Love seeing Meagan again. This series has been a great foundation for the channel.

Spike growth is a favorite early level spell along with Grease.

I’m a fan of an Eldritch Gatling Sniper Coffeelock, myself. Combining Eldritch Blast, Agonizing Blast,Quicken Spell(optional- swap in Distant Spell), Eldritch Spear, Spell Sniper, Pact of the Chain, and Voice of the Chain Master. Eldritch Blast can get up to 4 separate 1d10 Force damage attack beams, add CHA damage to each beam thanks to Agonizing Blast. Quicken Spell lets you cast it twice a turn. Eldritch Spear makes its range 300 ft, Spell Sniper doubles that to 600 ft while negating 1/2 and 3/4 cover. You can double that again to 1200 ft if you swap out Quicken Spell for Distant Spell for those especially far off targets. Pact of the Chain combined with Voice of the Chain Master lets you see through your familiar’s eyes no matter the distance, so that you can find your target within your massive range. This build doesn’t really shine in dungeons underground. It requires a few more spells, feats and such- mainly being a Hexblade for the curse, the Hex spell, and taking Crossbow Expert to remove the closeup range disadvantage. Where it really shows its merit is in the open and in cities. I like to play this build as either an assassin or bounty hunter type of character. They send out their familiar to scout around, looking for their target. Once found, it’s just a waiting game, because at some point they’re gonna be out from behind full cover. At that point, I just start firing into the sky. Eldritch Blast doesn’t get a save, and doesn’t require line of sight. Its only requirement is that the target is a creature within range. Heck, the only reason you even need a familiar is because full cover is still a concern you’ll want to avoid. Well, that and getting confirmation of the target going down. All told, if every beam hits the target and you’ve maxed out Charisma, you’ll get damage numbers somewhere in the range of 48-120 Force damage a turn by character level 17. Not a bad result when you’re on the other side of the city from your target.

plonking a walll of fire in a circle all around a white dragon impeding his takeoff was a great moment for my forge cleric

You folks are still ALIVE! Joyous days. Happy Holidays to the Kenrecks! And thank you for the video. Hopefully more will be coming soon.

My bard’s favourite spell is probably Hypnotic Pattern. Only thing to worry about is teammates close to enemies. Definitely an opening combat spell if you have a high initiative.

I need Dwarven Forge to sponsor my life.

I’m a dungeon? Wall of Sand. Also, Fog Cloud isn’t exactly a control spell, but it can frustrate ranged attackers while you pound on melee or force them out of cover. It’s one of my favorite spells. Yes it only removes advantage, but often that’s enough.

Engagement for the engagement god!

Getting webbed every game as a DM made me realize how good it is.

Lingering fireball is a good choice for combining with time stop.

Todd's little "Byyee" at the end made my day

Grease, Spike Growth, Web, Hypnotic Pattern, Wall of Force, Fog Cloud 👍

I was confused as I thought you were speaking about Dust Devil, I have never gotten to a point to actually cast the 7th level spell Whirlwind so I didn't know it existed lol

Web also lasts long enough to make a flying creature drop 500 feet in one round… straight down. Falling damage, ouch.

One of the best combos with these types of area lockdown spells has got to be Swarmkeeper ranger. If the caster/s in your party like dropping web, spike growth, entagle, or any other similar spells on the battlefield 3 levels of ranger let you move any one creature you hit with an attack 15 feet into one of these spells or 15 feet onto the great weapon master barbarian's great sword.

Control spells are my favorite style of play as a caster. Let the melee guys get free hits on the baddies while you control the flow of battle or even a grand escape.

Hey Todd I loved Heroes of the Vale, have you considered doing another series like that?

Need more videos please.

More videos likes this would be absolutely lovely

Let me preach to you about the glory of Spike Growth! A 2nd level spell accessible to cleric (nature domain), druid, ranger, and genie (dao) warlock. It will absolutely shred anything that walks on the ground, especially if you pair it with a party who can force movement. So the enemy keeps taking damage each time it moves, but it is difficult terrain so it moves at half speed. There is no save, only suffering. That means it probably has to dash to get out, meaning it can't attack and will get hurt. But when it gets out you shove it back in! Then push it back in even further, and it all repeats until they die. For extra "No moving out of my killzone!" you can add a Plant Growth (3rd level, no concentration, a lot of classes and subclasses get it) on top of it and now the creature moves at half speed (because Spike Growth makes difficult terrain) and every 1 feet it moves cost 4 feet of movement, meaning 5 ft. of movement cost 20 ft. of movement, meaning it has to dash just to get 5 ft. closer. It is basically stuck in your spiky killzone, while you blast it from a distance. All without you needing to worry about any saves, other than your own concentration on Spike Growth. This is so powerful it basically shuts down anything that can't burrow, fly, or teleport, and even things with a ranged option are usually far less dangerous making the one ranged attack instead of multiple melee attacks. Combos like this is why the ranger is far from weak, and one of many reasons to stop using Hunter's Mark past level 4. Because 7 (2d6) extra damage (at best, if you hit with both attacks) is nothing when you can do 40 (16d4) damage to multiple enemies with a well placed spell (that also helps keep your party safe). Fantastic control! 10/10 - would murder with nature again. 🤓

My players have the spider staff from LMoP and god I hate the free web spells.