What Are Your Best Battle Tactics?

[Scorponox]

Hi Playas!

I am setting up an arena type battle scenario, and wanted to know what battle tactics I should use as a level 5 sorceress? The party consists of a Cleric, Fighter, Rogue, Swashbuckler, and Sorceress, all level 4.

Ideally, there will be henchmen accompanying the main baddie, but I wanted to make her extra special. What sort of tactics and spells would really mess them up badly? I am a newbie DM, so I'd like to surprise them with something a veteran DM would use.

 

[orion90000]

something simple to use would be glitterdust to potentially blind the whole party. Scorching ray is alway a staple spell for an evoker (hell, my sorcerer is level 18 and still uses it regularly). Go invisible and start summoning monsters since that won't end invisibility. Mirror Image makes her harder to hit... And that's just 2nd level spells.

Grease never gets old and Color Spray can wreck havoc on any party.

Remember to always stay away from the pointy end of the swords when playing a sorcerer.

 

[Dandu]

Glitterdust. Grease. Web.

 

[Jeff Wilder]

Glitterdust. Grease. Web.

Glitterdust is broken, grease isn't as powerful as some people seem to think (i.e., it didn't give the rogue sneak attack to anybody standing in the area, because "balancing" is a function of making a skill check, not a defined game condition), and web is unlikely to work in an arena context.

So ... glitterdust. And grease if your DM plays it as broken, and you've got a sneak attacking ally. (Or maybe even if not. It's a good spell, even without the broken interpretation.)

 

[Dandu]

Depends on the arena.

 

[shadyizok]

Levitate?

 

[CuRoi]

A trick my players enjoyed about that level (well hated me for it actually) - if your Big Bad Guy is a spellcaster - cast Deeper Darkness and then summon a Lemure(s) (a low CR Devil that can see perfectly in the Darkness), or find some other creature with Tremorsense or even Scent to either summon or use as minions.

(Did something similar with a Troll once...he sniffed a hiding player out and went to town : ) Creates a lot of tension when the invis player thinks they are safe then they hear the bad guy start sniffing in air through their nose...)

Fun for the whole family...really... Would work great in the right sized "arena"!

A Lemure (or two, or three) won't "mess them up", but if played right it can raise their pulses a bit, heh.

 

[Celebrim]

I just had a level 5 spellcaster go up against my level 3 party.

A level 5 spellcaster without prep will go down so hard and fast as to not be much of a battle. But, about 3 rounds of prep will make a huge difference.

My NPC's three, fairly earned, were - mage armor, mirror image, and displacement.

Combat was:

Round 1: Web
Round 2: Hold Person
Round 3: Sleep
Round 4: Burning Hands

Unfortunately, raging fanatic passed both will saves (which are easier than RAW under my house rules) and the spellcaster was beat down hard after that.

In an arena, levitate + protection from normal missiles + fireball would be hard to ignore as an option. Glitterdust is a good alternative to Web for crowd control and pretty much broken in certain situations. Color spray is pretty nasty at this level, and ray of enfeeblement is almost broken.

However, your options for actually inflicting damage at this level as opposed to crowd control are somewhat limited. You've got shocking grasp, scorching rays, and fireball. But if you are casting that instead of crowd control and it doesn't work, chances are you'll be dead before you get off another shot. The nice thing about Web + Hold Person + Sleep is that it lets you go the coup de grace route to take down people you incapacitate.

 

[Runestar]

Either make him a 6th lv sorc, or a 5th lv wizard. This way, you can zap the entire party with a sculpted glitterdust or cloud of bewilderment at one go.

Maybe nerveskitter+improved initiative to improve your chances of going first.

 

[Dandu]

If you gave him the feat Versatile Spellcaster, you can have a sorcerer cast Sculpted Glitterdust at level 5 as well.