Don't Underestimate The Power of Battlefield Control Spells (in Pathfinder)

As I said back in Vulgar Displays of Power: Tips For Getting The Most Out of Your Magic in Pathfinder, sometimes the best spells to defeat an encounter won't do a single hit point of damage. Whether it's spells like haste, which allow the fighter and barbarian to crank out additional attacks and obscene amounts of damage, ray of enfeeblement which can leave a powerful foe sluggish and weak when they would otherwise have been a dire threat, or summon monster when you need temporary allies to help stem the tide of foes rushing toward the party, strategic use of magic is often what carries the day.

There is a particular kind of spell that doesn't get enough love in my view, though. Spells which can seem cumbersome and difficult to manage, but in the hands of a tactical player they can make all the difference. These spells are commonly referred to as battlefield control magics.

You should have surrendered. It would have been easier on all of us.

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What is Battlefield Control?

Since terminology can get confusing, a battlefield control spell is, generally speaking, any spell you cast that alters the battlefield. These spells typically alter terrain, create new hazards, or throw up boundaries that can be used to protect allies, reduce an enemy's mobility, and to generally shift the balance of how an encounter is going.

Examples generally work best, though, so here's a simple scenario to keep in mind.

The party is engaged in a battle in an opera house. Cultists with swords are fighting the party down on the stage, but they have allies up in one of the box seats who are firing crossbows down at the party. The swordsmen are a threat, but it's really the bolts that are causing the most harm. So the wizard, thinking quickly, casts wind wall. The wind wall blocks the crossbowmen's line of fire completely, rendering them a non-issue until they move to a new position, which could take several rounds. In that time the rest of the party can focus on the swordsmen, eliminate them as a threat, and then focus on a new enemy.

Just let me adjust this challenge a bit...

Whether you cast darkness so that your party has at least partial concealment from enemies that can't see in the dark, or create pit in a narrow hallway so that enemies don't have the ability to retreat without leaping over a chasm, battlefield control spells allow you to adjust the encounter so as to give your allies advantages and protection by altering the environment around them.

And it's not easy to do... but once you have the proper mindset, you can often tilt a battle with a snap of your fingers and a single, spoken word.

Tips For Getting The Most Out of Your Battlefield Control

The core concept of battlefield control spells (creating obstacles for your foes and benefits for your allies) is pretty simple. However, the same could be said when it comes to describing the basic mechanics of chess, and that doesn't mean it's an easy game to win. Which is why I'd recommend keeping the following in mind when it comes to choosing the best battlefield control spells for your party and your particular campaign.

- First, know your party members. Certain battlefield control spells are going to impact your party just as negatively as your enemies, so you need to be aware of what everyone's capabilities are. If the whole party has darkvision, for example, then darkness can be a great card to have up your sleeve for making sure the enemies are taking miss chances when they attack you. If only one or two party members can see in the dark, though, then everyone else is going to have problems. Obscuring mist is another good example, because unless the rest of the party can see what's happening (an oracle with blindsight, a rogue with fogcutter lenses, a cleric in a goz mask, etc.) then the cloud hampers you and your allies as surely as it does the enemies. This doesn't make it useless, but it does narrow its use significantly.

- Secondly, know the enemies you face. As with the darkness example, if your enemies all have darkvision then the spell doesn't actually help anyone. If you're fighting a dragon and you use obscuring mist to hide from it, its dragon senses will still allow it to pinpoint any nearby party members. Wind wall won't block spells or hurled boulders. Just as you need to know what won't hamper your party, you need to have some idea of your enemies' capabilities so that you can create effects that are actually obstacles to them. Otherwise you'll just be blowing through spells that aren't having an effect.

- Thirdly, consider the actions being taken, and the flow of combat. Throwing up a wall spell to block off a doorway is a great trick to have if a foe tries to escape, but you don't want to brick up the route prematurely in case your party members want to use it, or allies are trapped back there and can't join the fray. Additionally, throwing down pits might hamper ground-based foes who depend on melee, but if they can fly, or fire from further away, those same pits can be a problem for your allies. Don't just look at something in terms of whether it's a good move in this exact moment; ask how it will affect an encounter going forward.

- Fourth, and final for this list, remember that battlefield control spells are often there to waste an enemy's time, energy, and effort. If you throw up a wall, and half a dozen enemies have to spend their turns going over or around it in order to reach the party/to get new lines of effect so they can resume the attack, it can feel like you wasted your action. However, what you actually did was use your one turn to force multiple enemies to reposition themselves, buying your allies time. Because even if some enemies don't slip in your grease spell, or fall into your pit, the fact that the hazard is there means it's complicating the enemy's actions... and that's your job. Being the spanner in the enemy's battle plans.

Further Reading For Spellcasters

If you're a player who's looking to branch out with your spellcasters in Pathfinder, then consider some of the following reading to hit on the RP side of things, as well as the mechanics side!

- 10 Backgrounds For Your Spellcasters: Part of a short series I worked on, this list in particular is there to remind folks that just because you're a wizard, a sorcerer, a cleric, etc., that doesn't need to be all of what your character is. Flesh them out, and provide some context in order to make your character more memorable!

- 5 Tips For Playing Better Wizards: My 5 Tips series has been going on for a while, and I've tried to offer unique tips for as many classes as I can. If wizards aren't your thing, though, I've also covered sorcerers, clerics, bards, druids, alchemists, inquisitors, oracles, witches, summoners, and more!

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That's all for this week's Crunch topic! For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio! Or if you'd like to read some of my books, like my alley cat noir novel Marked Territory, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my latest short story collection The Rejects, head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now on Pinterest as well! And if you'd like to help support me and my work, consider Buying Me A Ko-Fi or heading over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron! Even a little bit of help can go a long way, trust me on that one.

"Force Multiplication" is a Useful Idea For RPGs

Folks who've been around this blog for a while know that, while I love story and character arcs in RPGs, I am also very invested in strategic play, and accomplishing goals. A term someone used in a forum that caught my attention presents an interesting idea that can alter the way we think of our games, strategies, and resources, so I thought I'd talk about it this week.

That term is Force Multiplication.

Great, just what I need... more math.

 

What is Force Multiplication?

The short version is that force multiplication is a military term, and it refers to the degree by which an attribute (or combination of attributes) increases the efficiency of a particular force.

For example, say it takes 1 fighter with silver weapons to take out a werewolf. Without those silver weapons, it would take a force of 4 fighters to do the job. Therefore the silver weapon is a force multiplier of 4 in this situation.

Ah, now it begins to come clear...

While you don't necessarily need to crunch the numbers to work out exactly what percentage of effectiveness certain spells, magic items, abilities, etc. add to your party's effectiveness (you can if you've got the math chops for it, but you don't have to), this creates a useful lens to view your resources and abilities through in terms of strategic effectiveness in the game.

Spells like haste or abilities like bardic music? Those are force multipliers in a game, and I pointed out as much in Vulgar Displays of Power: Tips For Getting The Most Out of Your Magic in Pathfinder. A paladin's ability to grant their smite to their companions? Serious force multiplier when facing devils, demons, undead, etc. The same can be said of a ranger's ability to grant their favored enemy bonus to their companions in a fight. Anything which increases effectiveness falls into this category, and when it affects more than one person then it becomes even more effective overall.

Everything is Situational

Though I've said it before, I feel it needs to be repeated; everything in an RPG is situational. Certain spells, abilities, skills, etc. will be extremely potent in certain circumstances, and next to useless in others. This is important to remember when thinking in terms of force multiplication, because in order for the item, ability, spell, etc. to qualify it has to actually increase your effectiveness in the situation you'll be going into.

In other words, if you bring a gun to the knife fight, you're going to win. But even the biggest, shiniest knife isn't going to help you that much if everyone else brought a gun.

It seemed like a good deal when I bought it!

As an example, take an ability like Improved Evasion. This ability is a huge deal if you're going through a dungeon that has primarily area of effect traps, or if a majority of your enemies use things like breath weapons, fireballs, etc. In situations like these the benefits of this ability cannot be overstated. But if you never fight a sorcerer who tosses around fireballs and lightning bolts? If there's never an area effect you need to nimbly dodge aside from? Well, then it's just sitting on your sheet gathering dust.

This is something to keep in mind for everything you expend your resources on; you need to keep in mind the goals you have, and the challenges you're actually facing.

The paladin smite and ranger favored enemy I mentioned above? Those are potent benefits against the proper foes, but if you're not facing the right enemies, they're useless. The ability to fly is usually considered a force multiplier, but if the arena is too small to make full use of it, or if you cannot use it to put meaningful distance between yourself and an enemy (they can also fly, they have reach/range, etc.) then its effectiveness is hampered. The ability to turn invisible, or to protect yourself and your companions with illusions is usually a powerful ability, but against enemies who have blindsight, true seeing, or other effects, it's rendered moot.

One truism that players often forget is that what I said in Everything Has A Weakness (So Be Sure You Know Your Options) also applies to the PCs. Just because you have an ability that is particularly potent in one situation, that doesn't mean it applies to all situations.

Keep that in mind when you're looking at all the available levers you have to increase your party's force with.

Like, Share, and Follow For More!

That's all for this week's Crunch topic! For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio! Or if you'd like to read some of my books, like my alley cat noir novel Marked Territory, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my latest short story collection The Rejects, head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now on Pinterest as well! And if you'd like to help support me and my work, consider Buying Me A Ko-Fi or heading over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron! Even a little bit of help can go a long way, trust me on that one.