D&D 5E Color Spray spell

[mellored]

There are a lot of sub-optimal spells. Not just a little niche, or non-combat related, but just plain sub-optimal. Witch Bolt comes to mind as being sub-optimal; Crown of Madness, Ray of Enfeeblement, Phantasmal Killer, Jump, Mordenkainen’s Sword, & Weird all seem sub-optimal or overly niche at the very least.

Crown of Madness is great, if you know the initiative order.

When 2 enemies are standing next to each other, just cast it on the enemy that goes first. Not only do you disable them, you also get a scaling attack. A boss wasting his action to smash a minion is easily worth a level 2 spell slot.
Or you use it on an enemy caster. Let them make melee attacks against your fighter. That's silence that doesn't interfear with allies casting.
And finally, the sentinal feat. The boss smashes his minion, and your ally stabs him in the back for doing so.

Just treat it as a single turn spell.

 

[jaelis]

Crown of Madness is great, if you know the initiative order.

When 2 enemies are standing next to each other, just cast it on the enemy that goes first. Not only do you disable them, you also get a scaling attack. A boss wasting his action to smash a minion is easily worth a level 2 spell slot.
Or you use it on an enemy caster. Let them make melee attacks against your fighter. That's silence that doesn't interfear with allies casting.
And finally, the sentinal feat. The boss smashes his minion, and your ally stabs him in the back for doing so.

Just treat it as a single turn spell.

I suppose so. But still, the target needs to be a humanoid with a strong enough attack that it's worth giving up your scorching ray for, they have to go before another enemy that they are standing next to, and ideally that other enemy is at least somewhat of a threat itself. And then the target has to fail a wis save and, hopefully, succeed on an attack roll. Which situation can certainly happen, so maybe it's not really a bottom-tier spell. But I wouldn't put it high on my list.

 

[Henrik Sebring]

As a DM I find this to be a powerful spell, say in the hands of a kobold sorcerer...