Control Freak (continued)

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2. Holds

Holds is the term for spells that hold your opponent in place (or slow
them significantly) and render them unable to attack. They vary wildly
in usefulness based upon the specific nature of the spell. Most of the
hold spells are single target affects. They include the following:

• Hold Person
• Hold Monster
• Otto’s Resistable Dance
• Daze Monster
• Ray of Exhaustion
• Command
• Greater Command.
  

Area hold spells are often reflex saves. The area holds consist of
these spells: href="http://ddo.tentonhammer.com/modules.php?set_albumName=Exclusive_Screenshots&id=Ice_Storm&op=modload&name=Gallery&file=index&include=view_photo.php"> alt="Ice Storm"
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• Ice Storm
• Grease
• Web
• Sleet Storm
• Halt Undead
• Solid Fog. (Solid Fog is truly not a hold; in fact, it slows
  movement to 20% of regular movement.)
  

Grease, Ice Storm, and Sleet Storm all cause friend and foe alike to
make a difficulty check (DC) 12 reflex save or fall down, plus reduce
movement substantially (though not as much as solid fog). These three
spells always have DC 12, and this cannot be changed by Feats, Ability
scores, or other factors.



Web’s DC is determined normally and both holds an opponent in place and
prevents actions. Web does not affect giants or fire creatures.
Additionally, while it appears in the affects when examining these
creatures, Web does not seem to affect spiders and other vermin, oozes,
nor many types of undead. If a fire spell affects a web, it will often
destroy the web. Web is considered (rightfully enough) to be the best
hold spell in the game.



Halt Undead has all the benefits of web, but affects undead, in a
necromantic spell and is a will save.



Holds that are single target are best used for single opponents who are
not specifically strong against the save type of the spells. Holds that
are area of affects are best used near the beginning of the combat as
an opening spell. This will allow your fellow party members to decide
who to attack under static conditions. That is, your opponents will not
be running around, and you will have minimized confusion as a result.
Holds often can be placed before combat, and then opponents can be led
into the spell.



3. style="font-weight: bold;">Mezmerization spells (Mezz in slang)

Mezz spells act like holds, but allow foes to break out of the affects
of the spells when attacked. The strong suit of mezz spells are their
durations. Uniformly, mezz spells will last longer than a hold spell of
the same level. The down side of mezz spells are that they require
party coordination. Party members gain little benefit from mezz spells
unless they can be organized to attack the same opponent at the time.
Finally, mezz spells are all will saves, making them most eff href="http://ddo.tentonhammer.com/modules.php?set_albumName=Exclusive_Screenshots&id=Hypnotic_Pattern&op=modload&name=Gallery&file=index&include=view_photo.php"> alt="Hypnotic Pattern"
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against large numbers of melee opponents. The mezz spells in the game
are:

• Sleep
• Deep Slumber
• Hypnotism
• Hypnotic Pattern
• Animal Empathy (ranger only ability)
  

4. Fear

Fear spells are all necromancy. They cause your opponents to flee from
you, or, if saved against, allow them to attack with a (very short
duration) penalty. Fear spells are useful in that they allow your party
members to deal with your enemies in two groups: those who saved, then
(after the duration ends) those who failed their saves. There are two
spells (Scare and Cause Fear) that affect only creatures with 5 hit
dice (levels) or less. Two fear spells (Fear and Scare) are area of
affects. These spells are all will saves.



The reason fear spells exist is because in the pen and paper Dungeons
& Dragons game, certain spell casters could not cast some crowd
control spells due to class specialization, and these spells were a
form of alternative.While these spells are interesting, they tend to be
inferior to other
spells of similar nature and level. For example, Hypnotism affects
several opponents, and affects more hit dice than Cause Fear.



Because scattering opponents isn’t particularly useful, the best use of
fear spells is to cast them on enemies to cause them to enter the area
of another spell. For example, Fearing opponents that have passed a Web
spell causes them to run back into the spell, forcing a second save.
The fear spells in the game are:

• Chill Touch (single target against undead)
• Cause Fear
• Scare
• Fear
  

Turn Undead abilities also act like fear spells, but the fear is a
secondary affect and has different mechanic from regular spells.

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