[RPG] How to the attack modifier or damage of hosts of creatures be increased

attackdamagednd-5enecromancy

My level 10 necromancer is trying to boost his skeletons. Usually I opt for skeletal archers, as mechanically it is easy and quick for me to roll 8d20's and not worry about them much (until the dragon kills them all in a breath and I make more). I have worked out with the DM that every day two 3rd level slots are gone to cast Animate Dead.

My skeletons have HP: 23 and Attack: +4 (1d6+6). Assuming 1/2 the attacks hit, generally damage tends to be 38 piercing–for a while I definitely was doing over 1/2 the party damage per round, but the enemies AC's have been increasing.

Occasionally the Oathbreaker paladin is around, and this can increase the skeletons melee damage to 1d6+10.

Also, I have been using the "Tiny" version of Animate Objects to have 10 attacks at 1d4+4, with a +8 to hit.

How can my party and I increase the Attack modifier or damage for a host of creatures like these, via spell or effect? For example, Bless, in 3.5, used to be "The caster and all allies within a 50-ft. burst, centered on the caster" but is now only 3 creatures.

Are there any spell buffs that effect larger amounts of creatures that can be used in these scenarios?

Best Answer

Increasing the attack modifiers of unlimited number of creatures is impossible

The best you can do is give 11 of them 1d4 to the attack rolls, with Bless cast in a 9th level slot.

Increasing the damage is not much better

As @zach said, Crusader's Mantle does not limit the number of targets. It is a significant increase, but needs a L9 Paladin or a L6 Bard to cast.

What can you do instead

Give those archers Advantage. There are many spells that can do this, prefer the ones that target more creature, so there is a smaller chance of a wasted action:

  • No concentration, like Blindness
  • No save after the first one, like Faerie Fire
  • Can be reused by pushing enemies later in the area, like Web

Calculation

You seem to be around level 10, and a CR10 monster is supposed to have AC 17. This means your skeletons have a basic hit chance of 40%.

Bless:
Increases the hit chance to 52.5%, so the DPR increase is 31,25%.

Crusader's Mantle:
26,31% increase in DPR (1d4+1d6+6 vs 1d6+6)

Advantage:
The hit chance goes to 64%, the DPR increase is 60% (plus a bit from the increased chance of criticals)

Conclusion

Giving Advantage is the easiest for you, but 1 level of Cleric is never a bad investment on a Wizard. Besides giving you access to Bless in a 6th level slot to to cover all your Skeletons, it usually improves your AC significantly.
And you can even combine Bless with Blindness, as only one of them requires concentration.

Related Topic