D&D 5E What Single Thing Would You Add


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Reynard

Legend
Now we are beginning to get to a bigger question: what do we actually want out of combat in D&D, and how do we achieve that thing.
 

This was already answered in part by @rmcoen, wizards would just be countered by wizards. But I also think people overestimate the effectiveness of wizards. Medieval battles regularly had soldiers in the thousands, if not tens of thousands. A 6th level wizard can cast, what 3 fireballs per day? Using the TOTM guidance from the DMG, that's 25 soldiers per casting. Pretty minimal when considering overall expected casualties.

Add in the fact that fireball has a range of 150 ft and the caster has to have line of effect, whoever casts that fireball just put a big neon blinking sign on their head to the couple hundred archers on where to place their next volley. Even if they're at disadvantage to hit, that kind of concentrated fire is going to be difficult to deal with.

I also suspect there would be other counter-tactics as well. Whenever someone invents a tank, someone else invents an anti-tank weapon and tactics. A handful of wizards vs an army that has no experience with wizards would be devastating because of the fear factor alone. But in a world where wizards regularly go to battle? They may have an outsized impact but they aren't going to tip the balance of war. B-)
Wizard are not devastating by fireball, in a medieval world a spell like sending is much more valuable than thousands of men.
 



Xetheral

Three-Headed Sirrush
Wizard are not devastating by fireball, in a medieval world a spell like sending is much more valuable than thousands of men.
Mirage Arcane is the true army killer in 5e. Any army that fits within a square mile and stays there for more than ten minutes (and lacks access to Dispel Magic) can be effectively imprisoned in an adamantine structure for 10 days, which could easily be a death sentence unless they're packing a lot of water. Even if they have enough water to survive, you still get 10 days to plunder the countryside and raze cities.

Alternatively, if you can lure the enemy onto ground that has already be prepared with Mirage Arcane, you can then dispel it yourself with Dispel Magic and when the gentle "hill" the army was standing on is gone, they all fall to their deaths. You might (depending on the DM's interpretation) even be able to get them to walk through an illusory gully, ending up buried in solid stone or soil when the illusion is dispelled.

And that's any caster with Mirage Arcane. Illusionists with Malleable Illusion can treat armies like playthings.

Edit: these ideas are overly complicated. According to this tweet you can simply turn the whole square mile into a lake and drown the enemy army. (Some good swimmers near the edge might survive.)
 
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