D&D 5E How useful is the ritual 'Skywrite?'

[Shiroiken]

You're missing the point if you compare this spell to non-rituals. For wizards, a ritual requires no limited resources once it is obtained. You can do it whenever you want (assuming you have the time to cast it). This spell - with essentially no casting cost other than time - can impacts thousands of creatures. In the hands of a creatve player or DM, this can have massive power.

The spell is slightly better than it's given credit for. As a ritual, it can be cast without a spell slot, making it much more usable (especially for the wizard who doesn't have to prepare it). It can send the message to just about everyone in the region, rather than just one person, which is really useful if the primary target is dead.

In addition to the difficulty of finding good uses, the biggest downside is the opportunity cost. A wizard has to either use one of his two spells gained, or has to find it and copy it into their spellbook. A druid only has to prepare it, but that's one less spell prepared that might be more useful.

 

[Eltab]

If you and a friend know a language other than Common, write your message in the foreign tongue. Sure everybody and their brother can see it, but they cannot understand it. Even more effective if the writing systems do not share symbols (use hieroglyphics in a Roman alphabet region, for instance).

 

[Vyshan]

Offer your sandwiches to the orcs, or else.
Signed,
Ilmater

 

[Remathilis]

That spell has always reminded me of this...

 

[MarkB]

In any big city there's got to be good money in using it for advertisements or proclamations. Though if the town criers catch you casting it, they'll bludgeon you to death with their bells.

 

[Ashrym]

I find skywrite can be useful.

• mass communication
• signal to individuals
• rituals prevent spell slot cost
• familiarity with the target is not required
• knowing where the target is is not required
• easy enough to continue longer messaging every 10-15 minutes with subsequent writs because (again) ritual

It's a bit niche but not necessarily bad, especially in the right campaign setting. Imagine using the messages to taunt or intimidate opponents or groups of opponents safely from a distance. Or I could just write eight zero zero eight five. Calculators taught us that one.