Players are likely to be fighting a small cadre of students from Sorcere in Menzoberranzan soon, as well as some other nasties in a big, long siege as part of a trap they (the players) are trying to set up to catch a given NPC. Naturally, given they're a school full of nefarious Drow men with all kinds of magic at their disposal, I don't view the Sorcere scholars as the types to fight fair. I'm debating some ungodly cruel combinations of spells and abilities, and I welcome your input on them, as well as suggestions. I've seen some people suggest Levitate and Cloud of Daggers being combined, but I'll admit to my familiarity with how to depict the mechanics of Levitate as being rather limited. It's essentially just a restraining spell, is it? How would that pairing work exactly? Similarly to that pairing, what's the likelihood of pairing Cloud of Daggers with a follow-up casting of Resilient Sphere, or encasing a Cloudkill or something similar in a Resilient Sphere?
If you've any other similar ideas, please, dump them all on me! My players routinely cakewalk through all kinds of encounters, and they're high enough level to be kitted out in magical items (even enough low-grade ones on a party makes them a hassle), as are enemies usually as a result. I'd like to make them sweat properly for once with a prolonged few sessions of being under siege and seeing their resources dwindle, so the hotter the heat, the happier I'll be! I don't want to KILL them, mind you, but they're at a point where even if I did accidentally decimate a few of them, it's not like death is exactly permanent. So, whatcha got, folks?
All the damage over time in an area (Cloudkill, Create Bonfire, Cloud of Daggers, Sleet Storm) works very well with ANY movement blockage. Wall spells, Evard's Tentacles, Slow, Grease, Snare, Earth Tremor, Web, and Sleet Storm (yes, it does both).
For a really nasty trick, use push spells (Thunderwave, etc.) and Fear to get people to move INTO the deadly area.
And throw in a stinking cloud spell so they use their action to vomit, leaving just a Move and Bonus Action.
You're evil, and I love every second of it lol! There will definitely be liberal use of the Web spell, and Stinking Cloud is a good idea for how to keep the players' casters out of my hair if I need it. I'm also holding onto Banishment and the aforementioned Resilient Sphere castings for that reason. Sure, a Dispel Magic would get rid of it, but that's assuming they think to prepare it, and it's still wasting a slot and an action.
Also spike growth with any kinds of movement forcing abilities can really grind people down while handicapping their ability to freely move around. To make it worse, if the team casting the spikes can also freely teleport/reposition, via abilities or spells.
A staple is just to have the drow all have darkness spell and then get the ability to see through magical darkness via eldritch adept or similar. All them can see in the dark now and the party cannot. Going to be a bad time.
These can be used in concert, too, if there are several concentration-capable enemies. It's super mean, but, yeah, totally doable.
Darkness an area. Spike Growth that same area. Knock the PCs around for forced-movement damage. Enemies attack blind PCs at advantage. PCs attack at disadvantage if they can even figure out where to attack and moving hurts them. Scary situation for anyone.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I'm probably laughing.
It is apparently so hard to program Aberrant Mind and Clockwork Soul spell-swapping into dndbeyond they had to remake the game without it rather than implement it.
Levitate is a very powerful spell to shutdown melee opponents by offering just a single roll. Of the target fails, there’s no way to come back other caster loses his concentration, the spell gets dispelled or something. A melee focused character floating in the air will probably be completely useless.
Slow + Fireball is a classic combination as well.
Higher levels lethal combination offer things like Sickening Radiance and Wall of Force.
Do you have a Bard, Cleric or Ranger in the party? If yes, are they seasoned players? Because one simple cast of the Silence spell can literally ruin your encounter, specially if the Ranger is a Gloomstalker with good DEX and WIS that would make him win initiative.
I think drow wizards would enjoy causing betrayal. So perhaps Crown of Madness, Enemies Abound, or Charm Person applied to melee PCs? Darkness is classic, and I think they’d focus it on your casters and ranged characters. Also, what about invisibility plus a Misty Step for a surprise attack from the rear? Or maybe just summon some minions in the rear first?
All the damage over time in an area (Cloudkill, Create Bonfire, Cloud of Daggers, Sleet Storm) works very well with ANY movement blockage. Wall spells, Evard's Tentacles, Slow, Grease, Snare, Earth Tremor, Web, and Sleet Storm (yes, it does both).
+1 for sleet storm. That is really effective at crippling a party.
I like cloudkill + spike growth. With the heavy obscurement of the cloudkill, the WIS (Perception) check to notice the spike growth is at disadvantage.
Silence + movement blocking spells is surprisingly effective, especially if you don't let the players talk. :-)
They will most likely put the characters with the most hp at the front so place a group behind them and kill of the weakest ones first this will either be effective or make them focus more on defense giving you a little more time this strategy is best used in the forest because there’s more places to hide the attackers and if your players get smart you can trick them into thinking there is less attackers so they will want to put more people in the front line leaving a gap in the back, and you should have them target one player at a time combined with any other strategy.
Y'all really need some to throw some Glyph of Wardings in there. Your drow magic-wielders have home field advantage, so set up some magical traps that combine well with conventional ones. Use it it near the end of a passageway: Gust of Wind to prevent them from firing arrows at you and have difficulty moving forward while some Drow drop some boiling oil on them. Then set that oil on fire with Fireball for extra crispy PCs. (Against PC's likely to have fire protection, drop them in a pit of high saline water. Then electrify it with Lightning Bolt.) If they like using spells, have a Glyph of Warding that triggers Silence. That way they can't Dimension Door or Misty Step out of your trap. If you Silence them inside of a Hunger of Hadar field, then they can't hear OR see each other to coordinate a way out.
Other great control spells: Transmute Rock to Mud. It can't be dispelled because it's effect is instantaneous and then the magic aspect of it is gone. Mass Suggestion to get them to fight each other a few rounds while the Drow regroup/heal each other/summon Elementals.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Players are likely to be fighting a small cadre of students from Sorcere in Menzoberranzan soon, as well as some other nasties in a big, long siege as part of a trap they (the players) are trying to set up to catch a given NPC.
Naturally, given they're a school full of nefarious Drow men with all kinds of magic at their disposal, I don't view the Sorcere scholars as the types to fight fair. I'm debating some ungodly cruel combinations of spells and abilities, and I welcome your input on them, as well as suggestions.
I've seen some people suggest Levitate and Cloud of Daggers being combined, but I'll admit to my familiarity with how to depict the mechanics of Levitate as being rather limited. It's essentially just a restraining spell, is it? How would that pairing work exactly?
Similarly to that pairing, what's the likelihood of pairing Cloud of Daggers with a follow-up casting of Resilient Sphere, or encasing a Cloudkill or something similar in a Resilient Sphere?
If you've any other similar ideas, please, dump them all on me! My players routinely cakewalk through all kinds of encounters, and they're high enough level to be kitted out in magical items (even enough low-grade ones on a party makes them a hassle), as are enemies usually as a result. I'd like to make them sweat properly for once with a prolonged few sessions of being under siege and seeing their resources dwindle, so the hotter the heat, the happier I'll be! I don't want to KILL them, mind you, but they're at a point where even if I did accidentally decimate a few of them, it's not like death is exactly permanent. So, whatcha got, folks?
All the damage over time in an area (Cloudkill, Create Bonfire, Cloud of Daggers, Sleet Storm) works very well with ANY movement blockage. Wall spells, Evard's Tentacles, Slow, Grease, Snare, Earth Tremor, Web, and Sleet Storm (yes, it does both).
For a really nasty trick, use push spells (Thunderwave, etc.) and Fear to get people to move INTO the deadly area.
And throw in a stinking cloud spell so they use their action to vomit, leaving just a Move and Bonus Action.
You're evil, and I love every second of it lol! There will definitely be liberal use of the Web spell, and Stinking Cloud is a good idea for how to keep the players' casters out of my hair if I need it. I'm also holding onto Banishment and the aforementioned Resilient Sphere castings for that reason. Sure, a Dispel Magic would get rid of it, but that's assuming they think to prepare it, and it's still wasting a slot and an action.
Also spike growth with any kinds of movement forcing abilities can really grind people down while handicapping their ability to freely move around. To make it worse, if the team casting the spikes can also freely teleport/reposition, via abilities or spells.
A staple is just to have the drow all have darkness spell and then get the ability to see through magical darkness via eldritch adept or similar. All them can see in the dark now and the party cannot. Going to be a bad time.
These can be used in concert, too, if there are several concentration-capable enemies. It's super mean, but, yeah, totally doable.
Darkness an area. Spike Growth that same area. Knock the PCs around for forced-movement damage. Enemies attack blind PCs at advantage. PCs attack at disadvantage if they can even figure out where to attack and moving hurts them. Scary situation for anyone.
I'm probably laughing.
It is apparently so hard to program Aberrant Mind and Clockwork Soul spell-swapping into dndbeyond they had to remake the game without it rather than implement it.
Levitate is a very powerful spell to shutdown melee opponents by offering just a single roll. Of the target fails, there’s no way to come back other caster loses his concentration, the spell gets dispelled or something. A melee focused character floating in the air will probably be completely useless.
Slow + Fireball is a classic combination as well.
Higher levels lethal combination offer things like Sickening Radiance and Wall of Force.
Do you have a Bard, Cleric or Ranger in the party? If yes, are they seasoned players? Because one simple cast of the Silence spell can literally ruin your encounter, specially if the Ranger is a Gloomstalker with good DEX and WIS that would make him win initiative.
I think drow wizards would enjoy causing betrayal. So perhaps Crown of Madness, Enemies Abound, or Charm Person applied to melee PCs? Darkness is classic, and I think they’d focus it on your casters and ranged characters. Also, what about invisibility plus a Misty Step for a surprise attack from the rear? Or maybe just summon some minions in the rear first?
+1 for sleet storm. That is really effective at crippling a party.
I like cloudkill + spike growth. With the heavy obscurement of the cloudkill, the WIS (Perception) check to notice the spike growth is at disadvantage.
Silence + movement blocking spells is surprisingly effective, especially if you don't let the players talk. :-)
They will most likely put the characters with the most hp at the front so place a group behind them and kill of the weakest ones first this will either be effective or make them focus more on defense giving you a little more time this strategy is best used in the forest because there’s more places to hide the attackers and if your players get smart you can trick them into thinking there is less attackers so they will want to put more people in the front line leaving a gap in the back, and you should have them target one player at a time combined with any other strategy.
Not sure how it works for a siege
Magic missle downed party members.
Y'all really need some to throw some Glyph of Wardings in there. Your drow magic-wielders have home field advantage, so set up some magical traps that combine well with conventional ones. Use it it near the end of a passageway: Gust of Wind to prevent them from firing arrows at you and have difficulty moving forward while some Drow drop some boiling oil on them. Then set that oil on fire with Fireball for extra crispy PCs. (Against PC's likely to have fire protection, drop them in a pit of high saline water. Then electrify it with Lightning Bolt.) If they like using spells, have a Glyph of Warding that triggers Silence. That way they can't Dimension Door or Misty Step out of your trap. If you Silence them inside of a Hunger of Hadar field, then they can't hear OR see each other to coordinate a way out.
Other great control spells: Transmute Rock to Mud. It can't be dispelled because it's effect is instantaneous and then the magic aspect of it is gone. Mass Suggestion to get them to fight each other a few rounds while the Drow regroup/heal each other/summon Elementals.