What battlefield control spells would you choose?

[thorr-kan]

Assuming first-level sorcerer with the Precocious Apprentice feat, what BFC spells would you choose for your first and second-level slots?

I'd think grease, obscuring cloud, and glitterdust would all be popular choices.

[Quertus]

Color Spray, bag of marbles, bag of caltrops, flask of oil, <Stone which, when dropped in seawater, makes mist>, tower shield, trained animals, random peasants conned into helping, and a GM who will let such things not be useless?

[Fero]

Assuming first-level sorcerer with the Precocious Apprentice feat, what BFC spells would you choose for your first and second-level slots?

I'd think grease, obscuring cloud, and glitterdust would all be popular choices.

Sticky Floor as a level 1 and Wall of Gloom or Grave Mist for lvl 2.

[Vizzerdrix]

Sculpt spelled fell drained caltrops. But I suppose that is a bit too much meta magic.

[Inevitability]

Wall of Smoke is pretty good, especially if you have a Druid in the party who can prepare Fire Eyes a couple times and cast it on the ranged attackers.

[Amidus Drexel]

Assuming first-level sorcerer with the Precocious Apprentice feat, what BFC spells would you choose for your first and second-level slots?

I'd think grease, obscuring cloud, and glitterdust would all be popular choices.

Grease is a strong spell, but it's really situational at level 1. You're usually going to be able to set up the party rogue for an attack, but it doesn't have the BFC power you'd really expect until it starts lasting a few rounds. I probably wouldn't take this at first level.

Sleep, on the other hand, is pretty strong at level 1. It falls off quickly, but you'll get to knock out tons of kobolds and/or orcs in the meantime (and you can replace it with something better at level 6, by which point it won't be doing much for you).

Color Spray is also quite strong at this level, though with its short range you'll need to be careful when casting it.

Obscuring Mist is fine, but until the party can really take advantage of it (via other senses), it's less of a combat spell and more of a utility spell.


Glitterdust is neat, but you're not actually all that likely to need to break invisibility for a while. AoE blind is nice, but round/level duration is going to make that less useful right now.

Web is quite strong if you're fighting in enclosed spaces. 10m/level duration is more than plenty for both combat and utility, and locking enemies in place for you to set them on fire or just pepper them with arrows is going to remain strong for a long time.

Hypnotic Pattern and Pyrotechnics are both more general-use BFC spells that are fine at your level. Both have utility out of combat, too.


Once you get a few extra levels, the round/level duration spells get a lot more attractive. Most of those spells scale really well, but are almost useless at level 1 (5 rounds of blindness is effectively a death sentence in combat, while 1 round is just an inconvenience).

Also, I probably would take at least one direct-damage or party-buff spell, as a sorcerer. They get so few spells-known, and there are situations where the lockdown spells you choose aren't going to be effective. Magic Missile gives your party a fighting chance at taking on low-CR incorporeal undead in a level or two, so that's my recommendation.


Color Spray, bag of marbles, bag of caltrops, flask of oil, <Stone which, when dropped in seawater, makes mist>, tower shield, trained animals, random peasants conned into helping, and a GM who will let such things not be useless?

Yeah, at level 1, mundane options are pretty attractive - especially for a sorcerer who only gets a few spells-known. Marbles or caltrops make a good substitute for grease with no duration limit.

[thorr-kan]

Good suggestions. Keep them coming!


Color Spray, bag of marbles, bag of caltrops, flask of oil, <Stone which, when dropped in seawater, makes mist>, tower shield, trained animals, random peasants conned into helping, and a GM who will let such things not be useless?
Mundane options are ALWAYS on the table.

[sleepyphoenixx]

If you have darkvision? No Light. It's a cantrip though.
Otherwise Sleep can be very useful, especially if you extend its HD cap with Slumber Sand (SaSt) and/or use the Charming Veil souldmeld to boost the DC. Mind the 1 round casting time though.


Wall of Smoke is pretty good, especially if you have a Druid in the party who can prepare Fire Eyes a couple times and cast it on the ranged attackers.

Unfortunately Fire Eyes doesn't work on magical smoke. But it works fine with Smokesticks.

[Fero]

Nerve Skitter is another good choice. It is not a control spell in and of itself. However, it boosts init and Battlefield Control works best when you go first.

[herrhauptmann]

If it was a dungeon/indoor game, Blockade might be useful. Not as good as the others you listed though.


Good suggestions. Keep them coming!


Mundane options are ALWAYS on the table.

Really, you would to put most of those on the ground, not a table.

[Fero]

If it was a dungeon/indoor game, Blockade might be useful. Not as good as the others you listed though.


Blockade is awesome. Pair with Invisible Spell for extra fun.

[Gruftzwerg]

Blockade is awesome. Pair with Invisible Spell for extra fun.

It's a conjuration spell and just like you don't get invisible summons, you don't get an invisible blockade.
Sorry but no cheese here.

[Inevitability]

It's a conjuration spell and just like you don't get invisible summons, you don't get an invisible blockade.
Sorry but no cheese here.

Really? Spells like Web, Grease, those all don't work with Invisible Spell according to you? Spells like Orb of Fire don't, when the canonical example of something that does work is Fireball? I don't want to split hairs over what does or doesn't work with invisible spell but you can't shortcut the debate by declaring 'all conjurations lack a visual manifestation by definition'.

[Gruftzwerg]

Really? Spells like Web, Grease, those all don't work with Invisible Spell according to you? Spells like Orb of Fire don't, when the canonical example of something that does work is Fireball? I don't want to split hairs over what does or doesn't work with invisible spell but you can't shortcut the debate by declaring 'all conjurations lack a visual manifestation by definition'.

The problem here is that Invisible spell would sole make the conjuration process invisible and not the conjured object/creature/energy.
Conjuration magic transports stuff magically to you and doesn't create it magically (that would be evocation magic; like the mentioned Fireball example).

And if you don't create it with your magic, it ain't part of the visual manifestation of your magic.

edit: to give a more obvious example why these kind of stuff doesn't work: "You don't become invisible just because I did cast Invisible Spell: Teleport on you"

[Inevitability]

The problem here is that Invisible spell would sole make the conjuration process invisible and not the conjured object/creature/energy.
Conjuration magic transports stuff magically to you and doesn't create it magically (that would be evocation magic; like the mentioned Fireball example).

And if you don't create it with your magic, it ain't part of the visual manifestation of your magic.

edit: to give a more obvious example why these kind of stuff doesn't work: "You don't become invisible just because I did cast Invisible Spell: Teleport on you"

Fair point! I guess in that case you can just use Invisible Wall of Force (or Ice!) for your blockades. Or mimic them with Invisible Shadow Conjuration, come to think of it.

[Fero]

The problem here is that Invisible spell would sole make the conjuration process invisible and not the conjured object/creature/energy.
Conjuration magic transports stuff magically to you and doesn't create it magically (that would be evocation magic; like the mentioned Fireball example).

And if you don't create it with your magic, it ain't part of the visual manifestation of your magic.

edit: to give a more obvious example why these kind of stuff doesn't work: "You don't become invisible just because I did cast Invisible Spell: Teleport on you"


Conjuration (creation) spells don't create?