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Message: <blockquote data-quote="FormerlyHemlock" data-source="post: 6681308" data-attributes="member: 6787650">Sorry, I'm short on time so I'll just respond quickly to your spell critiques:1.) You're thinking of Conjure Woodland Creatures and the pixies. That's not what I refer to when I mention Conjure Animals. Conjure Animals is a terrific spell because it casts quicker than most other conjuring spells (1 action vs. 1 minute), it gives you more minions without going over the 5th level barrier (16 CR 1/4 minions vs. 8 CR 1/4 minions for any other conjuring spell except Giant Insect and Animate Objects which give 10), and it lasts for a full hour (vs 1 minute for Animate Object or ten minutes for Giant Insect). The dev ruling doesn't hurt Conjure Animals in any real way: there aren't any CR 1/4 animals that it would be bad to get 16 of for a 5th level slot. It's way better and more efficient than Fireball.2.) It's straightforward to get an elemental for an hour, and then you Planar Bind that. At higher levels you can Gate or similar, but elementals work just fine.3.) Skeletons don't die that easily. They have missile weapons so they can stay in dispersed formation, and you can boost their HP further with Inspiring Leader. More importantly, who cares if they die? Soaking damage is a worthwhile function of summons, and they're expendable. The real point of Animate Dead is that it has zero concentration cost. Think of it Animate Dead V as a Spiritual Weapon variant which lasts all day and gives you five attacks instead of one, but is not invulnerable. You don't have to blow all of your spell slots on it, but you won't regret casting it once or twice per day (except for RP reasons). It's way more game-changing than Fireball at any rate.I emphasize that Animate Dead has a fluff cost and some logistic cost. Unlike Spiritual Weapon it can cause you legal and/or roleplaying problems, and is not suitable for all campaigns. It's still more game-changing than Fireball though (in my humble opinion) and counteracts the "two tier" problem being asserted. A Death Cleric doesn't get Fireball like a Light Cleric does, but he does get Animate Dead, which is just as good or better, but in a different way.4.) Pass Without Trace does help you in combat, in the sense of letting you get a free surprise round with advantage on your first attack of that round. Perhaps more important, it lets you seize the tactical initiative (in a non-jargon sense). Instead of you reacting to them, it's them reacting to you. Tell me that's not important.Your "cast Fireball x2" scenario would turn out the same way if PCs were casting Hypnotic Pattern twice. Five low-level cultists in a tiny room just aren't a big deal as a threat, especially if you seize the initiative by casting two spells before they can act. See above ("Pass Without Trace") for the value of seizing initiative. Unlike Pass Without Trace, Hypnotic Pattern x2 still works if there are five 93 HP umber hulks inside instead of five 9 HP Cultists.The "smart guy" with Spike Growth would have been smarter to get out of line of sight of the inside of the tiny tower. They'd have to move through the Spike Growth in order to get a shot at him to break his concentration.It sounds like your game is tilted towards low-HP creatures in enclosed spaces, basically AD&D Gold Box style. In those scenarios Fireball is indeed quite good. If you knew the whole campaign was going to be like that, yes, you would pick a Light Cleric over a Death Cleric and a Fiendlock over a Feylock. I don't think that result generalizes to other people's games though, it's just a peculiarity of your particular DM's encounters. For example, if the five cultists were spread out around a small gymnasium (120' x 80') when the adventurers entered, you'd need twice as many Fireballs to kill them all but not twice as many Eldritch Blasts.P.S. Also, really? Five cultists against four mid-level PCs? Wow. That's not even an Easy encounter. Under the circumstances your DM should be proud of making you blow two whole 3rd level slots on it.</blockquote>

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