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

[Thank Dog]

The more I look at spells the more I think, "Wow, that's amazing!" and then I find a spell of the same level and class list and think, "Why on earth would I even use that when that other awesome one is available?"

There seems to be more than just a few of these types of spells, at least to my delicate senses.

On the top of my list of bad choices would be Witch Bolt. It's just bad. There's virtually no reason to cast this. You're actually better off casting a damage cantrip after the second round of Witch Bolt since at least it has a chance to crit. "Oh, you managed to hit me for 3 points of damage. I guess I'll just move over here and... oh look, your puny spell has fizzled out."

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?

On the amazing list would be Plant Growth. Yes, Plant Growth. Seriously, read it, it's amazing. 150-ft. range and can make a 100-ft. radius area instantly quadruply difficult terrain (4 squares of movement required for every square moved) with no saving throw

Then there's Plane Shift. Wow. Combines Banishment with multiple target instantaneous transport across all planes. Umm... ok? Thanks? I guess?

What other absolutely awful spells can you think of? What other amazing spells can you think of?

 

[KarinsDad]

On the top of my list of bad choices would be Witch Bolt. It's just bad. There's virtually no reason to cast this. You're actually better off casting a damage cantrip after the second round of Witch Bolt since at least it has a chance to crit. "Oh, you managed to hit me for 3 points of damage. I guess I'll just move over here and... oh look, your puny spell has fizzled out."

Really? Witch Bolt is not terrible great.

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

Just because he moves does not mean that the NPC is no longer under the effect of the spell.

Edit: Never noticed that sentence at the end of the spell. Might have to ask the DM for a house rule. Alternatively, only cast it when a foe's moving away means he won't be able to melee attack anyone else.

Automatic D12 of damage every single round? Or 2D12 if cast as a second level spell?

The main way to stop this is to attack the caster (or typically disengage away, losing a round). And that typically means several OA attacks, especially if it's a heavy hitter with multiple PCs melee attacking him. Course if one is playing an abjuration wizard with decent CON, that means that the NPC has to get past the wizard PC's Arcane Ward in order to have a chance to break the concentration.

All in all, solid ok.

I'm also a big fan of allowing my wizard to take a hit now and then, just to even out damage across all PCs. So an NPC attacking my wizard doesn't really bother me.


Btw, NPCs typically are not wizards. They should not know how to defeat a spell unless they can make an Arcana check or some aspect of the spell is obvious. So yes, if the DM metagames the NPCs as knowing to move away in order to defeat the spell (which seems to be the implication of the OP), then yeah, the spell is only ok. If the DM does not metagame that, then the spell goes back to being pretty darn good.

 

[Jaelommiss]

Edit: The following is falsely interpreted and should be largely ignored unless you want to laugh at my folly.

I'm a big fan of the paladin's Find Steed spell. At first glance it seems extremely weak, but with a bit of work it can be extremely powerful. It's a second level spell, so paladins get it at level 5. Keep that in mind. All of this is from a level 5 paladin.

"You summon a spirit that assumes the form of an unusualy intelligent, strong, and loyal steed, creating a long-lasting bond with it. Appearing in an unoccupied space within range, the steed takes on a form that you choose, such as a warhorse, a pony, a camel, an elk, or a mastiff. (Your DM might allow other animals to be summoned as steeds.) The steed has the statistics of the chosen form, though is a celestial, fey, or fiend (your choice) instead of its normal type."

That bolded section there gives you an incredible amount of freedom. The rest of the setence lists examples (that you don't necessarily have to pick from), and then says the DM gets the final say. After a short conversation with my DM, I got him to allow me to pick the form as long as I could justify it a decent amount.

My gold dragonborn, paladin of Bahamut (the god of metallic dragons) decided to go with a young gold dragon. The text says, I explained, that I summon a celestial that takes a form I choose. Surely a celestial sent from the realm of the dragon god would be capable of taking the form of a dragon. That alone gave my PC a massive boost in power.

The spell text continues: "Your steed serves you as a mount, both in combat and out, and you have an instinctive bond with it that allows you to fight as a seamless unit. While mounted on your steed, you can make any spell that targets only you also target your steed.
When the steed drops to 0 hit points, it disappears leaving behind no physical form. You can also dismiss your steed at any time as an action, causing it to disappear. In either case, recasting this spell again summons the same steed, restored to its hit point maximum.
While your steed is within 1 mile of you, you can communicate with it telepathically."

Those two bolded parts there make it seem like the summoned steed acts as one with you. What this means is undefined (to the best of my knowledge), so I take it to mean the player controls both steed and PC on the same initiative, sharing a move action but both getting their own standard and bonus actions. So my young gold dragon can swoop down 40 feet, breathe fire on the enemies, paladin takes a couple swings, then both fly 40 feet away again. Give the rider a reach weapon (I use a glaive) and you can fly high enough to avoid opportunity attacks.

Overpowered as that is, it gets ten times worse with the Mounted Combatant feat. Not only do you now get advantage on your attacks against most enemies, but you can redirect all attacks against your mount to you. Paladin with 18 AC from plate, +2 from a shield, apply the shield of faith spell to yourself for another +2 AC, putting you up at 24 AC against attacks. Now keep in mind that you're flying so only ranged attacks will be going for you, and your mount provides partial cover for an extra +2 AC. And to top it all off, you're preventing your mount getting hit so you don't have to worry about potential fall damage.

But, I hear you say, that's only because your DM gave you a dragon. Yes, that's true. Let's say I went for a Griffon instead. The flavour text in the MM even mentions that they "can be trained to serve as a mount." (Page 174, if you were wondering) Looking at the stats, you lose its reach attacks, so it'll have to fly lower to fight. That means opportunity attacks, but that's fine. You can still redirect attacks away from it to yourself. It has two attacks, plus you still get two of your own, meaning four attacks with hit-and-run tactics so enemy melee can't get their own attacks (excluding opportunity attacks) off at you. With fly 80 you will fly just as high as with the dragon, and you'll get the same partial cover against ranged attacks, so no worries there. It has darkvision, and has its mind linked to you, so you effectively gain darkvision through its eyes in case you didn't have it.

What's that? Griffon is listed as a monstrosity so it's not allowed? Ignoring that the only mention of animals is that your "DM might allow other animals", and that it says nothing about not allowing other types, and that "the steed takes on a form that you choose", I'll play. Let's take the warhorse. Now this warhorse is a special warhorse. Keep in mind that we "fight as a seamless unit" and that I can redirect attacks against it because of my feat. Let's use its speed 60 to charge an enemy thirty feet away. Warhorse hits, target has to make strength saving throw or be knocked prone. If it fails the DC 14 and go prone I'll take two attacks (with advantage) at it thank you very much, before using the rest of the speed 30 to ride away. Even if knocking it prone fails the feat still grants advantage on my attakcs so long as it's not mounted on something as large as my horse. If its still alive, my foe will take an opportunity attack at my steed. Wait a sec, I'll make it target me (still with my 24 AC). And it has disadvantage if it's prone. I'm not too worried about the chances there.

I'm sure you're all thinking by now that I'm a horrible person to do that to my DM. In truth, I agree with you. I was a jerk for breaking it that hard, but there are a couple weaknesses with it.
1. This is the big one. Ultimately the DM can just say no to everything. The same rule applies to any spell (or anything else in the game for that matter), but it is something to keep in mind.
2. Spell casters. There is a reason I didn't mention them. If you only get the warhorse then there are several rather weak saves that could be targeted. No proficiencies, no modifiers higher that +1 except for strength. Ouch.
3. Area attacks. I can redirect targeted attacks to myself, but I can't do much about that cloudkill except try to outrun it. The steed still only has as much life as a regular mount, so it'll drop very easily at higher levels.
4. The DM, part two. The spell makes the mount intelligent to the point that it knowns a language. Its intelligence increases to 6 if it would otherwise be lower. Nowhere does it say that the mount is your servant. The DM could simply say "your steed understands your command, but thinks it is too risky and refuses."
5. If you're not outside that day then none of this applies. When was the last time the BBEG in your campaign has his lair open to the sky?

My DM and I realized just how absurdly powerful this spell could be after the incident with the dragon, and we decided to come up with some house rules to prevent it in the future.
1. The paladin has to have a good* reason for why they want to summon that particular form.
2. The paladin must roll d20 + spell casting modifier + proficiency bonus vs 9 + that form's CR + that form's proficiency bonus. For the young gold dragon that works out to 9+10+4 = 23. Most paladins won't be rolling that reliably until later in the game. On a failed roll the spell fails and the slot is expended.

*good is at the DM's (or table's) discretion


In short (well, not really short at all), that is why I find the Find Steed spell ridiculously powerful.

 

[Thank Dog]

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

Which you can do with Chromatic Orb and do significantly more damage and also choose the element used so as to take advantage of vulnerabilities or at least have the flexibility of using an element that isn't resisted. Witch Bolt is lightning and nothing else. On top of that, it's concentration AND you can't do anything other than continuing the spell or losing it entirely. And if all of that wasn't enough to turn you off it, it has a piddly 30-ft. range. Fire Bolt, a cantrip, does only slightly less damage and has a range of 120-ft. Poison Spray does the same damage as Witch Bolt and is a save so can even be done in melee. Witch Bolt doesn't even have any riders like Shocking Grasp or Chill Touch. Cantrips are almost always better options to cast and every other 1st-level damaging spell is a far superior option.

Automatic D12 of damage every single round? Or 2D12 if cast as a second level spell?

It's only automatic if your target stays within 30-ft. of you. And 1d12 is piddly damage. Compare it to 2nd-level spells and you're literally wasting a spell slot that could be used to cast something so, so, so much better that Witch Bolt doesn't even rate on the scale.

The only thing that is good about Witch Bolt is that it's cool to be able to emulate Emperor Palpatine for a round or two.

(Your DM might allow other animals to be summoned as steeds.)

Yeah, unfortunately the spell doesn't work that way. You're only allowed to emulate animals. A dragon does not qualify. Of course, what you do in your game is your business

 

[Jaelommiss]

Yeah, unfortunately the spell doesn't work that way. You're only allowed to emulate animals. A dragon does not qualify. Of course, what you do in your game is your business

When I first saw the spell I thought it was animals only. It wasn't until I read more closely that it never says it has to be an animal. It only ever refers to it as a steed or form. For comparison, look at the druid's section on Wild Shape. It uses the word 'beasts' in just about every sentence, leaving absolutely no ambiguity. I assumed (and I'll admit that was probably a mistake on my part) that Find Steed would be equally clear with the language it uses. My guess is that they left it open enough that someone could pick a non-animal like a pegasus or griffon.

In either case, I with you that a dragon probably shouldn't be allowed.

 

[KarinsDad]

Which you can do with Chromatic Orb and do significantly more damage and also choose the element used so as to take advantage of vulnerabilities or at least have the flexibility of using an element that isn't resisted. Witch Bolt is lightning and nothing else. On top of that, it's concentration AND you can't do anything other than continuing the spell or losing it entirely. And if all of that wasn't enough to turn you off it, it has a piddly 30-ft. range. Fire Bolt, a cantrip, does only slightly less damage and has a range of 120-ft. Poison Spray does the same damage as Witch Bolt and is a save so can even be done in melee. Witch Bolt doesn't even have any riders like Shocking Grasp or Chill Touch. Cantrips are almost always better options to cast and every other 1st-level damaging spell is a far superior option.

If you rolled to hits like I roll to hits, all of these cantrips basically suck. The advantage of Witch Bolt is that if I can manage to hit once (which is why I use it with True Strike), I never have to roll to hit again until that foe is down. So to me, it's an anti-lieutenant or anti-solo spell.

Sure, Chromatic Orb gives the advantages that you mention, but at level 3, foes tend to not have energy resistance. And even if they did, lightning resistance should be fairly rare (shy of blue dragons).

It's only automatic if your target stays within 30-ft. of you.

So like I said, do you metagame your NPCs to know the solution for this spell?

And 1d12 is piddly damage. Compare it to 2nd-level spells and you're literally wasting a spell slot that could be used to cast something so, so, so much better that Witch Bolt doesn't even rate on the scale.

2D12 at level two is 13 average automatic points per round once achieved. No to hit roll after round one.

At level two on a hit:

Cloud of Daggers? 10 average total points for a single round unless the team can figure out a way to move a foe into it.

Chromatic Orb? 18 average total points.

Magic Missile? 14 average total points.

Melf's Acid Arrow? 15 average total points (this also does half damage on a miss).

Scorching Ray? 21 average total points.

I'm not seeing these spells that blow away Witch Bolt so drastically. Scorching Ray is the best of the bunch, but even combining it with cantrips will tend to be subpar by round two (i.e. 21 from Scorching Ray on round one followed by 5.5 from Fire Bolt IF it hits on round two is typically the same or less damage than Witch Bolt at 26 by round two).

The only thing that is good about Witch Bolt is that it's cool to be able to emulate Emperor Palpatine for a round or two.

No, the difference is that the PC can do 65 average points of damage with a single first level spell, 130 average points of damage with as single second level spell if the PCs can figure out a way to lock down a big bad foe. Huge if done properly. And not as bad as you claim.

Sure, the odds of getting 10 rounds of damage out of this spell is not so good, but if the PCs are fighting a solo, the odds of getting 3 or 4 rounds are not so bad, especially if other PCs have spells to lock down a foe (like Entangle). Sure, if the DM metagames the solo to move away, all bets are off.


And Witch Bolt can be even more potent in the hands of a Sorcerer using Distant spell.

 

[Thank Dog]

Can't delete posts.

 

[Thank Dog]

When I first saw the spell I thought it was animals only. It wasn't until I read more closely that it never says it has to be an animal.

Sorry, but it is very clear to me. It says it unambiguously in the very sentence you quoted from the spell description. You're just choosing to ignore it. That's fine, but it's not how the spell works or is intended to work.

Regardless, it's still an awesome spell.

 

[Falling Icicle]

The Stinkers:

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.

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

Knock: Remember what happened in Lord of the Rings when one of the hobbits accidentally dropped something in a well and the loud noise echoed throughout the mines and alerted everything to their presence? Casting knock is a lot like that. If you need to get through a locked door, just use enlarge/reduce to shrink the door.

Vampiric Touch: Getting right up next to a monster and repeatedly touching it for cantrip-like damage is an absolutely terrible idea for a wizard. Yeah, it heals you a little bit, but so what? That isn't going to save you when the big, scary monster decides to touch you back.

Mordenkainen's Sword: Just compare this spell to spiritual weapon (2nd level) and Bigby's hand (5th level). MS is a sad excuse for a 7th level spell.


The Amazing:

Animate Objects: This spell can do terrifying amounts of damage if you animate 10 tiny objects.

Banishment: This spell is resisted with a charisma saving throw (which few creatures are good at), and the target doesn't get to make further saving throws to escape the effect. Plus, if you ever need to disappear for 1 minute (such as if you're about to be discovered while hiding, are about to be killed, etc.), you can banish yourself!

Fabricate: With this spell, you can make stuff in 10 minutes that might take a crafter hundreds of days (like plate mail).

Geas: Lets you charm the target for 30 days! The ability to command someone to do (or not do) something is just a cherry on top.

Simulacrum: This spell is just crazy powerful, especially if you abuse it with true polymorph. Turn a friend into an adult dragon with TP, and then create a copy of them with simulacrum. You now have a mount that's worthy of your wizardly magnificence!

 

[Jaelommiss]

Sorry, but it is very clear to me. It says it unambiguously in the very sentence you quoted from the spell description. You're just choosing to ignore it. That's fine, but it's not how the spell works or is intended to work.

Regardless, it's still an awesome spell.

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.