind
4th - Control Water, Hallucinatory Terrain, Sickening Radiance, Wall of Fire
5th - Cloudkill, Control Winds, Dawn, Insect Plague, Maelstrom, Passwall, 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
That’s a lot of spells! When looking at which spells work, I considered a few things. Range and Area of Effect are important since you don’t want to be forced to get up close and personal with your foes to cast the spell. Control spells also need to have some area of effect on the battlefield to force your enemies to go in a different direction, slow their charge, or weigh the costs of taking damage to reach you. The duration of a spell determines how long you can influence your enemies’ movements and/or capabilities. An instantaneous spell needs to alter the terrain for an extended length of time, or it does little to control the landscape. In most cases, the longer the spell lasts, the more effective it is. Many of the spells require concentration, making sense since the spell’s duration can be up to a minute. A caster needs to make sure they position themselves appropriately, as the fewer concentration checks, the better. Damage can be a bonus but is also important in influencing a creature's decision on whether they should attempt to move through the affected area, go around, or stand still and evaluate their life choices up to this point.
For this article, we will be focusing on the element (Earth, Air, Water, Fire) control spells highlighted above, with the plan being to discuss the other spells and their respective categories shortly. This will not include nature manipulation spells (entangle), weather-based (sleet storm), or any of the wall spells (fire, water, etc.). I get that they involve some aspect of the elements, but I feel like they deserve their own categories.
The Elemental Spell Controller
Wielding the forces of the elements can be a powerful way to control the battlefield. As an elemental spell controller, you can flood valleys, make it impossible for creatures to remain in flight, and change the very ground beneath your feet.
Create Bonfire
Classes - Artificier, Druid, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard
Spell Level Cantrip, Element Type - Fire
Range/Area - 60ft/5 ft cube, Duration - 1 Minute, Contrentration Required - Yes, Damage - Yes (1d8)
Create bonfire is a simple little spell that is great for choke points against lower-level creatures or creatures vulnerable to fire. There are not many fire-based control spells, as most spells that do fire damage are instantaneous and involve explosions of some sort. If you find yourself in a narrow dungeon hallway, create bonfire can put down an effective hazard in your foes path. It is also a nice little spell to put in an open doorway to deny someone entry. Whether you are then launching ranged attacks or running away, this little cantrip shouldn’t be overlooked.
Mold Earth
Classes - Druid, Sorcerer, Wizard
Spell Level - Cantrip, Element Type - Earth
Range/Area - 30 ft/5 ft cube, Duration - Instantaneous, Contrentration Required - No, Damage - None
Manipulating a 5-foot cube of the earth may not seem like much, but it can slow down an oncoming enemy or provide a clear path for you to reach your enemy and/or avoid any negative effects in your way. Targetting the ground to make even a small space difficult terrain may allow you to escape a potentially disastrous situation. As you can use up to two of its non-instantaneous effects at a time, you can reduce that hungry owlbear’s movement by 10 feet. Again, it may not seem like much, but in narrow spaces, it could just be the difference between getting away and being something’s lunch.
Flaming Sphere
Classes -Alchemist, Druid, Wizard
Spell Level - 2nd, Element Type - Fire
Range/Area - 60 ft/5 ft sphere, Duration - 1 minute, Contrentration Required - Yes, Damage - Yes (2d6)
You don’t cast this spell onto a creature but into an occupied space near them. Depending on their formation, you can target up to 8 creatures, although the smart ones will quickly move away from your great ball of fire. The spell’s damage potential is minimal since it only does 2d6 damage if a creature ends their turn within five feet of it and most are smart enough not to do that. Still, since we are talking about battlefield control, any damage in this situation is a bonus.
The true power as a control spell is in moving the sphere as a bonus action. Many spells have a large area of effect, but your enemies only take damage when they enter or start their turn inside it. With the flaming sphere, you can move your 5-foot round ball of fire as a bonus action and slam it into a creature, and if they fail a Dexterity save, take full damage. It also can go over obstacles that are 5 feet tall and over 10 foot wide pits, so if your enemy is attempting to control the battlefield in such a way, this 2nd level spell can counter their defenses and chase them down.
It is often overlooked with fire spells that they will ignite flammable objects not being worn or carried. Therefore, your ball of fiery death can create its own wall of non-magical fire if you send it over dry kindling, or in the case of my current group, setting the dead trees around us ablaze and almost burning down an entire forest.
Gust of Wind
Classes -Druid, Sorcerer, Wizard
Spell Level - 2nd, Element Type - Air
Range/Area - Self (60 ft long, 10 ft wide), Duration - 1 minute, Contrentration Required - Yes, Damage - No
Line spells in general stink because of how rarely the bad guys line up behind one another. It’s like martial arts action movies where the group of ninjas all wait their turn before attacking the hero. If they just swarmed the poor fellow all at once, he’d be done for, but that would make a crappy movie. Gust of wind a slightly better than the average line spell because it has a 10-foot width, making it a practical control spell depending on your location. It’s better than only being 5 feet wide, but if the space the creature has to maneuver in is wider than ten feet, they can just step out of the spell’s path and move normally.
If we go back to our dungeon hallway scenario, we now have a powerful spell that can prevent those pesky melee creatures from getting too close. Being pushed back 15 feet when you fail your Strength saving throw can be the difference between your enemy being within melee range on his next turn and being just out of reach. Add to that the fact that creatures must spend 2 feet of movement for every 1 foot of movement, and you have a bad guy that has to work much harder to get to you. Another nice thing about the spell is it has a bonus action attached to it, allowing you to change the gust’s direction. You can knock back one creature and hopefully prevent them from reaching their desired location, then change direction and blast another one back. It’s a good spell, if used correctly, to buy time for the rest of your party to get into position and fight effectively.
Erupting Earth
Classes -Druid, Sorcerer, Wizard
Spell Level - 3rd, Element Type - Earth
Range/Area - 120 ft/20 ft cube, Duration - Instantaneous, Contrentration Required - Yes, Damage - Yes (3d12)
I believe most people look at this as a damage spell first, with the bonus of creating difficult terrain. While I won’t disagree with it, the control aspect of the spell is vastly underrated. All creatures will take damage, which is nice, and because you want to cause damage, you won’t be placing it between you and your targets but directly onto them. Placed strategically, and if we assume your targets have a base speed of 30 feet, all creatures within 5 feet of the center of the spell will still be in difficult terrain at the end of their turn unless they use their action to Dash. Like gust of wind, erupting earth provides your party with time to position themselves before your enemy can. So flip your thinking and use this spell as a control spell that causes damage.
Control Water
Classes -Cleric, Druid, Wizard
Spell Level - 4th, Element Type - Water
Range/Area - 300 ft. (100 ft. cube) Duration - 10 minutes, Contrentration Required - Yes, Damage - Special (2d8)
Let’s be honest. You’ve never considered taking this spell. Even if you have played in a pirate campaign spending most of your time on the seven seas searching for buried treasure, you still didn’t take the spell. It is an environment-specific spell, but you cannot tell me that you have never encountered a lake, river, or a similar body of water where some evil creature wants to murder you.
For ten minutes, you have control of a 100-foot cube within a freestanding body of water. We are talking about a lot of water, as in 1 million cubic feet of water. The extent of your control allows you to cause a flood, part water, redirect water flow, and create a whirlpool. Only the whirlpool causes any damage, with two that are specifically designed to control the landscape and, thus, the battlefield.
For anyone that has ever lived in New Orleans, they will know that the flood ability does exactly what you think it does. It increases the height of any water body by 20 feet, causing any excess water to spill on to a shore or over a wall, and then occupy that area. How much excess water, you ask? Only an additional 200,000 cubic feet of water…yikes! Adding that much water instantaneously to any area is going to put nearby creatures underwater and, depending on where they are, underwater for a long time. Now, if you are on a boat on a lake, adding 200,000 cubic feet of water isn’t going to affect you but don’t tell that to the people standing on the shore. This doesn’t mean that flood isn’t effective. Using this aspect of the spell, you can now create a wave that is 100 feet long and 20 feet high. The wave will travel the length of the lake you’re on and will bring with it any Huge or smaller vehicles that are unfortunate enough to be in its path along for the ride. To make matters worse, they have a 25% chance of capsizing. For anyone that has ever been in a canoe that flips over, it’s like that, except you may be on a much bigger boat. If that isn’t controlling the landscape, I’m not sure what is.
Part water works well if you are trying to escape from your enemies and you find yourself in front of a large pond. Going around is always an option, but running through it is better. If you can put enough distance between you and your pursuers, you can drop the spell and drown them. It takes a full round for the water to fill your path, but anyone that hasn’t made it to land by then better know how to swim.
Redirect flow controls the direction the water moves. It’s limited since you cannot control the water's speed but only the direction it is going. If you are swimming, it already is a 2 for 1 speed reduction unless you have a swim speed, and there is no mention in the rules about having to swim against the current. The best rules for ship movement and ship to ship combat can be found in Ghosts of Saltmarsh. While there is a penalty for sailing ships traveling against the wind, there is no mention of a penalty for any ship traveling against the current. Don’t concern yourself with this part of the spell.
Whirpool controls a body of water that is at least 50 feet square and 25 feet deep. When you create the whirlpool, a vortex that is 5 feet wide at the base, up to 50 feet wide at the top, and 25 feet tall appears in the water. If you or your enemies are within 25 feet of the vortex, you are trapped in its clutches and are pulled 10 feet closer to the center. This gives it an effective control space of 75 ft. A strength saving throw lets you break free of the pull, but if you start your turn under this effect, you’ll take 2d8 bludgeoning damage. Placing a whirlpool in a smaller body of water will cause a great many problems for those nearby.
Control Winds
Classes -Druid, Sorcerer, Wizard
Spell Level - 5th, Element Type - Air
Range/Area - 300 ft (100 cube) Duration - 1 hour, Contrentration Required - Yes, Damage - No
Another 100-foot cube, another multiple type of effects spell that can help put your opponents at a tactical disadvantage depending on their location. Gusts allow the spellcaster to choose the intensity of the wind: calm, moderate, or strong. A moderate or strong wind makes all ranged weapon attacks inside the cube, or that must travel through the cube, have disadvantage on their attack rolls. It’s great against a battalion of archers, but not so much against anyone else. If you go with a strong wind, you’ll need to spend 1 extra foot of movement for each foot moved. That will slow down those ground troops advancing on you, but for a 5th level spell, it leaves something to be desired. A wall of force may stop a smaller group of enemies in their tracks, but when fighting against a horde of kobolds, a 100-foot long cube of wind will be much more effective against their sling attacks and reduce their normal speed to 15 feet.
Downdraft has the same effect as ranged attacks (disadvantage), but it’s a powerful control spell when you’re under aerial attack. When a creature flies into your windy cube or starts their turn inside it, they better make their Strength saving throw, or they will plummet to the ground and be knocked prone. Using this spell allows you to control a 100-foot cube of space against all flying creatures, whether they be your owl familiar or that red dragon bearing down on you.
Finally, there is the updraft effect. While you may not think it has any battlefield control elements to it, but you’d be wrong! By increasing your vertical leap by 10 feet, you can claim the high ground over your opponents, and we all know that the battle is over once you have the high ground.
Transmute Rock
Classes -Wizard
Spell Level - 5th, Element Type - Earth
Range/Area - 120 ft./40 ft. cube Duration - Until dispelled, Contrentration Required - No, Damage - Special (4d8)
Another criminally underrated control spell that changes the terrain so much that depending on the size of the location, you can be in control of the entire landscape. The two options available with this spell provide the caster with various options that make the battlefield outdoors, inside caverns, or deep below ground in the Underdark places you can control with deadly consequences for your enemies.
Transmuting those solid rock surfaces changes a previously solid floor into a river of mud. Movement is damn near impossible as it now costs 4 feet of movement for every 1 you go. Once you’re in the mud, things get worse because every time you start your turn there, you’ll need to make a Strength saving throw or be restrained. Talk about controlling creatures by controlling the environment! Not being able to move is bad enough, but it’s those attacks you take with advantage that really hurt. You can cast the spell on walls to create a mud waterfall and prevent creatures from scurrying up them in a desperate attempt to climb out of the muddy morass. If you want to start a mud storm, you can change the ceiling into mud. When it starts to drip from the ceiling you’d better not fail your Dexterity save, or you’ll be taking 4d8 bludgeoning damage. Now, if the space is small enough to fit the entire cube, all three things happen simultaneously. Now you’re stuck in the thick mud, watching it flow down the walls and trying to stay conscious while globs of wet clay pour down onto your head. Have fun with that.
You can also restrain creatures by hardening the mud around their ankles when you transmute mud to rock. Fighting in a muddy field or, heaven forbid, an expanse of quicksand happens infrequently, but when it does, you can lock your enemies into place as they attempt to charge at you.
Whirlwind
Classes -Druid, Sorcerer, Wizard
Spell Level - 7th, Element Type - Air
Range/Area - 300 ft./10 ft. cylinder Duration - 1 minute, Contrentration Required - Yes, Damage - Yes (10d6)
Once again, we can take over a large space with a spell we can move around. Like the flaming sphere, your ability to move the spell 30 feet every round is what gives this spell its battlefield control prowess. With a range of 300 feet, you are almost guaranteed to move your deadly twister anywhere your enemies will try to hide.
By creating a guidable 10-foot wide, 30-foot high whirlwind, you can cause havoc in the combat zone. Your enemies will have to adjust quickly to stay out of the way or suffer some serious consequences. The whirlwind can suck up medium-size or smaller creatures en masse, doing 10d6 damage and restraining them in the process. There is nothing in the spell description that says there is a limit on the number of creatures or objects it can pick up past its dimensional limitations. And unlike the flaming sphere, the whirlwind does not stop just because it entered the space of something it may suck up. In theory, you could move the whirlwind along the ground in the first round and pick up 6 creatures, then do the same in the next round, trapping the maximum capacity of 12 creatures within this vortex of windy death. If they manage to break free, they are flung in a random direction up to 180 feet away.
Aren’t movement control spells the best?
Earthquake
Classes -Cleric, Druid, Sorcerer
Spell Level - 8th, Element Type - Earth
Range/Area - 500 ft., Duration - 1 minute, Contrentration Required - Yes, Damage - Yes (varies)
So you’re fighting in an urban area and decide that laying waste to the city is the quickest way to end the conflict. Earthquake is the spell you’re looking for then. This spell isn’t so much about controlling the field when you are in an urban setting as it is about sending everyone running away in terror. The ground within a 100-foot radius of the spell’s center point will heave and shake, causing 50 points of damage to structures for every round that you can maintain concentration. Speaking of concentration, anyone in the area of effect trying to hold onto their spell has to make a save at the end of their turn, or it’s lost.
Once a structure takes enough damage, it will crumble to the ground. If you are within the building’s danger zone (1/2 of the structure’s height), you could be looking at 5d6 bludgeoning damage, being knocked prone, and buried alive. Taking 30 points of damage stinks; being knocked prone is annoying, but being buried alive scares the hell out of me. While there are no written rules about the effects of being trapped under tons of stone and dirt, you can be sure the DM will have you start making some sort of saving throw if you can’t eventually get free.
Now, if the tremors don’t cause the building to fall, there’s always the chance it can fall into one of the fissures that may open up underneath it. Up to 6 fissures may appear on the round after you cast the spell, and they aren’t small cracks in the earth. Each issue can be up to 100 feet deep, 10 feet wide, and 100 feet long. Fall into one of those, and you are looking at 10d6 fall damage and being prone when you finally land with a thud. Once you get up, then you have to deal with the matter of getting out. If a building hasn’t landed on you, I might suggest staying down there where it’s relatively safe.
Tsunami
Classes -Druid
Spell Level - 8th, Element Type - Water
Range/Area - Sight, Duration - 6 rounds, Contrentration Required - Yes, Damage - Yes (5d10)
How about controlling the field of battle by simply wiping it clean? The tsunami spell takes a minute to cast, so you’ll need a little prep time to use it effectively. It’s worth the time though, as you create a massive wall of water that is 300 feet long, 300 feet high, and 50 feet thick. When the water first appears to the horror of your foes, everyone within its area must make a Strength saving throw or take 6d10 bludgeoning damage.
The control part of this spell starts at the beginning of your next turn as you send this incredible wave away from you 50 feet, enveloping all creatures huge and smaller in its path, and continue to do so for the next 6 rounds. Why 6 rounds? The wave decreases in height 50 feet for every 50 feet it travels, so after 6 rounds, it is gone. But those can be a long six rounds, no matter if you’re on the ground or in the air since 300 feet is really damn high. Plus, the wave is 50 feet thick, just in case you missed that before. This means that anyone within 50 feet of you is initially trapped inside the water, and everyone on the other side of it is looking up in sheer terror. There’s not much else to say about this spell since you don’t need to finesse it into the proper location or move it properly on each turn to maximize control. Simply cast the spell, sit back, and watch the devastation commence.
Up next will be Landscaper controller, a pesky battlefield manager who uses nature to impede your movement, knock you down, and possibly kill you via a thousand little thorn pricks.
If you like our articles, love homebrew, and are looking for a fun and active community to talk about all things D&D, consider supporting us on Patreon. Below are some of the benefits we offer:
Access to our Homebrew Horde with over 300 items and counting!
Vote on upcoming Deep Deep topics
Monthly online one-shot adventures
Early access to Deep Dive and Rewind Articles
Even more Homebrew in our Magic Item Monday and Monster Thursday series
More to come!
