D&D 5E (2014) On Orcish Grandmothers (=poor spells)

[miniaturehoarder]

Another way to set about fixing spells is to look at how prior editions handled them - Ray of Enfeeblement, for example, has been around since about the end of the last ice age and this is the first time I've ever heard anyone complain about it; so what did 5e do to it to weaken it that can maybe be partly or fully undone?

It's a 2nd level Ranged attack than makes the victim deal half damage on STR based attacks. But it's a Con Save at the end of each victim's rounds. Also it's Concentration.

 

[EroGaki]

It's a 2nd level Ranged attack than makes the victim deal half damage on STR based attacks. But it's a Con Save at the end of each victim's rounds. Also it's Concentration.

Blegh! -_-

 

[DaveDash]

Maze is a decent spell. No save crowd control, potentially better than power word stun. Definitely shouldn't be on that list.

 

[Lanefan]

It's a 2nd level Ranged attack than makes the victim deal half damage on STR based attacks. But it's a Con Save at the end of each victim's rounds. Also it's Concentration.

Quick fix: drop the concentration requirement and make it fire-and-forget.

Lan-"I'd probably do this with a lot of spells, were it up to me"-efan

 

[Samurai]

So...

Has there emerged any kind of community consensus on how to fix each of these spells?

☺

These are my solutions. I'm not convinced Vampiric Touch is that bad since armored mages are now possible in 5e, the assumption that they can't enter melee is less true than before.

Maze: Each round that the target attempts to escape the maze and fails it gains 1 level of Exhaustion. (see pg 291 of the PHB). If it chooses not to try and escape, it suffers no ill effects.

Mordenkainen's Sword: The sword always attacks with Advantage.

Phantasmal Killer and Weird: If the initial Wisdom save is failed, the subject is frightened and also begins making death saves each turn instead of the listed Wisdom save, even though it is not unconscious. Each round that it fails its Death save it takes the 4d10 listed damage. If the target fails 3 Death saves before the spell ends, it loses all its remaining hit points and immediately dies of fright. If the target gets 3 successful Death saves before failing for the 3rd time, the spell ends for that target.

Ray of Enfeeblement: There is no save each round to end the effect.

True Strike: Not only does your next attack have Advantage, it's an automatic critical if it hits.

Witch Bolt: It requires only a Bonus Action to maintain the spell on subsequent rounds, not your Action. You may cast other non-concentration spells while maintaining it.

 

[Samurai]

Maze is a decent spell. No save crowd control, potentially better than power word stun. Definitely shouldn't be on that list.

Crowd control? It only affects a single target. And Banishment can do the same at a far lower level slot. I added the Exhaustion effect because each round trapped in the Maze feels like it's much longer, and running through the maze searching for an exit is tiring. After your 1st failed Int check, you suffer disadvantage on all further attribute checks. Fail a few more times and you'll be in bad shape when you do get out. You are better off waiting out your confinement or you could literally run yourself to death trying to get out! I think that is now worth an 8th level slot.

 

[Staffan]

Crowd control? It only affects a single target.

That's pretty much what "crowd control" means these days - a means of temporarily taking one target out of a fight, so you can focus on the remaining ones and deal with that one later. That usage of the term mainly comes from MMOs, where you'd have mages polymorphing foes, druids putting them to sleep, rogues knocking them over the head, and so on. Usually, any damage turns the CC effect off, so they're not "I win" effects, they're "I'll deal with you later" effects.

 

[Savevsdeath]

Rayof sickness and color spray.
Color spray grants blindness to creatures that fail the save in its area, but onlyfor 1 round. One might argue that it is mediocre, but there are better ones in the spell lists.

Ray of sickness is just horrid, it does 2d8 damage, requires a hit, then makes enemy to save or poisoned. On comparison magic missile does automatic damage averaging greater than it.

Oh and blade ward is pretty horrid. If you use it you get half the damage, but you haven't progressed in your own goal, which is kill the enemy.

I disagree on both Blade Ward and Ray of Sickness. Blade Ward is essential for any tanking caster, and i use it to great effect on my bladelock when he needs to stand there and absorb damage. Ray of sickness isn't about damage - it gives the very nice Poisoned condition, which is disadvantage on all ability checks and attack rolls, even if just for a turn - a great way to wear down a powerful enemy.

 

[DaveDash]

Crowd control? It only affects a single target. And Banishment can do the same at a far lower level slot. I added the Exhaustion effect because each round trapped in the Maze feels like it's much longer, and running through the maze searching for an exit is tiring. After your 1st failed Int check, you suffer disadvantage on all further attribute checks. Fail a few more times and you'll be in bad shape when you do get out. You are better off waiting out your confinement or you could literally run yourself to death trying to get out! I think that is now worth an 8th level slot.

Banishment cannot do the same thing as maze. Banishment is a save to resist, Maze is not. Once you get higher levels, lots of things have magic resistance or legendary resistance, making banishment less useful. With Maze, you can Maze a legendary creature and clean up it's minions for example. DC20 int check to get out is higher than any DC you can achieve normally, and targets one of the weakest abilities in the game.

Is it a great spell? Not really. But it's definitely not useless , and better than some other 8th level picks.

 

[Shadowdweller00]

Some of these spells are considered bad simply because people are idiots. For example - there's a thread lurking around here with mathematical analysis showing that True Strike is NOT in fact worthless. Ray of Sickness does piddly damage compared to other 1st level spells BUT it retains utility at later levels. By level 11 cantrips often deal more damage than 1st level spell slots. The poisoned condition is STILL worthwhile, however. Blade Ward is usually worse than the Dodge action - however it is less prone to dice swinginess against weapon attacks, is better for a certain subset of AC vs Attack boni, and can be used in cases where Dodge does not apply (e.g. when the caster is grappled, restrained, or fighting unseen foes).

Some spells, like Mordenkainen's Sword or Call Lightning are still pretty worthless, however.