[3.5] Large-Scale Combat Druid Tricks

[rmg22893]

I was trying to think of all the ways that high-level Druids could annihilate a large contingent of soldiers, and I can't really think of many, outside of the obvious Control Winds/Control Weather shenanigans. Maybe a Fire Seeds minefield? Ideas?

[gomipile]

The spell Blizzard (level 5 spell from Frostburn.) IIRC, it drops 1 foot of snow per round over a circle 100' per caster level in radius, and lasts one round per caster level.

[eggs]

Cheesy Liveoak chaining?
Control Water/Move Earth for floods?
Animal Shapes to turn a battalion into tyrannosaurs or something for hours/level?
Spam Chained Giant Vermin on Scorpions to make a few hundred Colossal 40 HD monsters?

[Rasman]

The spell Blizzard (level 5 spell from Frostburn.) IIRC, it drops 1 foot of snow per round over a circle 100' per caster level in radius, and lasts one round per caster level.

Also, Blood Snow. I singlehandedly wiped out an entire goblin army with two spells on my druid and one of them was Blood Snow. I think the other one was Avalanche or something of the like. They weren't very high level spells either, I don't think we were even CLOSE to 10th level.

It COULD have been Blizzard, but I'm fairly certain that it was a 4th level spell that I'm thinking of.

In terms of other spells, I'll breakdown my spells by level.

- Level 1 Spells -

Entangle - At high levels, you'll want to widen it and maybe extend it, but definitely a good spell to throw out there against an army. Will only do damage if you preemptively place or grow plants with thorns on them. But it makes for great battlefield control and will make sure that they can't run away from some of your high level scary spells.

All other level one spells could be converted to Summon Nature's Ally and used as Meat Shields and Minor Annoyances if you're only allowed PF Spells.

- Level 2 Spells -

Frost Fall - A small AOE spell that can stagger a group, but not overly powerful.

Gust of Wind - Situationally useful, but when used right, especially if fighting a goblin army or just a small sized army or troops, can be quite powerful for its level.

Stone Call - A minor drubbing from the Bludgeoning Damage it deals, but it makes difficult terrain, so can be useful in stopping a charge and such.

Summon Swarm - Underestimated and in a mass battle, can do a lot of harm if you have time to concentrate on it. Peons don't last long against swarms that they can't hurt with weapons.

- Level 3 Spells -

Aqueous Orb - There is a higher level and bigger version of this later, but for taking people out of the fight that can't make the reflex save, it's worth it.

Burst of Nettles - Pop goes the pain. For its level, it's a lot of damage for those that don't make the reflex save, which is the save you WANT to target. Area could be bigger, but you can always Widen it if you really want to.

Call Lightning (And 5th level Call Lightning Storm) - If it's a dark and stormy battle, then this spell just says no to parts of the army. If there are flying creatures, it makes it MUCH easier to smite multiple at a time. You really just have to watch and wait to use this one properly, but you can afford to do that if you need to cast other spells while this is up.

Contagion - My FAVORITE spell for huge battles. Be sure to use it BEFORE the battle if you can. Just sneak into the enemy camp and start spreading it it advance. Just pick your disease well, some are much better than others, but I most definitely can say that I killed literally thousands of Goblins with this spell alone because their clerics couldn't handle the number that got infected. Given time, this is the most deadly spell you have.

Plant Growth - Make your Entangle and Wall of Thorns MUCH better. Use it on Wall of Thorns moreso than Entangle.

Rain of Frogs - This makes summon swarm look tame, but that's because it's Con Damage.

Those are just up to 3rd level spells, I'll edit this to go over 4th and higher before my internet cuts out on me.

[ericgrau]

Where's sleet storm? It's my favorite. 80' across, half speed, slow, and balance checks. No save. Disable most of the army while you kill the couple that remain. Then easily kill the bulk of the army that you stormed as they stumble out of the sleet storm one by one.

[Gavinfoxx]

Here is a Druid I specifically statted out to take out armies.

http://www.thetangledweb.net/forums/profiler/view_char.php?cid=54924

Think of her as a high altitude stealth bomber, which does strategic level bombing runs on military targets, especially encamped armies and high value officer corps and such.

That should have pretty much all you need. Most of the best spells for army combat are from Frostburn, a few are from Players Handbook, a few from Spell Compendium, a few from more obscure sources.

[Private]

If you were going for maximum cheese, you can go into Planar Shepherd. Take Lamannia, and wildshape into a Leonal. Fireball, CL 10, at will. Obviously there are more broken ways to play the Planar Shepherd, but that is just one nice army killer.

[Rasman]

Where's sleet storm? It's my favorite. 80' across, half speed, slow, and balance checks. No save. Disable most of the army while you kill the couple that remain. Then easily kill the bulk of the army that you stormed as they stumble out of the sleet storm one by one.

I'm mostly just going over PF spells since I don't have my Handy Dandy 'spell book' with me.

But to continue.

- Level 4 Spells -

Ball Lightning - Is kinda Meh depending on your caster level. Can do decently by funneling people away from locations or ganging up on large enemies. Not going to kill a LOT of people all at once, but will put good dents in the force.

Control Water - Situationally useful if you have a body of water nearby or if they enemy army is arriving by ship. A GREAT way to bust up some ships or to just flat out drown people by the fact that a TON of water suddenly overran them.

Geyser - At higher levels, this can greatly disrupt enemy formations, flat out kill people from the fall damage and the AOE from the aftereffects is a nice little tack on. This is pretty level dependant on how good it is though and requires more math on your part to figure out exactly how much damage it will do. Also targets Reflex, which is usually a weak save.

Moonstruck - If you can get this off on someone that 'looks' powerful or in charge of part of the army, this is an awesome spell, if they fail the save. Simply have them help kill part of the army for you. Nothing like having your allies suddenly turn on you and start gutting you themselves.

- Level 5 Spells -

Greater Contagion - Much more evil and makes it much more deadly. The days before the battle, all your 5th level spells should be used on this. There won't be any making the save and the enemy clerics will HAVE to spends spells on the cures.

Fire Snake - If you're down in the actual fight, then this will be a decent spell for just in case. Again, scales with your level, so the higher level you are, the better it is.

Insect Plague - More swarms is always better. I wish it were better than Wasp Swarms, but we take what we can get and the fact that it targets Dex is a good thing. If they don't die from the Swarm Damage, they might just fall flat from the dex damage if they fail enough saves.

Transmute Rock to Mud and Transmute Mud to Rock - Solid combo, especially if the enemy tries to force march their way though. It doesn't kill them, but they won't be able to do much after they've sunk in and can't get out.

Wall of Fire - First awesome Wall spell. Not an overly high amount of damage, but you just have to learn to use it properly.

Wall of Thorns - Probably my favorite Wall spell. Combo this with a Wizard and Cloudkill and you have a DEADLY combo. At the VERY least, it will slow them down incredibly.

- Level 6 Spells -

Epidemic - Contagion on Roids. Again, for early planning.

Fire Seeds - Make landmines, watch people get close and yell "KATSU" as your command word. Early preparation makes this EVEN better when you douse the field with Oil, which is lit by the Holly Berry Bombs and thus, lighting any enemies within the area on fire.

Plague Storm - This will REALLY bone an enemy army if you get an early strike. Simply start on one end and have it work its way to the other. Earth Elemental form was MADE for this type of spell casting.

- Level 7 Spells -

Control Weather - Can be AWESOME depending on what season you're in. Spring and Winter are the best seasons you want since Tornado's and Blizzards will wreck an army one way or another.

Creeping Doom - This was good in 3.5 and it's still good now.

Fire Storm - That's a lot of people to set on fire. The standard soldier won't last long against a Fire Storm.

Siege of Trees - If you aren't having to focus your attention elsewhere, this is an AWESOME spell for big battles.

- Level 8 Spells -

Blood Mist - Kill your friends is always a good thing to force the enemy to do, it makes your army indirectly bigger.

Earthquake - It really depends on your location, but it can break an enemy if you are the one on offense.

Reverse Gravity - Enemy flies up, enemy walks under ally, enemy falls down on ally, you laugh and do it again.

Stormbolts - If you get surrounded, this is an AWESOME spell. An utterly awesome bugzapper.

Wall of Lava - Wall of Fire on Roids. Gets the added bonus of launching itself at the enemy, so if they have a BIG target for you to take down, this is a good choice.

Whirlwind - Control Weather can give you a Tornado, but this lets you control one. OR you can cast both and just watch.

- Level 9 Spells -

Elemental Swarm - So, got time to burn before that battle, this is the last spell you want to cast, right before it's about to start. Lots of elementals make the enemy very dead.

Storm of Vengeance - Covers a huge area and it only gets stronger the longer you hold it, although 4 rounds is really all you need out of it.

Summon Elder Worm - Purple Worms are already good, this spell only makes them better. There are other, stronger spells, but this is just an awesome thing to do.

Tsunami - Probably your most deadly spell if your positioning is good. Can knock out catapults and other large weapons the enemy may have.

Now this is only in regards to Pathfinder Paizo approved spells, mind you, yet they are REALLY powerful options to use in the situation you're describing.