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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Flamestrike" data-source="post: 8621231" data-attributes="member: 6788736">Cool. Ill pick fireball and hypnotic pattern as my 3rd level spells. Ill recover a spell slot of 3rd level with Arcane recovery after the first short rest too.First all 6 of them need to be in a 20' cube. Second the save is DC 14 Dex, followed by a Str check DC 14 to break free  (Mooks at +1 and Boss at +2). Lets assume 1 Mook is out of the effect, 3 fail their saves, and 1 mook and the boss make it. Of those that fail, 2 waste turns trying to get free (and fail) and 1 simply tosses a javelin (at disadvantage) at one of the creatures his boss or his buddies now threaten (for martial advantage to kick in).I'll use my Fireball, DC 15 which has a 30' radius, and kills every mook it hits, even if they make their saves on average. No more martial advantage to worry about, and there is now a damaged Boss all on his lonesome for the rest of the party to murder.Clear advantage to fireball.You're down a 2nd, Im down a 3rd.Err no. On their turns if the fail the save, they take the Dash action (as the spell requires them to take) until they're no longer in view of you, and then start making more saves to break the effect.So fine, one fails his save and runs off around the dungeon for a few rounds (halving the battle difficulty) while the other passes (DC 14) which is fair enough seeing as they have advantage on saves vs being frightened (two heads). After a while the other one comes back.While he's gone the rest of the party focus fire on the one that passed killing it on round 3. Then the other one comes back, or keeps running, alerting the rest of the dungeon to what the heck is going on (in this case he hasnt got anyone to tell, unless he's friends with the Gargoyles that is) which might make short resting very difficult.Ill just fireball them again (so the martials can finish them off on their turn) where they're at -1 to save vs DC 15 likely taking 28 odd damage each, or around a 1/3 of their HP.The party kill one no later than round 2, and the other on round 4, taking a little bit of damage in the process, but that's OK because we're about to...Cool. I'll get back a 3rd. You can recover a second. The slightly wounded PCs can get back HD and the Fighter gets back his sup dice, action surge and second wind. He's as good as new.Assume you're surprised. They are gargoyles after all.You can position your cone and get both. I'll even have both fail their saves. On their turn they fly off (taking attacks of opportunity) screeching, taking the Dash action to move 120' away, up or into the nearest cover they can find, repeating this each turn (as the spell requires). When they can no longer see you anymore, they make saves each turn till they both make it, returning to the battle.Useful but not game changing.My Wizard just spams cantrips, and maybe a shield spell to save his bacon, and lets the fighter, cleric and rogue deal with this. I want to save my big booms for later on.And then they come back or alert the rest of the dungeon to your presence. You've bought some time, nothing more.Ill web likely catching most of them. At DC 15 the fighter, cleric and rogue can smack them silly at advantage for at least a round.Yeah no, they're going to spam breath weapons. overlapping those AoE's as often as they can (10d8  or 45 points of damage in a 15' line). Move breathe, then number 2 moves adjacent to 1, breath along the same path, then (presuming no real risk of an AoO the second one moves again to put some distance between him and his brother).You and I will both burn at least a 1st level slot on Absorb elements to survive the opening salvo, because they can position themselves to get to the casters, and that's what they'll do.I've been saving my last 3rd level slot for a BBEG.Ill web them to bring them to ground. It likely buys the rest of my party an entire round of wailing on at least on of them prone and restrained  (and to spread out to avoid the AoO) before they can fly off again, which likely sees it dead before the web ends, and hopefully before its breath weapon recharges.Ill presume you do the same.You cast sanctuary and are effectively out of the fight barring help actions and the effect of your ward, which wont do too much seeing as the Dragon is going to try and keep its distance and torch the party with its breath weapon (although this triggers a save if you're in it, possibly burning a LR).Ill repeatedly nuke the thing with Scorching rays, starting with a 3rd level upcast, then my 3 remaining 2nds, then falling back to magic missiles (while absorbing elements, and moving away from the party to avoid the AoE) while the Rogue and Fighter shoot it to death, and the Cleric regrets being a Strength build with no missile weapons and realises that other than spiritual weapon (which it keeps its distance from) and sacred flame, he kind of sucks at range.That said, after the battle, he brings the Fighter back from the dead with revivify, so he earned his place right there.Again, I know who I would rather have in my party for pretty much every single one of those battles, and it aint the MC PC.</blockquote>

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