Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
The Art of Controlling: Controlling 101 (by alien270)
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="LightWarden" data-source="post: 6744893" data-attributes="member: 6803540"><p><strong>Originally posted by alien270:</strong></p><p></p><p style="text-align: center">[SIZE=+2]</p> <p style="text-align: center"><strong><u>Controller abilities</u></strong></p> <p style="text-align: center">[/SIZE]</p><p></p><p><strong>Area and Zones</strong>: Controllers are all about affecting as much of the battlefield as they can, and a major way that they accomplish this is through Area Effects (bursts and blasts). These are usually not very damaging for each individual enemy hit, but your cumulative damage output can get significant if you catch a lot of enemies in your bursts and blasts (and if you're fighting minions, it doesn't matter that your damage/enemy is low since one hit takes them out). More useful to you is the fact that by attacking more enemies with one standard action, you have more chances to inflict nasty status conditions. Zones are basically upgraded areas in a sense, since you can sustain them and keep the effects going longer. With zones, however, comes a new level of strategy. A lot of them deal automatic damage if an enemy enters or starts their turn there, so it's prudent to keep enemies within them. This can be accomplished with forced movement (pushes and slides), or just moving the zone (if the power allows that). Also note that since zones deal automatic damage, they are an effective way to deal with enemies that have really high defenses.</p><p></p><p><strong>Blinded</strong>: A good debuff against any role, but better against melee types because it prevents flanking. This is particularly good for Skirmishers and Lurkers that have bonus damage when they have combat advantage. </p><p></p><p><strong>Block Line of Sight</strong>: An obvious tactic for foiling any ranged enemies.</p><p></p><p><strong>Dazed</strong>: Its usefulness varies quite a bit. Against ranged enemies, don't bother dazing them unless one of your melee allies (or you) are adjacent to them, ready to slam them with an opportunity attack if they fire. It can be used to deny melee enemies an action, but it takes a lot of strategy. The enemy can use its one action to charge, so you have to make sure that you and your allies are out of range of a charge. One way to do this is to make sure that everyone within reach is exactly one square away from the dazed target (since you have to move at least two squares to charge). Druids excel at this, since wild shaping back to humanoid form grants them a minor action shift. This tactic is useless, however, if the enemy has reach. Another way to make dazing more effective is by combining it with other effects (notably prone). Now the enemy has to burn its one action to stand up from prone if nobody is within reach. Turn wasted. </p><p></p><p>Where daze really shines is against Solos, because it prevents them from using immediate actions and opportunity actions. Anyone who's been on the receiving end of a Dragon's tail strike will understand this. Because daze denies opportunity actions, it's also very useful for breaking through enemy front lines (the brutes and soldiers) to gain access to the squishies. Just send your striker through and let them go to town.</p><p></p><p><strong>Deafened</strong>: Usually useless. The only benefit is that it grants a -10 to Perception checks, so if you or your allies are invisible the enemy will really hate trying to guess which square you're in (unless they have area attacks, in which case they stand a good chance of hitting you anyways). Could also be situationally useful if the Rogue is trying to sneak up on someone.</p><p></p><p><strong>Difficult Terrain</strong>: If you're trying to keep melee enemies away, difficult terrain is an ok place to start. Combine it with slow, and now you're starting to make a difference. What you really want to use difficult terrain for is to prevent enemies from shifting. This works great against lurkers and skirmishers who like to shift out of harm's way after they've struck. If your party has a lot of elves in it, the difficult terrain won't even prevent them from shifting (and if they're 16+ level Twilight Guardians, it won't affect them at all!). Some zones will also create difficult terrain, which makes it harder for an enemy to escape them (through their slower movement and inability to shift: so tell the defenders to guard the edge of that zone!). </p><p></p><p><strong>Dominated</strong>: You control the enemy's actions. Dominated creatures are automatically dazed, which actually ends up being more of a hassle than a benefit. If you want to use your new minion to attack its friends, they have to either be adjacent already or within range of a charge. Or just dominate a ranged enemy and forget all about it. Dominating enemy controllers sounds like it could be fun, but keep in mind that they usually have high Will (and dominating effects always target Will). </p><p></p><p><strong>Forced Movement</strong>: Can be either push, pull, or slide. Slides are generally superior because they don't have the directional limitations of push and pull. Forced movement can be used both defensively and offensively. On the defensive front, you want to keep your enemies from flanking your allies as much as possible. Offensively, you want to get your allies into flanking positions as often as you can. Flanking is functionally a good debuff, especially against soldiers since they're so hard to hit. Using flanking (or other powers that grant Combat Advantage) in combination with buffs from a leader is a good strategy for dispatching your foes (especially soldiers) quickly. Against Elites, Solos, or Soldiers that are simply a much higher level than you, this may be the only way that you stand a reasonable chance at actually hitting them. Forced movement is also a great way to break through the enemy's front line (for another option, see Dazed) of soldiers and brutes so you can beat up on the squishies. This might be the only way that you can allow your allies to spread out if you start a battle bottlenecked in a hallway. You need a way to break through the “plug” and gain access to the enemy controllers and artillery. Finally, force movement is great for getting more mileage out of your sustainable zones.</p><p></p><p><strong>Helpless</strong>: An excellent debuff, as the target grants CA and can be the subject of a coup de grace. You're usually helpless because you're unconscious, but the 9th level Wizard Daily Face of Death (Arcane Power) is notable in that it imposes the helpless condition (save ends) upon a conscious target after the "immobilized" saving throw fails the first time. By RAW, this creates a unique condition whereby an enemy can pass its immobilized save the second time but fail the helpless save, allowing it to attack and move normally on its next round while still technically being helpless. While certainly strange, this situation still lends itself well to you and your allies mobbing said enemy with coup de graces until it falls.</p><p></p><p><strong>Immobilized</strong>: Useless against ranged opponents unless you have a melee ally next to them. If they attack, they'll be punished for it. This is a great condition to put on melee opponents when you want to waste their turns. As long as you and your allies are not adjacent to them, they can't attack you. Can't charge you, can't chase after you if you decide to attack enemy squishies. Also great for flying enemies that lack "hover."</p><p></p><p><strong>Prone</strong>: Similar to dazed, in that it can lock a melee enemy down if you and your allies are out of charging range. Combining prone with daze, slow, or difficult terrain makes it more effective. Can also knock flyers out of the air.</p><p></p><p><strong>Restrained</strong>: An upgraded immobilized with some debuffs to boot. Forced movement won't budge them, they grant combat advantage, and they take a -2 penalty to attack rolls.</p><p></p><p><strong>Slowed</strong>: Useful against range opponents if you're trying to keep them from running away. Useful against melee opponents if they're far enough away that you can waste their move. The Druid's Grasping Claws is of note in that you can slow with an OA. Combine with difficult terrain for maximum effectiveness. Really screws the more mobile lurkers and skirmishers over. </p><p></p><p><strong>Stunned</strong>: always an excellent option, because it's a guaranteed way to eliminate an enemy's action. There isn't really anything that you need to do to set it up or make it more effective. It's straightforward and brutal.</p><p></p><p><strong>Unconscious</strong>: It's a rare status effect in terms of the number of powers that confer it, but given that Wizards get Sleep at 1st level most Wizard players will get a chance to use it (or at least have it in their spellbook, though in that case I'd advise them to give Flaming Sphere a rest for at least one day and have some fun with Sleep). Renders the opponent's turn wasted just as effectively as Stunned, but with the additional advantage of allowing coup de graces. Also, when they wake up (if they're still alive), they're prone. We may have just found a winner <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite8" alt=":D" title="Big grin :D" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":D" /></p><p></p><p><strong>Walls</strong>: Specific tactics depend on the wall in question. Generally though, walls prevent movement. Some do this by imposing movement penalties (see Wall of Fire, Wall of Thorns; difficult terrain on steroids!), others just make moving through them an unattractive option because they're damaging. You can completely prevent minions from getting past them since they deal automatic damage (this also makes them very useful against enemies that have high defenses). They're also a good way to block line of sight for ranged opponents, allowing the party to focus on the melee enemies without worrying about getting pelted by controllers and artillery. </p><p></p><p><strong>Weakened</strong>: A decent back up effect, but it's better to prevent an enemy from attacking at all, though a power that weakens (save ends) may be a good choice compared to, say, a daze until the end of your next turn (which may be able to prevent enemy attacks if it's set up right). Weakened is “fire and forget,” and can be useful for those times when it's simply not possible to eliminate an enemy's turn with a daze (better to save that daze for when battlefield positioning is more in your favor!). </p><p></p><p>Fairly useless against enemy controllers, since their damage usually isn't impressive but their status effects (which are not affected by being weakened) are very dangerous. If you can't eliminate their actions entirely, it's not even worth it.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="LightWarden, post: 6744893, member: 6803540"] [b]Originally posted by alien270:[/b] [CENTER][SIZE=+2] [b][u]Controller abilities[/u][/b] [/SIZE][/CENTER] [b]Area and Zones[/b]: Controllers are all about affecting as much of the battlefield as they can, and a major way that they accomplish this is through Area Effects (bursts and blasts). These are usually not very damaging for each individual enemy hit, but your cumulative damage output can get significant if you catch a lot of enemies in your bursts and blasts (and if you're fighting minions, it doesn't matter that your damage/enemy is low since one hit takes them out). More useful to you is the fact that by attacking more enemies with one standard action, you have more chances to inflict nasty status conditions. Zones are basically upgraded areas in a sense, since you can sustain them and keep the effects going longer. With zones, however, comes a new level of strategy. A lot of them deal automatic damage if an enemy enters or starts their turn there, so it's prudent to keep enemies within them. This can be accomplished with forced movement (pushes and slides), or just moving the zone (if the power allows that). Also note that since zones deal automatic damage, they are an effective way to deal with enemies that have really high defenses. [b]Blinded[/b]: A good debuff against any role, but better against melee types because it prevents flanking. This is particularly good for Skirmishers and Lurkers that have bonus damage when they have combat advantage. [b]Block Line of Sight[/b]: An obvious tactic for foiling any ranged enemies. [b]Dazed[/b]: Its usefulness varies quite a bit. Against ranged enemies, don't bother dazing them unless one of your melee allies (or you) are adjacent to them, ready to slam them with an opportunity attack if they fire. It can be used to deny melee enemies an action, but it takes a lot of strategy. The enemy can use its one action to charge, so you have to make sure that you and your allies are out of range of a charge. One way to do this is to make sure that everyone within reach is exactly one square away from the dazed target (since you have to move at least two squares to charge). Druids excel at this, since wild shaping back to humanoid form grants them a minor action shift. This tactic is useless, however, if the enemy has reach. Another way to make dazing more effective is by combining it with other effects (notably prone). Now the enemy has to burn its one action to stand up from prone if nobody is within reach. Turn wasted. Where daze really shines is against Solos, because it prevents them from using immediate actions and opportunity actions. Anyone who's been on the receiving end of a Dragon's tail strike will understand this. Because daze denies opportunity actions, it's also very useful for breaking through enemy front lines (the brutes and soldiers) to gain access to the squishies. Just send your striker through and let them go to town. [b]Deafened[/b]: Usually useless. The only benefit is that it grants a -10 to Perception checks, so if you or your allies are invisible the enemy will really hate trying to guess which square you're in (unless they have area attacks, in which case they stand a good chance of hitting you anyways). Could also be situationally useful if the Rogue is trying to sneak up on someone. [b]Difficult Terrain[/b]: If you're trying to keep melee enemies away, difficult terrain is an ok place to start. Combine it with slow, and now you're starting to make a difference. What you really want to use difficult terrain for is to prevent enemies from shifting. This works great against lurkers and skirmishers who like to shift out of harm's way after they've struck. If your party has a lot of elves in it, the difficult terrain won't even prevent them from shifting (and if they're 16+ level Twilight Guardians, it won't affect them at all!). Some zones will also create difficult terrain, which makes it harder for an enemy to escape them (through their slower movement and inability to shift: so tell the defenders to guard the edge of that zone!). [b]Dominated[/b]: You control the enemy's actions. Dominated creatures are automatically dazed, which actually ends up being more of a hassle than a benefit. If you want to use your new minion to attack its friends, they have to either be adjacent already or within range of a charge. Or just dominate a ranged enemy and forget all about it. Dominating enemy controllers sounds like it could be fun, but keep in mind that they usually have high Will (and dominating effects always target Will). [b]Forced Movement[/b]: Can be either push, pull, or slide. Slides are generally superior because they don't have the directional limitations of push and pull. Forced movement can be used both defensively and offensively. On the defensive front, you want to keep your enemies from flanking your allies as much as possible. Offensively, you want to get your allies into flanking positions as often as you can. Flanking is functionally a good debuff, especially against soldiers since they're so hard to hit. Using flanking (or other powers that grant Combat Advantage) in combination with buffs from a leader is a good strategy for dispatching your foes (especially soldiers) quickly. Against Elites, Solos, or Soldiers that are simply a much higher level than you, this may be the only way that you stand a reasonable chance at actually hitting them. Forced movement is also a great way to break through the enemy's front line (for another option, see Dazed) of soldiers and brutes so you can beat up on the squishies. This might be the only way that you can allow your allies to spread out if you start a battle bottlenecked in a hallway. You need a way to break through the “plug” and gain access to the enemy controllers and artillery. Finally, force movement is great for getting more mileage out of your sustainable zones. [b]Helpless[/b]: An excellent debuff, as the target grants CA and can be the subject of a coup de grace. You're usually helpless because you're unconscious, but the 9th level Wizard Daily Face of Death (Arcane Power) is notable in that it imposes the helpless condition (save ends) upon a conscious target after the "immobilized" saving throw fails the first time. By RAW, this creates a unique condition whereby an enemy can pass its immobilized save the second time but fail the helpless save, allowing it to attack and move normally on its next round while still technically being helpless. While certainly strange, this situation still lends itself well to you and your allies mobbing said enemy with coup de graces until it falls. [b]Immobilized[/b]: Useless against ranged opponents unless you have a melee ally next to them. If they attack, they'll be punished for it. This is a great condition to put on melee opponents when you want to waste their turns. As long as you and your allies are not adjacent to them, they can't attack you. Can't charge you, can't chase after you if you decide to attack enemy squishies. Also great for flying enemies that lack "hover." [b]Prone[/b]: Similar to dazed, in that it can lock a melee enemy down if you and your allies are out of charging range. Combining prone with daze, slow, or difficult terrain makes it more effective. Can also knock flyers out of the air. [b]Restrained[/b]: An upgraded immobilized with some debuffs to boot. Forced movement won't budge them, they grant combat advantage, and they take a -2 penalty to attack rolls. [b]Slowed[/b]: Useful against range opponents if you're trying to keep them from running away. Useful against melee opponents if they're far enough away that you can waste their move. The Druid's Grasping Claws is of note in that you can slow with an OA. Combine with difficult terrain for maximum effectiveness. Really screws the more mobile lurkers and skirmishers over. [b]Stunned[/b]: always an excellent option, because it's a guaranteed way to eliminate an enemy's action. There isn't really anything that you need to do to set it up or make it more effective. It's straightforward and brutal. [b]Unconscious[/b]: It's a rare status effect in terms of the number of powers that confer it, but given that Wizards get Sleep at 1st level most Wizard players will get a chance to use it (or at least have it in their spellbook, though in that case I'd advise them to give Flaming Sphere a rest for at least one day and have some fun with Sleep). Renders the opponent's turn wasted just as effectively as Stunned, but with the additional advantage of allowing coup de graces. Also, when they wake up (if they're still alive), they're prone. We may have just found a winner :D [b]Walls[/b]: Specific tactics depend on the wall in question. Generally though, walls prevent movement. Some do this by imposing movement penalties (see Wall of Fire, Wall of Thorns; difficult terrain on steroids!), others just make moving through them an unattractive option because they're damaging. You can completely prevent minions from getting past them since they deal automatic damage (this also makes them very useful against enemies that have high defenses). They're also a good way to block line of sight for ranged opponents, allowing the party to focus on the melee enemies without worrying about getting pelted by controllers and artillery. [b]Weakened[/b]: A decent back up effect, but it's better to prevent an enemy from attacking at all, though a power that weakens (save ends) may be a good choice compared to, say, a daze until the end of your next turn (which may be able to prevent enemy attacks if it's set up right). Weakened is “fire and forget,” and can be useful for those times when it's simply not possible to eliminate an enemy's turn with a daze (better to save that daze for when battlefield positioning is more in your favor!). Fairly useless against enemy controllers, since their damage usually isn't impressive but their status effects (which are not affected by being weakened) are very dangerous. If you can't eliminate their actions entirely, it's not even worth it. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
The Art of Controlling: Controlling 101 (by alien270)
Top