D&D 5E Xanathar's Healing Spirit is 10d6 healing to the whole party out of combat?

[Bardbarian]

Actually you should re-read the spell perhaps.

"Does your narrative require the party move on immediately although injured? The spell takes too long."

The caster can shift using bonus action the position of the spirit point 30' every turn. That means "advancing" at normal non-dash speed is just fine with the ongoing healing OOC of this spell. Each turn just move it to 5. ahead of the lead character and the characters in turn go thru that spot as they advance.

So the net result of your second case is more like "do you have to dash to the next encounter instantly" with maybe an adder for "or are attacked within 10 rounds of the last fight" which would actually seem more like one "extended encounter" not a second encounter and also the combat use would still be there, just a little less effective.

But as you observe - as has many of the ones saying that it is too good - it is very much situational.

Campaigns where short rests or long rests between encounters are common and routine will find this spell mostly meh... just like they will other things that try and help restores resources without rests. That being rather a departure from the anticipated model, my bet is other balance issues creep in across many areas. A LOT of 5e is built around encounter rates, rest frequencies and resource management and this is no exception.

or, you know, maybe its fine and great and then all that is left is pondering why they "intended it" to be a fraction of its current power, published it with its current "non-intended" power, then cut it back to that fraction with a house ruling suggestion and so on when it is in fact just fine as published anyway.

Sounds like your narrative lacks urgency and you are really in scenario 3.

 

[Zmajdusa]

Actually prestidigitation only puts out campfires, torches, and candles. Haven't really run into a narrative with a sense of urgency, so no real experince to compare from. Playing Princes of the Apocalypse atm, and it hasn't really had any sense of urgency, such that if we take too long clearing out a elemental temple, bad things happen.

 

[5ekyu]

Sounds like your narrative lacks urgency and you are really in scenario 3.

Huh? Ok, whatever.

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[5ekyu]

Actually prestidigitation only puts out campfires, torches, and candles. Haven't really run into a narrative with a sense of urgency, so no real experince to compare from. Playing Princes of the Apocalypse atm, and it hasn't really had any sense of urgency, such that if we take too long clearing out a elemental temple, bad things happen.

Yeah i get that. To me sense of urgency most often manifests as "10-15m is too long" or "1 hour is too long" ir "8hr is too long" but not "took a few extra rounds here and there in fight and lost a round or so searching and it blew it" with a say 5-10 round "or else" clock (while not dashing.)

But certainly it could be that way in some games.

Like i said, if its just a handfull of rounds between enemies, i treat it balance-wise as a single extended encounter (of higher difficulty.) Of course at 1d6 heal per character per round while on the move, even 5 rounds are significant.

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[Ovinomancer]

Old furniture that isn't well sealed or care for?

That stuff goes up pretty easily with a little accelerant or a steady flame under it.

I mean...what?

No, but seriously, Create Bonfire would almost certainly do the trick, even for most good wood furniture.

In the meantime, it would create some really ugly smoke, and I hope that any DM would consider that. Also, how hard is it to put out a cantrip fire? Prestidigitation, and then a contest of Ability Checks? Do goblins not have spell casters? THey sure do in my game!

Yes, well, accelerants are usually flammable. And having to have a steady flame under it to ignite it means it's not flammable, but can burn. Wood is generally in the latter category -- not easily catching but burning nicely once started.

A good test for 'flammable' is holding a blowtorch to it for a few seconds. If it catches, it's flammable, if it doesn't, it's not, even if holding the torch on it for a long period would catch it on fire (wood). Dry twigs are flammable, but even dry lumber isn't.

So, yes, if you held bonfire on ignitable material for multiple rounds, I'd allow it to catch. Like, maybe a minute or so? If you had kindling under the wood, it would catch immediately using bonfire, but would still take a minutes or so to get the wood fully ignited.

And, sure, that's a bit 'real world' there on my fire rulings, but, to be honest, I'm more avoiding using easy access cantrips to set fires too easily. So, to that end, I really stick to what 'flammable' means and my acid test of the blowtorch. If I can't set it ablaze with a few seconds of a blowtorch, the spell can't either. This also means I don't have to worry as much over an ill placed fireball in town starting a major fire.

 

[Zmajdusa]

Let me tell you something about eastern red cedar, stuff goes up like gasoline when it is dry, and it explodes if set on fire while green. Btw, do not try this at home without a water hose and a fire break.