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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Patrick John Handley" data-source="post: 7556144" data-attributes="member: 6883709">I've used minor illusion, to create the appearance of the cave wall about a foot and a half farther forward giving a perfect place for my caster to hide when we were storming a knoll cave. reinforcements ran right past me and never saw the fire ball coming. it still took them a minute to figure out where I was after the first blast, giving my team the time needed to finish off the initial group we'd been fighting and then come take care of the back up. in hind sight a silent image of myself floating at ceiling level would really maximize the shear level of misdirection. that this combo brings to play.I caused a land slide once using a familiar to deliver enlarge to an already massive boulder up a slope from the 12 dwarfen bandits and the four carts they'd stolen from a towns trading company. not only did it flatten four of the bandits out right but the loose earth it dislodged buried another four leaving us to deal with the stragglers as they were trying to dig themselves out. we had been a party of three that day, and had we taken this on out right shear action economy would have sealed our fates. instead we walked away with the two carts that weren't flattened and their contents. salvaging what we could from the other two carts with a little excavation courtesy of mold earth. Then there was this other time where two ettins were knocked prone by enlarging a slab of stone and having it knock into their legs doing damage and giving our group the advantage necessary to prevail. it cannot be stressed enough. pay attention to your surroundings and exploit the hell out of them.I've used shape water to create a shooting nest, by making a 5'x5'x10' tower from swamp water from which my kobold dragon sorcerer then rained down fire and acid in equal measure on our undead foes of whom there were a few hundred. we still had to retreat but never was I ever in any danger of being overrun by a swarm of undead. it can be situational for sure but when you're in a watery environment. there is no substitute. pair it up with a fish familiar with dragons breath and keep the group close together then you can potentially keep the same 5'x5'x10' area water free allowing you and your allies to traverse the watery depths just be sure to keep in mind that you'll still run out of oxegen eventually.Dragons breath and an owl familiar are simply made of win. but don't underestimate the viability of the other familiars.I once played as a gnome arcane trickster and used a bag of holding (for all my nonessential gear) and a reduce on myself and a mage hand cantrip to achieve a flight speed of 30 for a minute. I think I might have broke our Gm for a few minutes as he had never seen anyone achieve flight with a 2nd level spell like this. He asked to see my weight calculations and sure enough my 40lb gnome was now 5lbs and all of his other gear didn't exceed 5lbs at this size meaning it was legal per raw. I've achieved similar effects on other characters using tensors floating disk and mage hand the disk displaces 300lbs of weight and it's a ritual, the same is also possible to a certain extent with levitate paired up with mage hand or find familiar owl. though you are limited vertically.shape water and mold earth are excellent and mainstays in my arsenal. they can be used for quick cover or traps and together they are devastating. though I suggest getting a decanter of endless water to fully optimize shape water. but yes dig a thirty foot deep hole that's five by five on a side fill half way with water. use minor illusion or silent image to disguise the area as if nothing's out of the ordinary. your enemy comes to attack you, and immediately falls into your death trap you cause the water to start flowing down ward sucking the guy down and forcing athletic checks or drowning. if they do manage to get out of the water then you can either start filling in the hole, or use a Maximilian's  earthen grasp to knock them back in or pull them back under, this move is particularly effective against enemies in heavy armor. even. with just mold earth you can create a similar trap by simply putting spears javelins or the like at the bottom instead. use gust or vine whip or lightning lure or eldritch blast with push back or grasp evocations to pull push and maneuver enemies into the hole, and you and your team can shoot fish in a barrel. to make the trap even more effective shape the grond in the surrounding area with a 1 foot lip down and then 45 degree slope in the surrounding 15 by 15 by 5 foot area centering on your hole and you can entrap 3 or more before they have a clue whats going on.</blockquote>

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