D&D 5E Spell combos under Concentration economy

[FormerlyHemlock]

Up-armored skeletons: instead of relying purely on "armor scraps" like the MM skeletons to give you AC 13, spend some gold and equip your skeletons and zombies with chain mail and a shield. Zombies go from AC 8 to 18, skeletons go from 13 to 18. (I've never had a player do this yet but I would totally allow it. It's even hinted at on the monster description: zombies will use weapons if you give them weapons, and it seems logical to treat armor similarly, since skeletons at least clearly wear armor already.)

Cernor: that's why Eldritch Knights are the best kind of fighter. Note also that Mirror Image does not take concentration, and neither does Blink. Can stack those too if necessary, against dragons and such.

 

[DaveDash]

Up-armored skeletons: instead of relying purely on "armor scraps" like the MM skeletons to give you AC 13, spend some gold and equip your skeletons and zombies with chain mail and a shield. Zombies go from AC 8 to 18, skeletons go from 13 to 18. (I've never had a player do this yet but I would totally allow it. It's even hinted at on the monster description: zombies will use weapons if you give them weapons, and it seems logical to treat armor similarly, since skeletons at least clearly wear armor already.)

Cernor: that's why Eldritch Knights are the best kind of fighter. Note also that Mirror Image does not take concentration, and neither does Blink. Can stack those too if necessary, against dragons and such.

Dragons can just close their eyes and attack (Blind sense) and there goes Mirror Image. Shield is way more effective at higher levels for an Eldritch Knight, and those spells are very costly in terms of his number of spells he can pick that aren't evocation/abjuration, because there are a few others that are far more important to him than those two.

Besides, the last thing you want is your Fighter being too hard to hit, so the enemies just go and kill the squishies instead.

I rate an EK very highly at higher levels, but a Battlemaster Fighter is probably more effective against a Dragon, especially since he can burn through the Dragon's legendary resistance very quickly by forcing the Dragon to save vs Fear on each attack, and he can "control" the battlespace better.

Anyway, a bit off topic.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

Update RE: "Invisible Tank". I just checked, and it turns out that Invisible Stalkers have DX 18, so you can play the "invisible tank" thing on them as well, only they are genuinely invisible. You have to summon them with a sixth level spell slot (Conjure Elemental VI) because they are CR 6, and they only get AC 17 instead of 18, but they are invisible and that makes up for a lot including their low damage (2d6+3 x2 attacks) in many situations.

In fact, Conjure Elemental VI + Planar Binding + Mage Armor might be a really nifty way to set an ambush.

 

[PnPgamer]

Armor of agathys + blade ward

 

[TarionzCousin]

My warlock can cast Hex and Eldritch Blast and... I'm done. It takes all my concentration to keep Hex going. Sadness occurs.

 

[Zardnaar]

Armor of agathys + blade ward

Stoneskin is better. Also helps with Heavy Armor Master.

 

[PnPgamer]

Stoneskin is better. Also helps with Heavy Armor Master.

Difference is that armor of agathys does damage backwards to attacker, and resistance hslves the damage you receive so you might get extra cold damage towards enemies.

 

[KarinsDad]

Besides, the last thing you want is your Fighter being too hard to hit, so the enemies just go and kill the squishies instead.

I always had an issue with this type of thinking.

How does the monster(s) know that the Fighter is "too hard" to hit? After a single swing, does the DM just have the monsters avoid the Fighter from then on? Or does the DM wait for a few rounds? Granted, a fighter in plate and shield is obviously well protected, but that's where spells like Disguise Self (for Eldritch Knights) comes into play (as does the Sentinel feat). And how is a fighter in plate and shield any different than a cleric in plate and shield?

There's also the issue of off tanking. Is a monster off on the side going to ignore a fighter in his face and use a disengage or give the fighter an OA? Isn't this good for the party overall?


There's no doubt that a DM should play the monsters according to their intelligence, but how does a monster know the difference between a fighter in plate and a fighter in +3 plate? Do monsters always avoid every PC in heavy armor and/or shields?

 

[Sebkha]

Do monsters always avoid every PC in heavy armor and/or shields?

"That's right" she said, stepping in front of her comrades with shield raised. "You ugly brutes keep your distance."

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

I always had an issue with this type of thinking.

How does the monster(s) know that the Fighter is "too hard" to hit? After a single swing, does the DM just have the monsters avoid the Fighter from then on? Or does the DM wait for a few rounds? Granted, a fighter in plate and shield is obviously well protected, but that's where spells like Disguise Self (for Eldritch Knights) comes into play (as does the Sentinel feat). And how is a fighter in plate and shield any different than a cleric in plate and shield?

There's also the issue of off tanking. Is a monster off on the side going to ignore a fighter in his face and use a disengage or give the fighter an OA? Isn't this good for the party overall?

I agree. (And Disguise Self/Seeming/etc. are awesome, BTW. You can totally deny an enemy's ability to differentiate targets based on visual cues, and it doesn't even take Concentration.)

Aside from metagaming concerns, there's also the issue that the squishies can simply Disengage and retreat from the monsters while the fighters kill the monsters to death all day from range, while the monsters get zero attacks against anybody.