Fun combinations with Arcane Abeyance

[yisopo]

I’m playing a Chronurgy Wizard right now and I would like to know the most interesting and fun spell combinations with Arcane Abeyance.

Since I can cast longer spells with just one action or my familiar can cast a spell too, I think this 10th ability can open many new strategies.

As I said, I would like to see “interesting and fun” ideas, so of course I'm interested in strong combinations too, but super-strong combinations could be unfunny. For example, I won’t exploit the instantaneous Tiny Hut: this strategy is too good and so ultimately unfunny for my taste.

[icedraikon]

The simple answer is put any good concentration spell into it and have your familiar use it, then dismiss the familiar. That way, you get another concentration spell on the field and familiar's concentration can'tbe broken.

Even without dismissing familiar it's pretty good. You can do the Microwave by yourself with you and familiar both casting during R1. If you can get your hands on one of those awakened potted plants, that works as well.

You can also cast Find Familiar into it so the whole party has familiars.

Edit: You can also perma loop Find Famliar. Give your familiar the bead, now they have a familiar, etc.

You can also use the bead to do a 1 action combat cast of Magic Circle which could be quite interesting.

[yisopo]

The simple answer is put any good concentration spell into it and have your familiar use it, then dismiss the familiar. That way, you get another concentration spell on the field and familiar's concentration can'tbe broken.
Do you know if there is some familiar for which it is more difficult to break concentration (without using the dismiss strategy)?

Moreover, which spells do you think are best to buff my wizard from my familiar? It is usually a bad idea for a wizard to buff themself, but maybe here is good?



Even without dismissing familiar it's pretty good. You can do the Microwave by yourself with you and familiar both casting during R1. If you can get your hands on one of those awakened potted plants, that works as well.
Microwave = Sickening Radiance and Wall of Force?
I didn't get the reference to the awakened potted plants. :smallbiggrin:


You can also cast Find Familiar into it so the whole party has familiars.
Yes, I know, but I think I will skip on this one too. :smallsmile:

[icedraikon]

Do you know if there is some familiar for which it is more difficult to break concentration (without using the dismiss strategy)?

Unfortunately most familiars (Except Pact of Chain familiars) are like 1-2hp, so they will die to anything. Tankiness can be buffed with temp and additional hp like from Inspiring Leader or Aid, but you will likely have neither
That said, a flying familiar can cast and start dashing away. Most spells are like 30-150, so if they fly away and get behind cover asap, they're mostly safe unless the enemy goes out of their way to focus the familiar.


Moreover, which spells do you think are best to buff my wizard from my familiar? It is usually a bad idea for a wizard to buff themself, but maybe here is good?

Buffing self is not usually ideal. Even if you wanted a buff, most of those spells (Mirror Image, Blur, Blink, Fire Shield) are range self, so in those situations you would cast the buff spell on yourself and your familiar would cast a big concentration spell. (Notable exceptions to this are: Fly, Greater Invisibility, Invisibility, Spider Climb, Stoneskin, Polymorph). I think the best option here (for buffing yourself) is Greater Invisibility since many many effects require the enemy to see the target, so by the familiar casting Greater Invis on you, you can much better protect your concentration. Familiar casting Polymorph on you is also valid, so you will not have to make Con saves every time you get hit (assuming you will be frontlining when polymorphed). Frontlining even with Poly is not ideal, but it works.


Microwave = Sickening Radiance and Wall of Force?

Yes, that is the microwave. It is worth noting that since Wall of Force is 5th lvl, you will need to cast it, and familiar will need to cast Sickening Radiance via bead. Forcecage also works.

You can also double up on buffs for martials (especially GWM/SS). Haste on the power attacker, haste or fly on the melee martial to help with gap close, ac, etc. Haste/Fly would be nice. Haste+Poly could be interesting if your martials dont have any good power attacks or good dpr output. There are so many good options.

I personally think summoning is VERY good. Extra body, extra action economy, extra attacks, so 1 concentrate on summon (Tasha's summons are best cast at 4th lvl imo, but also have Summon Greater Demon which could be good), one on a buff, aoe cc, whatever.


I didn't get the reference to the awakened potted plants. :smallbiggrin:

For the potted plant, there is a Common magic item in XGtE called a Pot of Awakening that after 30 days makes an awakened shrub (intelligent plant) that is friendly to you and can follow commands, therefore can also utilize your Arcane Abeyance bead.

[yisopo]

Unfortunately most familiars (Except Pact of Chain familiars) are like 1-2hp, so they will die to anything. Tankiness can be buffed with temp and additional hp like from Inspiring Leader or Aid, but you will likely have neither
That said, a flying familiar can cast and start dashing away. Most spells are like 30-150, so if they fly away and get behind cover asap, they're mostly safe unless the enemy goes out of their way to focus the familiar.
Yeah, I'm using an owl right now, so this animal would be perfect for your suggestion.


Buffing self is not usually ideal. Even if you wanted a buff, most of those spells (Mirror Image, Blur, Blink, Fire Shield) are range self, so in those situations you would cast the buff spell on yourself and your familiar would cast a big concentration spell. (Notable exceptions to this are: Fly, Greater Invisibility, Invisibility, Spider Climb, Stoneskin, Polymorph). I think the best option here (for buffing yourself) is Greater Invisibility since many many effects require the enemy to see the target, so by the familiar casting Greater Invis on you, you can much better protect your concentration. Familiar casting Polymorph on you is also valid, so you will not have to make Con saves every time you get hit (assuming you will be frontlining when polymorphed). Frontlining even with Poly is not ideal, but it works.
I don't think I will use Polymorph on my wizard (I prefer to stay a wizard), but I really like the idea of using Greater Invisibility on myself via familiar!


I personally think summoning is VERY good. Extra body, extra action economy, extra attacks, so 1 concentrate on summon (Tasha's summons are best cast at 4th lvl imo, but also have Summon Greater Demon which could be good), one on a buff, aoe cc, whatever.
I was thinking to take this 3rd-level spells when I will level up: Hypnotic Pattern, Counterspell, Slow and Phantom Steed. But maybe I will replace Slow with Summon Shadowspawn/Summon Undead... By the way, between the two summoning spells, which do you think it is better?

[icedraikon]

I was thinking to take this 3rd-level spells when I will level up: Hypnotic Pattern, Counterspell, Slow and Phantom Steed. But maybe I will replace Slow with Summon Shadowspawn/Summon Undead... By the way, between the two summoning spells, which do you think it is better?

Quick answer is that I prefer Summon Undead, because it gives options: Ranged via Skeleton, Control via Frightened from Ghost, and Crit-Fish from Poison -> Paralyzed from Putrid. That said, it depends on what you're going for. If you want a solid frontline, shadow is generally tankier than the putrid/ghost (AC15/HP50 vs AC15/HP40 assuming casting from 4th level slots with 15hp/level from Shadow vs 10hp/level from Undead Putrid and Ghost) and can be a good frontline with Dreadful Scream and Weight of Sorrow to discourage enemies from running past it. There's a fantastic video that runs through all the Tasha's summons here: https://youtu.be/Xwev08g61M8
He rates Summon Aberration the highest due to Slaad having regen (Top up summon between combats, so it can potentially go into multiple combats with only 1 slot) and having a flying ranged option. The good news is that since you generally want to cast these from 4th level slots, you can generally view Aberration/Undead/Shadow as roughly the same, depending on what you want.


He also talks about Hypnotic Pattern vs Slow in this video: https://youtu.be/yaSibN5xJfA In it, he rates Slow slightly higher due to not requiring line of sight and not being stopped by Immunity to Charmed.

As for Phantom Steed, it is a fantastic maneuvrability spell. Note that it doesn't immediately go away when it takes damage, it takes 1 minute to deform, so it's great for in-combat mobility.

Counterspell depends on what your DM throws at you. I think a lot of the newer NPCs use spell-like effects that can't be affected by Counterspell, but it just depends. Always good to have, though.

[yisopo]

Quick answer is that I prefer Summon Undead, because it gives options: Ranged via Skeleton, Control via Frightened from Ghost, and Crit-Fish from Poison -> Paralyzed from Putrid. That said, it depends on what you're going for. If you want a solid frontline, shadow is generally tankier than the putrid/ghost (AC15/HP50 vs AC15/HP40 assuming casting from 4th level slots with 15hp/level from Shadow vs 10hp/level from Undead Putrid and Ghost) and can be a good frontline with Dreadful Scream and Weight of Sorrow to discourage enemies from running past it. There's a fantastic video that runs through all the Tasha's summons here: https://youtu.be/Xwev08g61M8
He rates Summon Aberration the highest due to Slaad having regen (Top up summon between combats, so it can potentially go into multiple combats with only 1 slot) and having a flying ranged option. The good news is that since you generally want to cast these from 4th level slots, you can generally view Aberration/Undead/Shadow as roughly the same, depending on what you want.
Interesting! And thank you for the video, I'm going to watch it later.


He also talks about Hypnotic Pattern vs Slow in this video: https://youtu.be/yaSibN5xJfA In it, he rates Slow slightly higher due to not requiring line of sight and not being stopped by Immunity to Charmed.
I see HP and Slow as complementary. If I have not problem with friendly fire and resistance/immunity, HP is so strong. For the other cases: Slow. This is the reason I chose both and I'm a little hesitant to replace Slow with a summoning spell.


As for Phantom Steed, it is a fantastic maneuvrability spell. Note that it doesn't immediately go away when it takes damage, it takes 1 minute to deform, so it's great for in-combat mobility.
Yep, I even created a thread about PS recently! (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?649913-Combat-only-Phantom-Steed-is-it-good)


Counterspell depends on what your DM throws at you. I think a lot of the newer NPCs use spell-like effects that can't be affected by Counterspell, but it just depends. Always good to have, though.
My idea is to wait one level to take Counterspell, so not at level 5th but at level 6th.

[Chronos]

If you had the option of always having all spells prepared, then there would be some situations where you would prefer to use Hypnotic Pattern, some where you would prefer to use Slow, and some where you would prefer to use Fear. But in most situations where any one of those spells is good, all three of them are good, and where one of them is bad, all three of them are bad. And in situations where one of those three isn't the right tool for the job, most likely some other spell is going to be the right tool, and there's a limit to how many spells you can prepare, so by only choosing one of the area-effect Wis-save-or-suck spells, you can make it more likely that you do have whatever the right tool is.

[yisopo]

If you had the option of always having all spells prepared, then there would be some situations where you would prefer to use Hypnotic Pattern, some where you would prefer to use Slow, and some where you would prefer to use Fear. But in most situations where any one of those spells is good, all three of them are good, and where one of them is bad, all three of them are bad. And in situations where one of those three isn't the right tool for the job, most likely some other spell is going to be the right tool, and there's a limit to how many spells you can prepare, so by only choosing one of the area-effect Wis-save-or-suck spells, you can make it more likely that you do have whatever the right tool is.
The idea is that if I can avoid to hit my friends too, I will use Hypnotic Pattern; in case of chaotic situation, I will use Slow. But of course you are right that both targer Wis so it is not ideal. Do you have some alternatives? As I said, my original idea for the 3rd-level spells are: Hypnotic Pattern, Phantom Steed, Counterspell and Slow.

Moreover, do you have some funny combos using Arcane Abeyance?

[RogueJK]

You can also use the bead to do a 1 action combat cast of Magic Circle which could be quite interesting.

Yep, single-action Magic Circle is super broken if you're fighting a nasty Celestial, Elemental, Fey, Fiend, or Undead.

No save, just instant lockdown for 1 hour, without even using your Concentration.

It'd work just as well as Forcecage/Wall of Force for pairing with Sickening Radiance for the "Microwave Effect" (if dealing with one of those creature types), but only requires a 3rd level spell instead of a 5th/7th level spell.

The Familiar uses their Action to unleash Magic Circle with the bead, the Wizard casts Sickening Radiance with their action, then the both find cover and wait up to 10 minutes for the baddie to die of exhaustion.

Even with Magic Resistance or Legendary Saves, they're bound to fail 6 out of the 60 CON saves, plus once they hit the 3rd level of Exhaustion their saving throws are made with Disadvantage, speeding the process along even further.

[Rules Rogue]

“Yes, that is the microwave. It is worth noting that since Wall of Force is 5th lvl, you will need to cast it, and familiar will need to cast Sickening Radiance via bead. Forcecage also works.”

Unfortunately, releasing the spell means it goes off centered on the bead, it’s also going to kill your Familiar if you do it that way.
Unless… there’s something I’ve missed.

[truemane]

Metamagic Mod: shall we arcanely abey a thread from the GRAVE?