D&D 5E Driftglobe, what am I missing?

[Geoffryn Kaladon]

That sounds like the most reasonable use for it that I've read so far!

My own character has a 5e version of the Staff of Illumination, that pretty much does the same thing, except the wizard lugs it around. The staff DOES have a neat offensive spell, though: Sunburst. 12d6 radiant damage is nothing to sneeze at!

 

[Dualazi]

People underestimate the usefulness of the humble Driftglobe I think, as people have already said an endless torch is nice in and of itself in games that track light sources, but daylight 1/day is surprisingly potent. There are a huge number of monsters with sunlight sensitivity that can be exploited with this, and there are plenty more that enjoy using the Darkness spell, which daylight removes. It doesn't require attunement or anything either so it just expands the party's options with no investment needed.

 

[rgoodbb]

You could make it semi-sentient and have some fun with it...

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Whenever the odds of success fall below 10%, or the odds of dying rise above 90%, the driftglobe will tell you the odds.

 

[Jester David]

My players just got some rope and attached it by a cord to the fighter.

 

[Oofta]

People underestimate the usefulness of the humble Driftglobe I think, as people have already said an endless torch is nice in and of itself in games that track light sources, but daylight 1/day is surprisingly potent. There are a huge number of monsters with sunlight sensitivity that can be exploited with this, and there are plenty more that enjoy using the Darkness spell, which daylight removes. It doesn't require attunement or anything either so it just expands the party's options with no investment needed.

Sunlight sensitivity is not defined anywhere that I know of, so whether or not the daylight spell counts as sunlight is up to DM ruling. I'd say it does, others have said it does not.

But otherwise, as others have said just attach it to something or someone in the party. It's a magic torch you can turn off and on easily with added benefit of super bright light for an hour a day. We've used it in a variety of ways including setting up an ambush as we threw it into the air unlit and then did daylight over a goblin camp, etc. Useful as a distraction because we ruled you didn't have to be close enough for it to "hear" you say the command word. Again, YMMV.

 

[jaelis]

Sunlight sensitivity is not defined anywhere that I know of, so whether or not the daylight spell counts as sunlight is up to DM ruling. I'd say it does, others have said it does not.

In general a light source produces sunlight only if it says it does (or if, presumably, it is actually the sun). Daylight does not specify this, compare to sunburst, sunbeam and dawn.

CF https://www.sageadvice.eu/2016/04/01/is-the-daylight-spell-no-longer-sun-light/

Of course, as a DM you are free to say that any light is sunlight if you think it should be.

 

[aco175]

Some reason I thought the 'owner' could mentally command the thing to move by using his bonus action. This way it keeps up with the party, but his hands are free.

 

[Beleriphon]

A little bit of Sovereign Glue and some rope and following 60-feet behind is no longer a problem.

 

[Michael Scott2]

Sunlight sensitivity is not defined anywhere that I know of

There are many creatures who either benefit from dim light or darkness OR have sunlight weakness. Like the Shadow:

Sunlight Weakness. While in sunlight, the shadow has disadvantage on attack rolls, ability checks, and saving throws.

But the daylight spell would not trigger this. It would, however, eliminate its dim light advantages.