D&D 5E Spells: the Good, the Bad, and the Downright Orcish Grandmother

[Chocolategravy]

I just reread the first sentence, but found no mention of animals, only 'steed'. Up until now I had assumed a steed was anything living that could be used as a mount, but just in case I was wrong I decided to google it. I found a few definitions, but all of them mentioned specifically that it is a horse, and that it is for riding. If a steed is a horse, and a horse is an animal, then a steed is an animal. I'll admit I was wrong on that and will be remembering for the next time I use the spell. If it was something else you were referring to then I'm certainly interested. Getting a second perspective is always useful. Also, I am curious as to your take on what it means when it says the steed and paladin "fight as a seamless unit." As I said above, I would have the mount and rider to share a move action, but give both their own action and bonus action.

The spell literally says "animals".

 

[Chocolategravy]

I sometimes cast True Strike followed by Witch Bolt, especially against a heavy hitter.

The round spent casting True Strike is going to seriously reduce the damage the spell gives. You're just making the spell worse. Witch Bolt isn't a good choice up to level 4, at level 5 it's worse than cantrips. Even if you stick it in a 9th level slot and do 9d12/round with it, it's still pretty much meh unless maybe you twinspell it or something. It was really dumb of them to make it take up your concentration, I can't see it getting any use for non-sorcs.

 

[KarinsDad]

The round spent casting True Strike is going to seriously reduce the damage the spell gives. You're just making the spell worse. Witch Bolt isn't a good choice up to level 4, at level 5 it's worse than cantrips. Even if you stick it in a 9th level slot and do 9d12/round with it, it's still pretty much meh unless maybe you twinspell it or something. It was really dumb of them to make it take up your concentration, I can't see it getting any use for non-sorcs.

I don't see it that way at low level.

At low level, 1st and higher level spells are at a premium. So, I do not want to waste an entire spell rolling a crappy to hit (which happens a lot for me) and missing.

I'd much rather cast Twin Strike round one and Witch Bolt round two and have a fairly decent shot of hitting than cast Fire Bolt rounds one and two, hitting on one of them, and averaging less damage. In the Witch Bolt case, I've also set up round 3 to autohit.

Sure, things can happen to disrupt my plan, but I'd much rather contribute to the party by casting one non-cantrip spell than contribute to the party by casting one non-cantrip spell plus a boatload of cantrips that for some reason, seem to miss an awful lot.

Note: Also, I did not learn Fire Bolt. I learned True Strike, Chill Touch (anti-undead), and Acid Splash (multi-target). So for my PC, Wizard Bolt is even more powerful than a cantrip.

And Witch Bolt basically limits an enemy spell caster from casting concentration spells. He can do it, but he'll be making a concentration check every round. At higher level, it's not about just damaging a foe, it's also about disrupting a foe. A simple first level spell can disrupt a portion of an enemy spellcaster's repertoire at level 10 without the wizard or sorcerer using up a lot of resources. Granted, an enemy spellcaster might know to move away (recognizing the spell), but again, the time to do it is when that spellcaster is engaged, that way, he either disengages or provokes.

 

[Thank Dog]

True Strike: In the middle of combat, it just isn't worth skipping a turn so that you'll get advantage on your next one. Out of combat, it's only useful if you have time to prepare and can spring into action right after you cast it (such as when you ambush someone). The thing is, ambushing gives you advantage on your attack roll anyway. The times when this spell might actually be useful are very few and far between.

For a valour bard and an eldritch knight, though, True Strike becomes amazing. But yeah, other than those two it's a waste of a cantrip slot which are hard to come by and very limited.

Friends: They should have named this spell "enemies" because that's all that you're going to make by using it.

Oh I love this spell. My tome pact fey-lock has it and guidance. "Titania, guide me! Hi, we should be friends!" Advantage plus 1d4 on Charisma checks against targets I don't care about whether or not they get aggressive one minute later. Excellent for Intimidating a captured enemy into talking, extracting a discount from stingy vendors, convincing guards to let me in, etc. Also helps having Mask of Many Faces and always disguising myself as someone else as well

At low level, 1st and higher level spells are at a premium. So, I do not want to waste an entire spell rolling a crappy to hit (which happens a lot for me) and missing.

-snip-

Note: Also, I did not learn Fire Bolt. I learned True Strike, Chill Touch (anti-undead), and Acid Splash (multi-target). So for my PC, Wizard Bolt is even more powerful than a cantrip.

You're contradicting yourself here. You chose not to take an attack cantrip and then say that 1st-level spells are a premium. On top of that, there are tons of better 1st-level spells. Burning Hands, Sleep, Fog Cloud, Grease, Thunderwave just to name a few. In fact, every spell on the list is better than Witch Bolt, lol.

But whatever, obviously I'm not going to convince you so I'll stop arguing the point. As long as you enjoy it, it doesn't really matter anyway

 

[Falling Icicle]

Second would be Ray of Enfeeblement. It's just plain awful. First you have to hit with it, it's effect is considerably weaker than the effect of any other 2nd-level spell, and then on top of that the target gets a chance to save against it every turn. Why not just cast Hold Person?

Don't get me wrong, I agree with you that ray of enfeeblement is underpowered for its level. However, it could be effective when used together with blindness/deafness (which doesn't require concentration). A monster that's both blinded and enfeebled is pretty screwed.

 

[Thank Dog]

Don't get me wrong, I agree with you that ray of enfeeblement is underpowered for its level. However, it could be effective when used together with blindness/deafness (which doesn't require concentration). A monster that's both blinded and enfeebled is pretty screwed.

Again, why not just cast Hold Person? Blindness/Deafness isn't as bad as Ray of Enfeeblement (which requires concentration as well as all the bad of the rest of it), but the target still gets a save against it every turn. About the only reason that Blindness/Deafness would be better than Hold Person in a given situation is that it's able to be cast against any target with eyes or ears. And remember, it's not blindness and deafness, it's only one of those.

 

[jadrax]

Again, why not just cast Hold Person?

Because Hold Person only works on humanoids.

 

[Mr Fixit]

Witchbolt isn't that bad a spell. Seems to me it was made with warlocks in mind as primary users. They have a low number of spell slots that are always of their highest level, refreshable on a short rest cycle. So a 7th level warlock could zap an enemy with 4d12 the entire battle expending only 1 spell slot, and getting it right back after a short rest. It's almost like a very powerful cantrip for players who like to zap things. Combine it with hex... strike that, both are concentration. Maybe it's not that good after all

Great spells
Heat Metal: 2d8 damage each round with your bonus action and disadvantage to target's attack rolls and ability cheks. All of that without giving a save.
Banishment: Grants only one save. Other debilitating spells usually grant renewed saves every turn to end the effect.
Meteor Swarm is phenomenally powerful. 40d6 damage!?!
Slow: absolutely crippling against creatures with a high number of attacks and/or bonus action/reaction abilities. Affects up to 6 creatures.
Forcecage: No save, no nothing. You're simply stuck, pretty much nothing you can do about it without some uberpowerful magic.
Simulacrum: potentially extremely powerful, but also very very costly.
Shapechange: how about turning into a dragon?

Blah spells
Weird: now that's pathetic for a 9th level wizard spell. Does essentially the same thing that 3rd level fear does, in addition to some not so great damage.
Mordenkainen's Sword: paltry, paltry 7th level spell.
Maze: Why on Earth use this (8th level) when you get the same thing with Banishment at 4th? Only interesting if used by a DM to trap a PC in a maze-like mini-adventure. Find the exit if you can!

 

[KarinsDad]

You're contradicting yourself here. You chose not to take an attack cantrip and then say that 1st-level spells are a premium. On top of that, there are tons of better 1st-level spells. Burning Hands, Sleep, Fog Cloud, Grease, Thunderwave just to name a few. In fact, every spell on the list is better than Witch Bolt, lol.

But whatever, obviously I'm not going to convince you so I'll stop arguing the point. As long as you enjoy it, it doesn't really matter anyway

I was discussing. I wonder why you felt that you were arguing.

And the spells you list are better for many circumstances. This spell is good for damaging a solo. A lot more than Sleep for example (which can be used great against a solo, but not in early rounds). Or Burning Hands (which sometimes cannot be cast against a solo if your fellow melee PCs are in the way). And I actually took 2 attack cantrips, one of which actually averages more damage than Fire Bolt in the circumstances I use it in (two adjacent foes).

 

[trentonjoe]

Bless has been a HUGE benefit for my low level party. The melee characters are all +5 to hit so the extra d4 makes us roughly 50% likely to hit. The average combat for us has between 2-4 misses become hits when bless is up.