I'm playing a druid caster/melee hybrid (decent rolls) and have been working on my battlefield control as I fail hard at this aspect of playing a caster. Lately we have come up against many flying critters and other than earthbind (prevents flight) any advice to help keep them away from my damage dealing teammates or splitting them up in a divide and conquer fashion?
Any paizo spells are good and most spell compendium spells are ok other are subject are up to the DM.
Edit level 11 pure druid. That's important isn't it.
I've used the summons. I was looking for general advice but they are beholders and beholder kin so entangle is out in this case. As my DM and I read it sleet/ice storm don't work above 20/40 feet if they start up high i could not hit them. The fogs (again listed with limited height)could hide us but also make it imposable to see the enemies and most of the walls are only 10' tall are they not?
I seem to be making a mistake in using the spells last game I looked at the all the above except wind wall control winds. I will prep them next time. I am weather domain so the fogs and sleet/ice storm were prepped.
Anything that stuns, paralyses or otherwise drops them out of the sky, if only for one round, is great.
Stun a flyer. It falls, taking damage. Then your fighters can mob it before it can take off again.
Call lightning is a huge 3d6(10.5 average) not really battle field control in any sense of the word. Would daze knock them down I was thinking of taking daze metamagic and using call lightning with that. The damage of call lightning is worthless even for a blasting spell, witch is just about worthless in the first place, it's a nice min/lvl buff to keep around if you have nothing else to do but I find that to be a rare case. So if the daze works can I prep call lightning metamagic [daze] as a domain spell?
The weather domain for your druid gives you.....
** spoiler omitted **At first level fliers within 30 can be targeted with the storm burst as a debuff and subdual damage output.....also possible to knock out fliers!
At third level call lightning is a domain spell and it is hard to do anything else with domain slots....also can deal with fliers....
The domain spells also include sleet/ice storm, control winds etc.....
So as a druid once you select a domain you should get really comfortable using those spells on a daily basis (they do not change!)
Rather than the perfect spell which you may or may not have...
Consider it a freebie you have to find a use for....
But what isn't free is the standard action it takes to use them. If I'm dealing 3d6 I might as well be doing nothing. I am looking for a way to make them more killable by the damage dealers. 3d6 is avg of 10.5 woohoo. The problem with sleet and ice storm is that the enemies will be above the range of the spell I can knock them out of the air with earth bind but I am looking for a way block them off or hold them out of the fight till I decide we are ready to deal with them control winds should do that to a point but I suspect they will be able to make the fly checks.
Stunning spell metamagic. Actually, that deals with pretty much everything quite easily, so long as it's stunnable.
Stunning spell metamagic. Actually, that deals with pretty much everything quite easily, so long as it's stunnable.
Indeed but I was going to wait on that as +4 is a lot of spell levels at my level and Quicken would be a better investment IMHO. I was going to get daze then quick then stun as my next three feats I have nat spell and greater spell pen but no metamagics at this point everything else is tied up in grappling and one for armor prof.
Wall of Force is invisible and it doesn't need to be anchored to anything. They fly right into it. Got a mage?
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Vs. beholders I've found that antimagic field is the best battlefield control spell, centered on the party. Their only option to attack you directly is to engage in direct melee, and your fighter types should be at nearly full strength in the zone. The low-hp guys should focus on withdrawing and full defense actions though! Maybe put a flaming weapon type spell on some arrows, so that they do additional damage once they leave the field if the beholders are keeping their distance.
Sadly, antimagic field is not a druid spell, but if you have a wizard or cleric in the party they may be able to cast it.
Not Pathfinder or a battlefield control, but in the Spell Compendium there's the ray deflection spell, which renders you immune to ray attacks for several minutes. Again, not a druid spell, but perhaps your DM will allow you to research something like that.
In a non-spell-oriented means of BC, how about luring the beholders/flying critters into an environment where their mobility will be restricted, like underground in a cramped dungeon area, or into dense forest? The dense forest option is best for the druid, since their superior mobility will allow them to significantly outmaneuver their opponents.
Beholders are a strange case because their flight is not from wings, and therefor much tougher to disrupt. In general, sleet and ice storms, wind effects, big air elementals or flying beasts, vulcan cannons and grappling are all very effective against flyers.
Attacked While Flying: You are not considered flat-footed while flying. If you are flying using wings and you take damage while flying, you must make a DC 10 Fly check to avoid losing 10 feet of altitude. This descent does not provoke an attack of opportunity and does not count against a creature's movement.
Collision While Flying: If you are using wings to fly and you collide with an object equal to your size or larger, you must immediately make a DC 25 Fly check to avoid plummeting to the ground, taking the appropriate falling damage.
Avoid Falling Damage: If you are falling and have the ability to fly, you can make a DC 10 Fly check to negate the damage. You cannot make this check if you are falling due to a failed Fly check or a collision.
High Wind Speeds: Flying in high winds adds penalties on your Fly checks as noted on Table: Wind Effects on Flight. “Checked” means that creatures of that size or smaller must succeed on a DC 20 Fly check to move at all so long as the wind persists. “Blown away” means that creatures of that size or smaller must make a DC 25 Fly check or be blown back 2d6 × 10 feet and take 2d6 points of nonlethal damage. This check must be made every round the creature remains airborne. A creature that is blown away must still make a DC 20 Fly check to move due to also being checked.
As my DM and I read it sleet/ice storm don't work above 20/40 feet if they start up high i could not hit them.
The spells create cylinders. If you plant the cylinder on the ground, sure, it's not going to hit something way up in the air. But 400 foot range doesn't mean only horizontal.
Strength mutagens and a large Butterfly net.
Seriously, Wildshape Air elemental and Whirlwind their butts!
You can also summon flying creatures. Hippogriffs can really clog up some airspace, and give you time to set up.
Likewise, YOU can be a flying creature. As could your animal companion.
Other than that, try faerie fire + obscuring mist. They'll glow, you won't.