spell casters tactics...and what magicals would they make.

[Sir ThornCrest]

Spellcasters are traditionally at a disadvantage when in combat, because the class is made to depend on spells.

Clerics: Can tank it out in full plate, shield & melee weapon the problem is they must cast during combat and using components with a shield, battle gauntlets and a weapon = your gonna spend half the time putting your weapon down picking it up, taking your gauntlet off. Now to counter this smart players will arrange any necessary components to be easily accessable ( bag of this or that hanging from belt, wrist inside of shield etc, and there is another problem during combat these things will get nocked off or destroyed. Not to mention many of the spells will get you attacked under AoO.....and then you have a good chance of losing your spell all together...........so to counter this our Clerics will 1) Spend 1 of there precious feats to counter this. 2) Engage if necessary..as a support fighter, then back up & cast then re-engage if necessary. This has proven to be the most effective. The hit and run Cleric ihas proven most useful.

Druids: I nor have any of our party ever played a Druid. For some reason, its been a turn off....maybe from the 2nd addition days where they were dead neutral and basically a second class citizen to the Cleric, kinda flighty?
But as NPC's I have always played them as follows. They may use magic, animals campanion talk to plants rocks animals to find enemy, then use magic to bind enemy (entangle etc.) as the party deals with being binded they rush is using spells to beef themselves up, turn into some hulking melee nightmare of a beast and go in swinging. Tell me am I doing it wrong or does this tactic still work out best for them?

Psions: We have learned that Astral Constructs are a Psions best friend. Stand back with your body guard and fire! let your Kenetic powers fry the enemy, put a wall around the spell casters and send your construct(s) out to mall the opposing spell casters...and mind thrust any fighter warrior type (mind thrust 1d10/level will negates). There are several options but these are my cerbramancers powers..they are working great.

Wizards/Sorcerors: Stand back and fire! The standard for us is they buff the party with haste or mage armor whatever the buff spell they have. Protect them selves with there highest level spells, globes whatever then fry the bad guys with there big range large area 3rd level evocation spell-lightening bolts, fireballs. If they want to stay alive, they must use several spells on themselves, mirror image, inviso, blur, fly all are needed and used readily.

Tactics, spell selection, are very important..

But have you noticed in your campaign that the Wizards Psion or Clerics selection of which magic/power item to make, will have tremendous weight on the parties success?

I would like to see your input on this. If your spell caster was 8th level, had all the time he wanted and a total of 25,000 gold pieces, what would be your choices of magicals? Wizard/sorceror/cleric/druid or psion...

Thorncrest

 

[Henry]

Each Class can be effective in melee, but it depends on planning, as you say.

CLERICS: Your notations on weapons and shields are quite appropriate; in fact, it behooves most casters to keep ONE hand free for casting. Most casters I've seen forego shield, and just get a two-handed weapon, dropping the weapon to one hand when casting, and picking it back up when done. Clerics who cast in combat find that high concentration skill scores are a MUST, but their strength is in beefing themselves up with spellpower before an enemy is faced. If this is impractical due to ambush or similar, then the next-best tactic is as you describe, or just stand there are take it and act as shield for the rear lines.

DRUIDS: Again, a druid's strength is not firepower (until high level), but in the friends he brings to the party. A druid with a brown bear, beefed with magic fang, animal growth, etc. is a terror to behold. Again, without prep time, the best tactic is battlefield control (entangle, sleet storm, stone spikes, spike growth) and buy time for the party to prepare.

PSIONS: Rarely played them, but seems to me that Constructs are a shaper's friend, but a telepath's friend is his enemies. A good telepath can confuse and befuddle his enemies, and make them attact one another or at the least not him. Just like the best armor is anonymity, the best defense to a psion is putting your enemy as a meatshield between you and other enemies.

MAGES: Wiz's and Sorc's are by far the most in need of prep time. My favorite tactic is to scribe utility spells (or leave one or two slots open for utility) and load the rest with pure multi-purpose offense and defense. No fancy spells - just spells that can crack, burn, and blast, or can make me invisible, or even better yet GONE.

But have you noticed in your campaign that the Wizards Psion or Clerics selection of which magic/power item to make, will have tremendous weight on the parties success?

I would like to see your input on this. If your spell caster was 8th level, had all the time he wanted and a total of 25,000 gold pieces, what would be your choices of magicals?

Again, the best choice of items would be utility - things that I can do easily, or solutions for problems which have no "blast and burn" solution. I can always pack a fireball - but I can't cast it if I'm dead. Ergo, invest in healing items (which you give some to other party members for safe-keeping); invest in things which make me invisible, or fly-worthy, or give me power to breath underwater, etc. Bracers of armor +1 are nice, but give me that potion of water breathing and a couple potions of jump and curing, myself. I can cast mage armor and be all right.

 

[shilsen]

That's pretty good advice from Henry above, so I'll just point out one area where I disagree. Where wizards/sorcerers are concerned, I think that the only time to focus on bang-boom spells is when you're up against multiple weak enemies. Spells which do hit point damage are much weaker in 3e/3.5e than in earlier editions due to the increased hit points NPCs and monsters tend to have, so using spells which bypass hit points and directly incapacitate or weaken enemies is much more effective.

The above is a positive, IMO, since it encourages spellcasters to be more creative/versatile rather than just taking the blaster route, if they want to be truly effective.

 

[Henry]

Good advice, but on the other hand, don't leave out destructive spells completely, because sometimes you need to blast things as well as people.