I addressed
dancing lights, light, and
produce flame upthread in response to your previous assertions. Here's
the post. As to the others, here goes:
- Druidcraft. The DMG has weather tables right on page 109.
- Guidance. As you note, the task needs to be shorter than a minute. I set most tasks at 10 minutes (for a given sized area) - search for traps or secret doors, figure out how they operate, pick a lock, loot, etc. Not much of an issue here.
- Mage Hand. First you have to find the trap. But even so, I don't think one can say mage hand will obviate the need to worry about most traps. Some, maybe.
- Mending. I know many DMs treat it as "fix anything," but the spell has its limits. It can only repair a single break or tear in an object that is no larger than 1 foot in any dimension. If the object was shattered or has more than a single break or tear, you're out of luck.
- Alarm. Yes, quite useful. It's 11 minutes per ritual casting though. What's the frequency of wandering monster checks? What's the opportunity cost of having, say, the wizard unavailable to figure out how a secret door or a trap works? Or your ranger keeping watch for danger? And if it is a ranger casting it, they had to prepare it which is one fewer hunter's mark. Okay by me.
- Comprehend Languages. Great spell. Anyone other than a wizard has to prepare it - one fewer Tasha's hideous laughter, armor of Agathys, shield, etc. - and you have to touch the thing you're reading. Safer to know the language, if possible. Opportunity cost to ritual cast it versus doing other exploration tasks too. (When are those wandering monsters going to come calling?)
- Create Water. Addressed this in my post upthread. Others did too, by pointing out the need for containers. Ten gallons plus the necessary containers to hold it weighs a lot, particularly with the variant encumbrance rule in place.
- Detect Magic. Opportunity cost on exploration tasks when cast as a ritual, must be prepared by non-wizards so that's one fewer 1st-level spell to bring to bear in combat, wandering monsters, etc. You now see magic stuff in the area and know its school of magic. Great! Now what? The exploration challenge isn't necessarily over yet.
- Detect Poison and Disease. This spell needs to be prepared so that's one fewer entangle or hunter's mark - fine by me! See also Detect Magic for the trade-offs. And the exploration challenge isn't necessarily over yet either.
- Find Familiar. Addressed in my post upthread.
- Tenser's Floating Disk. Address in my post upthread.
- Goodberry. One fewer entangle or hunter's mark because you don't feel like foraging while traveling or carrying some rations is just fine by me. Having actual food is also pretty useful when it comes to dealing with ravenous beasts in my experience.
- Identify. Great spell if you're pressed for time, but you may as well just wait for the next short rest, if trying to figure out what a magic item does. As with all rituals, it has a time cost - what can happen during that time? What other useful task aren't you doing while you're casting the ritual?
- Purify Food and Drink. I'd love to see a paladin burn a potential smite on this spell. The cleric and druid will have to prepare it, too. What other useful combat spell might they have prepared instead? And again, opportunity cost on other tasks and wandering monsters when?
- Speak With Animals. Strikes me as more of a social interaction challenge spell. As for being DM dependent, the whole game is that way. I tend to be generous with information from animals, if the PCs succeed at the social interaction challenge. Simply talking to the squirrel isn't a guarantee that he'll tell you about more than his nuts.
- Unseen Servant. Useful in some circumstances, but again, this might only work on some traps. And if the traps do damage to the unseen servant, they're gone (1 hp). With a Strength of 2, they can't carry much or push/pull/drag with very much force. As with others, opportunity cost on other tasks if cast as a ritual.
So what you've done here is present a list of useful tools the players can bring to bear in many situations. But none of them are free of costs or trade-offs when actually put into the context of situations where there is at least some time pressure or urgency (which, per the DMG, random encounters are for in part as are event-based adventures). I think anyone who has a strong exploration element in their games sees these trade-offs and costs come up again and again. The players have to make meaningful choices as a result. That's certainly been my experience. There's no I-win button here.
