Spell Tricks and Combos A to Z

[MarauderX]

The better buffing for the low-level meat shield: Bulls Str, Mage Armor, Enlarge. Now have him trip everyone in any square within his reach; with Combat Reflexes he gets an AoO on each one of the fallen that stands up, which he should use to trip again while the rest of the party takes out any ranged opponents.

 

[Unseelie]

The better buffing for the low-level meat shield: Bulls Str, Mage Armor, Enlarge. Now have him trip everyone in any square within his reach; with Combat Reflexes he gets an AoO on each one of the fallen that stands up, which he should use to trip again while the rest of the party takes out any ranged opponents.

It's debatable as to whether:

a) you can trip someone attempting to stand up
& b) if so, whether the second trip attempt actually prevents the person from standing up

Check D&D Rules for threads on trip and you'll see that the debate comes up about once a week. IMO, the jury is still out so my Monk just hits them with a stunning blow when they stand up to avoid the whole issue.

 

[Plane Sailing]

Resilient Sphere is a great lowish level spell for trapping someone within an inimical effect. If they haven't got dispel magic or one of the ways of bypassing a wall of force, they are stuck inside for 1 min per level.

Particularly nasty if combined with Cloudkill, which even high level characters are threatened by - 1d4 CON damage per round, Fort save for half. If you haven't got someone to rescue you from the resilient sphere that is at least 9 minutes breathing cloudkill... 90 rounds, so you are guaranteed to take at least 90 CON damage, and probably more (especially as your CON degrades due to the poison!)

You've got to fail the Ref ST against the resilient sphere, but if you do it's curtains (unless you can teleport/become immune to poison/find dispel magic!)

Cheers

 

[Wippit Guud]

Featherfall is free action to cast, can affect one medium creature/object per level, and the spell description says that it can be cast on increasing sizes (1 large creature/object takes up 2 tagrte slots, huge takes 4, etc). Try casting it on that diving dragon and see what happens when he's slowed to nothing. Also works well on catapult stones.

 

[Zappo]

Cast stone to flesh on a statue and it becomes a corpse. This can be handy if you need undead workforce but don't want to kill people or desecrate corpses for it.
While we're on the topic, it's also worth remembering that casting stone to flesh on a stone golem makes it a lot more vulnerable for the following round (negates damage resistance and magic immunity).

 

[Grayhawk]

Resilient Sphere is a great lowish level spell for trapping someone within an inimical effect. If they haven't got dispel magic or one of the ways of bypassing a wall of force, they are stuck inside for 1 min per level.

Particularly nasty if combined with Cloudkill, which even high level characters are threatened by - 1d4 CON damage per round, Fort save for half. If you haven't got someone to rescue you from the resilient sphere that is at least 9 minutes breathing cloudkill... 90 rounds, so you are guaranteed to take at least 90 CON damage, and probably more (especially as your CON degrades due to the poison!)

You've got to fail the Ref ST against the resilient sphere, but if you do it's curtains (unless you can teleport/become immune to poison/find dispel magic!)

Cheers

Can you really do this?

I don't think the spell description is clear about what happens with your immediate surroundings when you're trapped within an Otiluke's Resilient Sphere, so I've always played it as the environment within the sphere is harmless, regardless of the state of your surroundings prior to being trapped.

My interpretation of the spell may be wrong, but I think that this makes it a more interesting spell with more versatility, as it thus can be used to both save yourself or others from fire or other hazards, as well as taking opponents out of commision for the spells duration.

If you want to trap someone within an inimical effect, there are plenty of spells that do that (Hold spells, Entangle, Web, Slow...)

 

[Arkhandus]

Obscuring Mist + Summon Monster or Summon Nature's Ally
Works in both editions I think...... Mist an area and summon a few critters with the Scent ability, like a bunch of tiny vipers with SNA, who can mostly ignore the mist and seek out the enemy, biting and poisoning them for d6's of Constitution damage.....at really low levels, even a BBEG for those levels has gotta fail one or two of those DC 11 saves against poison...... A 3rd-level druid can even have one or two large viper animal companions for this tactic, or a single huge viper (dc 13 against a huge viper's poison). Not many low-level PCs or baddies with high enough saves to consistently avoid that poison from several such critters.

 

[apsuman]

Web an area with people in it, then start casting grease on the floor where they stand, and on their items. The grease spell would require them to make all kinds of rolls if they want to move. If you succeed in greasing their wespon, they drop it, then if they pick it up they are stuck in the web. If they move they have to save again or fall.

 

[apsuman]

in 3.0 (don't know about 3.5)

BBEG makes a wall of ice as a plane over a deep chasm. When the party is lured into the room, cast wall of fire around the party.

 

[LordOfBlah]

Need a mage and a cleric for this one. Cast blade barrier on one or more BBEGs. If they make the save and are on your side of the blade barrier cast bigbys forcefull had to bull rush them back into the blade barrier. Wash Rinse and Repeat as needed.