[GUIDE] Inquisitor Lim's Miniguide to the Evoker

[MaxWilson]

Exactly.

This was my first thought too. Well, the choke point really, but I get that there are ways to improve on it (like the caltrops you mentioned). I can see this working well in most dungeons. We are already thinking under the assumption that the group of pc's has a strong collective ranged attack, so when there is no reason to press the attack (rush before the hostages get executed, or before the villain flees with the McGuffin, or before reinforcements arrive etc), we could always try to lure enemies back to this certain part of the dungeon where it would be suitable to use this plan (the alternative I see being that we could engage in a war of attrition, and again that's profitable because I am assuming that pc's are capable of regenerating health much faster than several enemies). Basically, I am interested to see how well I could make it work without relying on a choke point, cause if I've got the choke point I might not even have to rely on such a spell. Well, maybe for reducing the risk and consequently expediting the fight.

I am thinking more along the lines that if I can't prevent enemies from attacking me, or at the very least if I cannot prevent them from attacking me from inside my AoE, then I should use something else instead. Though perhaps I am setting a higher bar than I should here, and that may be because I don't value sickening radiance and dawn that much otherwise (and I could be wrong about that). I can't tell though if you are mentioning this for the sake of completion. Personally, I am still trying to figure out if I can translate sculpt SR/dawn and overchannel into an effective combat strategy that is not too niche, so that I include one of these spells in my list as an evoker in the first place. And not to make sure I get the best out of them after I have already included them.

I had to check sickening radiance again, cause I thought it deals half damage on a failed save (also, I am assuming that exhaustion happens only after a failed save, which may be ambiguous). Now I see why dawn might justify a higher level slot, cause the movement alone (considering the change in timing for the saves) didn't cut it for me before. Yes, the odds are not bad. Btw, this is probably the idea I was looking for. How important do you think having an ally with access to warding bond would be in that case?

I also like this a lot. Would you bother with the skulker feat?
Being around to throw a dispel magic (or better yet, a counterspell that wont get countered) should I need to (if for example an enemy casts their own AoE to force my allies out of SR's AoE) could be very useful.

Yes, anything that adds up will be useful. In the case of the goblin if stealth fails, in the case of the yuan-ti (who might stay inside their own AoE) so that we reduce the risk of losing concentration and dropping unconscious.

As a Yuan-ti Resilient (Con) Evoker using Overchanneled Sickening Radiance: access to Warding Bond might be the difference between blowing a DC 20 concentration save and succeeding on a DC 10 one. Otherwise I'm relying almost purely on my ability to beat my own spell save Con DC. I think it would be helpful but not essential, especially if I had Bless--wouldn't stop me from trying the tactic if I didn't have Warding Bond, but if someone in the party could pre-cast Warding Bond it would be a good investment in spell slots and I would be dumb not to request it.

As a Goblin Evoker, would I take Skulker? Yes. There are DMs who run games for which Skulker wouldn't be valuable, but I probably wouldn't want to play a goblin in those games in the first place. Skulker takes everything fun about being a goblin and turns it up to 11. Not only would I abuse Skulker hiding in conjunction with Sickening Radiance, I'd abuse it constantly on every turn when my bonus action isn't busy with e.g. Hexblade's Curse. Normally the worry you have with Skulker is "won't they just target the rest of the party?" but Sculpt Spells (Sickening Radiance) takes care of that. (There are other ways to take care of it too including being way in front of the party as their stalking horse.)

But there are downsides to Goblin too, notably that if you roll an even-numbered Int like 15, taking Goblin + Skulker puts you still at 17 when a variant human Evoker would be at Int 20 (plus a feat). At level 11 when the human gets access to Empowered Evocation + Hexblade's Curse Magic Missile V for 7 x (d4+9) = 80 auto-damage, you're only doing 7 x (d4+7) = 66 damage, and your spells like Sickening Radiance are correspondingly weaker. Would that stop me? No. I'd rather have a versatile, fun no-concentration at-will ability from level 1 onwards than have a temporary damage advantage. But I'd still feel better about playing a goblin if I had rolled an even Int, hopefully at least Int 16, instead of an odd one.

Note that I'd be taking advantage of other fun goblin abilities too, like zipping into the middle of a clump of bad guys to cast Potent Sculpted (Empowered?) Thunderclap before bonus action Disengaging back out (or Hiding if it's dark, and then moving away because being hidden also protects you from opportunity attacks).

Edit: comment on including Sickening Radiance in your combat list in the first place. I think you definitely want to do this because lots of creatures are resistant or immune to fire damage. I would hate to rely on something like Fireball to fight off a bunch of Shadows or Specters, for example, but Sickening Radiance does the trick nicely, even if they try to strafe you (hiding on the other side of walls when it's your turn). Normally I'd want at least one good non-fire-based AoE on a wizard PC for this reason, and Evard's Black Tentacles and Sickening Radiance would both be good candidates, but for an Evoker Sickening Radiance is clearly preferable. Fireball is still cheaper, higher-damage, and non-concentration of course.

Edit2: maybe it's obvious but as a goblin I'd also learn Longstrider because Nimble Escape + higher movement is another way to buy time for Sickening Radiance to kill, especially against monsters with blindsight, like Shambling Mounds and Blights, which Skulker won't help with. Of course you may not need it because Shambling Mounds and non-Needle Blights are already slow--depends on the situation.

Edit3: another fun thing for a Goblin Skulker to do when not throwing spells, is to throw nets/lassos. You have advantage for being hidden before you throw. You *don't* have disadvantage for being within 5' of a non-incapacitated hostile creature who can see you, because you're hidden. You attack at advantage, with proficiency because Hexblade 1, and if you miss you're still hidden because Skulker. Very resource-efficient, good alternative to cantrips.