On the Usefulness of the spell Tasha's Hideous Laughter
in fighting Act 3 bosses (Cazador & others)
On the positive side, this level-1 spell is one of the things in the game that can make most of us the players laugh - not just our in-game target will laugh!
On the negative side, at this stage of the game, casting this spell in combat is essentially a waste of an action in exchange of a chance to have two people (one is the in-game target, the other the player) laugh.
Let's take a closer look at the spell:
- It costs an action to cast
- It requires concentration
- It has a chance to end every time the target takes damage
- Cost of an action: In combat, anyone with the extra attack feat or equivalent could have spent this action to do 2 weapon or throwing attacks, potentially dealing 50-100 damage on Cazador (at this stage of the game - not earlier).
- Concentration required: In combat, if we are willing to concentrate on a spell every turn, we could very well have picked a much more powerful spell, such as Haste, to concentrate on. Concentrating on Haste would have granted a high-level fighter additional 3 attacks every turn for up to 10 turns (or up to 20 turns if cast by Sorcerer with double duration), potentially dealing 75-150 damage to Cazador each turn.
- Can we really keep Cazador laugh for 10 turns? Assuming it has been successfully cast on Cazador, he will roll a WIS-based die to break free every time he takes damage. As a master vampire, he has a decent WIS save bonus, meaning: he can easily break free every time the die rolls. To keep our master vampire rolling on the floor laugh, everyone - our enemies included - must not damage Cazador! Can we do that?
Conclusion?
In Act 3, this spell is meant for players to have a laugh, not meant for players struggling to win a tough battle.
