God Wiz...er...I mean, Druid?

[KarinsDad]

Yeah...monkeys are awesome. Less so when you are underwater and was hoping to summon a pack of Reef Sharks though. Great way to miss the point !

How exactly is a Druid casting a spell underwater???

 

[rgoodbb]

How exactly is a Druid casting a spell underwater???

With a wave of their hands..?


I've already got my coat.

 

[MonkeezOnFire]

I was really looking forward to Heat Metal and took it at third level as a Druid. Used it one time only all the way to 7th. Not one decent enemy wearing armour. Not one! Really disappointing. I made an Oni drop its glaive with it but that was pretty meh. Incredibly niche for my Druid unfortunately.

This is also how I felt about taking Hold Person. It's a very powerful spell, but only in the situations where it works. Judging from opinions around the internet a lot of people play homebrew adventures that feature a ton of humanoids. But when I was playing Out of the Abyss where many encounters are not humanoids and the humanoids you are likely to encounter all have magic resistance (duergar and derro) it was really not pulling its weight. I'm also playing a druid in Tomb of Annihilation. While adventuring around the jungle I don't prepare either Hold Person or Heat Metal.

I feel like the target overlap between Hold Person and Heat Metal is quite large. Humanoids are likely to be using weapons and armour and most other monsters use natural weapons. So that brings up the question, which is better to use on the heavy armor wearing bandit leader?

 

[KarinsDad]

With a wave of their hands..?


I've already got my coat.

I have no idea what you are saying.

 

[Dessert Nomad]

I feel like the target overlap between Hold Person and Heat Metal is quite large. Humanoids are likely to be using weapons and armour and most other monsters use natural weapons. So that brings up the question, which is better to use on the heavy armor wearing bandit leader?

Heat metal cuts down the bandit leader's offensive ability with no save or mitigation and does a steady average of 9 damage per bonus action. Hold person cuts out his action entirely and gives your group advantage on attacking him and automatic melee crits, but gives a wisdom save and continuing wisdom save. I tend to like heat metal better because in the 'not a boss' situation it's likely that the bandit leader is going to die quickly anyway, and automatically giving him a debuff is better than possibly negating his action for a round. OTOH, hold person is massively better if you want to capture the leader, and in situations like dealing with an assassin that you want to interrogate, and the druid I'm playing is Circle of the Moon so I tend to avoid effects that give a save.

 

[rgoodbb]

God WizDru spells by 5th level

Arctic probably has the best god spells with Sleet Storm and Slow

Underdark though is a serious contender with Web and Stinking cloud

Will you let us know what you decided upon? I love hearing about other's gameplay.

 

[KarinsDad]

Yeah...monkeys are awesome. Less so when you are underwater and was hoping to summon a pack of Reef Sharks though. Great way to miss the point !

To be fair, DMs at my table allow one to pick movement type of the summoned creature: fly, swim, burrow. The creature is random, but if you want a flying creature, you get one. Just maybe not what you wanted. Since most creatures have a land speed, if you want wolves, you could get giant bats instead.

 

[Mistwell]

I have no idea what you are saying.

Emphasis on the word "wave". It's a pun.

 

[KarinsDad]

Emphasis on the word "wave". It's a pun.

And where does the coat come in?

 

[Mistwell]

And where does the coat come in?

I read that as, "I'll see myself out the door, as I've grabbed my coat in anticipation of your justified groan at my awful pun."