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<blockquote data-quote="Falling Icicle" data-source="post: 6411035" data-attributes="member: 17077">I was talking about the spells at their base spell levels, but yes, that is a big advantage, and that's why hold person is well worth preparing at higher levels. If you encounter humanoids, it can give you a decisive advantage. If not, oh well, it's just one of your dozen or so prepared spells.Those odds are acceptable IMO, considering just how bad it is for the monster if it fails its save against that spell. Compare it to scorching ray, for example. Scorching ray deals an average of 21 damage, and that's all that it does. Hold person not only causes the creature to lose its ability to act, it also gives all of your allies advantage on their attacks against it and automatic crits if they hit it. That can end up contributing more damage than scorching ray does, and that's in addition to keeping the monster from doing anything to your party. The spell may only last up to 3 rounds most of the time, but the creature isn't likely to survive that long when the entire party is critical-hitting it.All of that said, I prefer blindness/deafness over hold person. It's not quite as debilitating as hold person, but it works on almost anything and doesn't require concentration. Once you have level 3 spells, you can get hypnotic pattern. That spell is simply amazing. It can disable an entire group of enemies, and they don't get saving throws in later rounds to break free. It does break on damage, but just make sure your party is aware of that and pick them off one by one.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Falling Icicle, post: 6411035, member: 17077"] I was talking about the spells at their base spell levels, but yes, that is a big advantage, and that's why hold person is well worth preparing at higher levels. If you encounter humanoids, it can give you a decisive advantage. If not, oh well, it's just one of your dozen or so prepared spells. Those odds are acceptable IMO, considering just how bad it is for the monster if it fails its save against that spell. Compare it to scorching ray, for example. Scorching ray deals an average of 21 damage, and that's all that it does. Hold person not only causes the creature to lose its ability to act, it also gives all of your allies advantage on their attacks against it and automatic crits if they hit it. That can end up contributing more damage than scorching ray does, and that's in addition to keeping the monster from doing anything to your party. The spell may only last up to 3 rounds most of the time, but the creature isn't likely to survive that long when the entire party is critical-hitting it. All of that said, I prefer blindness/deafness over hold person. It's not quite as debilitating as hold person, but it works on almost anything and doesn't require concentration. Once you have level 3 spells, you can get hypnotic pattern. That spell is simply amazing. It can disable an entire group of enemies, and they don't get saving throws in later rounds to break free. It does break on damage, but just make sure your party is aware of that and pick them off one by one. [/QUOTE]

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