D&D 5E Making Best Use of Vision Impairing Spells

[Arvok]

Just to be clear, a creature can make a ranged attack against another creature it cannot see. It just has disadvantage on the attack roll. So while the fog cloud or whatever is helpful, you're still a target.

There was a 3e feat(?) that allowed archers to make an attack against an area and whatever was in that area had to make a Reflex save or take damage; the greater the number of archers the more the damage (and the higher the DC of the save?). It's certainly possible to home-brew something like that.

Depending on the style of your campaign, that could be very powerful. If your party has a number of low-level hirelings who can rain arrows down on an enemy once your wizard casts fog cloud, you could ruin an opposing army's day. If you never play large-scale battle scenarios (and I don't think that's the staple of any RPG), it won't come into play.

 

[jayoungr]

There was a 3e feat(?) that allowed archers to make an attack against an area and whatever was in that area had to make a Reflex save or take damage; the greater the number of archers the more the damage (and the higher the DC of the save?). It's certainly possible to home-brew something like that.

SWSE had that too, for burst fire, although without the number bonus.

There are plenty of magical attacks in 5E that work similarly: dragon's breath, ice storm, etc.

 

[MarkB]

One thing to keep in mind is that not being able to see someone doesn't technically make you unaware of their position. Combatants within a Fog Cloud all still know where each other are, except for anyone who takes advantage of it to make a Stealth check to hide.

However, anyone who didn't have a bead on who was who before the cloud went up won't be able to distinguish between combatants, unless they identify themselves by speaking.

 

[Stalker0]

Just to be clear, a creature can make a ranged attack against another creature it cannot see. It just has disadvantage on the attack roll. So while the fog cloud or whatever is helpful, you're still a target.

techinically because The target also couldn’t see the archer, attacks have advantage. So an archer firing at someone in fog fires normally.

 

[jayoungr]

So an archer firing at someone in fog fires normally.

So getting into the fog (so that everyone is inside it) is actually an advantage in that case, which seems weird.

 

[Lidgar]

Cloudkill is another spell that causes the area to become heavily obscured. Follow it up with a couple of fireballs, and see em run.

 

[Eltab]

Enemy: Darn it, a Fog Cloud! Somebody cast Gust of Wind (or wave that pretty fold-up fan) to make it go away!

PC: Well, the enemy's caster is down one more spell slot now.

You could Counterspell the fog, or - IF you know he full-moved before he cast the spell - Lightning Bolt the space he was standing in, trying to generate a tough Concentration check.