D&D 5E Spells that Still Need to be Fixed

[Stalker0]

Anyone else find it wrong that Otto's Irresistible Dance....is actually quite resistible?

 

[MoonSong]

Maybe certain spells should be available to cast as rituals only while you have the spell memorised.

So, for instance, if you have Water Breathing prepared once, you can cast it as a utility ritual as often as you need to - but if you have to resort to casting it immediately, during combat, then you no longer have access to the ritual version until you re-prepare it.

You know, it no longers works that way, no fire and forget anymore

 

[MarkB]

You know, it no longers works that way, no fire and forget anymore

Sorry - I'd only skimmed the casters. Nevermind, it would've been a weak fix anyway.

 

[MarkB]

Anyone else find it wrong that Otto's Irresistible Dance....is actually quite resistible?

It's all in the marketing. How many mages would have wanted to buy scrolls of Otto's Resistable Dance?

 

[Falling Icicle]

Anyone else find it wrong that Otto's Irresistible Dance....is actually quite resistible?

For some reason I had thought they removed that spell in this packet. I must have forgot to look for it under Otto's name.

 

[Kobold Stew]

This is a great list -- there are a lot of really solid suggestions here.

Cantrips: ... Casters should get the ability to make two cantrip attacks per round, just as most classes get two weapon attacks. This puts cantrips on an even footing with weapons for classes like clerics, and also makes it so casters don't get a greater benefit from haste than weapon users do.

Good call -- I hadn't noticed this. One way would be to let cantrips cost an attack, not an action; there is robably a better way to word it though.

Destruction: Why, of all the spells in a cleric's arsenal, does this one require a special, 500gp holy symbol?

This was a big pet peeve of mine in previous packets -- now Holy Symbols actually DO SOMETHING; I suspect that this is a legacy error -- it was the only use of a holy symbol in Next until this packet.

Guidance: Since it can be cast at-will, there's really no reason not to use this spell to benefit nearly every check someone makes out of combat. I'd either change it to 1st level, or put some limit on it, such as not letting an individual benefit from the spell more than once per day.

This is interesting. One way to fix it would be to change the duration of the spell and the wording:

e.g. Duration: 12 hours. During the duration of the spell, the recipient gets the saving throw bonus once. Casting the spell again on someone already affected by Guidance has no affect. (or something like that)

Polymorph: Aside from Wish's magic item factory, this is by far the most broken spell of them all. It puts a Druid's Wild Shapes to shame. Uunlike Wild Shapes, which have specific stats, this spell lets you go through the monster manual and turn into any beast you want, and you get ALL of its stats and abilities, including attacks, not like those "weak" Wild Shapes which only improve your own physical stats by 1 or 2 and give some minor secondary ability. An 8 Str wizard can turn into a 22 Str ape.

This is ever the problem with Polymorph.

Read Magic: Why is this even a spell? Shouldn't people be able to do this with an Intelligence (Magical Lore) check? At the very least, make it a 1st level ritual so that it isn't a cantrip tax. Plus, it has an incredibly annoying 5gp focus. By listing a cost, it forces players to keep track of that focus rather than just relying on their component pouch. Also, since this spell is required to decipher scrolls, and it isn't on the cleric, paladin or ranger spell lists, that means clerics, paladins and rangers can never use scrolls. Oops!

great suggestion

Scorching Ray: This spell scales much better than most spells do, gaining 2d6 damage per spell level. It is also annoying because you have to make an attack for each ray, and as a 9th level spell, that's 11 rays you have to roll to hit for.

This could be simplified by making the player roll for each target -- you announce the number of rays going to a target, and they all work off the same roll.

Spare the Dying: This spell should stabilize the creature instead of healing it 1 hit point.

This is reasonable.