D&D 5E Treantmonk's Guide to Wizards 5e

Rofel Wodring · Nov 1, 2017

vonklaude said:
My feeling from the two campaigns I'm involved with, in conjunction with the values used in the adventuring day XP table, is that four encounters per day is (or should be) typical.

If a DM is allowing a single-encounter work-day they're distorting the game balance. That is fine for their campaign: I am not making any argument about one-encounter adventuring days.

Take it up with the game designers. I played through Storm King's Thunder, Tales of the Yawning Portal, a bunch of DDAL one-shots, and am now doing Tomb of Annihilation and they frequently set up plot and even dungeon progression so that there's only one or two challenging encounters for the whole dealyo.

clearstream · Nov 1, 2017

Bolares said:
Surelly Blur helps your defense a lot, but our questioning is... Is it really the best use of an wizards concentration? Your AC is already enormous, changing a 5% to a 0,25% chance to hit isn't better than ensuring some critical hits to your heavy hitters for an exemple...

The point I don't see you making, and I'm sorry if I miss it is why it's better for an BS to be in melee VS being in "full Wizard mode" all the time?

I've come to see this as really a question of what can be sustained. If we think we're in for four encounters before getting another long-rest, spell-slot expenditure matters. Blur is just very, very efficient. The arguments I've seen about comparable characters appear to me to go like this

We're ignoring the value of defences because we never take into account attacks back
We're ignoring resource depletion because we only look at a single pristine encounter
Foe always Disengages from BS, but because we never take into account attacks back from that foe, those lost attacks don't impact anything
Or maybe foe stays stuck to BS (never tries to move away), but that doesn't matter because we're never working out if defences mean anything
So looking solely at our average best turn (with all resources dumped into it), and solely at damage, we make the argument we desire to make

I honestly don't know if BS should choose to always be in Wizard mode or not at this point, but so long as we're looking solely at damage output, and solely at single pristine encounters followed by long-rests, I don't see how we can discover if a defensive approach could be better?

It is frustrating. It's like saying - but this car can fly - and being told that we're only considering non-flying movement today, and that car doesn't move very fast on the ground.

clearstream · Nov 1, 2017

Rofel Wodring said:
Take it up with the game designers. I played through Storm King's Thunder, Tales of the Yawning Portal, a bunch of DDAL one-shots, and am now doing Tomb of Annihilation and they frequently set up plot and even dungeon progression so that there's only one or two challenging encounters for the whole dealyo.

That's odd. I'm running OOTA and playing TotYP and seldom see one encounter adventuring days.

Rofel Wodring · Nov 1, 2017

I have a Bladesinger guide coming out soon, and one thing that I want to emphasize throughout the guide is that: Your melee is a backup. It's a good backup and being able to put another body on the field really helps, for melee interdiction if nothing else. It can actually get pretty good in games where a lot of magical items drop, but it's still a backup.

I just fought a lich in Dead in Thay last week. I used Sunbeam to drain their Legendary Saves to make an opening for the Eldritch Knight and Abjurer Wizard (the EK ended up just crushing the lich with brute melee damage, though, so I would've been better off Hasting them) and Counterspell. I did not play any differently from a wizard other than having a high AC (which is generally not all that great against a lich). When I fought an adult dragon right before the final arc of Storm King's Thunder, I used Ray of Enfeeblement every round (including a useless upcast) to crush their ability to do melee damage and used Absorb Elements. The Hypnotic Pattern + Magic Circle combo in the guide is something I can only do with another spellcaster in the party.

Bolares · Nov 1, 2017

vonklaude said:
That's odd. I'm running OOTA and playing TotYP and seldom see one encounter adventuring days.

During the travel part of OotA and ToA it is very common to have only one encounter per day....

Bolares · Nov 1, 2017

And about attacks back... at least in my table, if the enemys are intelligent, they wil surelly acess the combat and adapt to it... if they see the BS conjuring spells and being really hard to hit they will stop focusing him and start attacking the other party members... also, disengage is a normal thing to be used by the enemy. Why would my NPC give the AoO if there's a better option for them.

Rofel Wodring · Nov 1, 2017

Bolares said:
And about attacks back... at least in my table, if the enemys are intelligent, they wil surelly acess the combat and adapt to it... if they see the BS conjuring spells and being really hard to hit they will stop focusing him and start attacking the other party members... also, disengage is a normal thing to be used by the enemy. Why would my NPC give the AoO if there's a better option for them.

I've been really tempted to take Sentinel, but I really want to max out my Intelligence and by the time I can take that feat I'll be level 19. I haven't used it in actual play but I've been sorely tempted to use it as part of my 'Ring of Free Action + Stand In Your Black Tentacles' gambit.

Bolares · Nov 1, 2017

Rofel Wodring said:
I've been really tempted to take Sentinel, but I really want to max out my Intelligence and by the time I can take that feat I'll be level 19. I haven't used it in actual play but I've been sorely tempted to use it as part of my 'Ring of Free Action + Stand In Your Black Tentacles' gambit.

Do you have warcaster to? Won't you be a little short on ASI's if you take sentinel? Another point is that Warcaster + Booming Blade sinergyses poorly with sentinal, as your AoO reduces the targets speed to 0. But if you don't use warcaster sentinel is a good feat. I just don't see the BS as the best character to use it.

Rofel Wodring · Nov 1, 2017

Yes, I will be short on ASIs. However, I won't really miss the +2 Dex as much as I thought I would since I have more than enough melee juice and AC. I will miss out on the bonus to dexterity skills and initiative and Dex Saves, but I could live with it. I started out as a High Elf with a 17 DEX, 15 CON, and 16 INT, the rest 8s. My ASIs are in order +1 Dex/+1 Con, Warcaster, and +2 INT.

The Booming Blade + Warcaster combo is nice when it happens, but generally the only reliable way I've been getting it to happen is with Dissonant Whispers and Fear. I want Sentinel mostly for a way to pile on damage after the enemies start ignoring me and thus to make trying to escape from my Zones go from 'difficult' to 'near-impossible'. As I keep emphasizing, my melee is strictly a backup to my typical God Wizard antics and if I could find a way to combine them I'd have it made.

clearstream · Nov 1, 2017

Bolares said:
During the travel part of OotA and ToA it is very common to have only one encounter per day....

True albeit the main adventuring happens in the settlements (or so we've found) like Blingdenstone. The whole travelling encounter pace is a bit of an elephant in the room, to nod toward another thread. Is it similar in ToA? (Encounter dense areas surrounded by encounter sparse travel?)

D&D 5E Treantmonk's Guide to Wizards 5e

Rofel Wodring

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clearstream

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clearstream

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Rofel Wodring

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Bolares

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Bolares

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Rofel Wodring

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Bolares

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Rofel Wodring

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clearstream

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