Faerie Fire too powerful

[JackOfAllTirades]

It's a great spell, and why shouldn't it be?
requires concentration, its AOE is small enough as well as being a cube, and only 60' range

and if your party has no Druid, nor Bard...no faerie fire for your group.

LMAO!

This is why my FeyLock keeps catching his enemies completely off guard with that spell.

 

[Khisanth the Ancient]

Giants (tree trunks as clubs and boulders)

Dragons

Mages

Three examples of dangerous threats that probably don't use metal weapons or armor.

Also, most demons (of the ones in the MM, only the balor and marilith use manufactured weapons), some devils, and quite a few undead, including the very powerful lich and demilich. The tarrasque, too. Really, quite a few of the classic big threats don't use manufactured armor or weapons (metal or not).

 

[ccs]

Faerie Fire provides advantage to all combat rolls for the entire party.

Assuming your targets fail their saves, you can maintain concentration, etc....

This is far too powerful for a first level spell, and very imbalancing.

I'll be the judge of that when I'm DMing.

Now if you actually meant to say that it was so at your table....
Then ban it/change it if you're the DM.
Or avoid using it (and persuade others not to use it) if your a player.

Why should an attacker get advantage simply because the defender is glowing? It shouldn't make the hit significantly easier.

Because that's what it says it does?

 

[Zardnaar]

LMAO!

This is why my FeyLock keeps catching his enemies completely off guard with that spell.

Light clerics also get it

 

[rgoodbb]

Is it that much more powerful that Entangle? I'm trying to choose between the two for my 1st level Druid and am not sure which to pick. Entangle seems more in the flavour of what I would cast, but I could possibly work FF in.

 

[Fanaelialae]

Is it that much more powerful that Entangle? I'm trying to choose between the two for my 1st level Druid and am not sure which to pick. Entangle seems more in the flavour of what I would cast, but I could possibly work FF in.

IMO, Entangle is better in almost every way when compared to Faerie Fire.

While the target can end Entangle by making a Strength check as an action, since it uses that creature's action that's at least one attack that Entangle will prevent assuming the creature fails its initial save. In other words, well worth the cost of the effect ending early (IMO). However, if your strategy revolves around overwhelming offense, having the effect end early might be a significant downside.

The other thing to consider is that Faerie Fire targets Dexterity whereas Entangle targets Strength. That means that if you'd be commonly targeting high strength brutes with either spell, you have a better chance of landing Faerie Fire.

 

[rgoodbb]

Thanks, that's good news. I will definitely stick with Entangle as my concentration spell. Cheers.

 

[EvilGeniusRetired]

Faerie Fire provides advantage to all combat rolls for the entire party. This is far too powerful for a first level spell, and very imbalancing. Why should an attacker get advantage simply because the defender is glowing? It shouldn't make the hit significantly easier.

Faerie Fire provides advantage to ALL creatures in it's field, including enemy attacks on PCs affected. Plus it only affect creatures at time of casting and has a saving throw. Think of it like a confetti bomb. I wouldn't say it's OP.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

The most dangerous kinds of giants IMO are fire giants, which do use metal plate armor. (Frost Giants are considerably easier than Fire Giants--worse AC, worse Con saves, worse Athletics, but better movement.) And dragons and mages both do tend to be vulnerable to ranged tactics. Even giants tend to have fairly short range on their boulders, 240' IIRC. Your list is a good list, but between Heat Metal and a powerful ranged component, I still like my odds.

But but heat metal is worthless against fire giants. Cause they are immune to it's effects.

Though I remember one of my players using heat metal on an Orc's axe to get him to drop it. Instead he got hit with a burning hot axe as I pointed out that most of the axe was not made of metal so he just made it more dangerous.

 

[Croesus]

As others have said, faerie fire has some noticeable limitations: range, area of effect can include party members, has a save, requires concentration. I have one player running a drow and she uses this roughly every other session. Sometimes it's very useful, most of the time it's meh. Not overpowered at my table.

Heat metal also has limitations: only affects metal, range is only 60', requires bonus action to use each round. The last two items are the most important. I had a druid player who liked to use this, until he found his targets would often run away or hide. He couldn't stay within 60', or he couldn't see them, so he couldn't use the bonus action. Of course, if the target does move away, that's useful. Is it worth a 2nd level spell? Depends on the situation. Again, a spell that's good at times, but not overpowered.