Animated Spellbook: Eldritch Spear Distant Spell Sniping.

Sponsor: hitpointpress.c...

[@shiningfractal4514]

Fully respect that the time he was moving was accurate and appears to even factor in him casting another sniper shot.

[@mikhail_simin]

That second sniper was so fast it had to be a readied action

[@christopherg2347]

@@mikhail_simin Nah. The Wizard just ended his turn looking through the curtains. So it was his first action next turn.

[@mikhail_simin]

@@christopherg2347 I can see it now. As my action I'm going to do some math. I'm a wizard so no bonus actions. I peek through the window and that's the end of my turn.

[@DrakeAurum]

@@christopherg2347 Yup. Single object interaction per turn - you can open the curtain but not close it again, unless you use your action, which he probably blew on a perception check.

[@al-trujillo]

Exactly. Sometime other people have DMs that give them free Skill Checks and forget that (unless otherwise stated, such as a subclass Feature) it takes an Action to make such a Check. Now, unless Zee had no remaining movement for his turn, he could have at least used some movement to get back into full cover not ½ or ¾ cover, since Spell Sniper ignores the bonus AC for partial cover) after that Perception check, although that may not have been the case.

[@Micolino9878]

Zee: "Logistically, at 1200 ft you may not even be able to SEE the target well enough to-" Edgecase Lord: "WHAT IF YOU TOOK PACT OF THE CHAIN, AND SPENT YOUR ACTION TO LOOK THROUGH YOUR MESSENGER BIRD'S EYES, AND USED QUICKENED SPELL TO CAST ELDRITCH BLAST WITH YOUR BONUS ACTION? . . . And also hear through its ears to make witty remarks."

[@fishworshipper]

If you did that, then your range would be halved. Can't use two metamagics on the same spell.

[@Micolino9878]

​@@fishworshipper . . . WHAT IF YOUR DM THOUGHT IT WOULD BE COOL? . . . Please?

[@monsterhiddenfromthesun210]

WHAT IF YOU HAD A SECOND FRIEND THAT CASTED HASTE ON YOU?

[@trise2033]

Since you don't need to spend an action to *continue* using your Familiar's senses, you could just do that while it's flying or shortly after it arrived. No Quickened Spell required (unless you wanted to spend SP to keep Blasting)

[@fishworshipper]

@@trise2033 Yes you do. Seeing through your familiar's eyes is not a toggle - you spend an action, and then have until the start of your next turn to see things. In order to continually see though your familiar's eyes, you have to spend you action every round on doing that.

[@joshmxvi]

Return of that chair that turns you into a puppet!

[@franciscoguerrero3750]

Which video was it from?

[@Gmorktron]

I was wondering what happened. You are the real MVP

[@Guillotine1123]

@@franciscoguerrero3750 i believe it was the Alarm ASB that zee has privated when youtube implemented that new monetization rule

[@johnnye87]

​@@franciscoguerrero3750 I am also curious to find that out and am officially registering my interest about this question in comment form.

[@ЖаркоШкребић]

@@Guillotine1123 Wait what monetization rule ? Can you explain it in better detail what happend ?

[@whiz8569]

I love the fact Edgecase Lord starts all his explanations with "What If"

[@mintyotie]

Personifying edgecases as an edgelord is such a brilliant combination, oh my god. Outstanding video.

[@skeewiffenator]

D’oh

[@thegamerguy4103]

i was not the brightest light in the cave to not notice that until now

[@TheDoomsdayzoner]

What is an edgecase tho?

[@hyperium_5272]

@@TheDoomsdayzoner Its a hyper-specific scenario that you're unlikely to ever encounter, like say having to cast a spell 1200 feet away

[@lukeskylicker]

Unlikely to ever encounter more than once to be more specific. Back your players into a corner and they will pull five edgecases out of their ass to get out of it. Last session we had a turned Beholder, that was being grappled by turned fiends as an AoO, with the intent of going "hold monster" on it's ass, with the edgecases ultimately being connected to the magical effect only applying to *damage* not hostile effects or actions. We won that combat.

[@Second-Hand-Shadow]

My DM loves to attack us on open areas like on plains and at sea and there is no better feeling when I ask “how far away is it?” And he says “ maybe 800ft away. Why?” And is say “I cast eldritch blast” and proceeded to shoot the shit out of it😂

[@myky992]

Ah! You have a good DM, he could easily start combat on shorter maps, but he wants you to shine! Just be ready for the occasional curveball *against* your strength, as a good DM should :P

[@christurner5791]

@@myky992 This 1000 percent ^^

[@twicedeadmage]

"Snipin' is a good job mate" Australian Warlock.

[@kentity5272]

Plenty of work, outta doors

[@TrigunnerX3]

@@kentity5272 "I guarantee you'll not go angry."

[@CrizzyEyes]

@@TrigunnerX3 it's hungry, but with an accent

[@Ahrpigi]

Be efficient. Be polite. Have a plan to Eldritch Blast everyone you meet.

[@davea6314]

Hey bloody Aussie. Put a prawn on the barby, watch out for creepy crawlies, and don't drink Foster's beer like some bloody Yank tourist. 🤪 -Dave the Bloody Yank

[@RobertBass]

IMO builds like this are much more suited to NPCs than they are to players. For a player, you're sinking a bunch of resources into a build that probably won't be relevant except in very specific cases. For an NPC, it's an encounter where the players have to figure out how to deal with the enemy caster who's hurling magic at you from so far away that they won't even fit on a battlemap. Creative, interesting, and requires some clever thinking to deal with. Also, I highly recommend the Griffon's Saddlebag book mentioned in the ad segment if you like magic items. Dude's great at coming up with fun, interesting, and relatively balanced magic items.

[@Sorain1]

Yeah. It's always fun to be able to explain to the players after a battle how the antagonist's build is actually legal and fully playable.

[@Part.No.1xbil.Prod.Tp.MXMVIII]

P much all my major NPCs are multi-multi-class niche builds that are only viable because those characters are consequenced by their environment. I have archetypes of these characters such as the "storied-stranger". My current iteration is thus: A Satyr Bard-Ranger-Rogue [wow] who's been everywhere and knows his lore well, even if he keeps many a secret to himself. He who survives encounters beyond his reckoning by the grace of prep-time and knowing where to source extra hands for any given task. A character who is always on his way somewhere to tend to business elsewhere and happens by the party seemingly at random, but is always willing to foreshadow the road ahead and lend his insight when a trail goes cold. A level 5 [anything] could do away with him easily, but that's also the point: For the party members themselves to surpass his renown and collectively become better than him at his own game, because his whole purpose is to be part of a caste that forms a tutorial for the party until they gain enough strength to menace the menacing things in the world and the wisdom to respect their limits and where they lie.

[@Merilirem]

Npcs are great because you can just give them a couple more levels if need be. Sure a build is bad for a 15th level player character. However if your players are level 5-10 it could be completely terrifying. Moreso than a more optimized build which has clear playstyles or weaknesses.

[@FlashOfSonic]

Reminds me of how anime protagonists tend to have simple, broadly applicable powers, compared to antagonists who often have complex and situational powers.

[@glwgameplayer1716]

I think for enemies and NPCs it can be interesting to give them some gimmicky bullshit. I personally think of them like a stand fight from Jojo, or some other kind of highly specific enemy. Once I built a gloom stalker ranger + arcane trickster rogue as a ninja. Color Spray was basically a string of firecrackers, Silvery Barbs were tricks of the light or substitution techniques, and being a Gloom Stalker meant even though the character was human they had darkvision and were invisible in the shadows.

[@waves_under_stars]

I thought the note was going to say "I prepared Explosive Runes this morning"

[@AGrayPhantom]

A fellow Order of the Stick fan I see! Unfortunately Explosive Runes doesn't exist in 5e. It was replaced with Glyph of Warding.

[@crowsenpai5625]

(Reading note) “lets see, ‘what if explosive ru-‘ OH SHI-“ 💥💥💥

[@WiserOdin]

AAAAAAAY THE OLD CLASSIC

[@IdiotinGlans]

I understood that reference.

[@bones7868]

@@AGrayPhantom unbelievable

[@Blasted2Oblivion]

It takes 36 seconds to get from the hill to the tower if you include sacrificing one of the action dashes for that second round of eldritch shots. He started moving at 2:04 and got there at 2:40 or 36 seconds. That is some great continuity work. VERY well done.

[@maxcampbellmusic]

Don't tell my spelljammer game's bardlock about this video.

[@LoboGuara5bruxaria]

They don't even need to multiclass to sorcerer. They just need to takethe "Metamagic initiate" feat, and extended Spell is on their grasp.

[@Daehpo]

@@LoboGuara5bruxaria Yeah, pure Warlock + Spell Sniper + Metamagic Adept is enough. Alternatively a pure Sorcerer could pick up Eldritch Blast with Spell Sniper & Eldritch Spear with Eldritch Adept, but if you're going to go for an Eldritch Blast build why would you not pick Warlock?

[@hawklost]

@@Daehpo Because you also want to have 7th level spell slots to use against the person? xD

[@youmaboi5279]

We just finished a game set in Spelljammers, and my Warlock always used his turns in ship combat to completely fuck up the other ships with modified Eldritch Blast. "I pull him over the side." Paired it with Haste on the Rogue so he could fire the ballista every round.

[@Dramatic_Gaming]

​@@Daehpo Minor note, but the Eldritch Adept feat says you must be a Warlock if the invocation has any sort of prerequisite, so the Warlock dip is mandatory.

[@theimperviousfirecracker7934]

Knowing Zee, there’s definitely some kind of lore behind why he’s being hunted by a Tabaxi Sor-lock sniper. Can’t wait.

[@AberrantChibi]

From what I gather from what the Tabaxi SorLock's note said, I can only summerise he didn't take having eldritch blast compared to a -hand- heavy crossbow well.

[@aihwa8478]

Mr. Jellybones lives on.

[@warmitchine3388]

That sad, sad backstory was too good not to reuse his character sheet.

[@AndrewJohnson-oy8oj]

Holy ****, I didn't even catch that call back. Well spotted!

[@cranapple3367]

If only he brought his long lost mount Jellybongus.

[@aa-tx7th]

i think u mean jellybingus

[@ngageman1988]

Where from jellybones come from?

[@HumanityAsCode]

I love how this feels like a back and forth in a forum between two expert D&D nerds

[@galmenz6118]

it also exemplifies very well both stands. you can do a lot of bullshit if you want, from the spell sniper to a gargatuan grappler rune knight, but those are not _practical_. you can also just stick to your class and do the most obvious optimization (having 20 on the stat that matters, not dump your AC, get the good spells) with at most lvl 1~3 class dips for good sinergistic features (a proper sorlock, a wizard in medium armor, etc). both of this matters a lot what you play, the spelll sniper and the gargantuan grappler matters shit inside a 30ft wide room of a dungeon for example, but when they DO apply they get to do their very situational really cool build

[@chrisc9526]

when you have to roll a perception check to even see your target

[@athena1491]

i suppose that also means they most definitely havent seen you first tho

[@alchemicalvapour8950]

that's what the raven familiar is for, i reckon.

[@chrisc9526]

@@alchemicalvapour8950 smart

[@Crazor2000]

guess you need the 'eyes of the eagle' goggles for this. those give advantage on perception and allow you to make out details from far away.

[@ExecutionerArtemy]

@@athena1491 hardly

[@williamhare4456]

An Eldritch Spear sniper would be a great character in a DMs arsenal for a mystery plot. The PCs track down the local boss to get information on the big bad only for his head to explode leading to an investigation into who could have made the killing shot, and what information was so important that hiring a sniper would be necessary to keep it out of the party’s hands.

[@MerlinCross13]

There's a LOT of edgecases in table top that don't seem like they'd ever be useful to player characters but from a DM side of things for challenge, annoyance, or simply story telling; can be a great boon to your toolkit.

[@attercops]

Finally, a use for the spyglass.

[@rommdan2716]

Now we need that in Minecraft

[@paperbullet1945]

Or the Eyes of the Eagle Or that one Eagle Totem Barbarian thing

[@johnnye87]

Bonus points if you jury-rig it to a magic wand. Unnecessary for EB of course which has no material component, but hell, it looks cool and fits the character concept.

[@reidmoore8754]

@@paperbullet1945 I am actually building a fairy monk right now that has Observant to read lips and using Eyes of the Eagle to spy from stupid high in the air without being seen nearly.

[@Bluecho4]

@@johnnye87 Don't mind me, I'm going to homebrew a magic staff that casts Eldritch Blast with all those class-specific buffs, with an accompanying spyglass. Magic Sniper Rifle, as a magic item. Only prerequisite is to be some kind of Spell Caster.

[@owenvanvenrooy]

i think eldritsch spear distant spell sniper would make for a terrifying yet cool enemy/hostile encouter where the party needs to end their turn behind cover or get blasted

[@gideonmele1556]

4x 1d10+CHA isn’t *that* ba-

[@airistal]

Hold action allows DM to shoot them on their turn during their movement. However it could be setup for stealth checks between cover or finding a total cover path to the caster.

[@supersam5802]

its basically the metal gear sniper boss fight but magic

[@joshuagreen8995]

I ran it and it was okay. Kinda more-so just annoyed the party, and it was tough role-playing them moving that far of a distance. I will say, it was cool to see them use bow disadvantage distance attacks to still try to hit the assassin.

[@LordDragox412]

@@supersam5802 So what you're saying is the party should just take a few long rests so the sniper dies of old age? >:P

[@PikaPetey]

"Also a tabaxi that didnt MOOOOve last tyrn...MEEEOOWWW!!" 😂

[@DannySmith-]

That scene slapped

[@endel12]

And it’s the Revolver OCELOT sound byte!

[@gideonmele1556]

It’s less situational when there are flying enemies trying to escape. Much more time to eldritch blast

[@ButFirstHeLitItOnFire]

And enough distance too

[@Merilirem]

"watch me piss off this dragon"

[@bavettesAstartes]

That sneaky Power Word: Marketable Plushy at the end there really cracked me up.

[@jawllypop1750]

if they actually make that a real plushie, I will buy it.

[@Bluecho4]

"Prepare to be MASS PRODUCED." -Caine, The Amazing Digital Circus

[@Callordin]

I thought it was "Flesh to Plush" from Fea's spellbook

[@pedrostormrage]

1:06 "When is the battlefield that big?" I asked the exact same thing about the druid's Potent Spellcasting in the One D&D playtest (which increases the range of most cantrips by 300 feet), and then Jeremy Crawford pointed out that pairs with the Beast Spells feature (which lets you cast many spells in wild shape, which at this point includes flying forms). So the short answer is flying, basically (if you're outdoors, there's no limit to how high you can fly).

[@ironSpector]

This is when casting Fog Cloud becomes quite the boon.

[@christopherknorr2895]

Eversmoking Bottle plus Blindfighting style nerfs everything

[@ericpeterson8732]

Pyrotechnics and Stinking Cloud also work. Pyrotechnics is my new favorite spell. It's a smoke bomb or a flash-bang in one spell. And Stinking Cloud is the magic equivalent to tear gas. My Artificer/Wizard "Spellbow" character can do both using intelligence and his longbow as a spell focus. (Repeating Shot Infusion with a Ruby of the War Mage to cast both classes' spells)

[@grug_g]

Starting a 10th level campaign w 3 Frontliners with blind fighting or devils sight. Very stoked for shenanigans

[@Jpteryx]

Unless you use an action to Hide in the fog, the enemy can still attack you without disadvantage because you can't see them either.

[@mlodykasztelan]

​@@Jpteryx alert feat

[@trise2033]

As a "wise" and powerful wizard once said, "What's your point, person within Fireball distance?" 😁

[@kentity5272]

3:02 Ward of marketable plushie

[@TheBiggestChonk]

Glad to see that the unseen servant is still helping out by closing the curtains!

[@DeathlyDrained]

This is even better when you're playing in Eberron and you buy an Arcane Rifle which increases cantrip range by x4

[@simonnading]

Blasting folks from nearly a mile away! Sounds good to me. I may use this for a villain in my campaign... Yes, yes, I think my players are going to hate this guy. It's decided.

[@ChaseRoycroft]

Give him Project Image, and he can monologue at them from the full range away.

[@DrakeAurum]

It'd also be worth investing in Eyes of the Eagle as your sniper scope, to justify being able to spot and identify targets at that range.

[@wadespencer3623]

@@simonnading *the party finds a rock in the plains with odd script on it. The tower they were approaching looms large in the distance, but they stop to check it out* Wizard makes his arcana text: "Oh, it's coded magic script. It says... I can see you, so I can hit you? You think it's like, something invisible, or-" *rogue gets smacked flat on his back by an eldrich blast to the face* Wizard: "...oh. Fuck."

[@CitanulsPumpkin]

I'd say Illusionist's Bracers from Ravnica, but to each their own.

[@TheKrstff]

I fully expected the paper to say "I prepared explosive runes today."

[@joyeuse8524]

why damage the furniture when you can just... have baleful polymorph prepped?

[@CaptainChelo]

I love the concept of the edgecase lord, not only cause it's a great pun, but also it highligth the main issue of all of those weird builds ideas. That is not just enough to ask if something is posible, but also if it would ever be useful or if doing so is worth the investment.

[@AGrayPhantom]

Best used as an NPC that players need to solve how to track and capture.

[@alext9550]

​@@AGrayPhantomenemy sniper encounter could be "fun" in a war-related or post-apoc campaign. On a meta level, a sniper targeting the most powerful heroes of the realm is a smart thing for a bbeg to do once they hear of the party as well

[@jacksonhoiland2664]

​@@alext9550 I just came up with a funny idea, a bbeg that understands enough about classes and levels to make parties of npcs which all have hyper specific but really powerful gimmicks, then uses them as hit squads and adventures by making encounters specifically to abuse the edge case because the bbeg is the one building the encounters so they can always rely on favorable terrain. A example could be a spell sniper in a really long but thin area such as a long bridge, they then work with clerics who use spells such as spiritual guardians that deal passive damage to players and the clerics heal each other while using really heavy armor. Then a spell caster uses spells to slow down the party and AOE spells to do big damage. The party of 4 enemies could likely hold a choke point against anyone unprepared and force most players to retreat and go around.

[@Starfloofle]

@@alext9550 This is a planned encounter for one of my games... A sniper who's trying to take out the imperial prince traveling with one group. Aside from just being a menace from that distance he can also ready his action for whatever condition, with both push and pull invocations, aiming to smash people into the very cover they'd normally hide behind to add collision damage to the equation. He'll probably become a recurring villain menacing the party and make them feel ridiculously paranoid until they get rid of him...

[@roetemeteor]

I have unironically ran this against my players. Effectively, they were going through a valley with a river, and they soon realized that there was an enemy sniper. They were at the bottom, he was 300 ft up. He was shooting at them through this valley, that was about 800 ft long. Do you know how fun it is to see players do tactics that they would never usually do just to stand a chance? Do you know how funny it is to see someone actually use a burrow speed?

[@NinjaZombieGenocide]

Song is 'Borderline Love' by Jessy Gerber & Johnny K. Kris for anyone curious! Worth a listen!

[@lbnesquik3114]

Cheers!

[@DeanKee]

finally thank you so much

[@PattPlays]

3:00 New headcanon obtained. Baleful Polymorph contingencies on ALL THE WIZARD'S FURTNITURE

[@Sarah12471]

yea thats just straight canon in the (now taken down but still available if you go looking) alarm video he used a chair to turn an intruder into a puppet

[@RevokFarthis]

It's explicitly not all the furniture, since in the episode after "Alarm" he brings out a different chair, and reassures his guest that it is safe to sit in.

[@zeebashew]

@@Sarah12471 Correct! The extra chair always has a Glyph of Warding Polymorph prepped!

[@DannySmith-]

​@@zeebashew The video is only up on patreon?

[@pauldeddens5349]

@@DannySmith- I dont know about Patreon. It was on KZbin, before YT Kids bullshit had him take down a bunch of videos.

[@SlavicMoose]

Taking levels in eldritch blast is the only way I'll refer to the class now, thanks

[@TheDave413]

"You forgot about Glyph Of Warding, didn't you?" *BOOM*

[@douglaszelazny1094]

Hour long cast, unfortunately.

[@kendrakirai]

"I prepared explosive runes tod-*BOOM*"

[@pedrokotii2417]

@@douglaszelazny1094 True, but it needs to be moved 60 feet (?) to be dispelled. Thus, it's perfectly rules-legal to have a journal of Glyph pages in your study. When you want to leave a witty note, you tear one out, scribble your message and GTFO. The taunt note Glyph activating can set off the others if prepared properly.

[@douglaszelazny1094]

@@pedrokotii2417 10 feet, actually. And with the hour long cast time, it’s not exactly a quick and easy one

[@pedrokotii2417]

@@douglaszelazny1094 Fair, but still viable to move within the room. And since it's your residence, 1h cast time is worth to get one or two done ahead of time :)

[@SenoSasquatch]

Counterpoint: An adult red dragon has a fly speed of 80 ft, and would need to dash to cover 160ft in a single turn. A spell sniper warlock riding a friendly 8th level druid wild shaped into something with a sufficient fly speed, like a giant eagle, or riding a sufficiently fast flying mount like a pegasus, would comfortably pick apart the dragon apart just about anywhere outside it's lair. This would be effective on just about anything too large to reliably use trees for cover.

[@kevingriffith6011]

Until you remember that the dragon has a 16 intelligence, and therefor probably won't let you just shoot it until it dies. If it's near it's lair, it will go inside. If it's away from its lair then it will use cover behind cliffs and the like, or set fire to foliage to create a cloud of smoke to hide in... or it can just *fly away with you* using its legendary wing attack action plus dash to travel 200 feet per round.

[@SenoSasquatch]

@@kevingriffith6011 Assuming it is near its lair, assuming the lake is murky and deep enough that the warlock cannot see the hulking shape of the dragon in it. And cliffs hardly work if the warlock is above the dragon. That dash+wing attack combo only works if it can get within 200 feet of you, which would be impossible with proper set-up. The smoke screen is a nice idea, assuming the biome allows that and the engagement begins low enough to the ground where that's a feasible tactic, but it's more a stop-gap measure than anything, considering breath recharge and the fact that it's being outpaced if it uses it's action to do it.

[@Rhiawhyn]

@@SenoSasquatch This is all assuming you can even hit them, because this is a ranged spell attack, not magic missile. It doesn't auto hit and ignore the AC in question so the chances of you actually hitting a target at that range reliably is fairly low given a dragons AC compared to yours. There is also nothing stopping the dragon from just diving into the trees and shapechanging to a human which completely nukes the ability to spot it. Yes chromatics can do that, no they never really do because of arrogance usually. Even if they don't, most dragons are not taller than most tree cover, so they can in fact just dive into a forest. The whole point of this video is to state that "if you have to white room a build just to make it good, it probably isn't". Which is exactly what this is. The dragon must be in the air with no cover, no place for it to dive and no cloudy water to dive in or clouds in the air to block line of sight with it's lair far away and nothing to burn or hide behind. Yes, no shit it's going to be effective in that specific edge case lol.

[@fishworshipper]

@@Rhiawhyn Chromatic dragons cannot shapechange.

[@arcticwulf5796]

​@@fishworshipper counterpoint, dragons can cast spells and learn ANY SPELL.

[@JonSteitzer]

Zee mostly the Internet is terrible, but I'm glad that it brought me you

[@yepyep86]

The internet isn't that bad it's just Twitter and Tumblr that is both of those are doomer echo chambers I haven't used actual social media since 2020 and am enjoying life

[@whomeveriwillbe]

@@yepyep86 i have to disagree for tumblr.

[@ButFirstHeLitItOnFire]

1:36-2:21 For the record, 1200 Ft is pretty much the exact distance from the ground to the top of the Bank of America Tower’s antenna, straight up. And this is also on the same build that would allow the “Spell Sniper” to cover that exact same distance at under 30 seconds in any direction of their choosing. The whole thing is a novel setup for a villain… A hyper-competent, worryingly well stocked and _very experienced_ master sharpshooter with super-speed flight (and I’m assuming he also has some potent CQC built in there too if they’re bothering to try and blitz Zee after almost blasting his head open).

[@zyibesixdouze4863]

Orbital strike aarakocra, though

[@ButFirstHeLitItOnFire]

I don’t play D&D, so please elaborate?

[@zyibesixdouze4863]

@@ButFirstHeLitItOnFire aarakocra are a notorious player race [one of three, oldest of the bunch] with an innate fly speed. An aarakocra mage would be able to fly at those heights to snipe everyone below.

[@trident042]

I hope we get to see more of EdgeCase Lord in the future, that's definitely an archetype worth keeping in mind for specific spells in the Animated Spellbook.

[@BeesQuestionMarkk]

I definitely think this would be a sick way to prep a sniper NPC assassin to pursue the players. Having them keep track of their position relative to the incoming fire to obscure line of sight- possibly during another fight- is just cool.

[@kevinliu3841]

Jellybones being alive implies someone didnt fly majestically like a gazelle

[@iamagreatape9576]

he was used in another campaign.

[@ChaseRoycroft]

Don't forget Order of the Scribes' Manifest Mind feature for an extra 300 ft base range.

[@jamesfrog2624]

2:02 "Ocelot's are proud creatures" I really like the design of Egdecase lord with his truesight googles

[@Sorain1]

Gonna be honest, I expected the note to end with "and you prepared Explosive Runes this morning."

[@keatonhughes7269]

Rewatching the Jump video right before this was unexpectedly valuable.

[@ghastlyghifin4029]

Spell Sniper's a good job, mate! It's challenging work, out of doors, and it guarantees you a free damage roll cantrip which, if you're playing Warlock, you need all the spare cantrips you can get.

[@Shin_Mothra]

The only warlock I ever played used eldritch spear, and I loved being able to attack vampires on castle walls...or skeletons from castle walls.

[@jacobe2995]

Your dm was being considerate by adding encounters for your skills to be useful

[@Shin_Mothra]

@@jacobe2995 He's a great one!

[@simonnading]

I love playing warlocks just for all the fun with invocations.

[@ЖаркоШкребић]

For a moment I thought you stole other ones comment, but then I checked the time when the comments were made and turns out its other way around. Why do people do this ?

[@ЖаркоШкребић]

Wait never mind ! Turns out its a bot. WOW ! Now they can copy other peoples comments. This is not what I expected to start happening.

[@bananabanana484]

The Edgecase Lord is genuine an awesome character design

[@FatherFigure-itout]

THE RETURN OF JELLY BONES!!!!! Nightmare build engaged!!!! Your master was to weak!!!!

[@AJB-jr6ll]

I love the overly confident "I'm perfectly safe" tone to the absolute panicked tome when the Wizard saw the edgelord suddenly move 360 feet. 😂

[@Draconzis]

I love how his various stand-ins has beef with all sorts of characters, and many of those characters are genuine threats to be worried about. Despite largely not being story driven, this series has really good writing!

[@webbowser8834]

Yeah, I think that mostly started with the Trever saga, which are still some of my favorite vids of his. I think he realized the power of having this sort of adversarial confrontation drive the explanation of whatever he wants to showcase.

[@zhornlegacy7936]

Brilliant. Was thinking when it was covering the combo to get such a long range on the spell sniping "I wonder if Zee will do the tabaxi speed build some time" and bam, there it is in the same video. loved it.

[@kmoustakas]

He also had repelling blast!

[@maromania7]

Of course, to prevent you from approaching!

[@animefan3794]

you know, given he was sniping somebody in the window of a tower, he really should have used Grasp of Hadar instead of Repelling Blast. Sure, it's only 1 time as opposed to both hits, but suddenly being pulled 10 feet out the window of your tower is really going to mess with the target's ability to make split second decisions, or hide from your follow up shots.

[@Pingviinimursu]

​@@animefan3794 but imagine the damage that does to the animation budget when Zee has to draw the exterior background as well 😭

[@michaelsmith2619]

You wouldn't think anyone would be dumb enough to attack a wizard who has an intricate understanding of every spell in existence, but here we are.

[@ButFirstHeLitItOnFire]

0:44 and 2:04 and 2:25…I mean to his credit he had Zee surprised and panicked and hurting from landing those 6 shots of magic straight to the face, with enough force to throw him across the room both times I should add.

[@tyronewilson6463]

Example of why 9th level spellcasters are just better than almost any possible multiclass options

[@WarsmithThanatos]

Never got that far

[@JacksonJinn]

Better as long as they have their 9th level spell *slot.* Depends on the game, obviously, but if you're going to have time enough to long rest after you've used up your biggest guns, great. Multi-class just gets *outclassed.* But if the gamemaster likes dragging things out? Story clock's ticking and you just don't have enough time to rest to get those big guns back? ...Well, guess that edge case becomes the normal case, huh.

[@jacobe2995]

​@JacksonJinn I wish they would bring back components so long rest could be bypassed if you are OK with spending components instead

[@dattos140]

@@JacksonJinn You still have like a trillion other spell slots of different level, also, are we all just ignoring that if you multiclass into two different full spellcasters, like cleric and druid, even if you do 10-10, you still get 9th level spell slots? Like thats part of the multiclassing rules for spell casters, hell, you technaichaly only need to get to 17th level to get 9th level spells, and if your going to 17th level in a campaign, your probably doing the full 20, so you can just put whatever class you want in those last 3 levels, theres literaly no reason you cant just do like, 19 levels in wizard, and 1 in artificer. Im getting off topic, the point is, its not a choice between 9th level spells and multiclassing, you can do both, unless your warlock, shit doesnt even count as a half spellcaster so the multiclassing spell slots i mentioned don't apply to it, rip.

[@seamusfinnegan1164]

@@JacksonJinn Sorry just had to comment because the idea of an IF a GM likes dragging things out for anything that late in levels I just find funny, any even moderately serious encounter at such high levels to get your 7th or 9th level spell slot IS gonna drag things out unless you are in a campaign were power does not matter much in the first place which only leans harder into niche abilities and builds in such a casual environment to have a bit more fun with the low stakes encounters involved.

[@will9501]

I mean all valid points, but the reason we like eldritch blast is it lets you be putting out damage like a martial, particularly in conjunction with hex, the invocations, and you do all of this with one ability score and the least resisted damage type in the game. No "well gee I'm out of slots, firebolt it is." Solid damage, kooky flavor, tons of options that mimic martial maneuvers without costing a limited resource, multi-enemy targeting, the lists goes on. If you want a sniper, possibly the best in the game. You want a control mage at relatively early levels that everybody is stuck in for most campaigns anyway? Boom.

[@youremakingprogress144]

I love the way your videos weave the gameplay mechanics together with telling some oddball story. Lots of fun.

[@videogollumer]

2:26 Take THAT; heavy crossbow wielding, 11th level Fighters with the Crossbow Expert feat!

[@professordetective807]

Note: Metamagic Adept could replace the Sorcerer levels. But that would mean needing TWO feats and only getting ONE max-range shot, per combat.

[@RockmariomkiZX]

You could go for Spell Spear for Eldritch Blast followed by Eldritch Adept for Eldritch Spear while still on a Sorcerer. Still two feats, but you get more shots and proper 5th+ spell slots

[@BlackGreenDragon7]

@@RockmariomkiZX No, because Eldritch Adept has this line: If the invocation has a prerequisite of any kind, you can choose that invocation only if you’re a warlock who meets the prerequisite. Eldritch Spear has Prerequisite: eldritch blast cantrip

[@BlackGreenDragon7]

You mean 3 max-range shots twice in combat. 1 Eldritch Blast at lvl 13 (when Warlock gets lvl 7 spell) has 3 beams, With Megamagic Adept you get 2 sorcery points and Distant spell uses only 1 sorcery point and Distant spell gives whole spell extra range, so all 3 beams get boosted.

[@professordetective807]

@@BlackGreenDragon7 | I meant "shot" as in "casting", but you are still right. Two CASTINGS are still not many, though.

[@BlackGreenDragon7]

​@@professordetective807 Well, least first casting would have all beams with advantage as enemy wouldn't even think about someone attacking. And if DM is cool, they might roll them to try get idea where beams came, and if they fail, next have advantage too. Plus if target was at next of window/cliff, couple pulling/pushing beams would drop them from there. Falling damage is brutal

[@jamestaylor3805]

This is less a 'combat' combination and more a combination to end combat before it gets to you, or a stalking your target tool.

[@brandonchain1721]

I love that the chair still turns people into puppets, nice callback

[@abelaguilar-acosta8691]

I honestly think that taking crazy character builds whether they’re dumb character build, or minimax builds, they could be amazing, NPC’s enemies or bosses, if executed correctly

[@pokemanizach13]

it's great to see the enchanted chair again

[@FizzOfInsanity]

Might be cool designing a scenario where a group has to navigate through an area guarded by a spell sniper without dying.

[@Jianju69]

Loving this format of magic-users and their arches.

[@airistal]

As for splitting levels, I enjoy DMing d&d gestalt games. The synergy potential is somewhat broken but can be managed. For those who don't know basics of gestalt rules. You pick two classes and take the best between their HD/HP. Combine their skill lists, with optional rules for 1-2 extra starting skills. Gain features from both classes. May or may not allow multiclassing.

[@unironicallylikesranger7122]

Heck, if you hadn’t split your levels you could have gotten arcane eye as an at will invocation, sent it up the wizards tower, and continued firing with a clear line of sight even with the curtains drawn. Wouldn’t have even needed the goggles, bud.

[@paperbullet1945]

Wouldn't Zee still have full cover?

[@derekstein6193]

​@@paperbullet1945 Indeed, because line of sight is not the same as line of effect.

[@LordRazer3]

It's the fact you you can actually do this madness that makes it all the funnier. This is dedicating a build to turn something ok into something terrifyingly effective while getting away with it

[@apricotluma]

The thing is, if you think in 3D, "situational" becomes every situation. As a genie warlock character, I once helped fight a dragon in its volcano-shaped lair by just hovering out of breath range above it and sniping it with eldritch blasts while my teammates kept it on the ground. Suffice to say it was very effective and I took no damage.

[@kevingriffith6011]

I would like to remind you that the name of the game is *Dungeons* and Dragons. No amount of 3D space thinking is going to create a 500 foot shot indoors.

[@apricotluma]

@@kevingriffith6011 You'd be surprised. One of my DMs thought it was a good idea for a bad guy in his lair to have a device that turned all his walls translucent so nobody could hide. You can imagine how that turned out.

[@Halinspark]

​@@apricotluma How did you get the ability to shoot through walls? Just because you can see through them doesn't mean they're not there.

[@apricotluma]

@@Halinspark Eldritch blast just requires line of sight, not a straight path, meaning RAW it can actually go around corners and hit the enemy as long as you can see said enemy. (I should mention there was a door, but an ally who was further ahead, and the one who triggered the bad guy activating the device, opened it, meaning it wasn't like the enemy was in an enclosed space.)

[@CupertinoEffect]

I love the continuity that there are presumably still Unseen Servants around from the last video, who listened when he yelled "close the curtains!"

[@zortechme6337]

I am running a pirate campaign where the players often fight ship to ship on the open water. Apparently over half my players had the same idea, and they almost all have some means to extend their range to exceed or match the range of cannons. None have gone quite as far as in this video, but it has been surpisingly useful in this particular campaign

[@Halinspark]

And as cool as Eldritch Blast is, Firebolt can target objects and set fires. It just doesn't go quite as far, I think. That's fixable with good positioning.

[@yautl1]

@@Halinspark Only so much positioning you can do when you're on a boat shooting at another boat. And there's a lot more going on with Eldritch blast than that. Instead of gaining more damage as you level up like other damage-dealing cantrips, eldritch blast gains more projectiles; this means that instead of an all-or-nothing attack, you have several shots to hit a target and whiffing one doesn't leave you with a wasted turn; or you can split your damage across multiple targets resulting in less wasted overkill damage on weak or injured enemies. In addition several of warlock's eldritch invocations can boost eldritch blast in various ways such as: extending its range (as used in the video), further boosting its damage off your charisma modifier, giving the ability to push or pull targets, and slowing targets' movement speed. And finally from a meta perspective, force damage is the rarest and least commonly resisted damage type, while fire resistance is the most common elemental damage resistance in the game; so you're going to find eldritch blast is effective against a lot more things than firebolt.

[@sparhawkmulder1515]

Don’t forget that, even though you may need to forgo sorcerer levels and “only” have 600 ft of range, if you get Ascendant Step at 9th level (or just use Fly) you become an immortal orbital death laser.

[@ericmillhollon76]

Curtains reopened for a bit at 1:33 Glad to see Jellybones again!

[@m-yday]

I LOVE THIS! this is the best characterisation of how edge cases might make you strong in some areas, but leave you laughably inept compared to where you could be

[@apock2474]

A perfect ending to the video

[@lordderppington4694]

man I remember a conversation nearly... what two years ago? About exactly this, where someone was saying 1200 range was broken and I said "Name a single dungeon you've been in that big. House, forest, heck, just duck down in a field and the grass will cover you." Now I do think if you had an enemy, and an area set up for this gimmick specifically it could make a fun session, but there's realistically just.... no reason to do this. They were really mad at that.

[@Joel-kk9he]

I love that Jellybones's somatic component for fly is drinking some (mother's) milk and shaking his tambourine. Big beautiful bard.

[@vapixdarmana4428]

Spell sniping seems like a decent idea for a war scenario, having multiple spell snipers just absolutely obliterating people from long range without even knowing what hit him.

[@jaesjmes5498]

Grasp of hadar could’ve pulled you out of that window and taken you out of any hiding location because of the surprise turn. He woulda gotten an extra attack turn and pulled you even further away from cover. Just saying

[@warlockghovat5745]

The Pact of the Trigger from Steinhardt’s Guide to the Eldritch Hunt lets you double the range of a cantrip and ignore half-cover.

[@Kavias]

Magic in D&D IS just a game of saying "okay but what if..." and then pulling the most ridiculous edge case nonsense out of nowhere.

[@JurorNumber24]

So it's just playing pretend fight with lore

[@thetyrant5669]

This video is absolutely incredible, it deserves a comment!

[@filipahlers6156]

I do kinda hope that Edgecase Lord will be a recurring villain, constantly antagonizing Bashew with new hyper-specific builds.

[@airistal]

"I got divine (DM) approval to respec. Let's see how you handle this gimmick build.

[@Random-ei2uo]

"where is the battlefield that big" one word : spelljammer played a divine lock spell sniper and preventing war machine from fireing is amazing

[@BrenTenkage]

sniper builds are great the problem is that unless you are working with the GM, rarely can you actually take advantage of that, instead being a back line rifleman basically. Even in games where sniping can be a thing like say shadowrun or dark heresy, its not very common you can get "sniper" moments. Still great for stuff like heists or assinations if the campaign goes that route, and you can be back up. However I'd chalk this up to awesome, but highly impractical.

[@gideonmele1556]

Sometimes it’s about sending a message (attached to force damage) Usually it’s just style points for those exactly two times you get to use it

[@SurmaSampo]

The problem really is that modern GMs mostly run adventures as paint by numbers so the party has little to no strategic decision making available to them. You get run from combat to RP challenge back to some more combats with nothing but a narrative and a couple dice rolls in between. It's boring as fuck and often leaves players lacking any investment in the world or even their characters.

[@calebkopp7636]

I personally loving using this for boss encounters. In most cases you don't wanna make a player character build for an NPC fight, as they're going to be outclassed by the party's superior numbers. However, having a Spellsniper Eldrtich Blast Warlock basically set up in a town as the look out/sniper is a great encounter because, until the players can get to him, he's untouchable while still being able to shoot them. You're basically in his liar, but once you get in close you find out how reliant he is on his gimmick and BAM! Catharsis for the players, and a very memorable boss fight.

[@donaldrusk7257]

1st+favorite combo this is a good day

[@IsshTM]

First of all, you want Grasp of Hadar instead of Repelling Blast when sniping someone looking out of the window. Secondly, what if you had pact of the chain with imp familiar which (can cast invisibility on itself) with Voice of the Chain Master invocation allowing you to see through its eyes and Investment of the Chain Master allowing you to use a bonus action to order the familiar to make an attack and make the DC for its poison equal your spell save DC? Have the imp sneak into the room while invisible and use its eyes to see the target for the spell. If they go behind cover you can order the familiar to make a shove to push them out, remove the cover (like the curtains). Or you know, you could just give the little fellow bag of holding in one hand and portable hole in another and have him do the funny thing right next to your target.

[@samuellillge9319]

To be fair, you don't really need to split your level across two classes. You could just be a sorcerer with the Eldritch Adept feat and take Eldritch Blast when you get the Spell Sniper feat. It would take two more levels to get where you want to go, but it'd also make the whole thing way more manageable as a build when you're not in need of massive range on a cantrip, and by fourth level you'd have 480 feet of range with Spell Sniper and Distant Spell, which is more than enough range in the meantime.

[@GA15ls]

I mean having an assassin hunting the party with this build could be an interesting idea.

[@jonathanwells223]

Wouldn’t do much more than annoy them because eldritch blast is balls-ass and nearly every class has a healing ability.

[@warl54961]

Trying to find the song at 0:17 is driving me crazy

[@loodon2336]

Same here. Sorry to say I've had no luck searching for it.

[@truedragondraig5372]

It's borderline love by Jessy gerber.

[@EvonixTheGreatest]

​@@truedragondraig5372THANK YOU!

[@owlson2527]

@@truedragondraig5372 YOU ARE OUR HERO

[@willdazey7368]

I love the idea of an "Edgecase Lord" nemesis that has the power to say "What if I had..." and rewrite reality on the spot. Reminds me of those kids on the playground that were like "oh yeah? Well, I have a force field that reflects lasers and makes me invisible".

[@ornu01]

For when developing nukes is too much roleplaying.

[@Athkore]

Honestly, a Spell Sniper build would make for an awesom enemy. The first encounter with them being while they are in combat, a sudden rain of blasts strike at the party only to stop once the party dispatches their enemies or if one of the party memembers determines where the attacks are coming from. From there the party is hounded by the Spell Sniper, always attacking when they least expect. A good investigation quest where they have to find out their identity and track them down.

[@nerdlingeeksly5192]

I can see this spell sniper build you used as a great antagonist for a party to stop from assassinating nobles or something

[@mrinfinity5557]

This is actually relevant to me right now, because I'm in an airship game where enemies can be over 200 ft away

[@ArilliusDM]

I actually made a very similar NPC character in 3.P (3.5+Pathfinder). Half the build was about getting the right flavor though. Flavor wise, he was known as the raindrop killer. He would often appear during rain and kill enemies from several thousand feet in the air. To those he was killing it would actually appear as if the rain itself was killing them because he was an evil Kua-Toa assassin who killed people by shooting drops of water. This was a reflavored Soulbow character who used a magic item to fly, a magic item called a Third Eye to scry enemies, and his 'soulbow' abilities to shoot water. Sometimes he'd probably have a control weather scroll while other times he'd just wait for actual rain. Sent it at a party and it wasn't so much a fight as a 'oh shit run' moment for them. They escaped with a couple wounded, cause it's really hard to actually take down 5 pcs in a few rounds even with max archer damage, but the fact that he successfully downed two of them before they got into a cave made it a very memorable encounter. When they got back to the city, it then became about finding out who the assassin was and how to fight him. I enjoyed it as a different sort of high level encounter to throw at players that required a lot of lateral thinking, first in how to escape and then how to fight.

[@DangerDurians]

This is why we have a familiar open the window and Grasp to pull them back

[@TheArtisticGamer7]

Okay Zee, damn. Youve had some absolutely KILLER Spellbook episodes but this one really grabbed my attention and had me hooked. Like I want this assassin to show up more and be a recurring antagonist.

[@lyonwhote]

I have to say that was my favorite video lately. I love all your work but this one had so much extra care and charm. The hard work is very clear.

[@alexi4829]

I ran an NPC who was an EB sniper, because he was an NPC I changed the rules slightly so instead of spending Sorcery points he had an equivalent feature that simply let him double EB's range for a single shot a number of times per day, but functionally he was like a stripped down version of what players have access to. The intent was that the players would have to navigate the battle map whilst staying in cover as they figured out where the NPC was hiding, then slowly approach him without getting hit too often. The encounter was fun in theory but suffered from poor prep on my part... if I were to run it again I'd have a series of traps scattered around the map and give the sniper more options in the environment to move around. As it was he basically just stayed in the same general vicinity and once the players spotted him they just marched in his direction

[@haxenheimer9707]

I love your videos for the fact, that you're always explaining within a narrativ. The writing and pacing in this one is incredible!