Overloading Concentration

[Mana Opal]

So, here's an odd one. My DM has a houserule that allows one to maintain Concentration on up to 3 spells at a time, since he isn't happy with the just one spell thing. The save DC does naturally increase a bit for each spell you're concentrating on beyond the first, but there are enough ways to practically get around that limitation that it might as well not matter. So, the question I present is...

If you could maintain concentration on three spells at once, what is the most effective combination you can think of?

These can range from simply clever to "ermagerd, dat's some broken botanic steroids you got there"- the world is your oyster, here!

[Vogie]

Anything with a save + Bestow Curse by itself is pretty gamebreaking. Three seems excessive unless they already have a combo in mind that would require that.

[RSP]

Pretty sure there are more broken options out there, but a Bladesinger becomes better than martials at fighting with Shadow Blade+Haste+[Blur, Enlarge, or later Tenser's Trasformation].

+2 AC and Double Movement, on top of 3 attacks of at least 2d8+mod, is pretty ridiculous at level 6. Plus with Blur you're not going to get hit.

Would still be a constrained resource involved, but that would matter less as you level, not to mention any higher level castings of SB get ridiculously better. Particularly in dim or dark light.

[MaxWilson]

If you could maintain concentration on three spells at once, what is the most effective combination you can think of?

(1) Shapechange, Haste, and Greater Invisibility comes to mind.

Now you're a Pit Fiend who gets advantage on all of its attacks, double movement speed, doesn't take opportunity attacks (unless opponents have truesight/blindsight) and a bonus action Hide that makes you basically impossible to attack back. And Shield spells if you need them, and/or any other spells you need. And you can't be Counterspelled on any of your own spells, because you're invisible. And if you need to be an Adult Red Shadow Dragon instead of a Pit Fiend, well, you can do that at the cost of an action.

(2) Shapechange, Wall of Force, and Cloudkill is also an excellent combo, especially if you have Action Surge (Fighter 2/Wizard 18). Transform into a Pit Fiend, cast Cloud Kill on something and then immediately Action Surge a hemispherical Wall of Force around them. Result: 500d8 of poison damage over ten minutes, while you beat up on any of their allies in your Pit Fiend form.

N.b. you can do almost exactly the same thing with regular vanilla rules via Cloud Kill + Forcecage. Or you can just have two spellcasters working together (possibly via readied actions, if you want to minimize the opportunities for enemies to get out of the cloud before the Wall of Force/Forcecage locks them in).

[PeteNutButter]

Unless the DM also gives free chances to cast buff spells pre-fight, you'll probably not get to have even 3 spells up.

Given that most combats last about 2 to 5 rounds, you certainly hurt your DPR spending actions buffing.

The only practical use is probably layering environmental damage spells. It seems like a great buff to druids more than any other class as they have a spell list full of area denial/damage spells. Putting a Maelstrom on top of a Spike Growth for instance causes forced movement which triggers the spike growth damage and sucks the enemies further in. You could then surround the area with summoned creatures that ready actions to shove the enemies further in. That's pretty cheesy and assumes the DM lets you have direct control of the summons. There are also wall spells you could use instead.

Keep in mind anything you could theoretically do with this, could also be done with multiple casters (and done faster).

[DrowPiratRobrts]

Hex is one of the golden spells IMO when you get access to multiple concentration spells. It just make spells that require a check (not a saving throw) so much better. For example: Hex targeting INT checks + Maze is crazy good and you've still got one left.

For Wizards there are so many good options in and out of combat. Suggestion x3 on one target can break the game. Illusion spells and specifically Phantasmal Force would be crazy good. Battlefield control such as Watery Sphere and Flaming Sphere. Wall spells.

Oh, and then there's True Polymorph + Greater Invisibility + Fly = an invisible, flying T-Rex for 1 minute. Good luck with that BBEG.

[Corpsecandle717]

Pretty sure 3 instances of conjure anyting would ruin everyone's day.

[Lord8Ball]

Pretty sure 3 instances of conjure anyting would ruin everyone's day.
Ha, that made me imagine an earth elemental holding a bowl with a fire elemental in it as well as an air elemental stoking a ginormous flame. Welcome to the D&D Olympics.

[ZorroGames]

Because casters need more power...

House rules/Homebrew is “interesting” sometimes... 🧐 😱. 🤯. 🤪 🤨

[sophontteks]

Yeah I hope everyone is playing a primary caster in this campaign.
Druids and bards would especially see some really high gains. All their best spells are concentraion.

[ZorroGames]

Yeah I hope everyone is playing a primary caster in this campaign.
Druids and bards would especially see some really high gains. All their best spells are concentraion.

Hmm, Rangers might benefit.

Still...

[Beelzebubba]

I'd concentrate on these three things:

1) meeting other players from your area
2) seeing if you can find a better group
3) joining it

[Grod_The_Giant]

Unless the DM also gives free chances to cast buff spells pre-fight, you'll probably not get to have even 3 spells up.

Given that most combats last about 2 to 5 rounds, you certainly hurt your DPR spending actions buffing.
That's a good point; you'd want to look at combining long-duration Concentration effects, methinks. Upcast Hex + upcast Hunter's Mark makes a pretty scary start...