D&D: Five Quick Ways to Shut Down a Spellcaster
What do you do when you’re facing a Wizard or other magic user? We’ve got you covered, here’s how to shut down a spellcaster.
One of the longest-standing pearls of ancient RPG wisdom is “kill the mage first.” It’s an adage that remains unspoiled. No matter the system you’re playing, no matter the kinds of adventure you’re expected to have, it remains a universal truth that if you don’t take that Wizard (or whatever) out first, you’re in for a bad time.
It was true in 1974 and is truer than ever in 2022. But don’t worry, we’re here to help you with five quick tricks to shut down a spellcaster in D&D.
Silence is Golden
Let’s start with one of the more accessible ways of shutting down a spellcaster. As with most things in D&D, the answer is just use magic, duh. After all, they don’t call them Fighters of the Coast. But, what magic to use?
Well, most spellcasting can be shut down (at least temporarily) with a 2nd level spell. The Silence spell creates a 20-foot radius sphere centered around a point you choose. Within it, even the most powerful Wizard can’t cast a spell if there’s a verbal component.
Drop a Silence on an enemy Mage and get someone strong in to grapple with them. That shuts down more than 90% of the spells in D&D. Because, among the 500+ spells across all WotC 5E books, only 31 don’t require Verbal components. A well-placed/timed Silence spell shuts down most enemy mages.
Get Them a Shield or Some Armor
This one is a little trickier. But when Silence isn’t quite enough, a nice heavy Shield is your friend. Most of the time.
As the Armor Proficiency rules outline:
Anyone can put on a suit of armor or a strap a Shield to an arm. Only those proficient in the armor’s use know how to wear it effectively, however. Your class gives you proficiency with certain types of armor. If you wear armor that you lack proficiency with, you have disadvantage on any ability check, saving throw, or Attack roll that involves Strength or Dexterity, and you can’t cast Spells.
All you really have to do is strap a shield to their arm, per the rules, and you stop them from spellcasting. Of course, you’ll have to make sure they don’t just drop the Shield—but it might buy you enough time to do something like holding them in place while you strap them into heavy armor, which also prevents them from casting spells and takes much longer to take off.
Darkness
Darkness or Fog Cloud or even invisibility can help you in a pinch. These prevent fewer spells, it’s worth pointing out. But if you absolutely have to avoid a mage and don’t have options, anything that can keep the enemy spellcaster from seeing you will prevent many a spell.
You’ll have to worry about area of effect spells, of course. But you can prep for those with things like the Shield Master feat or elemental resistances. But if you’re worried about Charm spells or other “crowd control” spells not being seen is a great way to prevent most of those.
Counterspell
Sure. Yeah, this one’s a gimme. But the classics are there for a reason. And that reason is so the internet doesn’t yell at me. All you need is your reaction and you can just shut down most spells you’ll face.
Terrific Violence
Can’t cast spells if they’re dead.
Happy adventuring
