D&D 5E Treantmonk's Guide to Wizards 5e

[raleel]

Well, and the multitarget fireball. Also note, none of them have the same save, including the silent image investigation and levitation's attack function. I think that is more the point - save appropriateness can really impact those save or nothing spells quite a lot. You don't need to have an armada at your fingertips, but you shouldn't be loading up on all one save type unless you are pretty sure what you are fighting and it's hitting a weak save. It's as good as imposing disadvantage on saves in many cases

Also, I had not considered slow as seriously as I think I will now. Analyzing how our fights have gone recently, and how this would have impacted, I like this more. We've spent some time on Giants in SKT, and they are not particularly strong in wisdom, but dropping their attacks down to one would be an excellent boon. The save and the ac penalty is almost icing on the cake. If I do not hit everyone in the area, our GM tends to wake them up, making it really not that useful.

 

[Gadget]

I realize that 5e stresses DM adjudication, and Illusion spells in particular require more than most, but ruling that Phantasmal Force targets get an automatic, no questions asked, Int check every time (in addition to an Int save no less) seems to be a bit extreme. I can see if Players come up with a completely ludicrous or abusive application, but still. This also ignores the vast amount of utility that can exercised outside of combat to merely mislead or misdirect Monsters & NPCs and makes it much less useful in that aspect as well.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

1) There are indeed ways to sabatoge an ability check (cutting words is a good example) though I'm not convinced the difference is all that large. To be honest, I can't even think of another ability to sabatoge an ability check that doesn't also affect saving throws off the top of my head. Either way, it's still 2 chances to defeat the spell.

Exhaustion, and being Frightened are two.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

On another topic: I am starting to like Slow more and more as well. The reason being that it has no friendly fire. Friendly fire has become a huge problem for my wizard. My DM doesn't let me target spells like Hypnotic Pattern prcisely once melee ensued (which makes a lot of sense imho).

Hypnotic Pattern casters love Paladins of Devotion tanks for precisely this reason: their anti-charm aura negates friendly fire casualties, since Hypnotic Pattern is a form of charm.

 

[jgsugden]

Phantasmal Force is so much fun that it is a must have spell for all my wizards. It is also highly versatile, attacks a weak save, can target many enemies, and has uses throughout a career for a wizard.

3rd level? Use it on your big threats to end a combat. 12th level? It is useful out of combat to deceive - or in combat to deal with a single threat (at a cost that is reasonable for small or big threats). The cost is low.

 

[smbakeresq]

Well, and the multitarget fireball. Also note, none of them have the same save, including the silent image investigation and levitation's attack function. I think that is more the point - save appropriateness can really impact those save or nothing spells quite a lot. You don't need to have an armada at your fingertips, but you shouldn't be loading up on all one save type unless you are pretty sure what you are fighting and it's hitting a weak save. It's as good as imposing disadvantage on saves in many cases

Also, I had not considered slow as seriously as I think I will now. Analyzing how our fights have gone recently, and how this would have impacted, I like this more. We've spent some time on Giants in SKT, and they are not particularly strong in wisdom, but dropping their attacks down to one would be an excellent boon. The save and the ac penalty is almost icing on the cake. If I do not hit everyone in the area, our GM tends to wake them up, making it really not that useful.

Slow is one of those spells that has a bigger effect then it seems because it might save 100+ hp of damage plus all sorts of other conditions imposed by those attacks. Slowed creatures that are proned are effectively immobilized, doing so in effect field like spike growth or evards tentacles is a game changer.


Sent from my iPhone using EN World mobile app

 

[Locnath]

Not sure if this has been adressed so far (I apologize for not searching the 50 pages of this thread) but I believe Booming Blade deserves a second look. I think the intended use of the spell has been overlooked. In my mind booming blade is not designed to be used as your action (invalidating your extra attack) but as a spell specifically designed to be used as a warcaster's Opportunity Attack. On the off chance you don't have a better use of your reaction this will pump significantly more damage into your single attack, against an enemy who is already trying to move, this will either completely halt it's intended course of action, or cause even more damage.

 

[jgsugden]

... In my mind booming blade is not designed to be used as your action (invalidating your extra attack) but as a spell specifically designed to be used as a warcaster's Opportunity Attack...

That is a narrow build and a situation that doesn't come up often unless you build to force it to happen - which isn't terribly efficient in most of the cases I've seen. Wizards often want their reactions available for other options (shield) as well.

 

[Locnath]

That is a narrow build and a situation that doesn't come up often Wizards often want their reactions available for other options (shield) as well.

Like I said, it's on the off chance you feel like there isn't a better use of your reaction. I don't mean to suggest this is a very good spell, just that I feel it's intended use was overlooked in the review. I've found it useful on a paladin that took magic initiate to grab this and shield, but I'd Imagine this isn't the place to talk about paladins.

 

[Treantmonklvl20]

Like I said, it's on the off chance you feel like there isn't a better use of your reaction. I don't mean to suggest this is a very good spell, just that I feel it's intended use was overlooked in the review. I've found it useful on a paladin that took magic initiate to grab this and shield, but I'd Imagine this isn't the place to talk about paladins.

We can talk about Paladins, but only as they relate to the use of wizards. Good point that Warcaster + Booming Blade can be used for a reaction opportunity attack. From the standpoint of a Wizard, I don't see using reactions for opportunity attacks very much, but for a tank-style character who does, yeah, using booming blade at a moment when the secondary effect is automatically going to trigger is pretty fantastic. That said, I'm no expert of Tank-style characters, but it seems to me that magic-initiate and warcaster is a massive investment to make.