Casting in an large area under a silence spell?

[jjordan]

Players are preparing to go into a large area (about 24 miles in diameter) in which silence prevails. It's a divine level effect and the mechanism for ending it is within the space but they aren't going to be able to dispel this. This will nerf the casters fairly heavily. Other than stocking up on magic items that don't require verbal components is there anything else the players can do to prep for this? They know where they're going and about the silence factor, I'm not dropping them in without warning.

[firelistener]

It's going to depend on what you allow or provide, but yes they should have plenty of options, even if they're all wizards. In the vanilla PHB, I think there almost zero damaging spells that don't require verbal components, but XGE has several. They could also carry items like alchemist's fire and acid vials that can be pretty dangerous at lower levels, but these will be too weak at higher levels to be much help. If they seem really unprepared, you could give them the option to hire some NPC fighter or barbarian to help out, but I don't recommend it as most players will react negatively to DM-controlled NPCs helping them.

[Segev]

Does the silence extend into extra dimensional spaces that have been sealed off? Could they climb into a portable hole or a bag of holding and close it up to cast a spell, then open it and climb back out?

Oh, and magic items that enable the user to cast specific spells do not generally require components. So staves or wands may serve well.

[Amnestic]

Every single cleric spell has a V component, so they'll be entirely neutered aside from hitting stuff and Channel Divinity.

Being able to communicate effectively will be important so ideally they'll have a group-wide telepathy running - or failing that, sign language or an agreed upon set of hand signals. With no sound, they'll need to be more aware of ambushes that they can't hear coming, so more reliant on sight/smell/touch(/taste??). If the silence area has been around for a while, I'd expect any native creatures to have adapted to it so they'll probably be better at seeing/smelling than the party is.

Untrained (or even trained) animals may refuse to remain in the area because it makes them feel uncomfortable, so hiring sniffer dogs or mounts to traverse it faster may not work at all.

You could potentially offer 'Vocalise' potions that let casters temporarily cast V-spells in the silence area, if you wanted to allow them some measure of casting ability. It still wouldn't let them talk to each other, and they'd be a valuable resource not to be wasted on every fight.

[holywhippet]

Do they have a sorcerer in their party with the subtle spell metamagic? They can pretty much ignore the silence effect at the cost of some metamagic points. Otherwise it depends on what they will encounter. Anything they run into that can normally only be overcome with magic could be a problem but such things tend to be few and far between. If they pack enough healing potions they should hopefully be OK.

[Eldariel]

Could give them some way to access the Subtle Spell Metamagic few times to enable casting spells (perhaps "metamagic formula" consumables?) or if they have the chance, to retrain for Metamagic Adept (it's a great feat!). This would let them cast few spells but not many.

They can of course get minions. Tiny Servant lasts for 8 hours. Animate Dead lasts for 24. Planar Binding can last for however long. Basically everyone has access to high duration minionmancy. And of course, teleportation can get them in faster as can Phantom Steeds (as long as they last). If they have access to True Polymorph, they're of course golden: just polymorph everyone and Dragon their way inside.

It's worth noting that indeed, Wizard is surprisingly fine in this regard. Big spells that can be cast under Silence:
- Absorb Elements
- Catapult
- Ice Knife
- Snare
- (Illusory Script)
- Mind Spike
- (Catnap)
- Counterspell
- Hypnotic Pattern
- Mislead
- Steel Wind Strike
- Mental Prison
- Demiplane
- Illusory Dragon
- Psychic Scream

Cantrips: Mold Earth, Minor Illusion, Control Flames, Shape Water, Friends, Green-Flame Blade, Thunderclap, Encode Thoughts, and True Strike.

That's a pretty great list, containing two of the best cantrips in the game in Minor Illusion and Mold Earth. While Booming Blade works too, thunder damage doesn't inside Silence so that's kinda pointless. This leaves Green-Flame Blade as their only damage cantrip. Depending on their level, they can lean on Light Crossbows just fine though and Green-Flame Blade is a fine excuse to get into melee (though melee without any physical defense spells can be rough). Cantrip formula can let them retrain to have some of those.

The spell list is pretty solid too. The best CC and protection spells in the game in Absorb Elements, Counterspell and Hypnotic Pattern (missing Shield and Silvery Barbs though), a solid utility in Catapult and Mislead, some decent damage effects in Ice Knife and Steel Wind Strike, and the higher level options are all pretty great. You'll rely hard on Hypnotic Pattern to carry fights and where that's bad you'll have trouble but you can at least play around with Catapult + alchemicals and Counterspell, and Steel Wind Strike is a decent spell all considered. If you have Demiplane, that's an escape.


Yeah, Cleric is mostly bonking things in the face and Druid basically has Wildshape. So there's that. Clerics especially are not happy. But Wizards, Bards and Sorcerers are fineish if they have the right spells available, and everyone can prep with long duration minions at least.

[MrStabby]

Players are preparing to go into a large area (about 24 miles in diameter) in which silence prevails. It's a divine level effect and the mechanism for ending it is within the space but they aren't going to be able to dispel this. This will nerf the casters fairly heavily. Other than stocking up on magic items that don't require verbal components is there anything else the players can do to prep for this? They know where they're going and about the silence factor, I'm not dropping them in without warning.

Honestly, this isn't an issue at all unless you force the PCs to fight. If things there are all non-combat encounters relying on wits and mime to solve and no need for violence then I can see it being a really fun location that shakes up the usual pattern.

Otherwise you need to be careful how your players react. Players usually pick a character to do something the character can do; if you take that away from them for an extended period you might face some unhappy players.

As a player, I would be looking to prepare by getting some magical support. Flying would be a good start - if encounters are a drag then having as few as possible of them would be a good step. Wind walk. Pass without trace. Anything that can be used to bypass threats between the start and the desination.

[ecarden]

So, a good thing to buy is some paper and quills/ink for more elaborate things. Deciding on a watch schedule in advance and how to cover for the characters who will be much weaker here. Some simply hand signals for stuff like 'stop' 'spread out' 'enemies' and anything else they expect to need.

But this is a really big area, they aren't getting through it with one fly spell, unless what's needed is right near the edge. Phantom Steed is pretty good for letting folks move fast, but even that is only 13 miles in the travel time. Also, if they don't know exactly where they're going, they may be in there a long time. I might have a contingency in case things start getting too painful/long. Maybe a rival party who's also seeking whatever powers this? That way if things go too wrong/long, whoops the other party got there, better get after them, with all your magic back.

[5eNeedsDarksun]

First, I think this is a cool environment for a section of a campaign because it will encourage players to use different tactics than usual, and that's always a good thing. I really liked the suggestion of casting from another dimensional space.
If the players end up in a fight, some of their foes will have to face the same challenges and likely have some solutions, that potentially could be copied or looted.
I'm definitely keeping this thread front of mind to put into my next campaign.

[Bobthewizard]

It's worth noting that indeed, Wizard is surprisingly fine in this regard. Big spells that can be cast under Silence:
- Absorb Elements
- Catapult
- Ice Knife
- Snare
- (Illusory Script)
- Mind Spike
- (Catnap)
- Counterspell
- Hypnotic Pattern
- Mislead
- Steel Wind Strike
- Mental Prison
- Demiplane
- Illusory Dragon
- Psychic Scream

Cantrips: Mold Earth, Minor Illusion, Control Flames, Shape Water, Friends, Green-Flame Blade, Thunderclap, Encode Thoughts, and True Strike.

Fizbans adds couple more. Nathairs Mischief and Rimes Binding Ice are good 2nd level spells that don't have verbal components.

To the OP, I'd be careful of having too many combats if there are casters that will be completely nerfed. You don't want to completely take out a players contribution for more than a few rounds or it gets much less fun for them. I think this set up works best in a martial heavy party and in tier 1. Spells become so much more important in tier 2 and 3 and there are relatively fewer of them that don't have verbal components.

[MrStabby]

Fizbans adds couple more. Nathairs Mischief and Rimes Binding Ice are good 2nd level spells that don't have verbal components.

To the OP, I'd be careful of having too many combats if there are casters that will be completely nerfed. You don't want to completely take out a players contribution for more than a few rounds or it gets much less fun for them. I think this set up works best in a martial heavy party and in tier 1. Spells become so much more important in tier 2 and 3 and there are relatively fewer of them that don't have verbal components.

I would add that sometimes it's ok to disadvantage casters like this, if it's short term and in a long day. You haven't stopped them using their spells, but have moved when those spells are used to a different set of encounters... just give them enough chance to expend them effectively.

[jjordan]

The party that will be going into this area are 6th level and comprise a Cleric, Druid, Ranger, and Monk. The Ranger and the Monk are minimally affected. The druid loses some spells that have verbal components but is highly enamored of wildshape and rarely uses a lot of their magic anyway. The cleric is totally nerfed BUT this area is silent because it is a side-effect of a past champion of the cleric's god doing magic stuff and creating a super-hallowed area. So the cleric is going to get a channel divinity boost. It makes plot sense. The mechanic I'm planning to use is below. Do you see any issues?

While in this area your number of channel divinity slots triples and you may use channel divinity to cast spells you would normally cast using spell slots and without having to use required verbal or somatic components. You *must* use a spell focus and any material components. Make a DC15 + (the level of the spell you are trying to cast) Religion check each time you use this feature to cast a spell. If you are successful then the spell casts. If you fail the check you take (the DC of the Religion check) - (the total of your Religion check roll and modifiers) in psychic damage and take one level of exhaustion.

The cleric loses 10 spell slots per day but, at 6th level, potentially gets 18 spell slots (and since the effect doesn't specify levels they are all potentially 3rd level slots). With the swingy nature of the D20 they are almost certain to fail at least one roll and take a level of exhaustion, so they almost certainly won't get all 18 spell slots, but they can push their luck if they choose to do so. So overall the cleric loses some capability but gets some interesting choices to make.

[ecarden]

So, it may depend on your Cleric's skills. I'd be inclined to switch it to a Wisdom DC 10 + Spell level. I will also just point out that if they fail once, then they're likely to fail thereafter, as they've got disadvantage on all ability checks. And note that channel divinities recharge on a short rest.