D&D: Five Spells Perfect For Setting Up That Ambush
In D&D, surprise can give characters a potent advantage, so here are some spells that will help you set up the perfect ambush.
Stealth, as a concept, has a lot to offer the right D&D party. It lets you move about unseen, can help you surprise enemies (which can give you a powerful tactical advantage), and done correctly helps make sure that you’re only using your resources where and when you want.
It’s far more than just the Dexterity-based ability, which is maybe where it gets a bad rap. After all, so many characters have a hard time making good Stealth checks, but that doesn’t mean they’re necessarily bad at Stealth. Especially if you have magic to make it so that you can get the drop on your enemies.
Here are five spells that are perfect for setting up those all-important ambushes.
Darkness
Let’s start with one of the most basic examples. Picture this, you’re a goblin patrol, scouting through the woods, and then all of a sudden from out of a patch of shadows springs a full adventuring party armed to the teeth and ready to kill you. It’s a bad time, is what it is.
And Darkness is a great spell for setting up an ambush. It cannot be illuminated, it can move with you if you cast it on an object. Sure, you can’t necessarily see through it, but that works to your advantage because it gives you the opportunity to hide before your enemies can spot you.
Then you drop a train on ’em. Or, if you’re good at Stealth, have someone cast it on the enemy, throwing them into complete disarray as you ruin their whole day and they can’t even see what’s happening.
Silence
The audible counterpart to Darkness. Silence can be tricky because it blocks out all sound around a point. So your targets may be aware something is up. But done properly, this spell can help you creep close to your enemies without so much as a sound, or if you know you have the drop on someone, lead off with a Silence spell to make sure they can’t shout out a warning to their colleagues.
This tactic can help you go through a dungeon room by room, clearing away enemies without the chance of your fracas being detected before you’re ready.
Seeming
Of course, your ambushes aren’t always going to be so cut and dry. Sometimes, the best way to set off an ambush is to use a disguise. And while Disguise and Alter Self are both fantastic spells for doing that, they only work on you. But Seeming works on the whole party.
This spell allows you to change the look of any number of creatures that you can see within range, giving each one a new, illusory appearance for up to 8 hours. It doesn’t even take your concentration.
Seeming disguises everything from physical appearance to clothing, armor, weapons, and equipment. This means you can spend a day lulling your enemy into a false sense of security before you suddenly reveal that you’re actually a whole party of adventurers, ready to reverse-Red-Wedding the Freys like it was Season 6 of Game of Thrones.
Rope Trick
One of the more underrated spells in the game, Rope Trick is an invaluable little second-level spell that gives your whole party the perfect place to hide. It’s a fantastic spell for when you know where your enemy is going to be, and have a rough idea of when.
With this spell, your whole party can hide away in an extra-dimensional hiding place behind an invisible, one-way mirror. Of course, coming out of the hole can be tricky, but you don’t have to use a 60-foot rope to cast the spell. A seven-foot length of rope will let the party jump out, even if one at a time, to surprise whomever, all without taking falling damage or anything.
Hallucinatory Terrain
And last but not least, Hallucinatory terrain. This lets you set up favorable ambush terrain whenever and wherever you want. You can create a 150-foot cube of natural terrain that looks like anything else, allowing you to try and get your enemies exactly where you want them before you spring your trap (while hiding within the illusory terrain).
And these are just some opportunities. More may well follow.
