Of these spells, I think Suggestion and Hold Person are the most useful. They are useful when the mage is facing relatively few criminals and other Watch officers have already engaged. The third most useful is Sleep, which is excellent for detaining low level criminals who aren’t worth a 3rd level slot.ĭiscriminate spells such as Bigby’s Hand, Compulsion, Hold Person, Otiluke’s Resilient Sphere, Polymorph and Suggestion affect fewer targets, but give the mage more control over who these targets are. The second most useful is Wall of Force, which doesn’t require a saving throw but has a smaller area of effect and prevents other Watch officers from entering the area. However, there’s a chance that a criminal will succeed its saving throw and escape despite this spell. In my opinion, Hypnotic Pattern is the most useful of these spells because it has the furthest range, largest area of effect, and allows other Watch officers to enter the area and detain suspects immediately after its cast. This can be mitigated by only using these spells before other Watch officers engage. They’re useful for detaining large numbers of suspects, but could negatively affect bystanders or other watch officers. Indiscriminate spells such as Hypnotic Pattern, Slow, Sleep, Wall of Force, and Web affect everyone in an area. Each spell has a slightly different effect but in general, immobilization spells can be split into two broad categories. To stop criminals from getting away, a City Watch mage needs spells that can forcibly slow them down or cause them to stop moving.
They may prepare one or two damaging spells for the worst case scenario, but in general, they’ll try to keep suspects unharmed.
A mage on a City Watch patrol or response team has 4 main responsibilities: Prevent escape, find criminals who temporarily escaped, neutralize magic that criminals might have, and magically report any urgent news to the Watch captain.