Spellcaster Strategy - A Beginner's Guide

[Greenfield]

It's come up more than once in recent threads, so I thought I'd give this topic a place to call home.

We've all seen players whose characters can find a way to kill a deity with Prestodigitation, and we've all seen players whose characters can't turn cereal into breakfast.

So let's talk about strategy for spell casters. I'm not talking about optimized builds, but rather about smart play.

For example, I have a player in my group. Nice person, but their spell caster takes one offensive spell of each level every day. One Magic Missile, one Scorching Ray, etc, and that's it. Everything else is utility spells.

My advice to this player was simple: Scrolls. Write scrolls for the utility spells you don't use every day, and stock you finger up with defense and kaboom.

The change was dramatic. Suddenly the player's character was actually able to participate in combat.

So let's talk about that kind of simple strategy advise, the kind of thing one should learn at low level and expand upon from there.

 

[Dandu]

At low levels, Magic Missile deals some damage, but not a lot. Still worth having, though.

What's really useful are spells that give you and your allies more tactical options. They won't kill the enemy, but they will make it much easier for your allies to kill your enemies.

Grease, for example, forces reflex saves vs falling prone, and demands that anyone trying to move through the area affected make a DC 10 balance check. Failure means they cannot move, while failure by 5 or more means they fall prone. When used on heavily armored fighters, the effect is quite spectacular as it shuts them down and allows the party to pick them off from a distance.

Glitterdust blinds people, which denies them Dex to AC and imposes a 50% miss chance on their attacks. Party fighters will get hit less, and party rogues can sneak attack away.

Charm Person effectively removes one enemy from the battlefield and gives you a temporary ally.

Ray of Enfeeblement imposes a strength penalty on the enemy, reducing their damage output.

Basically, spells do 5 things: damage, control, buff, debuff, and utility. Damage anyone else in the party can do. The other four are things that others in the party can't necessarily do. By focusing on what unique things a spellcaster brings to the party, you can create great synergy with your team.

 

[Mort]

Basically, spells do 5 things: damage, control, buff, debuff, and utility. Damage anyone else in the party can do. The other four are things that others in the party can't necessarily do. By focusing on what unique things a spellcaster brings to the party, you can create great synergy with your team.

Good summary I'd give you xp but apparantly I must spread some more around first.

While it looks neat and flashy, invocation/evocation is usually the weakest option for the reasons mentioned above.

One low level spell not mentioned above: color spray - at low-mid level it's just nasty - take out several creatures for 2-4 rounds (and make them easy fodder for everyone to beat on) - it's a 1st level save or die spell.

Another often overlooked mid level spell: slow - yes it has a save but it's a will save so giants etc. will likely fail. Affects several creatures (1 per wiz. level) and again makes them much easier for everyone to deal with.

Bears repeating: the true strength of the wizard is not damaging others it's making it's making it easier for others to do the damage (through control, buffing, debuffing etc. and of course divination to know what to expect.)

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

Bears repeating: the true strength of the wizard is not damaging others it's making it's making it easier for others to do the damage (through control, buffing, debuffing etc. and of course divination to know what to expect.)

Absolutely.

Generally speaking, DMs design encounters for which the party has a decent chance of winning (probably not guaranteed, but pretty close for most purposes).

Therefore, anything you can do to break that single encounter into multiple encounters can turn 1 hard fight into 2 or 3 cake walks. Spells that enable this are those like the various wall spells, sleep, web, entangle, etc., and at higher levels various transportation spells and stoneshaping spells (e.g., rock to mud followed by mud to rock).

I'm replaying through the Temple of Elemental Evil PC game, and there's a particularly nasty fight when you leave the Moathouse - a bunch of PC-classed enemies, some gnolls, and some militia-type archers. They outnumber your party anywhere from 2-to-1 to 4-to-1 depending on how many people you've recruited and how many animal companions you've got.

In this fight, my wizard spent 2 2nd-level spells to turn the whole thing into a cakewalk: he webbed the left half of the battlefield, and glitterdusted the right. This resulted in, essentially, two battles: 1 against a bunch of blind folks, and 1, several rounds later, against a bunch of people who couldn't move (though my archer ranger had killed a couple of them by that point).

Now, those 2 2nd-level spells were also his highest level spell slots, so he was pretty tapped out at that point, but those two spells remain so useful for so long.

Review your long-term buffing options. Mage Armor is the best form of light armor, and it lasts for 1 hour per level; the chances of a low-level party adventuring for much more than an hour or two are pretty low - you don't have the resources to stretch your Hit Points out that long. Ergo, Mage Armor is essentially +4 Armor all day - and then, at higher levels, it actually lasts all day.

If you've got a Monk or a Rogue in the party, look into a 1st-level Pearl of Power (or two) - and make them help pay for it. If you can craft them yourself, then for 1,000gp (2 1st-level Pearls) and a 1st-level spell slot you've got a +4 Force-effect Armor bonus for three people for nearly all the time for which it matters. In comparison, bracers of armor +4 are 16k gp each.

 

[Pergentile]

If a caster uses nothing but Conjuration and Transmutation spells, they are at least doing SOMETHING right.

 

[steenan]

Pergentile - don't forget illusions.

In general, I agree with the previous posters. The best tactic for a spellcaster is making the party more effective and making the enemies less effective. Dealing damage is best left to other party members.

There is also another aspect of the situation to consider. A buffer/debuffer/controller does not win encounters by himself, even if his actions are crucial for victory. He lets others shine - and that drastically changes how other players perceive the situation. Watching your party wizard or cleric win fights by himself is not fun. Slaughtering powerful enemies with his tactical help is. Thus, well-played spellcaster not only makes the party more efficient, he also makes the game more pleasurable for everyone.