Spells and equipment for long battles

[Odin's Eyepatch]

Occasionally in our campaigns we end up participating in a long battle, often to defend a city. If you are a sufficiently high levelled fighter (as in, non-caster), you can basically fight all day long, as long as you have enough hp. As long as you can still swing your weapon, you can keep on fighting.

But for spell-casters, it's more difficult, since you only have a finite amount of spells. After you've ran out of spell slots, your combat prowess would be reduced to using that crossbow you bought with your lvl 1 starting gold (which you totally still had in your handy haversack for all that time)

So.

What spells and equipment could a moderately high levelled arcane caster (say level 7 or above) use to prolong his usefulness in battle? I don't necessarily mean buff spells, since that still leaves the the caster with nothing to do during his rounds.



(I have just started to play a wizard (lvl 2), hence my asking, but my question also applies to other casters in general)

[Nyaa]

Reserve feats from Complete Mage?

[(Un)Inspired]

Planar binding. There's really no need for a caster to use there spells in a battle.

[Vhaidara]

Polymorph and it's ilk. You can end up being able to fight better than the fighter. Not better than the fighter if you spent the buffs on him, but still better than him.

Otherwise, summons and reserve feats are your friends.

Oh, and at those levels, the Fighter will probably run out of HP before you run out of spells. Even if the Cleric is wasting all of his turns on healing.

[Jay R]

You are trying to fix the problem that casters have a weakness - one rather unlikely situation in which the fighters are better off. I agree about the situation, but fail to see it as a problem. Casters usually have the advantage. It is all right for situations to occur in which fighters have it.

The caster needs to plan for the entire battle, and wait for the opportune moment, rather than blowing all her spells at the beginning.

[BowStreetRunner]

The caster needs to plan for the entire battle, and wait for the opportune moment, rather than blowing all her spells at the beginning.

Sort of like Gandalf in all of those battles, he is not always throwing spells around but often swinging his staff or sword.

Before a battle that you expect to have a long duration set up your long-duration buffs/summons/polymorphs/etc. to allow you to wade into the fray when needed, although it's alright to hang back and let the fighter-types take point here while plunking away with your crossbow too. A good reserve feat or two will also give you some 'all-day' actions to take.

Prep some spells that are intended to be pulled out when absolutely needed to swing the tide of battle and then try not to use them until absolutely necessary.

Hang onto a couple of last-ditch spells to get you out of there too. Remember it may come down to living to fight another day.

Scrolls, Wands, and such will extend your ability to remain relevant, as will things like Pearl of Power or Ring of Wizardry. But at the end of the day it will matter more whether you timed your big powerful spells correctly or wasted them before they were needed - so don't be afraid to find a good vantage point and try not to attract too much attention to yourself until you are needed.

[Odin's Eyepatch]

Reserve feats from Complete Mage?

*Facepalm*

Yes, that would be a very good way to keep on casting little spells off all day long. I'm kicking myself right now for having missed something so obvious :smallredface:


You are trying to fix the problem that casters have a weakness - one rather unlikely situation in which the fighters are better off. I agree about the situation, but fail to see it as a problem. Casters usually have the advantage. It is all right for situations to occur in which fighters have it.

The caster needs to plan for the entire battle, and wait for the opportune moment, rather than blowing all her spells at the beginning.



Scrolls, Wands, and such will extend your ability to remain relevant, as will things like Pearl of Power or Ring of Wizardry. But at the end of the day it will matter more whether you timed your big powerful spells correctly or wasted them before they were needed - so don't be afraid to find a good vantage point and try not to attract too much attention to yourself until you are needed.


And I now see that I've been looking at casters all wrong. This is the first time I'm actually playing a full caster character, and the limit of useful stuff to fill my rounds with in long battles was bugging me. I'm just used to be able to cleave through all those mooks round after round after round (after round) :smallwink:

But yes, hanging back and waiting for the right moments does seem like the best way to go, even if it does mean using that crossbow or whatever in the meantime. I suppose taking part in spying over the battlefield could also help contribute, even if you don't kill something every six seconds.


Thanks a lot for the suggestions and insight!