Philip Benz
A Dragontooth Grognard
In my homebrew campaign, the spellcasters are having a blast.
We have a fighter, a rogue, a wizard, a druid and a cleric. So we have three traditions covered. When they need to buff someone, we have Stoneskin, Heroism, Haste, Fly and a few others. They've gotten a lot of mileage out of Invisibility, and oddly enough Negate Aroma, to mask their scents from critters that use scent. Lots of sneaking around and avoiding sentries while they get up close and personal with their adversaries.
Also, since I very rarely use adversaries more than 2 levels above theirs, and they often face lower-level adversaries in greater numbers, they have gotten a lot of mileage out of a variety of blasting spells, from the old classics like fireball, lightning bolt and chain lightning, to cool spells like disinitegrate and spirit blast. Since they've been facing more and more fiends, they have even gotten good use from Banishment (it feels so cool when they can remove an adversary from the picture with a single spell). They also frequently use cantrips and lower-level spells like hydraulic push, if only to conserve on their higher-level spells, since they tend to face multiple fights in a given adventuring day.
Now, if they were constantly facing level+3 or +4 enemies, I'm sure their experience would be different. This all goes to show that adventure design plays a huge role in how players perceive the game system. You don't have to fall back on constant slows and hideous laughters if you're facing foes that are vulnerable to a wider swath of magic spells.
We have a fighter, a rogue, a wizard, a druid and a cleric. So we have three traditions covered. When they need to buff someone, we have Stoneskin, Heroism, Haste, Fly and a few others. They've gotten a lot of mileage out of Invisibility, and oddly enough Negate Aroma, to mask their scents from critters that use scent. Lots of sneaking around and avoiding sentries while they get up close and personal with their adversaries.
Also, since I very rarely use adversaries more than 2 levels above theirs, and they often face lower-level adversaries in greater numbers, they have gotten a lot of mileage out of a variety of blasting spells, from the old classics like fireball, lightning bolt and chain lightning, to cool spells like disinitegrate and spirit blast. Since they've been facing more and more fiends, they have even gotten good use from Banishment (it feels so cool when they can remove an adversary from the picture with a single spell). They also frequently use cantrips and lower-level spells like hydraulic push, if only to conserve on their higher-level spells, since they tend to face multiple fights in a given adventuring day.
Now, if they were constantly facing level+3 or +4 enemies, I'm sure their experience would be different. This all goes to show that adventure design plays a huge role in how players perceive the game system. You don't have to fall back on constant slows and hideous laughters if you're facing foes that are vulnerable to a wider swath of magic spells.
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