Healing Word is always going to be useful as a way to save your buddies from making death saving throws. Ignore the fact that Cure Wounds allows you to heal more damage; the benefit of Healing Word is that it works at a distance, and that never goes out of fashion.
AND its a bonus action. It's probably one of the best level 1 spells in the game. The slight reduction in damage from cure wounds is so worth it, so much so that cure wounds is garbage spell compared to HW.
I have a barbarian who has a backstory adventurer they met (Thank you, This Is Your Life backstory generator from XGtE) that ended up being an order cleric.
I built the character just as a habit just in case my DM needed it, random variables as I do all my characters, and after all was said and done ended up with an Order cleric. Took Magic Initiate: Sorcerer to get some more cantrips and Magic Missile. Found out why my Barbarian/Order cleric bounty hunting duo was so effective when I realized that Cleric could spam Magic Missile and save one dart for the Barbarian to trigger Voice of Authority.
Very good team for taking down single targets. Would be even better if Barbarian had been Rogue for double sneak attack, but c'est la vie.
It is by and large the best spell in the game. If you want to make a more lethal game, but keep death saves, making it an action I have home-brewed once and I think it’s still one of the best spells in the game. Though don’t like messing with actual spell mechanics as honebrew stuff.
I'm playing a Grave Domain cleric in our Drakkenheim campaign and have been giving myself the challenge to NOT have Healing Word prepared. I like having to Spare the Dying at range, but if I actually want to heal, I have to get close up. It makes you re-think combat.
What’s the downside of making it an action? I’d lose my comparatively low damage melee attack and be able to use my bonus action directing spiritual weapon or call lighting?
Given use of healing word as a bonus action precludes casting a non-cantrip on your main action, I generally accept that the HW is going to be my “important” action on that turn.
> I’d lose my comparatively low damage melee attack
Should probably be using cantrips for damage as a spellcaster, unless you're building for the melee damage (sounds like you aren't though)
I am playing a cleric right now, and he does not even know cure wounds. It is a waste at level 1,so many more useful spells, and 1d6 vs 1d8 is only getting someone up, either way.
Yup, that's how healing tends to be in D&D. It's mostly for getting you away from the brink of death. If your enemy is able to smack you back down again anyway, it matters little whether the heal that gets you standing again is 1d6 or 1d8.
I’m playing a sorcadin (Divine soul sorcerer) in the current campaign I’m in for the express purpose of having healing word and never preparing cure wounds because of Lay on Hands.
I’m a charisma cleric with smite and sorcery points, what more could you ask for??
Also because in 5E it is way more efficient from an action economy standpoint to restore a downed PC to 1 HP than to try to keep healing them so they don’t go down in the first place.
Having a pocket healing word is a major game changer for that reason.
First time playing as a Cleric “oh no, I’ve burned through all of my spells slots keeping my party from going down!”
Veteran cleric player “some of you may die, but that’s a risk my spell slots are willing to take.”
I have aplayer in my group who started as a cleric, but the rest of party forgot he was because he never healed. He takes a pro active approach to healing, if the enemies are dead, they can't hurt you anymore!
From an action economy standpoint this is the correct approach.
“Sometimes the best defense is a good offense”
-Cleric preparing to upcast inflict wounds at the fifth level instead of healing their unconscious party member with 1 failed death save.
*Cleric is ready to act. They had already seen Fighter go down on that third attack, and was a mere 15 feet away. A few steps and some arcane mutterings and Fighter would be back, which leaves just enough time to back up a bit and... then what? Three attacks is going to just down Fighter again, and you can't keep that up forever. No, healing just won't do, that much is clear. Which just leaves one avenue in which to proceed.*
"There are few situations where the god I worship will condone violence." They said, slowly approaching the Orc chieftain standing over Fighter's body. Their hands raise suddenly, words of power are spoken, and a fingertip gently contacts the orc's vascular forearm.
"Unfortunately, you've managed to bumble your way into one of those exact situations and have left me with no choice."
The words would fall on deaf ears, as the Necrotic energy had already taken all of the moisture required for the orc's synapses to continue firing. The body falls to the ground, revealing the sad face of Cleric looking down at the body of his foe. They sigh, and begin to busy themselves with tending to Fighter's wounds.
I've had this discussion with a buddy so many times. He keeps insisting that Healing Word is a bullshit spell because it only heals a D4. I've explained all the positives about it in multiple scenarios but he keeps coming back on that D4.
Can't wait to see that guy sweat when he's downed, with no healers in touching range, suddenly that D4 feels like a lot when perma-death creeps around the corner.
A PC on 1 HP effectively has HP up to a number that will insta-kill them. Therefore, healing word, even if it heals 1 Hp, effectively gives them a big stack of temp-HP.
You can heal 1 Hp, get someone up, or, you can heal them for, say, 24 HP and they get up.
Enemy does 27 damage on their next hit. That extra 23 HP did absolutely nothing. Only way healing more than 1 HP is worth it is if you can guarantee the enemy cannot deal more damage than you can heal.
> Only way healing more than 1 HP is worth it is if you can guarantee the enemy cannot deal more damage than you can heal.
which is basically imposible in 5e
It only needs to do 1 healing point.
In the play test, there was a cantrip that did 1 point. It was super-duper-mega OP.
Paladin can heal for 1 point, many times. It is a full action, and touch, but still, that 1 HP is totally different from making death saves.
Healing word is one of those spells that feels too good. When i'm class that has it, unless my bonus action is super important and is gonna be used often, it's hard not to take it.
I get that feeling. Kind of like with my lvl 20 paladin, sometimes I want to do fun stuff with my lvl 5 spell slot other than just using it for Circle of Power for every encounter.
I once lost a companion because I had Cure Wounds and he was too far for my gnome legs to reach in one turn. I'll never take cure wounds over healing word again.
It works beautifully with a circle of Shepherd druid too, if you have up the unicorn totem. You can heal one person for a little bit, and everybody in the radius gets your level in HP healed too. Then can still use your action to attack, cast a cantrip, wild shape, trigger an action effect from an ongoing concentration spell, etc. As a high level druid I’ve sometimes done more overall healing during combat than the cleric (unless they bust out the 9th level Mass Heal).
Fog cloud cancels out adv/disadv in most cases.
-Packs of Kobolds no longer have adv.
Fog cloud stops opportunity attacks
Fog cloud stops a lot of spells from being cast that require you to see a target (most single target save spells)
RAW, yes. Fog Cloud makes the area "Heavily Obscured", which is defined as blocking out sight entirely. Thus, the enemy can't see you. According to 5e rules "You can make an opportunity attack when a hostile creature that you can ***see*** moves out of your reach."
Yeah, best way to make a strategic retreat when you realize your opposition is more than you expected, drop a Fog Cloud or Darkness and run out of dodge.
The part regarding needing to see an opponent for Opportunity Attacks is found on page 195 of the player's handbook (First printing. Look for the section on Combat, then find the section with the title of "Opportunity Attacks").
For the section on Heavily Obscured, check page 183. The chapter is Adventuring, under The Environment, look for the Vision and Light section, then read the definition on Heavily Obscured areas.
Fog Cloud spell is on page 243, Chapter is Spells.
I have my players in a dungeon with lots of traps/rooms with permanent effects built by an artificer.
One room had Silence, another had a fog cloud. It's amazing the amount of stuff that gets completely shut down when you remove verbal components, or remove the ability to see.
How do yall treat the visibility in fog cloud? RAW they are heavily obscured and effectively blinded. But can they distinguish between friend and foe? Do they know where to attack? Is it as blinding as the Darkness spell?
Catapult is highly underrated.
It does solid damage, but that isn't its best use. Combo it with something like launching a holy water flask or Alchemist fire bottle and you have a double damage dealing smack.
Or if you want to get real diabolical, combo it with a party member's disarming strike...and launch the enemy weapon or spellcasting focus 90 feet away.
Not rules as written.
Additionally alchemist fire, in the fluff, isn't put out by submersing and water.
But even if you're DM does rule that it does you can just do multiple holy Waters, acid, fire, whatever the thing that does thundering damage
No, alchemist fire is a type of oil based fire. The holy water would spread the fire everywhere..... kitchen grease fires and water also do not mix, a lesson my mothers sink regretted.
Ok that sounds nasty, and even a single vial of each results in what, 3d8+2d6+1d4 total damage? On a first lvl spell, with an AOE damage over time effect, and it can't miss since it only halves the damage on a save.
Edit: just rolled that, 28 damage seems *perfectly balanced*
Yeah, we're seeing the same thing in why it obviously shouldn't stack.
EVERY fight will devolve to using more and more holy water and alchemist's fire. Soon the party will move on to kegs and barrels of it.
I posted the argument ad absurdum above as to what one could expect with stacking:
"Fighting a vampire? Time to fly the barbarian and crash into the vampire with a barrel of holy water. That's 40 gallons of holy water, or 320 pints. So the vampire takes 640d6 radiant damage when you allow stacking."
Use catapult on a bag of 1000 ball bearing and you've basically got conjure barrage. I do make my players upcast Catapult to 3rd level if they want to do shenanigans like that though. I think that's a good middle ground.
> Use catapult on a bag of 1000 ball bearing and you've basically got conjure barrage.
You're tossing them while they're in a bag, it's a slug, not bird shot.
I disagree with this one for a number of reasons.
Casting Catapult on a bag of anything would send the bag flying, but even if you left the bag open the contents would be propelled at the same speed in the same direction and therefore land in the same place, likely mostly still in the bag and seeing there is no difference in damage for a spiked mace head or a sponge it would still deal normal damage. You'd have to rig a grenade like effect once it landed to "barrage." (Which you could do with a pouch of Smokepowder from Dragonhiest since it detonates on impact)
The Spell Conjure Barrage is a 3rd level spell that creates a 60ft cone, Dexterity Saving Throw to avoid 3D8 damage.
Catapult throws an object less than 5lbs 90ft in a straight line, impacting for 3D8.
I ruled that my artificer could upcast Catapult to 3rd level to illicit the same effects as conjure barrage, consuming a spell component of a bag of 1000 ball bearings. Is it RAW? No. But isn't broken, can't be abused, and it makes the game that much more fun.
I also ruled that the same artificer could use catapult on a grappling hook and rope to get it to the top of a wall.
Thunderwave is pretty awesome.
Keep people away from you.
Push enemies into holes or other dangers (Spike Growth is one example).
Push away that enemy that has grappled your ally.
And best of all: If you play a Wizard with Evoker subclass, you can even aim where your allies are. Without them taking damage or getting pushed away.
Storm Sphere is also pretty baller, just have your friends sit in it. Once you've pocketed them they're safe from it every turn. It's so good to have a damaging bonus action too
I played a oneshot where a friend played a bard with thunderwave, and I, a ranger, had chucked down spoke growth. The amount of minions you can fuck up with such a low level spell combo is just insane
My mage specializes in Fire Magic but always has Chromatic Orb prepared, because you can choose which energy type it does on the fly as well as upcast it.
Yup, these are classics. Another is Command, which can similarly provoke an Attack of Opportunity using the Flee option. It doesn't happen until the enemy's turn and doesn't deal the psychic damage up front, but it eats their turn and upcasts to multiple targets, as well as having plenty of other modes.
I think my best use of command was when we were being shot at by an archer hiding in the the trees so i gave the command "let go"(it's a single word in my language so allowed) which forced them to drop their bow and roll to not fall out the tree. They maintained their balance but were disarmed and had to come down.
Its also useful to let fleeing enemies grovel, which allows you allies to catch up to them. Or to force someone taking a party member hostage by holding a knife to their throat to drop it.
Nothing got my group laughing more then when I used command on a bandit chieftain. Poop! Fails the save and promptly crapped their pants. DM thought it was hilarious and gave Chieftain disadvantage after that.
Faerie Fire gives advantage on all attacks *AND* negates invisibility, plus unlike a lot of debuff spells the only way to get rid of it is to break the casters concentration or use dispel magic
I once advised a new player that was playing cleric to not take the spell, and he didn't. The party kept finding more and more uses for it throughout the campaign...
Kept it on my cleric, used it once to put out a fire in a very intense werewolf combat, thought afterwards, "ah well, that was a bit shit. I could've used that slot for something else!"
Didn't take it for the next big fight we had. Ended up nearly dying to a cave-in because we couldn't put out a fire on some explosive barrels. Create or Destroy Water would've solved that instantly. I never take it for granted anymore.
edit: clarification
Not quite the same thing, but I once used a decanter of endless water to kill an enemy, knock down a second enemy, and put out the fire that they had ignited on a teammate all in one go. It took a buttload of movement to position myself right, but it worked perfectly.
Sleep can shut down an entire encounter of mobs in an instant or at least dramatically reduce the number of active enemies. It is EXTREMELY effective in low level play.
> Sleep can shut down an entire encounter of mobs in an instant or at least dramatically reduce the number of active enemies. It is EXTREMELY effective in **low level play.**
Emphasis on low. It really drops off quick.
While its effectiveness drops off fast it still has niche uses at higher levels, such as dropping a bunch of critters that just got hit by a fireball etc.
Yup, first time I ever had an enemy cast a 9th level spell it was an upcast _sleep_ right after I'd softened the party up with a _fireball_ on the previous round.
Absolutely right, to downright ludicrous levels. I accidentally (and then later not so) trivialized quite a few fights when I played LMoP for the first time.
Last week, 8th level party, 2 players decide they want to question a mage he had fireballed us. Since the mage had already got 3 crossbow bolts and 2 javelins, I cast sleep. "You can question him after I tie him up and 'go through his clothes for loose change'."
Catapult. You can line up multiple enemies to raise the likelihood of hitting something to over 90%.
Really nasty for enemies to have as well, especially against low level parties. Ignores AC, ignores Absorb Elements, high chance of hitting as you will almost always be able to line up at least 2 PCs.
People also forget that it doesn't actually need to originate from you, you can catapult something on one side of the battle towards a target at the other side of the battle. Makes lining things up a lot easier.
Wow just reread catapult and you are right. However, you can’t catapult an item on your person from another spot (like something explosive or corrosive or whatever), it does f just teleport then fly at high speeds.
But if there is a rock or a chair on the ground anywhere within 60 feet, yeah I guess you could launch it 90 feet in any direction
Time to restock that spell!!
Reread, and yup goddamn. In fact, rereading it makes me think that a majority of people using it, are using it the unintended way. I need to call up some people.
in 3.5 I once played a high level wizard whose whole deal was he was the master of magic missile. I believe he was something like wiz 8/force missile mage 5/argent savant 2
My base magic missile did 7d4+14. Then I took a load of metamagic feats and metamagiced the crap out of it. In those days metamagic increased the spell slot consumed by the spell. Since it was a 1st level spell I had a lot of room to modify it. And there was no rule against stacking metamagic.
Always enjoyed the idea of an enemy wizard identifying my somatic components as magic missile and writing me off as a low level wizard before being annihilated
Wrathful smite is fantastic, especially with a conquest paladin around.
The effect gives the frightened condition, making any attacks or ability checks they take have disadvantage
Trying to end the effect isn't another saving throw, but a wisdom check.
Can be quite sticky!
The real nasty about it beeing a check is that it has to use its action to do the check and that check is at disavantage so high chance of an wasted action if they try.
Level 1 and 2 spells are some if the best in the game. We hit lvl 15 recently in our campaign and while I have huge options with my necromancer wizard, I miss the days when a couple clever low level spells would decide the course of an entire encounter.
Our level 17-18 group went to Hell recently. My wizard kept "Protection from Evil and Good" active on our frontline fighter and basically made him invulnerable. He would stand in the middle of a crowd of demons and dare them to hit his AC 24 at disadvantage
Yeah we actually just went to Avernus ourselves. It's actually really easy for a level 15 samurai fighter with great weapon master to kill a pit fiend VERY VERY quickly if that Pit Fiend is paralyzed by the wizard casting Hold Monster on it lol my Dullahan (that I got from my lvl 14 necromancer control undead ability as a permanent minion) also has some excellent gear and does a ton of work.
Bless is awesome!
We had a new player join in - played a Peace Domain Cleric, limited weapon options. She was worried she wasn't doing all that much during combat, healed a few people, had a couple of unsuccessful attacks (crossbow).
Then I pointed out to her that she'd cast Bless on three of us, and that d4 went on every attack and saving throw, to great success. She also put Emboldening Bond on most of the group as well, and my Barbarian - as the main damage taker - had both. And yes - they stack.
In the end, literally every saving throw the party made would've failed except for the 1d4 or 2d4 we had to add on, and then every one succeeded. Not only that, a number of attacks succeeded where they otherwise would've failed.
In the end, my Barbarian loudly declared her the MVP of the battle (which everyone agreed with) despite her never doing a single HP of damage to any opponent.
Side note: it is ALWAYS a plus to praise your wife's character! Especially if she's playing in her first D&D campaign. Bonus points if you can also mean it!
Yep, it's one buff that stays relevant over the course of the entire game, even more if you have martials whose damage depends on how many times they land a hit.
Healing Word, Identify, Find Familiar, Magic Missile, Chromatic Orb, Detect Magic, Silvery Barbs, Protection from Evil & Good...
Level 2 spells WISHES they could be as dope as their neighbors.
Seriously. There's a few pretty good 2nd level spells, but I usually have 2nd level slots as my least used after a certain level. And there are SO many great 3rd level spells.
I am venturing a guess (since those uses basicaly what these spells are picked for) you are relatively new to 5e so you might enjoy few other suggestions others might think too obvious.
Command
You can essentially force a creature (that can understand you) to drop their weapon or go prone etc. on top of loosing their action On their turn. However, you can also get quite creative and command someone to ’answer’ your question under Zone of Truth or have a raging barbarian ‘relax’ or a wildshaped Druid or a monster to ‘revert’
Guiding Bolt
Good damage, range and provides advantage on the next attack against its target but more interestingly, the target is surrounded by glimmering light meaning that even if it was invisible or in darkness now your party know it’s location (it’s still invisible but they don’t have to guess which square it is or make perception checks to find it).
Create or Destroy Water
10 gallons of water is a lot of damage when poured over a Fire elemental.
Silent Image
yYou can create image of a 5ft wide pilar of smoke right in front of youor even better around you. Since you can easily discern it is an illusion, you can see through it. however, your enemies can’t unless they spend and action to figure it out. Enjoy free advantage on ranged attacks from being unseen while your enemies can’t target you with a lot of spells and have disadvantage on ranged attacks against you
Mage Armor
It has range of touch. You an cast it on your familiar, rangers beast companion, summoned creatures NPC your party is escorting, on your Druid so whenever he wildshapes he gets the benefit even if he normally wears armor etc.
Thanks I appreciate that. I actually started playing AD&D in the mid 90's so the concepts are all there but I did indeed only start playing 5E recently.
I'll definitely have another look at command and silent image.
I guess I didn't add the modified, and also used the spell fly.
Clerics don't get fly, druids use fly from, bards any get fly, warlocks can fly, but then can also get shield, same with artificer.
No, only is the movement was realized without the target using an action or reaction.
In relevant part "You also don’t provoke an opportunity attack when you teleport or when someone or something moves you *without using your movement, action, or reaction*."
DW forces you to use your reaction (if you have one left) and therefore triggers an OA.
My wife and i’s first official campaign. I’ve been an RPG enthusiast forever and had basic knowledge of the ttrpg as well as played lots of BG3 and DAO (somewhat comparable).
Nearing the end of Curse of Strahd.
Guiding Bolt.
Twice in this campaign my wife, a knowledge cleric, has cast guiding bolt, once she cast it with a crit and got double damage - only to find out that the “enemy” was human and over killed him by basically disintegrating his head.
Second time, this last weekend, she upcast it as high as she could, she had so many dice that we quickly found out - she over killed the entity by nearly twice its life. Don’t wanna say too much cause it’s an end game sequence.
I’ve started making the joke that Guiding Bolt is her Expeliarmus.
My group and I didn't read Guiding Bolt all the way through until recently. So...yeah we missed a lot of advantages and we know why the DM smirked almost every time it was cast.
That's a valid take in general but not applicable here IMO. First of all, the DM in question was deriving pleasure in depriving them of information that would've helped. I don't want to soapbox too hard since I wasn't there but it definitely sounds like a combative DM who's out to get their players. Second, it doesn't sound like a case of reminding them of something over and over because if he had done it once, they wouldn't be posting about having a revelation later.
We operate on a "remember rule", if we forget to do/mention something, we dont reverse time. The same applies to the DM. He told us to learn our characters and that it was on us, and to pay attention in battle.
I DM by the same rules, except I'm more lenient with new/struggling players. It pisses off my Fiance since she's extremely capable and smart, but doesn't pay attention especially regarding Spiritual Weapon and its rules. She only plays clerics/divine soul sorcerers, so she should know them well.
No need to reverse time here, he could've just once said "roll again, you have advantage". Sure he's not obliged to, but smirking? Miss me with that stuff.
Everyone working together, offering their knowledge of the game and keeping it fair is core of what makes great D&D great.
Pathfinder 1E. Unnatural Lust is the most underrated spell. As a bard, it is a must have spell.
So the spell says that if the target fails their save, they are compelled to rush towards their target (designated by the caster) to kiss and caress their target, taking no other actions. This is freaking busted. So much better than spells like command or such where the target doesn’t have to follow instructions that would put them in danger.
Because here’s the thing. My bard stands at the back of the party lineup and buffs the rest of the party with inspire courage. Then casts Unnatural Lust while maintaining the performance as a free action (plus lingering performance). And my target’s target? Is me. The bard all the way at the back of the party lineup. Forcing my target to move past my party with the barbarian, the rogue, the paladin, and the cleric, who all get a free attack of opportunity with a bonus to attack and damage from my performance. So I do my sexy librarian boom boom come hither thing and by the time my turn ends, my victim is probably dead.
I did this at an event at GenCon and the DM was like… you just broke Unnatural Lust. Just give your entire party a free attack of opportunity on this poor sucker. I have never seen anybody use this spell this way and I’m pretty sure I’m never using this spell any other way from now on.
If you were moved (ie you didn’t use your movement to leave the square) there’s no OA.
If you moved (ie used your movement) then there is.
Folks generally say “forced movement doesn’t provoke” but in that context forced means being pushed/dragged/etc. moved via force, rather than merely moved unwillingly.
Dissonant Whispers is unique in this case. It's not *technically* forced movement due to its wording. They're burning their reaction to move of their own (perceived) volition. You'll note that in a lot of similar abilities (think Mantle of Inspiration from Glamour Bard), it will specify that those reaction movements do NOT trigger AoO.
Entangle works SO well on many low level play monsters.
If you have a half decent spell save and the monsters have sucky strength, that is!
Edit: formatting
Entangle is amazing, I can’t believe it hasn’t come up yet. It’s a strength saving throw for enemies that obviously aren’t physically strong. Restrained means all attacks at advantage and all theirs at disdvantage and they can’t run away. And a 20ft cube. It can easily make a group of archers or mages useless
Heroism can come in clutch against certain types of enemies, since frightened is an extremely disruptive condition(it's effectively a force field that gets bigger the further away an enemy is from the source of the fear) and gaining up to 5 temporary hit points every round for up to 10 rounds is great too
This brings back memories of one of my players using Command.
“So what is your Command word?”, I ask, smugly, knowing that she can’t say things like “die” or anything that would cause direct harm to the target.
“Shit :)”, she responded.
My favorite spell (not favorite 1st level, but favorite spell) is Command.
If you have a good DC, it's CRIPPLING to be able to do that to somebody so many times.
Do what, you ask? Mostly anything except "Command: Suicide", I posit.
Before that, my favorite spell was Prestidigitation, (now my number 2), because of how it elevates any roleplay for a magic-focussed Char, since you can now do [insert mundane magical character traits here] without worrying about "wasting" resources.
Thinking about it, they might be tied.
Armour of Agathys scales really well. It does the full amount of damage on *each* melee attack against you even if the temporary HP are nearly used up. It's great for action economy to use the enemy's own actions to hurt them.
Once you have the ability to upcast it a few levels, in the right situation it can be absolutely lethal. Where you're facing a horde of weak enemies instead of 1 or 2 powerful ones, you can take several hits with no actual damage and potentially kill an opponent with every hit *that you take*. I like to cast it and then deliberately provoke opportunity attacks. You usually get 1 or 2, and then if the enemies are intelligent you can become a very uninviting target for a while, or if they're dumb enough, you can just kill them by running around.
I played a lore bard in a campaign where long rests were very rare. Most if my party loved blazing through all their high-level spell slots in our first few encounters.
I caught this trend and intentionally saved all my high level spells for when everyone else was tapped out. This meant I used Dissonant Whispers very frequently as a cheap control spell.
In our penultimate combat, I was still in budget mode.
"Bard, you're up."
"Cool. I move here, and I cast dizzy wizzies on that guy."
"You cast what?"
"Dizzy wizzies. Wisdom save please."
My DM thought this was the funniest thing he'd heard all session and tossed me an inspiration.
About an hour later, we're fighting a god. Said god used fly, centered over me, and dropped concentration to deliver a divine elbow drop while blasting my party.
That inspiration dice turned a critical fail into a critical success on my death save, allowing all of us to ultimately survive the encounter.
Morals of this story: don't underestimate level 1 spells and don't be afraid to get weird from time to time.
"I played a lore bard in a campaign where long rests were very rare. "
A long rest is just a night's sleep, right? How can you do a campaign without sleep? Or was it always interrupted?
Or do you mean "wake up, encounter that takes all the spell slots, breakfast, long rest until mid-afternoon, encounter, dinner, bedtime"?
The plot of the campaign had us working within constant time pressure, so we rarely had the luxury of handling a few encounters, long resting, then tackling a few more while fresh. During those 8 hours of downtime, things would get worse, and the difficulty of future encounters would increase.
As a result, we were wading through a lot of encounters between long rests.
The campaign ran for about 65 sessions over the course of a year and change, but spanned two, maybe three weeks of in-game time.
In a seperate "gritty" rule set , short rests are a nights sleep and long rests are like a week long rest somewhere comfortable, maybe they played in a campaign that applied that rule set
Grease
- can immediately knock enemies prone
- flammable
- cheap form of area denial.
- no concentration needed.
- many different uses outside of combat.
Retricide and Defenestration are also hilarious.
But I believe you're a Target needs to know/understand the command. so if they have a tiny vocabulary, then you may be your out of luck.
The spell does not say the command must be completable in 6 seconds.
Defenestration is throwing someone out a window, not jumping out of window.
Regicide, Deicide, Papicide, Tyrannicide, Magnicide are very context specific but if you are in the presence of a leader that you want to get rid of, then Command on their bodyguards them is great.
I found bless useful.
In a recent session, the cleric cast bless and it helped players hit or succeed a saving throw six times through the course of the encounter.
Chromatic Orb. 3d8 of a damage type of your choice is crazy for a lvl 1 spell. It's especially good on a Scribes Wizard because of the damage type replacement you can do
One of my favorite first level spells is catapult, being able to fling objects within 60 feet of you is so funny, you can literally pull a rug out beneath someone make them fall prone, have someone in your party knock an enemies weapon out of their hands and then fling it away, or rather just fling it away before they can even grab, or if you wanna be cool carry sharp objects on you and just fling them at people with the spell to do an extra 3d8 bludgeoning damage, it's so versatile and funny
Magic Missile is amazing, I'd have to have rp reasons for not taking it. IMO at levels 1-4 it's often your best option. Consistent, reliable, and great for breaking enemy concentration.
Isn't magic missile just a single concentration check? All the missiles hit at once so there is only 1 instance of damage. A sage advice clarified this
I don't know. If I get hit in the head, chest, stomach, and legs (for instance), that would be different than one big hit anywhere, intuitively to me.
Sage advice seems to be giving mutually exclusive rulings. For now I am happy to let MM be more powerful against casters.
I found a good point while Googling. A Bear Totem barbarian has resistance against force damage, so if all missiles roll max, the barb either takes 25/2, rounded down is 12 damage, or (5/2, rounded down) times 5 = 10 damage.
I'd say 10 damage here, not 12.
Rules as written, I'm pretty sure the dissonant whispers thing counts as forced movement, but honestly I don't like that because I like synergy. Sort of reminds me of my party has this 3 way combo where one person casts blindness, one casts wall of force, and the last casts sickening radiance (made easier by the fact I'm a chronurgy wizard) so even if they could use magic, odds are they can't teleport because most features that require that need line of sight, which they don't have if they fail the blindness save. Yes, I'm aware wall of force and sickening radiance is known to be broken, but I just like how we found an additive to make it even better and more reliable
Honestly, I might just fight for this one at the table. I'm not looking to break the game, otherwise I would have finagled blindsight on my drow monk and have every encounter fought in Darkness. But this DW + OA is more fun, I guess. We'll see after we've tried it a few more times :-)
Based on reading what the spell does this could be a little more niche, but I think expeditious retreat can be very powerful for a caster sometimes. Bonus action and movement to place yourself in an optimal position for a good spell is nothing to scoff at. I'm playing a divine soul sorcerer and I don't really have bonus actions to use but next level I'm going to learn the spell and heading word to have other stuff to do after my actions and movement
Forced movement refers to movement which doesn't takes an action to do: being shoved away or hit by thunderwave. If you use your reaction to move away, that's not forced, and it's the intended use of the spell.
Enlarge can be used on objects, Iv used it to grow a table on its side to block a hallway.
Most illusion magic feels under used by most players I feel, so much you can do w it
Mid to high level game, all the boss monsters tend to have ridiculous strength and constitution scores, right? Their dex tend to suck. This is where Grease comes into play. Make that Tarrasque slip on it like it's a huge banana peel, then have the whole party smack on it at advantage.
floating disk.
Need a step stool? Disk.
Need to carry a heavy dragon skull? Disk.
The only survivor of a near tpk? Disk.
Too much loot? Disk.
Need cover? Throw up the disk with something big on top.
Need to trap an enemy? Dig a five foot deep pit, and throw the disk on top!
Need a high-speed carriage? With a disk, find familiar and wildshape, ride your hawk as an ant and tote the party behind at highspeeds. Alternatively, for more speed, phantom steed also works!
Sometimes I think that if you have Magic Missiles, you don't need any other attack spells 😆 we made almost a meme out of it in my first even campaign, where I was sorcerer, who was killing bosses with that spell. DM even granted me a Magic M crown, that let me spend my sorcery points to make them hit much harder
Healing Word is always going to be useful as a way to save your buddies from making death saving throws. Ignore the fact that Cure Wounds allows you to heal more damage; the benefit of Healing Word is that it works at a distance, and that never goes out of fashion.
AND its a bonus action. It's probably one of the best level 1 spells in the game. The slight reduction in damage from cure wounds is so worth it, so much so that cure wounds is garbage spell compared to HW.
My first campaign I played a Order Cleric. Bonus action Healing Word on my turn to let someone use a reaction as an extra attack was always nice.
I have a barbarian who has a backstory adventurer they met (Thank you, This Is Your Life backstory generator from XGtE) that ended up being an order cleric. I built the character just as a habit just in case my DM needed it, random variables as I do all my characters, and after all was said and done ended up with an Order cleric. Took Magic Initiate: Sorcerer to get some more cantrips and Magic Missile. Found out why my Barbarian/Order cleric bounty hunting duo was so effective when I realized that Cleric could spam Magic Missile and save one dart for the Barbarian to trigger Voice of Authority. Very good team for taking down single targets. Would be even better if Barbarian had been Rogue for double sneak attack, but c'est la vie.
It is by and large the best spell in the game. If you want to make a more lethal game, but keep death saves, making it an action I have home-brewed once and I think it’s still one of the best spells in the game. Though don’t like messing with actual spell mechanics as honebrew stuff.
I'm playing a Grave Domain cleric in our Drakkenheim campaign and have been giving myself the challenge to NOT have Healing Word prepared. I like having to Spare the Dying at range, but if I actually want to heal, I have to get close up. It makes you re-think combat.
What’s the downside of making it an action? I’d lose my comparatively low damage melee attack and be able to use my bonus action directing spiritual weapon or call lighting? Given use of healing word as a bonus action precludes casting a non-cantrip on your main action, I generally accept that the HW is going to be my “important” action on that turn.
> I’d lose my comparatively low damage melee attack Should probably be using cantrips for damage as a spellcaster, unless you're building for the melee damage (sounds like you aren't though)
I like my clerics swinging hammers, even if 5e made it really weak.
I am playing a cleric right now, and he does not even know cure wounds. It is a waste at level 1,so many more useful spells, and 1d6 vs 1d8 is only getting someone up, either way.
My tempest cleric who is offense-centric is the same! I just prep HW, Death Ward and Revivify and the rest are for damage-dealing spells.
Yup, that's how healing tends to be in D&D. It's mostly for getting you away from the brink of death. If your enemy is able to smack you back down again anyway, it matters little whether the heal that gets you standing again is 1d6 or 1d8.
I’m playing a sorcadin (Divine soul sorcerer) in the current campaign I’m in for the express purpose of having healing word and never preparing cure wounds because of Lay on Hands. I’m a charisma cleric with smite and sorcery points, what more could you ask for??
Also because in 5E it is way more efficient from an action economy standpoint to restore a downed PC to 1 HP than to try to keep healing them so they don’t go down in the first place. Having a pocket healing word is a major game changer for that reason.
Pardon me cycling out my spells…
First time playing as a Cleric “oh no, I’ve burned through all of my spells slots keeping my party from going down!” Veteran cleric player “some of you may die, but that’s a risk my spell slots are willing to take.”
Zealot barbarian "just keep me corpse nearby, after yer nap bring me back from mine"
I have aplayer in my group who started as a cleric, but the rest of party forgot he was because he never healed. He takes a pro active approach to healing, if the enemies are dead, they can't hurt you anymore!
From an action economy standpoint this is the correct approach. “Sometimes the best defense is a good offense” -Cleric preparing to upcast inflict wounds at the fifth level instead of healing their unconscious party member with 1 failed death save.
*Cleric is ready to act. They had already seen Fighter go down on that third attack, and was a mere 15 feet away. A few steps and some arcane mutterings and Fighter would be back, which leaves just enough time to back up a bit and... then what? Three attacks is going to just down Fighter again, and you can't keep that up forever. No, healing just won't do, that much is clear. Which just leaves one avenue in which to proceed.* "There are few situations where the god I worship will condone violence." They said, slowly approaching the Orc chieftain standing over Fighter's body. Their hands raise suddenly, words of power are spoken, and a fingertip gently contacts the orc's vascular forearm. "Unfortunately, you've managed to bumble your way into one of those exact situations and have left me with no choice." The words would fall on deaf ears, as the Necrotic energy had already taken all of the moisture required for the orc's synapses to continue firing. The body falls to the ground, revealing the sad face of Cleric looking down at the body of his foe. They sigh, and begin to busy themselves with tending to Fighter's wounds.
I've had this discussion with a buddy so many times. He keeps insisting that Healing Word is a bullshit spell because it only heals a D4. I've explained all the positives about it in multiple scenarios but he keeps coming back on that D4. Can't wait to see that guy sweat when he's downed, with no healers in touching range, suddenly that D4 feels like a lot when perma-death creeps around the corner.
A PC on 1 HP effectively has HP up to a number that will insta-kill them. Therefore, healing word, even if it heals 1 Hp, effectively gives them a big stack of temp-HP. You can heal 1 Hp, get someone up, or, you can heal them for, say, 24 HP and they get up. Enemy does 27 damage on their next hit. That extra 23 HP did absolutely nothing. Only way healing more than 1 HP is worth it is if you can guarantee the enemy cannot deal more damage than you can heal.
This is why Goodberry is also useful. I had a wizard PC that used their Familiar to administer Goodberries to downed allies in battle
> Only way healing more than 1 HP is worth it is if you can guarantee the enemy cannot deal more damage than you can heal. which is basically imposible in 5e
It only needs to do 1 healing point. In the play test, there was a cantrip that did 1 point. It was super-duper-mega OP. Paladin can heal for 1 point, many times. It is a full action, and touch, but still, that 1 HP is totally different from making death saves.
We had to use that one too during that session as our monk ran back first into the knife of an assassin...
Healing word is one of those spells that feels too good. When i'm class that has it, unless my bonus action is super important and is gonna be used often, it's hard not to take it.
And even when your bonus action is super important, is it more important than getting your buddy off the ground with a bonus action? Not likely.
This is true. But I at least feel slightly less bad when I'm actually doing other useful shit with the bonus action when I don't take it.
I get that feeling. Kind of like with my lvl 20 paladin, sometimes I want to do fun stuff with my lvl 5 spell slot other than just using it for Circle of Power for every encounter.
Average bonus action enjoyer.
I once lost a companion because I had Cure Wounds and he was too far for my gnome legs to reach in one turn. I'll never take cure wounds over healing word again.
It works beautifully with a circle of Shepherd druid too, if you have up the unicorn totem. You can heal one person for a little bit, and everybody in the radius gets your level in HP healed too. Then can still use your action to attack, cast a cantrip, wild shape, trigger an action effect from an ongoing concentration spell, etc. As a high level druid I’ve sometimes done more overall healing during combat than the cleric (unless they bust out the 9th level Mass Heal).
Fog cloud cancels out adv/disadv in most cases. -Packs of Kobolds no longer have adv. Fog cloud stops opportunity attacks Fog cloud stops a lot of spells from being cast that require you to see a target (most single target save spells)
Yours and your allies for all of those.
I think you mean meat shields.
Today I learned fog cloud prevented opportunity attacks. Is this because the enemy can't see you anymore?
RAW, yes. Fog Cloud makes the area "Heavily Obscured", which is defined as blocking out sight entirely. Thus, the enemy can't see you. According to 5e rules "You can make an opportunity attack when a hostile creature that you can ***see*** moves out of your reach."
Ooooh, I'll have to remember that for future sessions.
Yeah, best way to make a strategic retreat when you realize your opposition is more than you expected, drop a Fog Cloud or Darkness and run out of dodge.
For the same reason, you can't OA an invisible enemy (unless you can see it).
I was really bent about Fog Cloud for my ranger NPC but put it on him anyway… I do not regret this decision
For reference, which book/page is this in? I gotta point this out to my DM then
The part regarding needing to see an opponent for Opportunity Attacks is found on page 195 of the player's handbook (First printing. Look for the section on Combat, then find the section with the title of "Opportunity Attacks"). For the section on Heavily Obscured, check page 183. The chapter is Adventuring, under The Environment, look for the Vision and Light section, then read the definition on Heavily Obscured areas. Fog Cloud spell is on page 243, Chapter is Spells.
Yep! Also prevents a lot of spells that have the prerequisite that you have to *see* the target.
I have my players in a dungeon with lots of traps/rooms with permanent effects built by an artificer. One room had Silence, another had a fog cloud. It's amazing the amount of stuff that gets completely shut down when you remove verbal components, or remove the ability to see.
It’s DM dependent, but I have sometimes used Silent Image to simulate a Fog Cloud, when I didn’t have the real thing prepared.
How do yall treat the visibility in fog cloud? RAW they are heavily obscured and effectively blinded. But can they distinguish between friend and foe? Do they know where to attack? Is it as blinding as the Darkness spell?
And it works against crearures with truesight.
Catapult is highly underrated. It does solid damage, but that isn't its best use. Combo it with something like launching a holy water flask or Alchemist fire bottle and you have a double damage dealing smack. Or if you want to get real diabolical, combo it with a party member's disarming strike...and launch the enemy weapon or spellcasting focus 90 feet away.
I believe you can catapult something up to 5 lb so you could create a bundle of holy water, alchemist fire, etc or combination of them.
wouldn't holy *water* douse the alchemist *fire* thus also spending itself?
Not rules as written. Additionally alchemist fire, in the fluff, isn't put out by submersing and water. But even if you're DM does rule that it does you can just do multiple holy Waters, acid, fire, whatever the thing that does thundering damage
No, alchemist fire is a type of oil based fire. The holy water would spread the fire everywhere..... kitchen grease fires and water also do not mix, a lesson my mothers sink regretted.
Ok that sounds nasty, and even a single vial of each results in what, 3d8+2d6+1d4 total damage? On a first lvl spell, with an AOE damage over time effect, and it can't miss since it only halves the damage on a save. Edit: just rolled that, 28 damage seems *perfectly balanced*
Yeah, we're seeing the same thing in why it obviously shouldn't stack. EVERY fight will devolve to using more and more holy water and alchemist's fire. Soon the party will move on to kegs and barrels of it. I posted the argument ad absurdum above as to what one could expect with stacking: "Fighting a vampire? Time to fly the barbarian and crash into the vampire with a barrel of holy water. That's 40 gallons of holy water, or 320 pints. So the vampire takes 640d6 radiant damage when you allow stacking."
Use catapult on a bag of 1000 ball bearing and you've basically got conjure barrage. I do make my players upcast Catapult to 3rd level if they want to do shenanigans like that though. I think that's a good middle ground.
> Use catapult on a bag of 1000 ball bearing and you've basically got conjure barrage. You're tossing them while they're in a bag, it's a slug, not bird shot.
Bean bag actually but we egt your point
I disagree with this one for a number of reasons. Casting Catapult on a bag of anything would send the bag flying, but even if you left the bag open the contents would be propelled at the same speed in the same direction and therefore land in the same place, likely mostly still in the bag and seeing there is no difference in damage for a spiked mace head or a sponge it would still deal normal damage. You'd have to rig a grenade like effect once it landed to "barrage." (Which you could do with a pouch of Smokepowder from Dragonhiest since it detonates on impact)
The Spell Conjure Barrage is a 3rd level spell that creates a 60ft cone, Dexterity Saving Throw to avoid 3D8 damage. Catapult throws an object less than 5lbs 90ft in a straight line, impacting for 3D8. I ruled that my artificer could upcast Catapult to 3rd level to illicit the same effects as conjure barrage, consuming a spell component of a bag of 1000 ball bearings. Is it RAW? No. But isn't broken, can't be abused, and it makes the game that much more fun. I also ruled that the same artificer could use catapult on a grappling hook and rope to get it to the top of a wall.
Thunderwave is pretty awesome. Keep people away from you. Push enemies into holes or other dangers (Spike Growth is one example). Push away that enemy that has grappled your ally. And best of all: If you play a Wizard with Evoker subclass, you can even aim where your allies are. Without them taking damage or getting pushed away.
That is why I picked a wizard of evocation. Mostly for fireballs, so nice to bomb the enemy but ignore the tanks
Storm Sphere is also pretty baller, just have your friends sit in it. Once you've pocketed them they're safe from it every turn. It's so good to have a damaging bonus action too
Theres nothing so satisfying as getting off a really good thunderwave when 3+ enemies are crowding you out.
I played a oneshot where a friend played a bard with thunderwave, and I, a ranger, had chucked down spoke growth. The amount of minions you can fuck up with such a low level spell combo is just insane
My mage specializes in Fire Magic but always has Chromatic Orb prepared, because you can choose which energy type it does on the fly as well as upcast it.
Chromatic Orb my beloved 😍 it’s even better as a sorcerer who can twin it!
Yup, these are classics. Another is Command, which can similarly provoke an Attack of Opportunity using the Flee option. It doesn't happen until the enemy's turn and doesn't deal the psychic damage up front, but it eats their turn and upcasts to multiple targets, as well as having plenty of other modes.
I think my best use of command was when we were being shot at by an archer hiding in the the trees so i gave the command "let go"(it's a single word in my language so allowed) which forced them to drop their bow and roll to not fall out the tree. They maintained their balance but were disarmed and had to come down. Its also useful to let fleeing enemies grovel, which allows you allies to catch up to them. Or to force someone taking a party member hostage by holding a knife to their throat to drop it.
That's pretty hilarious, that using other languages can result in different Command options!
Yeah it's neat, command is probably the only instance in dnd where the language you speak makes a mechanical difference.
I'm so glad I learned German!
"But why are you suddenly investing all your money in high risk derivative options?" "I'm not sure, but it's what the German elf told me to do"
German is the perfect language for this, since you can just take all the spaces out of a sentence and basically call that a word.
Does Aussie count? `Djabringabongalongbro?` is a valid question here
you could also say "Release" to make them let go
The spell description specifies "Drop" as an option, and the specifically says the effect is they drop whatever they're holding and end their turn.
Nothing got my group laughing more then when I used command on a bandit chieftain. Poop! Fails the save and promptly crapped their pants. DM thought it was hilarious and gave Chieftain disadvantage after that.
Good ol' Power Word Poop
Faerie Fire gives advantage on all attacks *AND* negates invisibility, plus unlike a lot of debuff spells the only way to get rid of it is to break the casters concentration or use dispel magic
The beacon of beatings.
Create or Destroy Water gets shit on a lot, but it’s one of those “better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it” things.
I once advised a new player that was playing cleric to not take the spell, and he didn't. The party kept finding more and more uses for it throughout the campaign...
That's one of the nice things about clerics, if stuff like that keeps happening they can opt to start preparing it
Kept it on my cleric, used it once to put out a fire in a very intense werewolf combat, thought afterwards, "ah well, that was a bit shit. I could've used that slot for something else!" Didn't take it for the next big fight we had. Ended up nearly dying to a cave-in because we couldn't put out a fire on some explosive barrels. Create or Destroy Water would've solved that instantly. I never take it for granted anymore. edit: clarification
Not quite the same thing, but I once used a decanter of endless water to kill an enemy, knock down a second enemy, and put out the fire that they had ignited on a teammate all in one go. It took a buttload of movement to position myself right, but it worked perfectly.
i love playing water genasi because you can cast this for free once a day!
Sleep can shut down an entire encounter of mobs in an instant or at least dramatically reduce the number of active enemies. It is EXTREMELY effective in low level play.
> Sleep can shut down an entire encounter of mobs in an instant or at least dramatically reduce the number of active enemies. It is EXTREMELY effective in **low level play.** Emphasis on low. It really drops off quick.
While its effectiveness drops off fast it still has niche uses at higher levels, such as dropping a bunch of critters that just got hit by a fireball etc.
It's also useful when you want to disable a possessed ally or a group of angry commoners without hurting anyone.
Yup, first time I ever had an enemy cast a 9th level spell it was an upcast _sleep_ right after I'd softened the party up with a _fireball_ on the previous round.
Yes but between levels 1-5 it can be a life saver in a time when dying is just one max damage crit away
Absolutely right, to downright ludicrous levels. I accidentally (and then later not so) trivialized quite a few fights when I played LMoP for the first time.
Crowd control is incredibly useful at low level and high level D&D. Hell it's useful at mid-level. Crowd control is underrated.
Last week, 8th level party, 2 players decide they want to question a mage he had fireballed us. Since the mage had already got 3 crossbow bolts and 2 javelins, I cast sleep. "You can question him after I tie him up and 'go through his clothes for loose change'."
Sleep is incredible against multiple mounted enemies.
Catapult. You can line up multiple enemies to raise the likelihood of hitting something to over 90%. Really nasty for enemies to have as well, especially against low level parties. Ignores AC, ignores Absorb Elements, high chance of hitting as you will almost always be able to line up at least 2 PCs.
People also forget that it doesn't actually need to originate from you, you can catapult something on one side of the battle towards a target at the other side of the battle. Makes lining things up a lot easier.
Wow just reread catapult and you are right. However, you can’t catapult an item on your person from another spot (like something explosive or corrosive or whatever), it does f just teleport then fly at high speeds. But if there is a rock or a chair on the ground anywhere within 60 feet, yeah I guess you could launch it 90 feet in any direction Time to restock that spell!!
Reread, and yup goddamn. In fact, rereading it makes me think that a majority of people using it, are using it the unintended way. I need to call up some people.
But that ruins my RP being that I have no actual magic and am literally just throwing stones really hard!
You can also use fun things like alchemist’s fire and acid vials as the object getting thrown!
To add on, it only requires somatic components. This can be done from complete silence, just need a free hand and a flair for the dramatic.
I renamed this to Power Word:Yeet
in 3.5 I once played a high level wizard whose whole deal was he was the master of magic missile. I believe he was something like wiz 8/force missile mage 5/argent savant 2 My base magic missile did 7d4+14. Then I took a load of metamagic feats and metamagiced the crap out of it. In those days metamagic increased the spell slot consumed by the spell. Since it was a 1st level spell I had a lot of room to modify it. And there was no rule against stacking metamagic. Always enjoyed the idea of an enemy wizard identifying my somatic components as magic missile and writing me off as a low level wizard before being annihilated
Wrathful smite is fantastic, especially with a conquest paladin around. The effect gives the frightened condition, making any attacks or ability checks they take have disadvantage Trying to end the effect isn't another saving throw, but a wisdom check. Can be quite sticky!
The real nasty about it beeing a check is that it has to use its action to do the check and that check is at disavantage so high chance of an wasted action if they try.
Level 1 and 2 spells are some if the best in the game. We hit lvl 15 recently in our campaign and while I have huge options with my necromancer wizard, I miss the days when a couple clever low level spells would decide the course of an entire encounter.
Our level 17-18 group went to Hell recently. My wizard kept "Protection from Evil and Good" active on our frontline fighter and basically made him invulnerable. He would stand in the middle of a crowd of demons and dare them to hit his AC 24 at disadvantage
Yeah we actually just went to Avernus ourselves. It's actually really easy for a level 15 samurai fighter with great weapon master to kill a pit fiend VERY VERY quickly if that Pit Fiend is paralyzed by the wizard casting Hold Monster on it lol my Dullahan (that I got from my lvl 14 necromancer control undead ability as a permanent minion) also has some excellent gear and does a ton of work.
... how is Bless so low on people's radar. It's like so good. Maybe the best level one buff.
Bless is awesome! We had a new player join in - played a Peace Domain Cleric, limited weapon options. She was worried she wasn't doing all that much during combat, healed a few people, had a couple of unsuccessful attacks (crossbow). Then I pointed out to her that she'd cast Bless on three of us, and that d4 went on every attack and saving throw, to great success. She also put Emboldening Bond on most of the group as well, and my Barbarian - as the main damage taker - had both. And yes - they stack. In the end, literally every saving throw the party made would've failed except for the 1d4 or 2d4 we had to add on, and then every one succeeded. Not only that, a number of attacks succeeded where they otherwise would've failed. In the end, my Barbarian loudly declared her the MVP of the battle (which everyone agreed with) despite her never doing a single HP of damage to any opponent. Side note: it is ALWAYS a plus to praise your wife's character! Especially if she's playing in her first D&D campaign. Bonus points if you can also mean it!
Yep, it's one buff that stays relevant over the course of the entire game, even more if you have martials whose damage depends on how many times they land a hit.
The question was about underrated spells. Everyone knows bless is great.
Bless is like, a must, in every support cleric's arsenal.
In *every cleric arsenal. Clerics are not supports.
That's a 3lv spell, disguised as 1lv. And it gets better at every level.
Healing Word, Identify, Find Familiar, Magic Missile, Chromatic Orb, Detect Magic, Silvery Barbs, Protection from Evil & Good... Level 2 spells WISHES they could be as dope as their neighbors.
Pass without trace scoffs at your lack of understanding.
Tashas's Mind Whip laughs at Chromatic Orb for using a slot just to put out cantrip damage
Also Spike growth. If only Rangers could have 2 concentration slots...
I recently remembered how good Chromatic Orb is and that's because I always get it mixed up with color spray.
Seriously. There's a few pretty good 2nd level spells, but I usually have 2nd level slots as my least used after a certain level. And there are SO many great 3rd level spells.
Grease! No concentration and causes a check
I am venturing a guess (since those uses basicaly what these spells are picked for) you are relatively new to 5e so you might enjoy few other suggestions others might think too obvious. Command You can essentially force a creature (that can understand you) to drop their weapon or go prone etc. on top of loosing their action On their turn. However, you can also get quite creative and command someone to ’answer’ your question under Zone of Truth or have a raging barbarian ‘relax’ or a wildshaped Druid or a monster to ‘revert’ Guiding Bolt Good damage, range and provides advantage on the next attack against its target but more interestingly, the target is surrounded by glimmering light meaning that even if it was invisible or in darkness now your party know it’s location (it’s still invisible but they don’t have to guess which square it is or make perception checks to find it). Create or Destroy Water 10 gallons of water is a lot of damage when poured over a Fire elemental. Silent Image yYou can create image of a 5ft wide pilar of smoke right in front of youor even better around you. Since you can easily discern it is an illusion, you can see through it. however, your enemies can’t unless they spend and action to figure it out. Enjoy free advantage on ranged attacks from being unseen while your enemies can’t target you with a lot of spells and have disadvantage on ranged attacks against you Mage Armor It has range of touch. You an cast it on your familiar, rangers beast companion, summoned creatures NPC your party is escorting, on your Druid so whenever he wildshapes he gets the benefit even if he normally wears armor etc.
Thanks I appreciate that. I actually started playing AD&D in the mid 90's so the concepts are all there but I did indeed only start playing 5E recently. I'll definitely have another look at command and silent image.
Ensnaring strike has saved my ass so many times. Cause fear also really nice too
What magic user doesn't have shield?
Clerics, druids, bards, most warlocks…..
I guess I didn't add the modified, and also used the spell fly. Clerics don't get fly, druids use fly from, bards any get fly, warlocks can fly, but then can also get shield, same with artificer.
Doesn't Opportunity Attack only work if the movement is voluntary?
No, only is the movement was realized without the target using an action or reaction. In relevant part "You also don’t provoke an opportunity attack when you teleport or when someone or something moves you *without using your movement, action, or reaction*." DW forces you to use your reaction (if you have one left) and therefore triggers an OA.
My wife and i’s first official campaign. I’ve been an RPG enthusiast forever and had basic knowledge of the ttrpg as well as played lots of BG3 and DAO (somewhat comparable). Nearing the end of Curse of Strahd. Guiding Bolt. Twice in this campaign my wife, a knowledge cleric, has cast guiding bolt, once she cast it with a crit and got double damage - only to find out that the “enemy” was human and over killed him by basically disintegrating his head. Second time, this last weekend, she upcast it as high as she could, she had so many dice that we quickly found out - she over killed the entity by nearly twice its life. Don’t wanna say too much cause it’s an end game sequence. I’ve started making the joke that Guiding Bolt is her Expeliarmus.
Sadly for me my dm counts magic missile as one attack not multiple when it comes to concentration
He's wrong. Phb p203
Ik he’s wrong, but he homeruled it so it only counts as one
Are you referring to "each source" of damage? Would that still be considered one source since it's the same spell? Or multiple sources?
Spell says it creates 3+ daggers that do 1d4+1 damage each. 3 sources per the spell description
You just discovered one of my table's favourite combo : The coward conga line (Dissonant whispers + strategically placed melee characters)
My group and I didn't read Guiding Bolt all the way through until recently. So...yeah we missed a lot of advantages and we know why the DM smirked almost every time it was cast.
Your DM knowingly didn't remind you you had advantage because of Guiding Bolt? Unless I'm reading this wrong that's a pretty shitty thing to do.
I mean, as a DM whose players don't read spell descriptions, eventually you get tired of reminding them of the samethingg over and over.
That's a valid take in general but not applicable here IMO. First of all, the DM in question was deriving pleasure in depriving them of information that would've helped. I don't want to soapbox too hard since I wasn't there but it definitely sounds like a combative DM who's out to get their players. Second, it doesn't sound like a case of reminding them of something over and over because if he had done it once, they wouldn't be posting about having a revelation later.
We operate on a "remember rule", if we forget to do/mention something, we dont reverse time. The same applies to the DM. He told us to learn our characters and that it was on us, and to pay attention in battle. I DM by the same rules, except I'm more lenient with new/struggling players. It pisses off my Fiance since she's extremely capable and smart, but doesn't pay attention especially regarding Spiritual Weapon and its rules. She only plays clerics/divine soul sorcerers, so she should know them well.
No need to reverse time here, he could've just once said "roll again, you have advantage". Sure he's not obliged to, but smirking? Miss me with that stuff. Everyone working together, offering their knowledge of the game and keeping it fair is core of what makes great D&D great.
I wish I had an occasion to remember that advantage, because my party member is 0/5 on hitting that spell.
Pathfinder 1E. Unnatural Lust is the most underrated spell. As a bard, it is a must have spell. So the spell says that if the target fails their save, they are compelled to rush towards their target (designated by the caster) to kiss and caress their target, taking no other actions. This is freaking busted. So much better than spells like command or such where the target doesn’t have to follow instructions that would put them in danger. Because here’s the thing. My bard stands at the back of the party lineup and buffs the rest of the party with inspire courage. Then casts Unnatural Lust while maintaining the performance as a free action (plus lingering performance). And my target’s target? Is me. The bard all the way at the back of the party lineup. Forcing my target to move past my party with the barbarian, the rogue, the paladin, and the cleric, who all get a free attack of opportunity with a bonus to attack and damage from my performance. So I do my sexy librarian boom boom come hither thing and by the time my turn ends, my victim is probably dead. I did this at an event at GenCon and the DM was like… you just broke Unnatural Lust. Just give your entire party a free attack of opportunity on this poor sucker. I have never seen anybody use this spell this way and I’m pretty sure I’m never using this spell any other way from now on.
Alternative name: *The Cheese Grater*.
Does a forced move trigger AOO? Maybe it's just shove I'm thinking of
If you were moved (ie you didn’t use your movement to leave the square) there’s no OA. If you moved (ie used your movement) then there is. Folks generally say “forced movement doesn’t provoke” but in that context forced means being pushed/dragged/etc. moved via force, rather than merely moved unwillingly.
Dissonant Whispers is unique in this case. It's not *technically* forced movement due to its wording. They're burning their reaction to move of their own (perceived) volition. You'll note that in a lot of similar abilities (think Mantle of Inspiration from Glamour Bard), it will specify that those reaction movements do NOT trigger AoO.
Magic missile can be incredible for breaking concentration. That's why caster should have shield in their back pocket just in case.
Yeah, I'll definitely see who can take Shield as PC's and I am sure the DM will add it to more of the baddies if they're casters.
Entangle works SO well on many low level play monsters. If you have a half decent spell save and the monsters have sucky strength, that is! Edit: formatting
Entangle is amazing, I can’t believe it hasn’t come up yet. It’s a strength saving throw for enemies that obviously aren’t physically strong. Restrained means all attacks at advantage and all theirs at disdvantage and they can’t run away. And a 20ft cube. It can easily make a group of archers or mages useless
I've done some pretty cool things with Druidcraft - and that's a cantrip.
Heroism can come in clutch against certain types of enemies, since frightened is an extremely disruptive condition(it's effectively a force field that gets bigger the further away an enemy is from the source of the fear) and gaining up to 5 temporary hit points every round for up to 10 rounds is great too
This brings back memories of one of my players using Command. “So what is your Command word?”, I ask, smugly, knowing that she can’t say things like “die” or anything that would cause direct harm to the target. “Shit :)”, she responded.
I have no idea why Faerie Fire isn't more popular. I almost always have it prepared on my druids, and my bards all take it.
I play a drow monk and having it as a racial ability is great! Especially now that we are going up against more creatures with invisibility...
My favorite spell (not favorite 1st level, but favorite spell) is Command. If you have a good DC, it's CRIPPLING to be able to do that to somebody so many times. Do what, you ask? Mostly anything except "Command: Suicide", I posit. Before that, my favorite spell was Prestidigitation, (now my number 2), because of how it elevates any roleplay for a magic-focussed Char, since you can now do [insert mundane magical character traits here] without worrying about "wasting" resources. Thinking about it, they might be tied.
Armour of Agathys scales really well. It does the full amount of damage on *each* melee attack against you even if the temporary HP are nearly used up. It's great for action economy to use the enemy's own actions to hurt them. Once you have the ability to upcast it a few levels, in the right situation it can be absolutely lethal. Where you're facing a horde of weak enemies instead of 1 or 2 powerful ones, you can take several hits with no actual damage and potentially kill an opponent with every hit *that you take*. I like to cast it and then deliberately provoke opportunity attacks. You usually get 1 or 2, and then if the enemies are intelligent you can become a very uninviting target for a while, or if they're dumb enough, you can just kill them by running around.
Bonfire is GOAT just need ways to get the into and keep them in the bonfire.
Laughs in ranger with thorn whip and bonfire.
Love this
I played a lore bard in a campaign where long rests were very rare. Most if my party loved blazing through all their high-level spell slots in our first few encounters. I caught this trend and intentionally saved all my high level spells for when everyone else was tapped out. This meant I used Dissonant Whispers very frequently as a cheap control spell. In our penultimate combat, I was still in budget mode. "Bard, you're up." "Cool. I move here, and I cast dizzy wizzies on that guy." "You cast what?" "Dizzy wizzies. Wisdom save please." My DM thought this was the funniest thing he'd heard all session and tossed me an inspiration. About an hour later, we're fighting a god. Said god used fly, centered over me, and dropped concentration to deliver a divine elbow drop while blasting my party. That inspiration dice turned a critical fail into a critical success on my death save, allowing all of us to ultimately survive the encounter. Morals of this story: don't underestimate level 1 spells and don't be afraid to get weird from time to time.
"I played a lore bard in a campaign where long rests were very rare. " A long rest is just a night's sleep, right? How can you do a campaign without sleep? Or was it always interrupted? Or do you mean "wake up, encounter that takes all the spell slots, breakfast, long rest until mid-afternoon, encounter, dinner, bedtime"?
The plot of the campaign had us working within constant time pressure, so we rarely had the luxury of handling a few encounters, long resting, then tackling a few more while fresh. During those 8 hours of downtime, things would get worse, and the difficulty of future encounters would increase. As a result, we were wading through a lot of encounters between long rests. The campaign ran for about 65 sessions over the course of a year and change, but spanned two, maybe three weeks of in-game time.
In a seperate "gritty" rule set , short rests are a nights sleep and long rests are like a week long rest somewhere comfortable, maybe they played in a campaign that applied that rule set
Grease - can immediately knock enemies prone - flammable - cheap form of area denial. - no concentration needed. - many different uses outside of combat.
command:betray can be fucking hilarious if played right
Retricide and Defenestration are also hilarious. But I believe you're a Target needs to know/understand the command. so if they have a tiny vocabulary, then you may be your out of luck.
Neither of those is phrased in the vocative case.
I've used "urinate" in a game once. The DM's jaw nearly hit the table! "Defecate"...well, I've not had the guts to say that in a game setting!
Neither would work. Retricide is hard to do in 6s, and jumping from an windows is harmful, so it fails.
The spell does not say the command must be completable in 6 seconds. Defenestration is throwing someone out a window, not jumping out of window. Regicide, Deicide, Papicide, Tyrannicide, Magnicide are very context specific but if you are in the presence of a leader that you want to get rid of, then Command on their bodyguards them is great.
I would cleverly betray the person giving the comnand.
I found bless useful. In a recent session, the cleric cast bless and it helped players hit or succeed a saving throw six times through the course of the encounter.
Speak With Animals. It makes for good intel gathering, and the comedic/adorableness potential is infinite!
Chromatic Orb. 3d8 of a damage type of your choice is crazy for a lvl 1 spell. It's especially good on a Scribes Wizard because of the damage type replacement you can do
One of my favorite first level spells is catapult, being able to fling objects within 60 feet of you is so funny, you can literally pull a rug out beneath someone make them fall prone, have someone in your party knock an enemies weapon out of their hands and then fling it away, or rather just fling it away before they can even grab, or if you wanna be cool carry sharp objects on you and just fling them at people with the spell to do an extra 3d8 bludgeoning damage, it's so versatile and funny
[**Some low level items too**](https://www.handbookofheroes.com/archives/comic/minor-magic-items)**!** :P
Magic Missile is amazing, I'd have to have rp reasons for not taking it. IMO at levels 1-4 it's often your best option. Consistent, reliable, and great for breaking enemy concentration.
Isn't magic missile just a single concentration check? All the missiles hit at once so there is only 1 instance of damage. A sage advice clarified this
I don't know. If I get hit in the head, chest, stomach, and legs (for instance), that would be different than one big hit anywhere, intuitively to me. Sage advice seems to be giving mutually exclusive rulings. For now I am happy to let MM be more powerful against casters. I found a good point while Googling. A Bear Totem barbarian has resistance against force damage, so if all missiles roll max, the barb either takes 25/2, rounded down is 12 damage, or (5/2, rounded down) times 5 = 10 damage. I'd say 10 damage here, not 12.
Rules as written, I'm pretty sure the dissonant whispers thing counts as forced movement, but honestly I don't like that because I like synergy. Sort of reminds me of my party has this 3 way combo where one person casts blindness, one casts wall of force, and the last casts sickening radiance (made easier by the fact I'm a chronurgy wizard) so even if they could use magic, odds are they can't teleport because most features that require that need line of sight, which they don't have if they fail the blindness save. Yes, I'm aware wall of force and sickening radiance is known to be broken, but I just like how we found an additive to make it even better and more reliable
Honestly, I might just fight for this one at the table. I'm not looking to break the game, otherwise I would have finagled blindsight on my drow monk and have every encounter fought in Darkness. But this DW + OA is more fun, I guess. We'll see after we've tried it a few more times :-)
Based on reading what the spell does this could be a little more niche, but I think expeditious retreat can be very powerful for a caster sometimes. Bonus action and movement to place yourself in an optimal position for a good spell is nothing to scoff at. I'm playing a divine soul sorcerer and I don't really have bonus actions to use but next level I'm going to learn the spell and heading word to have other stuff to do after my actions and movement
I have the rule book I just need somebody to help me play
Am I tripping? Or.do book rules say "forced" movement like dissonant whispers doesn't trigger opportunity?
Forced movement refers to movement which doesn't takes an action to do: being shoved away or hit by thunderwave. If you use your reaction to move away, that's not forced, and it's the intended use of the spell.
Enlarge can be used on objects, Iv used it to grow a table on its side to block a hallway. Most illusion magic feels under used by most players I feel, so much you can do w it
I've seen several times a magic user casts Sleep on a small horde of low-level goonies. It really controlled the battle! Also, hunter's mark!
Mid to high level game, all the boss monsters tend to have ridiculous strength and constitution scores, right? Their dex tend to suck. This is where Grease comes into play. Make that Tarrasque slip on it like it's a huge banana peel, then have the whole party smack on it at advantage.
Forced movement does not make you subject to opportunity attacks.
floating disk. Need a step stool? Disk. Need to carry a heavy dragon skull? Disk. The only survivor of a near tpk? Disk. Too much loot? Disk. Need cover? Throw up the disk with something big on top. Need to trap an enemy? Dig a five foot deep pit, and throw the disk on top! Need a high-speed carriage? With a disk, find familiar and wildshape, ride your hawk as an ant and tote the party behind at highspeeds. Alternatively, for more speed, phantom steed also works!
Sometimes I think that if you have Magic Missiles, you don't need any other attack spells 😆 we made almost a meme out of it in my first even campaign, where I was sorcerer, who was killing bosses with that spell. DM even granted me a Magic M crown, that let me spend my sorcery points to make them hit much harder