Basic combat spellcasting strategy - an essay

[IronWolf]

Nice explanation! I think it would help out new spellcasters quite well...

 

[beaver1024]

Isn't this a long way of saying it's ok to be a supporting character and not get the glory?

 

[BlueBlackRed]

When we have brand new players join our group I do my darndest to get them to play fighters or barbarians until they get the hang of it and understand that being a caster means a lot less of the up front glory.

Our current campaign has a guy playing a sorcerer who feels utterly useless. But his sleep spells alone have saved the party on 2 occasions.

Next level he'll have Fireball and will probably toss it every chance he gets.
I'm not sure if that will be a good thing.

Soooo I'm going to yoink your post MerakSpielman and show it to him.

 

[Mark]

Well done, Merak!

Isn't this a long way of saying it's ok to be a supporting character and not get the glory?

Don't mistake killing for glory.

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

Very good work. I am impressed.

A little feedback.

Endure Elements is not combat useful in 3.5 (as you probably know). It seems a bit odd to not mention Barkskin, Protection from Evil, or Enlarge/Enlarge Person.

BTW, I am playing a low level Druid and I have found that Produce Flame is shockingly good for character levels 3rd to 5th. Much better than Magic Missle for lowish level characters.

 

[BlackSilver]

Nicely done.

I have a Player in mind that might want to read something along these lines- I hope you do not mind if I copy and paste, to a Word Doc. If you do speak up before Saturday.

To anyone that knows of anyone that is having problems playing a Wiz/Soc, Druid, Cleric- I suggest a read of this to them.

Thank you.

 

[Brother MacLaren]

1) Use your spells, even if you’re uncertain anything will come of it. Spells left uncast at the end of the day were wasted resources! Better to cast them just in case they can help than to not cast them at all.

This is the only bit I disagree with.
I would change it to "Use your spells if the situation is dire enough that your survival depends on it. Don't use them just to feel useful." Okay, maybe that's exaggerating a bit, but a 5th-level caster simply cannot cast a spell every round of the combat just to have something to do - especially not if there are multiple combats in the day. One great thing about Produce Flame, Flaming Sphere, and some other spells is that the player gets more stuff to do out of one spell.

On the economy of spell-casting:
1) Not every combat will be so tough that the PC needs to cast a combat spell. Against weak opposition, use missile weapons and save spells for reinforcements.
2) You don't know how many combats you'll have to face before resting (or before the next dawn for the druid). Don't assume the monsters will let up on you just because you wasted all of your spells.
3) Be especially careful about using up your highest-level spells.
4) If you have Craft Wand or Scribe Scroll, use the feats and consider the GP and XP an investment with a good rate of return.

 

[MerakSpielman]

MacLaren,
It's debateable. I am very much teaching my own philosophy from when I play spellcasters. If you have a couple wands and a good selection of scrolls, then using up your daily allotment isn't as big of a deal. After all, those are spells you get for free every day! What a deal! Use 'em if you got 'em!

But it's also true that a lot of my advice might hinge on my DMing style. I'd say that about half the combats my players find themselves in are the only combat they're doing for the day. It makes no sense to horde spells in such a campaign.

Also keep in mind that this is intended to be a basic strategy. Anybody who's been playing D&D for a while knows that there are many strategies or philosophies to follow when determining how to use spells.

The primary purpose of this essay was to help them understand that there are ways of being useful in combat other than blasting the enemy. It's something they truly didn't grasp, and judging by the feedback I've gotten from them so far, they're liking having their horizons expanded. The druid player has suddenly grasped the concept of Bull's Strength + Magic Fang + Wild Shape (Bear), and I just helped the Sorcerer player sort through her spells and purchase scrolls to supplement her existing selection.

For those of you who asked, of course you can reproduce this and show it to your players! If it helps just one player have a better time at the game then it was worth the hour it took to write.

 

[Brother MacLaren]

MacLaren,
It's debateable. I am very much teaching my own philosophy from when I play spellcasters. If you have a couple wands and a good selection of scrolls, then using up your daily allotment isn't as big of a deal. After all, those are spells you get for free every day! What a deal! Use 'em if you got 'em!

I definitely agree about the wands and scrolls - you have a lot more freedom if you have those feats. I'd suggest Craft Wand even over Natural Spell as the 6th-level druid feat (it's what my PC took) for that reason. Also, if you make a wand of Cure Light Wounds, you can load up on the nifty spells without the party badgering you to save so many slots for healing.

But, again, Produce Flame and Flaming Sphere are both good for giving the PC lots to do without burning through spells. And my DM has me quite paranoid ever since the endless night of goblin raids at first level.

 

[Gez]

Oh yes. I loved using flaming sphere with my first D&D character. It wasn't always very efficient (despite a 18 Ints, saving throws are so easily succeeded!), but it has managed to help considerably often. Among other, non-directly-destructive uses of that damage spell, it allowed to prevent enemies from flanking an ally ("you want to flank my buddy, you have to invade Ms Flaming Sphere's personal space, and she's a bit hot-tempered..."), likewise blocking passageways, and intimidating creatures (like when it made a water elemental flee).

If you want them to better grasp the tactical utility of spells, you can also read them the excerpt of Sep's story hour where Nwm the druid single-handedly slaughter an army with his spells and a magic item. First, entrap the opposition to prevent them from fleeing or counterattacking, then lay down the smackdown. You can't put the cart before the horses, and teamwork (having both an entangling druid and a blasting wizard, for example) just allow to put both in the good order in shorter sequence than you could do alone.

Also, clever use of spell in combat does not necessarily results in the destruction of the enemy. To take a low-level example, the gnome who uses her innate ghost sound ability during a goblin ambush to make the goblins believe there's a squad of dwarves charging at them has a chance to make the goblins flee, freeing the party from an uncomfortable situation. And if the goblins realize they were cheated and decide to come back, they won't have the benefit of surprise nor of good tactical positionning.