edit: there’s a lot of cleric advice. any wizard and sorcerer advice?
Questions: what are some good spells and what spell should be avoided in Curse of Strahd?
We're all new players, and I dont want too much spoilers, but our spells just don't seem to ever work. Nothing can be put to sleep or blinded, phantasmal force and hold person don't seem to work on anything, pretty much everything seems to be immuned to mind spike and shadow blade. We fought some armor dude immune to magic missile. Then, I read somewhere that banishment just doesn't work at all in this adventure (luckily, we aren't high enough level to have taken in).
We have a necromancer Wiz, a Silver dragon Sorcerer and a death cleric. None of us knew we would be facing undeads or what that entails. I thought the cleric's necrotic damage would have the biggest issue, but so far that seems to be the most reliable damage. Could just be because he knows when to use it though, since he has played before.
It's super lame, but I feel like I should just kill off my character and start over. :-(
We are only a few leves in but have had good results from protection from evil and good (specifically the "immune to possession" bit), eldritch blast, chill touch, bless, guiding bolt, magic weapon.
Given the strange things we've encountered, debuff spells seem almost useless so we've focused on spells to heal and buff ourselves and weapons to damage foes. So far, the things that have kicked our butts the most are casters (sleep might not work against most if the denizens of the valley, but it sure as works on PCs).
You met something immue to magic missile? That's just mean. ALso mean is our most challenging encouter - multiple casters who could all innately cast magic missile.
Shield and absorb elements is always really nice. Especially the latter in some places. Nothing like nearly being blown up where if fire resistance wasn't there would have been one of the dice being 2 higher to be instakilled because of someone touching things they were informed not to touch.
Bless is great for the extra on rolls. (especially on death saves)
Protection from good and evil. Lots will look at disadvantage to hitting you.
Aid if you got it. Lot of extra hp. That changes things since can also be used with anything temp hp wise.
IF you got a cleric, turn undead is a critical 'oh crap' ability to turn several would be TPK's into manageable fights.
Catnap can be useful. 10 minutes for a short rest. Can arguably use the spell as you are fortified. Get some health back and such.
The magic hut spell I cannot remember. Level 3 spell where you would be able to rest inside it safely. May be able to use it a few times before waking up very surrounded by angry things.
Thanks everyone for the advice. I notice that there's a lot on the cleric spell list there, a little for sorcerers, not so much for wizards. oh well! :-)
For those who asked questions, here are some answers:
@Pedroig : No, we did not know what we were playing. We are mostly new so it likely wouldn't have helped. But I wish someone told me not to grab phantasmal force. :/ Thanks for the list!
@Greenstone_Walker Shadowblade is less than idea for the same reason mind spike isn't great: psychic damage. Constructs are immuned to it and undead often resist it.
@JackOfAllTirades Might take awhile for the sorcerer and wizard to get there... nothing before level 4 spells i think. We just got lvl 2 spells. :-)
Curse of Strahd is a difficult adventure, especially with only three players! It would have been better for your DM to tell you he was running that adventure. My group had four experienced players (anywhere from 10 to 40 years; we're old), with a 5th playing part-time, we knew in advance it was Curse of Strahd, we chose character classes accordingly, optimized them for killing undead, and it was still challenging for us. None of our characters died, but we retreated from at least one battle with my character at 1hp.
Springing Curse of Strahd on three new D&D players by surprise is just mean.
If you have a way to grab some druid spells, grab moonbeam. It's one of your best low-level spells for radiant damage crowd control, and you can upcast for more damage.
Also, I'd say spam faerie fire on everyone. Any kind of cantrip that makes your melee attacks count as magical.
For wizards, sorcerors and such. Things like shield and absorb elements would be invaluable. (reaction for +5 ac until start of your turn. Or reaction to that sudden high level spell or a random explosion when people can't follow the words. 'do not open' or something. (take half damage. can add like a d6 of that element per spell level. but meh)
Dispel magic can remove buffs from a lot of creatures. Lets say Strahd uses haste on himself and you can dispel that. Very good.
Counterspell because if you can take it, you will be taking it. (just gotta encourage or maybe allow it once. max of twice if they forget they have it and many people failed a check.
Featherfall if you want to yeet yourselves off a cliff for an escape.
Haste/slow. Buff your ally. Especially if you get the sunsword early on. Slow those big fellas. Both are concentration so only get one.
I am a fan of Tensors/(insert the player characters name) disc. You got a ritual that if a wizard you don't need to actively prep it since it is in your book you carry and you can read. Carry the heavy dragon head around. Carry the downed player while everyone has free hands and no encumberance. Arguably use it to patch up a broken wheel on a wagon but go slower. Give short person a boost in a polite way.
Dragons breath to use when holding off. If you got a familiar maybe can use it on that at risk of it having max of 4hp so get a bird and dip down 15 feet away from a wolf and can say your bird ate the barovian doritos and drank the barovian dew and thus has acid puke. Or flavor it if you have certain colored drinks a lot.
Magic weapon
Finally Leomonds/player characters tiny hut. (since by that time they deserve a spell that lets them get an occasional safe night in the woods. Then after a few times can have it dispelled by strahd or them be surrounded when it nears its end when they think it is guarenteed safety at night and get cocky about it. But if they really need a break for a night of a lot of fighting. Or they get something nice. Let them get time to attune to it and learn it. Maybe have one of the npc allies have this spell as some of them that arent main cast npc's just frikin suck and need some buffing to be worthwhile. Give them like half the character level if they would be there to fight against Strahd as they would just splat at a mean look.
Since someone wanted wizardly spells. Aside from things that can block off entire angles of attack. or faerie fire. Gotta go a little more utility as a wizard as this campaign really makes you need some utility. Not just overwhelming offense spells.
Without spoilers, I've reached maybe the midpoint (at Vallaki)? I just hit level 5 as a College of Eloquence Bard and picked up Hypnotic Pattern and Enemies Abound. Are those spells (which I know are usually strong for a bard to have) not going to be very useful going forward in CoS? I also have Heat Metal which also seems to have not been very useful so far. I'm having a hard time because I wanted to play a support/battlefield control bard, but it seems most of my stuff is falling flat in CoS in particular.
Protection from Evil & Good is a must, but it takes your Concentration. People love Hypnotic Pattern, but I rather get Slow! It doesn’t require sight, don’t have friendly-fire and don’t bother for Charm resistance / immunity.
However, undead/evil creatures often have Magic resistance or Legendary resistance. Best way to effectively act upon those creatures is through debuff spells that doesn’t offer save (obscurement in geral like Fog Cloud, Pyrotechnics, Sleet Storm) and/or consistent damage dealing spells that require To Hit or simply hit automatically (Magic Missile, Cloud of Daggers, Scorching Ray and surprisingly summoning spells like classics Animate Dead or Tiny Servant (particularly good combined with obscurement) and the new Summon spells from Tasha’s, being Summon Shadowspawn, Aberration and Undead my favorite ones).
How is fire damage in this campaign? I'm looking to play a wildfire druid and wonder if I should invest in elemental adept, or just go spell sniper and take Fire Bolt since the range on Produce Flame is so much shorter.
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edit: there’s a lot of cleric advice. any wizard and sorcerer advice?
Questions: what are some good spells and what spell should be avoided in Curse of Strahd?
We're all new players, and I dont want too much spoilers, but our spells just don't seem to ever work. Nothing can be put to sleep or blinded, phantasmal force and hold person don't seem to work on anything, pretty much everything seems to be immuned to mind spike and shadow blade. We fought some armor dude immune to magic missile. Then, I read somewhere that banishment just doesn't work at all in this adventure (luckily, we aren't high enough level to have taken in).
We have a necromancer Wiz, a Silver dragon Sorcerer and a death cleric. None of us knew we would be facing undeads or what that entails. I thought the cleric's necrotic damage would have the biggest issue, but so far that seems to be the most reliable damage. Could just be because he knows when to use it though, since he has played before.
It's super lame, but I feel like I should just kill off my character and start over. :-(
Wait, you didn't know you were going to be running Curse of Strahd?
Cantrip: Chill Touch, Guidance
Spells: Scorching Ray, Protection from Evil and Good, Bless, Acid Arrow, Magic Weapon, Lesser Restoration, Grease, Dragon's Breath, Levitate, Chromatic Orb, Faerie Fire
Avoid any offensive enchanment, illusion, or divination spells in general. And try staying away from poison.
Buff and debuff spells always work well.
Professional computer geek
We are only a few leves in but have had good results from protection from evil and good (specifically the "immune to possession" bit), eldritch blast, chill touch, bless, guiding bolt, magic weapon.
Given the strange things we've encountered, debuff spells seem almost useless so we've focused on spells to heal and buff ourselves and weapons to damage foes. So far, the things that have kicked our butts the most are casters (sleep might not work against most if the denizens of the valley, but it sure as works on PCs).
You met something immue to magic missile? That's just mean. ALso mean is our most challenging encouter - multiple casters who could all innately cast magic missile.
Why did you find shadow blade useless?
Wizards used that in Tomb of Annihilation too. It's an absolutely brutal group of opponents.
Professional computer geek
Shield and absorb elements is always really nice. Especially the latter in some places. Nothing like nearly being blown up where if fire resistance wasn't there would have been one of the dice being 2 higher to be instakilled because of someone touching things they were informed not to touch.
Bless is great for the extra on rolls. (especially on death saves)
Protection from good and evil. Lots will look at disadvantage to hitting you.
Aid if you got it. Lot of extra hp. That changes things since can also be used with anything temp hp wise.
IF you got a cleric, turn undead is a critical 'oh crap' ability to turn several would be TPK's into manageable fights.
Catnap can be useful. 10 minutes for a short rest. Can arguably use the spell as you are fortified. Get some health back and such.
The magic hut spell I cannot remember. Level 3 spell where you would be able to rest inside it safely. May be able to use it a few times before waking up very surrounded by angry things.
I played Curse of Strahd a few years ago, and here's what I learned:
You want RADIANT damage and LOTS OF IT!!!
DICE FALL, EVERYONE ROCKS!
Thanks everyone for the advice. I notice that there's a lot on the cleric spell list there, a little for sorcerers, not so much for wizards. oh well! :-)
For those who asked questions, here are some answers:
@Pedroig : No, we did not know what we were playing. We are mostly new so it likely wouldn't have helped. But I wish someone told me not to grab phantasmal force. :/ Thanks for the list!
@Greenstone_Walker Shadowblade is less than idea for the same reason mind spike isn't great: psychic damage. Constructs are immuned to it and undead often resist it.
@JackOfAllTirades Might take awhile for the sorcerer and wizard to get there... nothing before level 4 spells i think. We just got lvl 2 spells. :-)
Curse of Strahd is a difficult adventure, especially with only three players! It would have been better for your DM to tell you he was running that adventure. My group had four experienced players (anywhere from 10 to 40 years; we're old), with a 5th playing part-time, we knew in advance it was Curse of Strahd, we chose character classes accordingly, optimized them for killing undead, and it was still challenging for us. None of our characters died, but we retreated from at least one battle with my character at 1hp.
Springing Curse of Strahd on three new D&D players by surprise is just mean.
Good luck, and be careful.
DICE FALL, EVERYONE ROCKS!
If you have a way to grab some druid spells, grab moonbeam. It's one of your best low-level spells for radiant damage crowd control, and you can upcast for more damage.
Also, I'd say spam faerie fire on everyone. Any kind of cantrip that makes your melee attacks count as magical.
Have your cleric should grab Guiding Bolt. It's radiant damage, and gives advantage on the next attack roll against the target if it hits.
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
Thanks everyone!
For wizards, sorcerors and such. Things like shield and absorb elements would be invaluable. (reaction for +5 ac until start of your turn. Or reaction to that sudden high level spell or a random explosion when people can't follow the words. 'do not open' or something. (take half damage. can add like a d6 of that element per spell level. but meh)
Dispel magic can remove buffs from a lot of creatures. Lets say Strahd uses haste on himself and you can dispel that. Very good.
Counterspell because if you can take it, you will be taking it. (just gotta encourage or maybe allow it once. max of twice if they forget they have it and many people failed a check.
Featherfall if you want to yeet yourselves off a cliff for an escape.
Haste/slow. Buff your ally. Especially if you get the sunsword early on. Slow those big fellas. Both are concentration so only get one.
I am a fan of Tensors/(insert the player characters name) disc. You got a ritual that if a wizard you don't need to actively prep it since it is in your book you carry and you can read. Carry the heavy dragon head around. Carry the downed player while everyone has free hands and no encumberance. Arguably use it to patch up a broken wheel on a wagon but go slower. Give short person a boost in a polite way.
Dragons breath to use when holding off. If you got a familiar maybe can use it on that at risk of it having max of 4hp so get a bird and dip down 15 feet away from a wolf and can say your bird ate the barovian doritos and drank the barovian dew and thus has acid puke. Or flavor it if you have certain colored drinks a lot.
Magic weapon
Finally Leomonds/player characters tiny hut. (since by that time they deserve a spell that lets them get an occasional safe night in the woods. Then after a few times can have it dispelled by strahd or them be surrounded when it nears its end when they think it is guarenteed safety at night and get cocky about it. But if they really need a break for a night of a lot of fighting. Or they get something nice. Let them get time to attune to it and learn it. Maybe have one of the npc allies have this spell as some of them that arent main cast npc's just frikin suck and need some buffing to be worthwhile. Give them like half the character level if they would be there to fight against Strahd as they would just splat at a mean look.
Since someone wanted wizardly spells. Aside from things that can block off entire angles of attack. or faerie fire. Gotta go a little more utility as a wizard as this campaign really makes you need some utility. Not just overwhelming offense spells.
Without spoilers, I've reached maybe the midpoint (at Vallaki)? I just hit level 5 as a College of Eloquence Bard and picked up Hypnotic Pattern and Enemies Abound. Are those spells (which I know are usually strong for a bard to have) not going to be very useful going forward in CoS? I also have Heat Metal which also seems to have not been very useful so far. I'm having a hard time because I wanted to play a support/battlefield control bard, but it seems most of my stuff is falling flat in CoS in particular.
Protection from Evil & Good is a must, but it takes your Concentration. People love Hypnotic Pattern, but I rather get Slow! It doesn’t require sight, don’t have friendly-fire and don’t bother for Charm resistance / immunity.
However, undead/evil creatures often have Magic resistance or Legendary resistance. Best way to effectively act upon those creatures is through debuff spells that doesn’t offer save (obscurement in geral like Fog Cloud, Pyrotechnics, Sleet Storm) and/or consistent damage dealing spells that require To Hit or simply hit automatically (Magic Missile, Cloud of Daggers, Scorching Ray and surprisingly summoning spells like classics Animate Dead or Tiny Servant (particularly good combined with obscurement) and the new Summon spells from Tasha’s, being Summon Shadowspawn, Aberration and Undead my favorite ones).
How is fire damage in this campaign? I'm looking to play a wildfire druid and wonder if I should invest in elemental adept, or just go spell sniper and take Fire Bolt since the range on Produce Flame is so much shorter.