D&D 5E Overrated Wizard Spells

[BigBadDM]

One spell I truly consider overrated off the top of my head: Disintegrate. Does nothing on a successful save and the damage isn't any better than a good Fighter or Paladin nova when the enemy does fail the save.

I agree with this mostly if looking at Disintegrate strictly as an offensive spell. But it does have some utility purposes - destroying a wall of force can be vital at upper levels. Just disintegrating an object, a door, a hole in the boat, etc has its uses. The only time I would ever use it offensively if the target had disadvantages on dex saves (caught in a web or restrained somehow).

 

[FrogReaver]

Let's take a step back. First I am not saying Mage Armor does nothing. It confers a +3 to AC over eight hours. I am saying in my purview it is over-rated. I am not a number cruncher/spreadsheet monkey.We both agree Shield will protect at a rate of 25% over the 15% of Mage Armor. When someone number drops, it lasts for eight hours is that person getting attacked for eight hours straight? It sounds like you want the math? So do the math. Avg # of encounters a day (6-10), average rounds per encounter (3-5), average to hit base AC (~50% vs 65%, vs 75%), avg number of times you are targeted vs party (1/n). How many attacks does that save you?

Due to imperfect knowledge of enemy attack bonuses, In practice I find shield being used on more sure things. For example if you see a 13 but don't know if the enemies attack bonus is 5 or 6 then you are going to forgo using shield unless you must use it to live. Thus, in practice shield is more likely closer to +3 or +4 to AC.

Of course there's also the question of whether enemies will target a non-mage armored wizard more often than a mage armored one.

Also the more interesting question I think is how many hits do you need to take for mage armor to be better. However, that isn't fully solvable because imperfect player knowledge and whether enemies change strategies due to you having the spell active or not. There's also the size of hits. Sometimes it may be more important to prevent a single hit. Othertimes you may need to prevent 2 hits. (All depending on the size of the hit and your hp etc)

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

I just want to point out that Mage Armor can be cast on any willing creature, not just yourself. Casting it on an animal companion, summoned creature, cleric polymorphed into a Giant Ape or any other front line meatshield with weak AC but plenty of HP can extend their lifespan by quite a lot.

 

[Coroc]

Timestop seems to have lost some killerfeats in 5e .....

 

[S'mon]

One spell I truly consider overrated off the top of my head: Disintegrate. Does nothing on a successful save and the damage isn't any better than a good Fighter or Paladin nova when the enemy does fail the save.

It's not that great for use by PCs. Disintegration at 0 hp makes it very nasty* AGAINST PCs.

*Unless the GM reads Jeremy Crawford on Twitter.

 

[S'mon]

Any 5e spell that is save-ends every round is weak IME, so players thinking of old school Hold Person are likely to over-rate it.

Area effect direct damage spells like fireball were weak in 3e, but seem to do their job in 5e, since hordes of mooks can actually be a threat.

A lot of Concentration spells are weak in 5e, since there is usually a better use for your Concentration and afaict it precludes Readying a spell. While Bless is ok, IME Bane is very weak since (a) uses Concentration and (b) the targets are NPCs and so likely to die quickly anyway. Entangle is good though.

 

[Blue]

I am not a number cruncher/spreadsheet monkey.We both agree Shield will protect at a rate of 25% over the 15% of Mage Armor. When someone number drops, it lasts for eight hours is that person getting attacked for eight hours straight? It sounds like you want the math? So do the math. Avg # of encounters a day (6-10), average rounds per encounter (3-5), average to hit base AC (~50% vs 65%, vs 75%), avg number of times you are targeted vs party (1/n). How many attacks does that save you?

Don't be a niggler, contribute. I gave my explanation in the first post why I think it is over-rated. My reasoning is less about math and more about resource management. If you don't agree, say why--don't take my word for it. I'm not your teacher.

Bwahahaha. I did give math. I even used your combat numbers before you admitted you made them up. I have attempted to contribute, but every time I do you change your story - first that you don't get targeted often, then when called out you gave combat numbers, then when I used those you admitted they weren't real. Time after time I've said I don't agree and backed it up. No one is asking you to be our teacher, we're attempting to educate you. But it feels like you just want to "win an argument on the internet", every time sliding out.

You're asking for more math, but you ignored the math I've given you several times since then. I'm not jumping through your hoops when you've already shown you, "not a number cruncher/spreadsheet monkey" will ignore the math you are given.

 

[MarkB]

One good alternative to Mage Armour is the Lightly Armoured feat, especially if you happen to have an odd-numbered Dexterity score.

 

[Zardnaar]

One good alternative to Mage Armour is the Lightly Armoured feat, especially if you happen to have an odd-numbered Dexterity score.

That's terrible it's only a level 1 spell vs an entire feat.

You can recall spells as well and low level spells are great for that.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

That's terrible it's only a level 1 spell vs an entire feat.

It's actually only half a feat (+1 dex). And if dex is your only odd numbered ability score, it's equal to +2 dex with the armor proficiency thrown in for free.