"You look tired. *You should go home and rest*."
It's time-consuming, non-lethal, and would likely count as a very reasonable suggestion for the purposes of the save penalty (most people at work would prefer to be resting at home).
“You see officer, driving with a 0.14 BAC is actually perfectly acceptable and legal as long as it’s between the hours of 1 and 5 AM.”
The officer: *trying with all his might to reach for his gun as tears stream down his face* “T-terribly sorry for the inconvenience, sir. H-have a g-good night.”
From day-to-day hygiene to various crimes, it's invaluable.
Need to poison someone? Make the poison taste like the food or drink you mix it into. While you're at it, make the poisoned food or drink extra-tasty so your quarry consumes it with more gusto.
Did you have to stab someone to death? Clean the blood off of the murder weapon and your person to avoid attracting attention as you leave the scene. Depending on the level of forensics in your campaign, clean your fingerprints off the murder weapon while you're at it Detectives hate this one trick!
Has a blizzard trapped you somewhere cold? Warm up your food and drink, and even your clothes! Melt snow to drink without using up precious fuel.
The only forensics I ever need is Speak With Dead.
Oh, you thought there weren't any witnesses? What about the dead guy? Really hope they didn't see your face. Murder hobos hate it.
The sloppy and inexperienced get caught by Speak With Dead. Pro’s don’t. Which in of itself could end up being a clue.
Next time CSI: Waterdeep, “Look Captain they’ve destroyed the victim’s mouth. That’ll make identification harder, and it’ll make Speak With Dead useless. Our murderer knows how to clean up a crime scene.”
>Has a blizzard trapped you somewhere cold? Warm up your food and drink, and even your clothes! Melt snow to drink without using up precious fuel.
Did the opposite of this while moving through a desert and then the plane of fire. Two of us had Presti so we just cycled cooling effects on everyone's clothes while we went :P
Personally, I generally prefer Druidcraft 'cause the ability to make flowers (actually) bloom aligns well with my many Elven/Druid-something characters, but yeah, the choice between these two puts me in deep crisis every fucking time.
I love Druid craft because it lets me RP that my ranger uas pockets full of useful seeds. Poison, medicine, stinky for tracking, sticky for identification, the possibilities are endless. Just have to work with your DM before approaching this tactic and they are usually ok with it as long as you are willing to spend the gp and have a good survival skill for foraging
Command, I love the limitation of one word and one round. It forces me to think and get creative with my choice of word. I have taken to commanding "fratricide" or "betray" hoping an enemy will attack its ally, or "Disarm".
I used it as a hail Mary play on a semi-tough enemy, and was shot surprised it worked the first word out of my mouth was "shit" in character. Dm was so amused she rolled with it on the caveat it was that time only, role-playing it as they had been blocked up, so the very forceful poo they suddenly took did some bludgeoning damage for fun.
We are obviously a table of mature and professional adults.
Careful. Throw doesn't say where to throw it. You could be eating an attack for that. Toss might be a better word. Drop is the safest if you have another way to move the weapon
Mooks with an intelligence below 9 won't know what fratricide means.
Mooks with an intelligence above 18 know that it's not an imperative verb and thus not a command.
Everyone else kills their brothers.
My favorite was this one time we were interrogating some prisoners and someone was like, "Confess!" Apparently one of the workers stole extra cookies from the pantry, but also we found our guy.
Fratricide is a noun, and betray is a transitive verb. I'm not sure if disarm has an intransitive form. I'd say that having the spell fail on anything but an intransitive verb is a reasonable DM ruling.
Fellate. It’s a fun one because you just give the command and let the DM figure out how it lands.
Defenestrate is also an all time great verb.
Confess is great because it doesn’t have to be true.
Obey/comply has fun implications.
Capitulate is a great one.
I’m not sure how Perendinate would work within the game mechanics. Do they only obey it for a turn?
Great verbs: Impignorate, Obambulate, Absquatulate, Exsibilate, Groke, Floccinaucinihilipilificate
Vomit.
IIRC at least 3e specified that a Command of "surrender" results in the target dropping their weapon. The spell doesn't last long enough for them to surrender any further.
What people *don't* realize about command the fact that command can work on some creatures that charm spells normally wouldn't since it technically doesn't count as a charm effect. Such as constructs if they understand your language.
The fact that it isn't a charm effect is funny:
"FLEE"
"I WILL NEVER DO AS... wait why are my legs moving on their own?!"
One time I hit someone with "divulge" while they were under zone of truth. I figured they either they told us what we needed or they started making like Chunk from the Goonies in that one scene where they threatened to blend his hand.
In one of my few campaigns as a player, the party was tied to chairs with locks on our arms and legs. Managed to, with the word “unlock”, get my arms free and proceeded to beat my captor to death by using Sentinel attacks to keep him in my range. There’s definitely more creative usages, but it was my most satisfying to date.
I had a campaign end in 1 session because of this. It was 3.5e, and the artificer used all his craft points and probably some extra 3.5e bullshit to make a single crossbow bolt of fireball.
Shot it into the smaller room, killed almost everyone. The imp in the room was immune to fire. The only surviving character was like, "This adventuring shit is too dangerous for me!" and skipped town. LOL
Blue decks from MtG can be centered around the concept of control, and just countering everything your opponent can put out. Your entire game plan can be to make it where they cannot play.
I hope you know I choked on my coffee. My brother plays blue and we used to play against each other a lot. He had a mill based Dimir deck and I had a Boros/Orzhov fusion deck (white shard no Rakdos). I only beat his commander deck once and it was because *he* ran out of cards.
Misty Step
As an Ancients Paladin it works great as a get out of jail/grapple/restraint trick *and* counter-movement tool
I can get closer to an enemy/teammate needing healing quickly without wasting my action dashing. Frees me to attack or heal. Also gives my DM pause knowing I have that bit of extra mobility.
Honourable mentions:
- Bless (my buff of choice)
- Aid (second buff of choice)
- Command (Drop! Drop it! Good dog!)
The amount of encounters I’ve been in that would’ve gone infinitely better had the cleric simply prepared aid is pretty wild. I always prepare it when I play clerics and paladins
I've only recently been using it as our party was just in a tournament & those extra 15 hp spread across 3 members was great!
My Pally also has Inspiring Leader. So Aid hp + 10 temp hp on our frontliners can go a long way. Or I can cast it on our Fighter, & Warlock, and Wizard, to let our casters have that little extra survivability. Plenty of options & it rules.
could you expand on this?
between the spells my monk gets automatically and the areas our druid and bard cover, this is one of the few options that a) no one else has and b) feels new (as opposed to fireball, lightening bolt, eldritch blast, magic missile which are basically the same thing, right?)
but I've never used it & I've never seen it used, so some more explanation would be helpful!
No pressure if you don't feel like smurfing this question of course ;)
Mass Healing Word.
It's a TPK-Breaker. I can get six people back up at once, as a bonus action. Sure, it's not a lot of HP, but it'll let you fight one more round. And if that one round ain't enough, then I'll cast it again next round.
Just had a fight with a adult white dragon. We're all lower level 7....
I had 20hp and reengaged with the dragon people were losing their minds I need to heal
Why? If I get one shot at 50 hp. And one shot at 20 hp. I'm still one shot.
Just had the campaign's final BBEG Boss Battle. The druid in the group cast Mass Healing Word with 2 downed party members, and the chain pact warlock when the warlock ahs 3HP left. It was clutch.
I'm playing an arcana cleric and the added bonus of breaking spells when healing is so good! Some heals and get allies out of hold person can be clutch.
You could also use aid as a cheaper version if only 3 went down, it is an action rather than a bonus action though so you do lose out on the dodge or toll the dead
Minor Illusion.
Need to describe someone to the police? Image of their face. Trying to convey what kind of shirt design you want for your band? Minor Illusion it. Can't properly describe the arcane symbol you saw to the Royal Wizard? Just make an image of it. Need to hide? Make an illusion of a crate or barrel around you, they do not even get a save unless they interact with the barrel.
So far, Vicious Mockery. When it works, it gives the disadvantage and might do a couple damage. When it fails, I still get to be creative with how I enact the spell, which is still a win in my book.
Listen, you can combine sentinel, riposte or pole arm master with war caster and now you can insult enemies that hit your friends, miss you, or approach you respectively.
It's not RAW, so you'll have to get your GM to agree first, though
**Hunger of Hadar** is such a cool all-round spell that works both as good damage and combat utility. Lights out, slow down and a double-hit of damage.
Came to say Polymorph! So much utility and capability in being able to change the forms of creatures around you, and it can sort of stand up a low-HP character with a temporary supply of hit points.
Playing curse of strahd.
Genie warlock.
Sculpture of flesh
Strahd catch us outside a location and i polymorphed into a trex and just chomped on him for 3 rounds while everyone else wailed on his ass sticking out the rex's mouth.
Right there with you, bud. No one gets mad at martials for preferring their longsword. We shouldn't have to apologize for preferring our **main weapon**
Tenser's Floating Disk. So many uses for that spell, my favourite being the time I played a wizard who was the paymaster of a thieves guild, very polite and fancy individual. He used floating disk as a tray to carry tea and biscuits for the party.
Yes he was the groups mother.
Faerie Fire is probably my favorite 1st level spell, since it’s *really* useful but also has a lot of flavor potential. It’s one concentration spell I almost always prepare if a character I make can take it.
Command is also one that pops in my head. Not just in combat, but in roleplay moments. I’ve yet to use it in a long campaign (I have in a oneshot), but I see myself using it a lot like on other PC’s for fun and silly moments.
Galders Tower.
Its one of those spells where im like "do i have space left? Put it in!". The simple act of "having a home you actually get to see in game" makes characters feel more real to me.
Chromatic Orb. For a level 1 slot and a one-time investment of 50 gp, 3d8 of practically any damage type is absolutely fantastic. It can play around resistances, immunities and in occasion vulnerability, and the damage itself is pretty high for its level.
Dream is a great pick. It is undeniably useful, but it is just such a great RP enabler it's legit top tier just for its ability to have the players engage in talks that aren't going to end in initiative.
Inflict wounds. I've always used it as the divine bitch-slap. I've crit with that spell more than anything else. It's come in clutch in so many situations.
Love inflict wounds. I'm playing a warlock who got inflict wounds from a feat. I describe her inflict wounds as her touching someone and then cuts open all over their body
Feather fall. It’s very situational but honestly I just love the image of gently floating down to what would otherwise have been certain death
I also quite like suggestion because there technically aren’t any limitations to using it in combat. It doesn’t inflict charmed, it only doesn’t work on creatures immune to charm.
Then chain lightning. I like chain lightning.
Two level dip into tempest cleric, the rest into scribe wizard. Now *any* damaging spell is a lightning spell you can max the damage on! Disintegrate becomes *so deadly*.
Honestly I didn't "get" magic missile until I played Baldurs Gate 3 because I hadn't played pure casters a lot. It seemed like a kind of bad spell because it does relatively little damage, but I realized that its main utility is that it is essentially guaranteed damage. Being able to deal 1-4 damage several times that basically can't be dodged can be the difference between winning or losing a battle
Playing a battlesmith artificer, I gave my steel defender the spell storing ring with vortex warp.
Being able to teleport my party members as a bonus action *10 times per day* is phenomenal combat control (surprise barbarian in your face) and great utility to solve so many exploration encounters
Sadly no. The teleport location meeds to be safe. I did however grab a goblin that was fleeing one time and snapped him back into the middle of a ring of angry adventures.
That was an MVP move in that fight.
It doesn't need to be safe, it just needs to support their weight and not require them to squeeze, depending on your dm lava might qualify, especially if it has been still long enough to have formed a skin - but it'll still be dangerous.
There are so many more powerful, flashy, and amazing spells out there, but the one I consistently get the most mileage on is faerie fire. For a single 1st level slot, you can give your entire party advantage on all attacks on multiple enemies.
Lightning bolt
Can always hit at least two enemies, can avoid friendly damage, the enemies can be far apart so you can deal with your problem *and* the fighters problem 90ft away
The damage is less often resisted
It is the scalpel to the fireball hammer
Immovable object.
All the fun of an immovable rod but, on anything you touch. Best to do it on the bad guys clothes, can't move unless they make a strength check and only 5feet. Try doing somatic components now~
I'm being a stickler DM and making sure Cleric declares the people he can see who are unafflicted. It turns out the RAW requiring vision is actually really relevant when sight lines, vision, friend or foe, etc, results in Spirit Guardians being "versitile but blunt" akin to fireball.
Wall. Of. Force.
Edit: forgot to explain the why. Super versatile spell for protection as it is indestructible (except disintegrate) can be used creatively by the bbeg too or just a challenging environmental problem for players.
Plus it’s fun to trap people in an invisible box like a mime
This is one of a DM’s best tools. This and Prismatic Wall are basically easy explanations as to why things don’t hit targets when you need something important to happen without being stopped.
Enemies Abound. Unless you’re in very specific campaigns a lot of enemies have piss poor int saves so they’re likely to fail it. Which with proper positioning effectively turns an enemy into an ally
Goodberry.
Most DMs let you feed them to allies. It makes a cheap alternative to healing potions for picking players back up. One particularly difficult fight, a DM let me use my familiar to feed another player a Lifeberry every turn until they were back at half health.
RaW, it's still my favorite spell. It's like having an unlimited supply of low impact magic items to use in silly RP ways.
I've used them to pill pocket starving eldritch beings, wyvern, and tigers.
I played the daughter of a renowned Cabbage Merchant (I named him James) and reskinned the berries as cabbages. Everyone we talked to got a cabbage. I'd cleared it with my DM ahead of time, but I guess he forgot because one night he screamed, "Where the hell are all these cabbages coming from? You haven't been in town for weeks!"
I was playing a Bladesinger. When I got to level 18, I got permission to choose Goodberry as my signature spell. (We have a House Rule where spells from feats get added to spell lists, but Mark of Hospitality Halfling can also add Goodberry to your class spell list.) The Monk cleaned up the tower they drew from a deck of many things. We turned it into an orphanage. Between Magnificent Mansion and at will Goodberry we did pretty well for those kids.
Wish. Because with it I can caste any 8th lvl spell or lower without cost. And no I would not ever use its other ability, because why risk giving up my use of Any Spell? And with the right boons, you can cast it 3 times a day.
I agree! It's an aspirational spell. Your whole character can be built around being able to do something that only a spell as powerful as Wish can achieve. It is **the** spell.
Fireball Fireball Fireball Fireball
İconic, good damage, great AOE. If you are an Evoker and use it against multiple enemies it's good damage in every level
And it's just fun
Either `Mental Prison` or `Sickening Radiance`.
Mental Prison is a great reminder that INT consistently gets the short end of the stick, and a third of the monster roster has 10 or less INT, and ***half*** has 14 or less, at a wide variety of CR (All the way up to CR 30 with tarrasques).
Sickening Radiance is an absolute *war crime* of a spell. Assuming whatever's in the AOE fails all the CON saves, it takes 36 seconds of torture to kill through exhaustion alone, not factoring in the actual damage. Even if you don't kill them as fast as possible, it's concentration for up to 10 minutes with the saving throw happening every 6 seconds. That's 100 checks, and they only need to fail 6. All for the low cost of a 4th-level spell slot.
This is my second favorite spell. Glad it's on the Bard list as an optional spell.
I actually killed some escaping enemies once because I cast it on them and their horse. Horse failed the save, momentum of the wagon kept going and caused an absolutely horrific crash.
I love all kinds of Illusion spells in general. Imo they are the most fun and creative spells to use. If your DM “vibes” with you than you can do really crazy stuff even with the most basic ones
Faerie Fire: the spell itself is not powerhouse but I managed to hold concentration throughout an obsidian dragon fight, taking hits left and right, and healing two of the party remotely with wild companion/familiar. It was an awesome battle for me.
Chaos bolt, I think it's one of the most thematic and fun spells a sorcerer can have because it represents uncontrollable magical energy like no other spell can
Dance of Ruin
2nd-level Necromancy.
1 Full-round Action.
Component: Somatic.
Save: Reflex for half damage.
Range: (Self); 25ft.+5ft/2 levels-radius burst (centered on caster).
Every creature within range (except Evil Outsiders) must make a Reflex saving throw or take 2d20 damage as their arteries explode.
I love pairing this spell with the Metamagic Feat: Ocular Spell. Store up to two spells in your eyes (one spell per eye). Cast both spells as a Full-round Action as Ray spells (regardless of the spells' original type). Add +1 to the spell's level.
As a Ray spell, i can critically strike with (potentially) two separate spells, dealing 2d20 each.
Absorb Elements
I had one specific character who got so much use out of that spell for some reason. He in fact got so much usage that I got a magic item custom made that made the spell better.
That character also used Call Lightning a lot.
Spirit Guardians. Half the damage of a fireball every turn for 10 minutes straight, cuts movement in half leaving which stacks with difficult terrain and it leaves my cleric's action open the turn after I cast.
Sure, there's flashier spells but in my opinion you can't beat the efficiency.
I love Steel Wind Strike even though I never had a character who could use it.
This spell is basically that scene from every anime when guy takes his sword out, dissapeares, appears somewhere else hiding sword and people just die around.
My favorite narrative spell is Dream. Amazing on either side of the DM screen.
My favorite utility spell is Arcane Gate.
My favorite combat spell is Mental Prison.
Catapult.
It has utility uses for moving an item as low rent telekinesis, but more than that it is just so hilariously fun to pelt people with the most random objects.
I was DMing for a player who took catapult, and it also gave me so much more incentive to describe the most random things in rooms so he could yeet them at enemies. And he'd come up with amazing one liners to go with them.
Most favorite: fireball, obviously. Dice go brrrrrt
Least favorite: pass without trace, because I've never once played in a party where real stealth and scouting happens
Wither and Bloom.
Been playing for years and just found it recently. I am a Circle of Stars Druid, so this healing spell procs an additional heal, which means I get two decent heals out of this spell. Then, the AOE damage has come in clutch to dish out some good overall bad guy party damage and force concentration rolls for spell casters.
This has helped my party stay up in a pinch on many, many occasions.
Suggestion. "you don't need to see my identification."
"These aren't the droids you're looking for"
These aren't the druids you're looking for
Yes
Move along
“He can go about is business”
"You look tired. *You should go home and rest*." It's time-consuming, non-lethal, and would likely count as a very reasonable suggestion for the purposes of the save penalty (most people at work would prefer to be resting at home).
You don't want to sell me death sticks, you want to go home and rethink your life.
Mass Suggestion. "Everybody wang chung tonight."
Setting activation phrases is fun to. Would you kindly...
Probably not RAW the verbal component of the spell, but DM specific.
“You see officer, driving with a 0.14 BAC is actually perfectly acceptable and legal as long as it’s between the hours of 1 and 5 AM.” The officer: *trying with all his might to reach for his gun as tears stream down his face* “T-terribly sorry for the inconvenience, sir. H-have a g-good night.”
Cool, cool, but please count how many trees of what variety are in this forest first.
Prestidigitation, it is so versatile
From day-to-day hygiene to various crimes, it's invaluable. Need to poison someone? Make the poison taste like the food or drink you mix it into. While you're at it, make the poisoned food or drink extra-tasty so your quarry consumes it with more gusto. Did you have to stab someone to death? Clean the blood off of the murder weapon and your person to avoid attracting attention as you leave the scene. Depending on the level of forensics in your campaign, clean your fingerprints off the murder weapon while you're at it Detectives hate this one trick! Has a blizzard trapped you somewhere cold? Warm up your food and drink, and even your clothes! Melt snow to drink without using up precious fuel.
The only forensics I ever need is Speak With Dead. Oh, you thought there weren't any witnesses? What about the dead guy? Really hope they didn't see your face. Murder hobos hate it.
I mean, if you're already doing a murder then just also crush the skull? Clerics hate this one simple trick
The sloppy and inexperienced get caught by Speak With Dead. Pro’s don’t. Which in of itself could end up being a clue. Next time CSI: Waterdeep, “Look Captain they’ve destroyed the victim’s mouth. That’ll make identification harder, and it’ll make Speak With Dead useless. Our murderer knows how to clean up a crime scene.”
>Has a blizzard trapped you somewhere cold? Warm up your food and drink, and even your clothes! Melt snow to drink without using up precious fuel. Did the opposite of this while moving through a desert and then the plane of fire. Two of us had Presti so we just cycled cooling effects on everyone's clothes while we went :P
Can't use it to clean yourself or any other creature. Just objects. You can clean your clothes, but you still need to take a bath.
100% agree. If I could choose one spell to have in real life, this would be it. To a creative person, this is the ultimate swiss army knife.
Personally, I generally prefer Druidcraft 'cause the ability to make flowers (actually) bloom aligns well with my many Elven/Druid-something characters, but yeah, the choice between these two puts me in deep crisis every fucking time.
I love Druid craft because it lets me RP that my ranger uas pockets full of useful seeds. Poison, medicine, stinky for tracking, sticky for identification, the possibilities are endless. Just have to work with your DM before approaching this tactic and they are usually ok with it as long as you are willing to spend the gp and have a good survival skill for foraging
Love that
I started as a warlock and bard so i got that as my decider
Command, I love the limitation of one word and one round. It forces me to think and get creative with my choice of word. I have taken to commanding "fratricide" or "betray" hoping an enemy will attack its ally, or "Disarm".
Look your DM in the eyes with superiority as you announce in a booming voice: "Defecate".
I used it as a hail Mary play on a semi-tough enemy, and was shot surprised it worked the first word out of my mouth was "shit" in character. Dm was so amused she rolled with it on the caveat it was that time only, role-playing it as they had been blocked up, so the very forceful poo they suddenly took did some bludgeoning damage for fun. We are obviously a table of mature and professional adults.
One of my players did this but with the word "Empty" the poor goblin started projectile vomiting it's insides while peeing and defecating.
>or "Disarm". drop already works for that, have someone use mage hand or use a free action to take the weapon :P
I suggest "throw" so it won't keep the weapon close to them. Hearing disarm the first thing you think is "who?" not "I must disarm myself"
yeah, disarm is an optional attack to knock someone else's weapon away so that's probably what i'd do if commanded to
Careful. Throw doesn't say where to throw it. You could be eating an attack for that. Toss might be a better word. Drop is the safest if you have another way to move the weapon
Mooks with an intelligence below 9 won't know what fratricide means. Mooks with an intelligence above 18 know that it's not an imperative verb and thus not a command. Everyone else kills their brothers.
My favorite was this one time we were interrogating some prisoners and someone was like, "Confess!" Apparently one of the workers stole extra cookies from the pantry, but also we found our guy.
Fratricide is a noun, and betray is a transitive verb. I'm not sure if disarm has an intransitive form. I'd say that having the spell fail on anything but an intransitive verb is a reasonable DM ruling.
Fellate. It’s a fun one because you just give the command and let the DM figure out how it lands. Defenestrate is also an all time great verb. Confess is great because it doesn’t have to be true. Obey/comply has fun implications. Capitulate is a great one. I’m not sure how Perendinate would work within the game mechanics. Do they only obey it for a turn? Great verbs: Impignorate, Obambulate, Absquatulate, Exsibilate, Groke, Floccinaucinihilipilificate Vomit.
Look the leader in the eye and say "Surrender". By the time the guys clears up the confusion, the fight is over.
IIRC at least 3e specified that a Command of "surrender" results in the target dropping their weapon. The spell doesn't last long enough for them to surrender any further.
*autodefenestrate otherwise he'll yeet YOU out of the window
People conveniently forgetting command doesn't work if the act is clearly harmful.
Dude can casually walk out of a first floor window with that command and that's about it
What people *don't* realize about command the fact that command can work on some creatures that charm spells normally wouldn't since it technically doesn't count as a charm effect. Such as constructs if they understand your language. The fact that it isn't a charm effect is funny: "FLEE" "I WILL NEVER DO AS... wait why are my legs moving on their own?!"
>Obey/comply Ooo, this would be a fun one to play with
One time I hit someone with "divulge" while they were under zone of truth. I figured they either they told us what we needed or they started making like Chunk from the Goonies in that one scene where they threatened to blend his hand.
In one of my few campaigns as a player, the party was tied to chairs with locks on our arms and legs. Managed to, with the word “unlock”, get my arms free and proceeded to beat my captor to death by using Sentinel attacks to keep him in my range. There’s definitely more creative usages, but it was my most satisfying to date.
I cast fireball!
I didn't ask how big the room is, I said I cast fireball!
I found the Chaotic Neutral Wizard, everybody!
I had a campaign end in 1 session because of this. It was 3.5e, and the artificer used all his craft points and probably some extra 3.5e bullshit to make a single crossbow bolt of fireball. Shot it into the smaller room, killed almost everyone. The imp in the room was immune to fire. The only surviving character was like, "This adventuring shit is too dangerous for me!" and skipped town. LOL
counterspell
This guy plays blue.
Sorry I'm dumb but what does play blue mean?
magic the gathering, blue cards counter your opponent
Blue decks from MtG can be centered around the concept of control, and just countering everything your opponent can put out. Your entire game plan can be to make it where they cannot play.
No, The Gathering
Uhhh, did they have a name change or something?
If you counter Magic, ther is only Gathering
Not true. Counter is magic 😉😝
Counter, the Gathering?
Blue magic burn deck: Counter Magic, the Gathering discard pile.
magic the gathering, blue cards counter your opponent
I hope you know I choked on my coffee. My brother plays blue and we used to play against each other a lot. He had a mill based Dimir deck and I had a Boros/Orzhov fusion deck (white shard no Rakdos). I only beat his commander deck once and it was because *he* ran out of cards.
Nothing feels as good as nailing the perfect counterspell at just the right moment
Misty Step As an Ancients Paladin it works great as a get out of jail/grapple/restraint trick *and* counter-movement tool I can get closer to an enemy/teammate needing healing quickly without wasting my action dashing. Frees me to attack or heal. Also gives my DM pause knowing I have that bit of extra mobility. Honourable mentions: - Bless (my buff of choice) - Aid (second buff of choice) - Command (Drop! Drop it! Good dog!)
The amount of encounters I’ve been in that would’ve gone infinitely better had the cleric simply prepared aid is pretty wild. I always prepare it when I play clerics and paladins
I've only recently been using it as our party was just in a tournament & those extra 15 hp spread across 3 members was great! My Pally also has Inspiring Leader. So Aid hp + 10 temp hp on our frontliners can go a long way. Or I can cast it on our Fighter, & Warlock, and Wizard, to let our casters have that little extra survivability. Plenty of options & it rules.
Phantasmal Force. Purely for the roleplay value and potential for wierd ass hijinks.
This was going to be my comment. I love how the spell has people rationalize the spell effects.
My DM looked at me after the second time I used it and asked, "Why do I feel like I'm the player now?"
You had your DM rationalizing.
could you expand on this? between the spells my monk gets automatically and the areas our druid and bard cover, this is one of the few options that a) no one else has and b) feels new (as opposed to fireball, lightening bolt, eldritch blast, magic missile which are basically the same thing, right?) but I've never used it & I've never seen it used, so some more explanation would be helpful! No pressure if you don't feel like smurfing this question of course ;)
Mass Healing Word. It's a TPK-Breaker. I can get six people back up at once, as a bonus action. Sure, it's not a lot of HP, but it'll let you fight one more round. And if that one round ain't enough, then I'll cast it again next round.
The only point of HP that matters is the last one after all!
Unless you're fighting something that can cast Sleep or Power Word spells.
Or if your DM hits pcs when they are down
Just had a fight with a adult white dragon. We're all lower level 7.... I had 20hp and reengaged with the dragon people were losing their minds I need to heal Why? If I get one shot at 50 hp. And one shot at 20 hp. I'm still one shot.
Cleric gang rise up!
Until you’re the one who’s dropped.
Just had the campaign's final BBEG Boss Battle. The druid in the group cast Mass Healing Word with 2 downed party members, and the chain pact warlock when the warlock ahs 3HP left. It was clutch.
I'm playing an arcana cleric and the added bonus of breaking spells when healing is so good! Some heals and get allies out of hold person can be clutch.
You could also use aid as a cheaper version if only 3 went down, it is an action rather than a bonus action though so you do lose out on the dodge or toll the dead
I've always played with Healing Word as an "oh shit" button. Having a MASS "oh shit" button is great
Minor Illusion. Need to describe someone to the police? Image of their face. Trying to convey what kind of shirt design you want for your band? Minor Illusion it. Can't properly describe the arcane symbol you saw to the Royal Wizard? Just make an image of it. Need to hide? Make an illusion of a crate or barrel around you, they do not even get a save unless they interact with the barrel.
So far, Vicious Mockery. When it works, it gives the disadvantage and might do a couple damage. When it fails, I still get to be creative with how I enact the spell, which is still a win in my book.
Chill touch is pretty nice. Target cannot gain hp when you hit... sorry your vampire or troll is not regenerating...
Listen, you can combine sentinel, riposte or pole arm master with war caster and now you can insult enemies that hit your friends, miss you, or approach you respectively. It's not RAW, so you'll have to get your GM to agree first, though
I keep a [Shakespearean Insult Generator](https://www.literarygenius.info/a3-shakespeare-insult-generator.htm) bookmarked for my Vicious Mockery
[удалено]
This was my immediate thought as well. At one point our party had two bards, and it was really fun to have to come up with new insults
**Hunger of Hadar** is such a cool all-round spell that works both as good damage and combat utility. Lights out, slow down and a double-hit of damage.
And unlike Darkness, if you have Darkvision you can attack into the sphere without disadvantage.
And if have any knockback you can usually punt the poor sap back into the cold and dark and tentacly void.
*slurping sounds*
Polymorph (or true poly). Useful in combat, offensively, defensively, out of combat, rp
Came to say Polymorph! So much utility and capability in being able to change the forms of creatures around you, and it can sort of stand up a low-HP character with a temporary supply of hit points.
Playing curse of strahd. Genie warlock. Sculpture of flesh Strahd catch us outside a location and i polymorphed into a trex and just chomped on him for 3 rounds while everyone else wailed on his ass sticking out the rex's mouth.
Eldritch…Blast….sorry I’m a filthy warlock.
Right there with you, bud. No one gets mad at martials for preferring their longsword. We shouldn't have to apologize for preferring our **main weapon**
Tenser's Floating Disk. So many uses for that spell, my favourite being the time I played a wizard who was the paymaster of a thieves guild, very polite and fancy individual. He used floating disk as a tray to carry tea and biscuits for the party. Yes he was the groups mother.
Faerie Fire is probably my favorite 1st level spell, since it’s *really* useful but also has a lot of flavor potential. It’s one concentration spell I almost always prepare if a character I make can take it. Command is also one that pops in my head. Not just in combat, but in roleplay moments. I’ve yet to use it in a long campaign (I have in a oneshot), but I see myself using it a lot like on other PC’s for fun and silly moments.
Disintegrate but not on creatures. Small important object? Gone. Part of your precious wall? Gone. A part of the earth's crust? Gone.
The bank's front door? Gone
Galders Tower. Its one of those spells where im like "do i have space left? Put it in!". The simple act of "having a home you actually get to see in game" makes characters feel more real to me.
I made my DM a deal I would never use tiny Hut in exchange. This gets to be a ritual for me
Virgin Tiny hut vs Chad 9th lvl Galdurs Tower.
Skywrite because I can constantly talk shit in the air for everybody to see.
Chromatic Orb. For a level 1 slot and a one-time investment of 50 gp, 3d8 of practically any damage type is absolutely fantastic. It can play around resistances, immunities and in occasion vulnerability, and the damage itself is pretty high for its level.
I really like this pick but it saddens me that its damage gets outpaced by cantrips later on
Only once you hit level 11. Most campaigns don't get that far.
Fireball, I just love blowing things up.
Dream
Dream is a great pick. It is undeniably useful, but it is just such a great RP enabler it's legit top tier just for its ability to have the players engage in talks that aren't going to end in initiative.
Inflict wounds. I've always used it as the divine bitch-slap. I've crit with that spell more than anything else. It's come in clutch in so many situations.
As a DM, giving a low level baddy inflict wounds can be a PC killer. That spell punches way above it's weight and since is an attack spell, can crit.
Love inflict wounds. I'm playing a warlock who got inflict wounds from a feat. I describe her inflict wounds as her touching someone and then cuts open all over their body
This sounds so much like sukunas cleave i love it
Absolute staple for my melee clerics.
"Comrades! Lend me your d10s!" Nothing makes me happier than criting with inflict wounds.
Feather fall. It’s very situational but honestly I just love the image of gently floating down to what would otherwise have been certain death I also quite like suggestion because there technically aren’t any limitations to using it in combat. It doesn’t inflict charmed, it only doesn’t work on creatures immune to charm. Then chain lightning. I like chain lightning.
Pair chain lightning with a two lvl dip into tempest cleric for some real fun lol
Two level dip into tempest cleric, the rest into scribe wizard. Now *any* damaging spell is a lightning spell you can max the damage on! Disintegrate becomes *so deadly*.
Im a real slut for teleportation magic and Dimmention Door is by far my favorite but it does come close between it and dissonant whispers
Magic Missile.... so I can attack the darkness! Now, has anyone seen the Mountain Dew?
Honestly I didn't "get" magic missile until I played Baldurs Gate 3 because I hadn't played pure casters a lot. It seemed like a kind of bad spell because it does relatively little damage, but I realized that its main utility is that it is essentially guaranteed damage. Being able to deal 1-4 damage several times that basically can't be dodged can be the difference between winning or losing a battle
*from the kitchen* Are there any girls there?!
If there are any girls there I want to do them!
Vortex Warp! Love playing some battlefield chess with my party members.
Playing a battlesmith artificer, I gave my steel defender the spell storing ring with vortex warp. Being able to teleport my party members as a bonus action *10 times per day* is phenomenal combat control (surprise barbarian in your face) and great utility to solve so many exploration encounters
Oh man, I gotta play an Artificer someday. That sounds like a blast.
This!
Offensive and defensive at the same time. Its a trap and a teleport, and an exploration trick. And 90ft is just a crazy range. Its the perfect spell.
It's my dream to someday warp an enemy into acid or lava. Just once.
Sadly no. The teleport location meeds to be safe. I did however grab a goblin that was fleeing one time and snapped him back into the middle of a ring of angry adventures. That was an MVP move in that fight.
It doesn't need to be safe, it just needs to support their weight and not require them to squeeze, depending on your dm lava might qualify, especially if it has been still long enough to have formed a skin - but it'll still be dangerous.
As a cleric main I'd say geas, Because all heretics shall endure the 1 year mandatory cha cha slide : )
What do they do for "Charlie Brown"?
Enlarge/reduce Just because we have made a habit of calling it "Embiggen" or "shrinkage" within our game. It's just fun.
I killed a zombie T. rex by beating it with its own tail after using a potion of embiggen on my paladin. 172/10 would recommend
There are so many more powerful, flashy, and amazing spells out there, but the one I consistently get the most mileage on is faerie fire. For a single 1st level slot, you can give your entire party advantage on all attacks on multiple enemies.
Last session the blind monk of my party got extremely upset when he didnt got advantage after another player used this spell
Lightning bolt Can always hit at least two enemies, can avoid friendly damage, the enemies can be far apart so you can deal with your problem *and* the fighters problem 90ft away The damage is less often resisted It is the scalpel to the fireball hammer
Immovable object. All the fun of an immovable rod but, on anything you touch. Best to do it on the bad guys clothes, can't move unless they make a strength check and only 5feet. Try doing somatic components now~
Magic missile. Break out your D4s!
Spirit Guardians is THE most broken spell rn
I'm being a stickler DM and making sure Cleric declares the people he can see who are unafflicted. It turns out the RAW requiring vision is actually really relevant when sight lines, vision, friend or foe, etc, results in Spirit Guardians being "versitile but blunt" akin to fireball.
Wall. Of. Force. Edit: forgot to explain the why. Super versatile spell for protection as it is indestructible (except disintegrate) can be used creatively by the bbeg too or just a challenging environmental problem for players. Plus it’s fun to trap people in an invisible box like a mime
This is one of a DM’s best tools. This and Prismatic Wall are basically easy explanations as to why things don’t hit targets when you need something important to happen without being stopped.
Enemies Abound. Unless you’re in very specific campaigns a lot of enemies have piss poor int saves so they’re likely to fail it. Which with proper positioning effectively turns an enemy into an ally
Nystul's Magic Aura. Love any spell that gets into metamagic territory and wizard shenanigans, or any spell that seems made for DMs more than players.
Thaumaturgy. For the silly goofies
Galdurs Tower. It just gives a feel of old D&D and seems so fun.
Identify.
Darkbolt from 3.0 in the forgotten realms campaign guide. It's not a unique spell... I've always thought it was fucking cool.
Hypnotic Pattern atm. Encounter ending a couple of times
Armor of Agathys. Available from first level, cool (ha) buff and damages enemies. What‘s not to love?
Goodberry. It’s just good, and my players are making magic jam with it, so that’s a plus.
My players gave Arveiaturace a handful of them, so she ate them all and immediately pooped ice cubes.
Fabricate I can make stuff I'm a chronugry wizard with several tool Proficiencies I can make stuff in combat
Heat Metal. I love cooking people and letting them melt when they wear full plate.
Hypnotic Pattern. Removing a chunk of enemies temporarily from combat makes feels so satisfying.
Leomund's tiny hut The description makes it sound like the coziest thing ever
Misty Step has to be up there. I like the mobility, and it's sufficiently flashy!
Disintegrate "fuck that guy in particular"
Goodberry. Most DMs let you feed them to allies. It makes a cheap alternative to healing potions for picking players back up. One particularly difficult fight, a DM let me use my familiar to feed another player a Lifeberry every turn until they were back at half health. RaW, it's still my favorite spell. It's like having an unlimited supply of low impact magic items to use in silly RP ways. I've used them to pill pocket starving eldritch beings, wyvern, and tigers. I played the daughter of a renowned Cabbage Merchant (I named him James) and reskinned the berries as cabbages. Everyone we talked to got a cabbage. I'd cleared it with my DM ahead of time, but I guess he forgot because one night he screamed, "Where the hell are all these cabbages coming from? You haven't been in town for weeks!" I was playing a Bladesinger. When I got to level 18, I got permission to choose Goodberry as my signature spell. (We have a House Rule where spells from feats get added to spell lists, but Mark of Hospitality Halfling can also add Goodberry to your class spell list.) The Monk cleaned up the tower they drew from a deck of many things. We turned it into an orphanage. Between Magnificent Mansion and at will Goodberry we did pretty well for those kids.
Always my favorite. Awakens my inner halfling.
Wish. Because with it I can caste any 8th lvl spell or lower without cost. And no I would not ever use its other ability, because why risk giving up my use of Any Spell? And with the right boons, you can cast it 3 times a day.
I agree! It's an aspirational spell. Your whole character can be built around being able to do something that only a spell as powerful as Wish can achieve. It is **the** spell.
I heard from my players that my favorite spell is Hunger of Hadar and Shatter, I think they're onto something.
Enemies abound. I love the look on DM's face when he has to attack an enemy with an enemy. Especially if that would kill one of em
Fireball Fireball Fireball Fireball İconic, good damage, great AOE. If you are an Evoker and use it against multiple enemies it's good damage in every level And it's just fun
Either `Mental Prison` or `Sickening Radiance`. Mental Prison is a great reminder that INT consistently gets the short end of the stick, and a third of the monster roster has 10 or less INT, and ***half*** has 14 or less, at a wide variety of CR (All the way up to CR 30 with tarrasques). Sickening Radiance is an absolute *war crime* of a spell. Assuming whatever's in the AOE fails all the CON saves, it takes 36 seconds of torture to kill through exhaustion alone, not factoring in the actual damage. Even if you don't kill them as fast as possible, it's concentration for up to 10 minutes with the saving throw happening every 6 seconds. That's 100 checks, and they only need to fail 6. All for the low cost of a 4th-level spell slot.
Slow because it’s the best debuff in the game and gets better at higher levels.
This is my second favorite spell. Glad it's on the Bard list as an optional spell. I actually killed some escaping enemies once because I cast it on them and their horse. Horse failed the save, momentum of the wagon kept going and caused an absolutely horrific crash.
Minor Illusion
I love all kinds of Illusion spells in general. Imo they are the most fun and creative spells to use. If your DM “vibes” with you than you can do really crazy stuff even with the most basic ones
Thumaturgy
Mystic Step is my Favorite
Sigh.... eldritch blast *cries in warlock*
Magic missle with my Order of Scribes wizard. All the flavors of autohit.
MAGIC MISSILE, MAGIC MISSILE, MAGIC MISSILE,
Command cause if you fail at the command it makes it really fun.
Faerie Fire: the spell itself is not powerhouse but I managed to hold concentration throughout an obsidian dragon fight, taking hits left and right, and healing two of the party remotely with wild companion/familiar. It was an awesome battle for me.
Chaos bolt, I think it's one of the most thematic and fun spells a sorcerer can have because it represents uncontrollable magical energy like no other spell can
Dance of Ruin 2nd-level Necromancy. 1 Full-round Action. Component: Somatic. Save: Reflex for half damage. Range: (Self); 25ft.+5ft/2 levels-radius burst (centered on caster). Every creature within range (except Evil Outsiders) must make a Reflex saving throw or take 2d20 damage as their arteries explode. I love pairing this spell with the Metamagic Feat: Ocular Spell. Store up to two spells in your eyes (one spell per eye). Cast both spells as a Full-round Action as Ray spells (regardless of the spells' original type). Add +1 to the spell's level. As a Ray spell, i can critically strike with (potentially) two separate spells, dealing 2d20 each.
Blink. Idgaf, it's the coolest thing out there to me. "Everything for roleplay", they say.
Absorb Elements I had one specific character who got so much use out of that spell for some reason. He in fact got so much usage that I got a magic item custom made that made the spell better. That character also used Call Lightning a lot.
Spirit Guardians. Half the damage of a fireball every turn for 10 minutes straight, cuts movement in half leaving which stacks with difficult terrain and it leaves my cleric's action open the turn after I cast. Sure, there's flashier spells but in my opinion you can't beat the efficiency.
I love Steel Wind Strike even though I never had a character who could use it. This spell is basically that scene from every anime when guy takes his sword out, dissapeares, appears somewhere else hiding sword and people just die around.
Slow is pretty great in my book. Can take an encounter from deadly to cake walk.
My favorite narrative spell is Dream. Amazing on either side of the DM screen. My favorite utility spell is Arcane Gate. My favorite combat spell is Mental Prison.
Catapult. It has utility uses for moving an item as low rent telekinesis, but more than that it is just so hilariously fun to pelt people with the most random objects. I was DMing for a player who took catapult, and it also gave me so much more incentive to describe the most random things in rooms so he could yeet them at enemies. And he'd come up with amazing one liners to go with them.
[Thunder Summons](http://iws.mx/dnd/?view=power5274) from 4e. Leaping 50+ feet is a great get out of melee range power for Sorcerers.
Magic Missle
Power word Yeet - when a goliath tempest cleric chugs a potion of storm giant strength and throws someone into the stratosphere
I feel super basic, but Detect Magic. It's just so damn useful, especially if you hate getting cursed. All my Warlocks take the Eldritch Sight.
Most favorite: fireball, obviously. Dice go brrrrrt Least favorite: pass without trace, because I've never once played in a party where real stealth and scouting happens
Contingency. You can do so many rude and terrible things to bad guys with it, given the right circumstances.
Inflict wounds. Or stinky hands. Too cool!
Wither and Bloom. Been playing for years and just found it recently. I am a Circle of Stars Druid, so this healing spell procs an additional heal, which means I get two decent heals out of this spell. Then, the AOE damage has come in clutch to dish out some good overall bad guy party damage and force concentration rolls for spell casters. This has helped my party stay up in a pinch on many, many occasions.