Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1: Spelljammer Creatures
Frozen Sick
D&D Beyond Basic Rules
Basic Rules (2014)
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Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1: Spelljammer CreaturesFrozen SickD&D Beyond Basic RulesBasic Rules (2014)Sign in to view your library & saved favorites.
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Sturdy enemies are dead before the 2nd round of combat in your games? I guess in my games every combat is a boss fight then.
But if you get hex through a feat it is a free cast and does not require a slot. There are not many feats at 4th level better than Fey Touched, the free cast notwithstanding.
There may be a few feats better for specific builds, but to be honest I can't think of a single feat that is generally better at 4th level. Maybe lucky or maybe Elven accuracy if you are an elf or half elf.
Most combats are 3-4 rounds on average I would say and 2-3 before the contest is decided (i.e. where you would not use another spell). However there are plenty that aren't too.
Just last week we had 4 8th level characters fighting 4 Gargoyles, a Hellhound, 3 hags, 3 low level fiends of some sort (probably CR2-3) and another high level fiend of some sort. That fight lasted 13 rounds. My bladesinger5-Cavalier3 used every single spell slot she had in that one fight as well as two of her three bladesong uses.
The spells she cast in that one fight:
Shield (3 times)
Absorb Elements
Cause Fear (free cast from feat)
Dragons Breath
Shadow Blade
Invisibility (free cast from feat, actually cast right before the fight)
Mirror Image
Summon Shadowspawn (2 times)
Or your party does not optimize as much in build/tactics. 4-5 players will be attacking that one target each round, if it lasts more than 2 rounds it better be a boss.
Wow that is come crap luck on concentration checks.
I failed twice, once on the last round of the fight. The rest of the time the spell ended for another reason.
Invisibility was cast first, before the fight on our Paladin, who is ironically our best scout. He was sneaking scouting invisibile amongst the Gargoyles, which we thought were statues, and failed a stealth check. They all came to life and raised an alarm. He lost invisibility when he attacked.
We all rolled initiative
Round 1 - Summon Shadow Spawn action surge mirror image.
Round 5 - The Hellhound breathed fire on me, I made the save and used absorb elements. I think I took 4 damage but I rolled a 3 on concentration and my shadowspawn was gone.
Round 6 - Cast Dragon Breath as a bonus action. This is a touch spell so I had my familiar (Raven) deliver it with a touch to himself. Then on his turn he swooped in and breathed acid on a hag and a gargoyle. Unfortunately he was close to the fight and another Gargoyle flew up and killed him, so I did not lose concentration, rather the guy I cast it on (my familiar) died.
Round 7 - Cast Summon Shadow Spawn again
Round 8 - The shadowspawn went 1V3 to tie up the three lower level fiends (he had already used his scream in round 7).
Round 10 - The shadowspawn died. By this time he had killed one fiend and injured a second.
Round 11 - I cast cause fear against one of the gargoyles that was not near anyone and was chasing our flying warlock (attempt to keep him away and steal his actions), but he made his save so concentration was irrelevant
Round 12 - By this time we had 1 heavily wounded hag and one barely injured gargoyle left. I cast shadowblade, mostly because I do not have a magic weapon so booming blade was not doing much damage to the gargoyles. I used the shadowblade to attack the last remaining hag and I injured her and the Paladin killed her.
Round 13 - I attacked the Gargoyle with shadowblade and hit, but on his turn he attacked I used my last spell slot for shield, then he attacked again and hit, overcoming the shield. I failed my concentration check, but it was irrelevant because my allies killed him.
The issue isn't how many turns the combat is, the issue is how many turns you spend attacking the same target. Something like hex isn't really worth the spell slot unless you can use it for about two turns attacking the same target, which means you're attacking the same target for three turns in succession.
I have no problem making difficult encounters. However, all the monsters that can survive three turns of focus fire by the party are too dangerous to use multiple of against the party.
Yeah. I have a particularly large party, seven players, and I'll often just up the HP of monsters. Generally preferring to have a smaller amount of tougher monsters rather than a swarm of smaller ones, though I do shake things up.
I regularly simply double the HP of all monsters in an encounter to make it tougher.
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Shield is a slot gobbler. That’s why I’m not a huge fan of it on anything but an 18th level Wizard. Same thing with misty step, I love to have it but hate to use it. They’re emergency glass spells, best to not become too reliant on them.
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I dunno, I really like Shield. The amount of damage it can save you from high-powered attacks is insane, and a +5 boost to AC — even for just one round - can make a massive difference. Personally, I think a 1st level spell slot is a small price to pay to use that spell.
That being said, I agree with you about Misty Step; if you use it on your turn, you can’t cast another “leveled” spell, and even if you could, a 30 feet teleport doesn’t really feel worth a 2nd level spell slot:)
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HERE.Shield is fantastic when you’re a high enough level that you aren’t really using 1st-level slots for anything else I suppose, but if you’re at 8th level or lower… those 1st level spells are still useful else wise too. Burning them all to keep your fat outta the fire…? Better to just play smarter with positioning and such whenever possible to prevent getting targeted and utilize cover in the first place. Then, by the time you can afford to burn them slots up on shield, playing smarter has become second nature and you don’t actually need to use the spell anyway. Make sense?
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For say a wizard where you get more spells and can learn more from scrolls, I find it easy to invest into shield. Sure you don't want to use it too often, but you're especially fragile at low levels. Smart play can reduce damage but unless all the enemies you go up against aren't very smart you're eventually going to get ambushed or attacked by ranged attacks where there isn't much cover etc. The terrain won't always be to your advantage, and clever enemies will find ways to get shots in at you. You don't want to rely on it too much but when you start out with six first level spells it's easier to find room for it. Same for an artificer of the appropriate subclass, where you could always prepare something different too day to day. Aside from the direct damage, shield could also stop you from having to roll a concentration save if you have something good like haste running etc.
For a sorcerer, starting out with only two first level spells and only getting one per level up (and eventually not even that), and no RAW ability to swap spells around outside of replacing one spell when you level up, it's a much harder buy in.
Makes sense. That being said, you can pick and choose when you use Shield. If you're just throwing it around, then yeah, you might lose a couple spell slots. But not all cover you can utilize or positions that are hard to hit, and if you use Shield on attacks that you know are going to hurt -- and be smart about it as opposed to just throwing it around -- then I think you'll find it works a lot better than you might guess. I once played a level 4 wizard who used Silvery Barbs, Mage Armor, and Shield, and it worked excellently, even though I had a limited amount of 1st level spell slots I could use.
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HERE.Shield can be very useful at low levels too. The monster's don't have a very high attack bonus, so it's more likely to make a difference. And cantrips are just as good as any martial with a bow.
Yes, Sleep is very effective for ending a fight. But you can pull a lot of weight with just Shield and Firebolt too. It's better than eating a goblin arrow and dropping.
You named two of them. Lucky will help you in more fights/situations per day. Elven Accuracy is just mechanically far better because it’s not limited by spell slots. The one free casting of hex is just that once. In one battle you have used a free casting of hex and a casting of hunters mark. If your DM is kind you will back to back battles within an hour so you don’t have to recast, but if the party wants to rest or too much time passes you lose both HM and Hex. So you if you haven’t haven’t cast any other spells you could HM, Hex once more at 4th level using both your remaining spell slots.
Charger as it’s currently written in the UA is also better. You get an additional 1d8 damage that doesn’t need a bonus action or spell slot.
Oh, I’m not saying shield isn’t a good spell, or that it doesn’t have its times to shine. But using it 3 times in one battle is a lot.
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Staff of defense : +1 AC, 10 charges, mage armor - 1 chi, shield - 2 chugs
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Hex lasts an hour, so it is more than one fight unless you lose concentration.