Can you shut down a spellcaster?

[holywhippet]

Is there a good way of shutting down an enemy spell caster during a battle? In a recent battle we faced off against an enemy with some bard levels. A few of our party members tried grappling him but that didn't stop spell casting. Other than specific spells such as silence and counterspell is there a good way of shutting down a caster?

[clash]

Most spells have 3 components. Typically if you can shut down one of those 3 you can stop or significantly nerf their spellcasting.


Methods

Vocal: Silence as mentioned, or gagging the spellcaster.
Material: Taking away their focus or materials pouch will get the job done
Somatic: Grappling wont work but binding their hands should do the trick

Bonus methods

Sight: Most spells also rely on sight. Anything that says "at a creature you can see" or "a point you can see within range" or the like can be stopped by blocking line of sight. This can be done with full cover. Blindfolding the spellcaster or fog cloud/darkness.

[Throne12]

Don't grapple you have to Restrain them. Then there is the mage slayer feat. Then there are spells like hold person, command, T's Hideous laughter, sleep, charm person. Getting right in his face.

[LeonBH]

Restrained does not stop you from casting, technically.

If it was a bard, just take away his spellcasting focus. Now he must rely only on Verbal/Somatic spells.

The only way you can stop him from casting with Somatic components is if you force him to hold things with both his hands. A Suggestion spell might do the trick, there.

To block Verbal components, you have to block speech. Silence is one way, but you can also throw him underwater if there is a large enough body of water.

Another way to stop a caster is to blind them. Most spells require sight, especially Enchantment spells which compose a lot of the Bard's spell list. Blindness/Deafness, Darkness, throw sand in his eyes...

[EvilAnagram]

My players tend to treat combat as war, so usually they will Scout a place out before diving into it. At one point, some really good decisions, combined with luck, led to their being alone in a tunnel with a secondary villain whom they had not yet met. They saw that he was clearly a spellcaster of some power, so they ambushed him, stuck a bag over his head, and grabbed his hands. Neither sticking a bag over someone's head nor grabbing someone's hands are in the rules as written, but it made sense and they had the materials and spent the actions, so a good deal of that combat was spent stabbing and bludgeoning a helpless man.

[LeonBH]

My players tend to treat combat as war, so usually they will Scout a place out before diving into it. At one point, some really good decisions, combined with luck, led to their being alone in a tunnel with a secondary villain whom they had not yet met. They saw that he was clearly a spellcaster of some power, so they ambushed him, stuck a bag over his head, and grabbed his hands. Neither sticking a bag over someone's head nor grabbing someone's hands are in the rules as written, but it made sense and they had the materials and spent the actions, so a good deal of that combat was spent stabbing and bludgeoning a helpless man.

Anyone can attempt anything as an action by RAW, anyway. :)

Sounds like a standard good time.

[Laserlight]

Is there a good way of shutting down an enemy spell caster during a battle? In a recent battle we faced off against an enemy with some bard levels. A few of our party members tried grappling him but that didn't stop spell casting. Other than specific spells such as silence and counterspell is there a good way of shutting down a caster?

Inflicting Status Condition: Dead tends to work. They lose the ability to Concentrate.

[BeefGood]

Here's a thread from a little while ago.
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?512657-Can-t-stop-a-spell
My takeaway from the discussion was that the only way to shut down a caster was to reduce him to zero hit points.

[sithlordnergal]

So, while reducing a spell caster to 0 hp is the best way to stop a caster, it is a useless method because it doesn't take effect until the battle is essentialy over.

I would suggest a few things:

1) Break line of sight. Most spells tend to require a line of sight to work. Fog Cloud, Darkness, those kinds of spells break line of sight and can prevent most spells.

2) Silence stops verbal components. While it won't stop every spell, there are plenty of spells that have verbal components. Especially for Bards.

3) Slow, the Spow spell may not stop a spell directly, but it does hamstring a caster. You force the caster to roll a d20 if they cast a spell that takes 1 action, if they roll 11 or higher the spell takes effect their next turn. If they are interrupted, which I assume means lose concentration, then they lose the spell and waste it.

4) Counterspell. The most obvious choice here.

5) Massive damage to break concentration. Hit the caster as hard as you can.

6) Oath of the Ancients Paladins and Yuan-Ti tend to sshut down spell casters hard. Especially if you have an Oath of the Ancients Yuan-Ti Paladin. Now you have advantage on all saves vs magic, charisma bonus to saves, and you resist all magical damage.

7) Lore Bard with a paladin spell. I can't remember what the spell is called, but it is a 5th level Paladin spell. When you cast it, it makes an aura centered on you that provides Advantage on all saves against spells. If you succeed you take no damage from the spell, if you fail you take half damage.

[Mith]

Would preparing thick draw string bags to break line of sight and muffle vocal components work? Or would you think that sticking someone's head inside essentially a pillow not break Verbal components? If you want to be vicious, this is where you break out the contact acids and poisons.

[ImproperJustice]

Perhaps excessive use of smoke sticks, fog clouds, and darkness?

[sithlordnergal]

Would preparing thick draw string bags to break line of sight and muffle vocal components work? Or would you think that sticking someone's head inside essentially a pillow not break Verbal components? If you want to be vicious, this is where you break out the contact acids and poisons.

Break line of sight, yes. Prevent verbal? No. I suspect the only mundane way to stop verbal components is through knocking a target out or gagging them.

[Mith]

Break line of sight, yes. Prevent verbal? No. I suspect the only mundane way to stop verbal components is through knocking a target out or gagging them.

Essentially obstruct the airflow through the mouth. So this tactic would prevent spells that are aimed but no attack roll (eg. Fireball), inflict Disadvantage on spell attacks that require aiming. Not a terrible use of an action if you get a jump on the caster. Perhaps filling the sack with a dust could cause Con checks to cast erbal component spells. Granted, the Evil character uses powdered glass to get some good HP damage in there as well.

[sithlordnergal]

Essentially obstruct the airflow through the mouth. So this tactic would prevent spells that are aimed but no attack roll (eg. Fireball), inflict Disadvantage on spell attacks that require aiming. Not a terrible use of an action if you get a jump on the caster. Perhaps filling the sack with a dust could cause Con checks to cast erbal component spells. Granted, the Evil character uses powdered glass to get some good HP damage in there as well.

Well, the tactic with the bag would prevent any and all line of sight spells, which includes debuffs, buffs, and spells like Dissonant Whispers, Command, or Eyebite. Fireball would be usable, unless you had something like a gag to obstruct the mouth to prevent the verbal component. However, without that they could drop a fireball and pray. I like the dust/glass idea for the con check on verbal components. That would be fun.

That said they are effectivly blinded, giving any melee attacks advantage on them.

[Mith]

Depending on the design of the drawstring, one could get a smothering effect going as well. I don't know how DMs would take to "Succeed in bagging the caster, now grapple them until they pass out from lack of air, and then leave them to suffocate."

Worst case scenario, they do the same to you.

That's the problem with clever ideas. They are not quite as fun if used against you.

[cZak]

When playing a wizard, I'd almost always prep Blindness
The Con save is a pretty good target for most finger wigglers. And lack of sight makes targeting spells fairly difficult