Spells that could be improved / better designed

[CapnZapp]

Friends - Rename it Frenemy and you're done... The problem isn't what the spell does, but that it doesn't do what the name implies it does. (Also see Barkskin)

True Strike - I have no problems with this being incredibly circumstantial. I certainly don't want this to become useful in regular combat. The problem is that in the case where it actually would be useful, that is an ambush, you are already gaining advantage. The spell needs to stack with surprise and attacking unseen, since otherwise it's confined to the ultra-special case where you need to do a Wilhelm Tell thing, and nobody minds you "cheating" by magically improving your chances.

Blade Ward - in essence, what it does is give you an option to the Dodge action. Instead of "resistance" to being hit, you have resistance to the actual damage. As such it isn't too shabby. Guess your point is that Dodge is often enough, so nobody takes this cantrip? All in all, as a problematic spell I'd place it at low priority to fix. It's not outright broken - so what if it's not a commonly taken option?

Jump - definitely broken, since it doesn't actually increase the amount of space you can move in a round (as confirmed by Sage Advice). I dislike the fiddliness with referencing the jumping rules. It should give you something expressed as a proper speed in feet. For instance, make it give you a Jump Speed of 30. Which basically is flight with the restriction you must begin and end your round holding or standing on something. Or decrease the duration to a single round and let the spell give you +30 ft Speed for one round, all of which can be used for a "jump" in any direction.

Witch bolt. The way range breaks the spell needs to go. The way cover breaks the spell needs to go. Already the spell no longer is execrable. As long as the spell requires Concentration the spell can't end just because you miss your initial ranged spell attack. (Yes, the way the spell is written means that if your attack fails the spell doesn't do anything. It doesn't formally end, but a miss means you can't use the casting for anything, since you don't get a new try to make it "connect" to a target). The way you need to spend your action should probably stay. I suggest that the spell isn't tied to the initial target; that you can switch targets (because the first one died or fled) by making a new ranged spell attack as part of your witchbolting action. That way, you CAN switch, but at the risk of failing (and thus wasting your action).

I was tempted to remove the word "initial" from the At Higher Levels section, but reconsidered. My job here is done, the spell is now usable. No need to go overboard...


Since that became messy, here's a complete revised write-up:

W i t c h B o l t
1st-level evocation
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 30 feet
Components: V, S, M (a twig from a tree that has been struck by lightning)
Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute
You form a beam of crackling, blue energy between your outstretched hands. Make a ranged spell attack towards a target within range. On a hit, the target takes 1d12 lightning damage. On a miss, you still retain the beam. On each of your subsequent turns for the duration, you can use your action to make a new ranged spell attack against a target. If you attack the same target your Witch Bolt dealt damage to in the immediately previous turn, the target is hit automatically. The spell ends if you use your action to do anything else.
At Higher Levels: When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 2nd level or higher, the initial damage increases by 1d12 for each slot level above 1st.

 

[Horwath]

It is by far the most damaging 3rd level spell next to Lightning Bolt. They do as much damage as 4th level spells

By my Spell Balance calculations Fireball should be 6d6 and Lightning Bolt should be 6d8.

Sorry, I have miss written. Evocation is bottom tier school.

Fireball is good at lvl5. but it scales horribly and Meteor is only spell that does decent damage as 9th level spell. Evocation more or less provide little utility and they are only as HP removal things. Like a club. A mistical very powerfull club, but still a club. And since fireball has little to do except deal damage, it should deal highest amount of damage that is within balance.

8d6 is great at lvl5 and it should get +3d6 per spell level to stay relevant to last tier of play. Meteor with 40d6 will still outclass it, but it is dedicated 9th level spell. And fireball is just amped up 3rd level.

 

[CapnZapp]

Lesser Restoration is actually fine. The cost of removing Exhaustion is too steep, but that doesn't make this spell broken.

Barkskin - the easiest fix is actually renaming the spell but keeping the mechanics. Since this spell dynamically adjusts your defenses to never fall below AC 16 I previously suggested Ward of the Fairies or something, that explains how the lazy sumbitches don't do more than absolutely necessary

A real Barkskin, of course, should just work like any other armor and set a base AC that interacts with shields and cover normally.

 

[Kryx]

Evocation is bottom tier school....
Evocation more or less provide little utility and they are only as HP removal things. Like a club. A mistical very powerfull club, but still a club.

People say this, but I have never found huge AoE damage to be "bottom tier". In my games it has huge impact.

Fireball is good at lvl5. but it scales horribly

Fireball is a 3rd level spell and scales just as "poorly" as all spells in 5e do - a spell that scales does less than a spell that is that level by default.

Meteor is only spell that does decent damage as 9th level spell.

Meteor Swarm is incredibly overpowered. Average damage for spells cast at 9th level by level:
1st 43
2nd 62
3rd 77
4th 79
5th 85
6th 92
7th 95
8th 130

Meteor Swarm does (~363) even when I reduce the actual damage from 40d6 to 30d6.

And since fireball has little to do except deal damage, it should deal highest amount of damage that is within balance.

It doesn't fall into line for a 3rd level spell. By my calculations it does 36% more damage than the average 3rd level spell or equivalent to a 4th level spell.

 

[CapnZapp]

Sorry, I have miss written. Evocation is bottom tier school.

Okay, now I can understand you

Evocation more or less provide little utility and they are only as HP removal things. Like a club. A mistical very powerfull club, but still a club.

It doesn't remove the need for fighters if that's what you mean, but it is retains great utility in saving time by quickly cleaning off low-level henchmen.

And something that's easy to forget: it's effects directly stack with the fighters' efforts. That is, it does damage.

From the archetypical archmage's point of view I can see how the spell fares poorly, because as a loner you need something that doesn't just soften up the enemies, but actually takes care of them completely.

But as an adventuring wizard, the spell helps the fighters immensely. And there is where its value lie. Especially for an Evoker, because he can sculpt the spell to never hit his friends.

That said, I agree there isn't really a good damage dealing spell in the level range from around level 11 up until just before level 17.

But Fireball is already the best such spell. I'd much rather increase the "At higher levels" damage of other spells.

 

[Kryx]

That said, I agree there isn't really a good damage dealing spell in the level range from around level 11 up until just before level 17.

But Fireball is already the best such spell.

A level 5 fighter optimized with GWM does 28 damage per round (math)

A fireball is going to do 21.7 damage to each enemy hit. (28*.55)+(14*.45). A fireball will generally hit 3-4 people - lets call it 3.5. That's 76 damage.
6d6 makes it 16.05 per enemy, or 56.2 damage.

Fighters can do damage, yet lack much versatility at all. And yet you think spells don't do enough damage?

I'd much rather increase the "At higher levels" damage of other spells.

Depends if you want a spell cast at a higher level to be equivalent to that level of spell or not. As designed they're a step below which seems ok to me.

 

[Horwath]

Point is that spells like invisibility, fly, banishment, hold person/monster, enchance ability, etc... all get +100% of their base utility per level increase.

fireball gets 12,5% increase of damage per spell level increase.

There is no reason to fire off a 4th level fireball instead of 3rd level, considering that you spend your slot that could have been improved invisibility, dimmension door, banishment, etc...

 

[Kryx]

Fireball, as a 3rd level spell, does more damage than Ice Storm (4th) and Storm Sphere (4th) (fair as those do some light CC).
When cast as a 4th level spell it does the same damage in 1 turn as a Vitriolic Sphere (4th) does in 2 turns. It does about the same as Wall of Fire (4th).
When cast as a 5th level spell it does slightly less than the average 5th level spell (52 vs 55.5).

What you're asking for is all damage spells to do more damage than they do. Or perhaps scale more than they do. If they scaled at a rate higher than an additional dice every 3rd level or so then lower level spells cast at higher level would be better than higher level spells.

You're comparing a damage spell to a utility spell - they are very different.

Beyond that as I mentioned above casters already have huge versatility from their utility spells and do great burst damage. The quadratic caster vs linear fighter is not as big of an issue in 5e, but it is still there.

 

[mcintma]

A level 5 fighter optimized with GWM does 28 damage per round (math)
Snip
The quadratic caster vs linear fighter is not as big of an issue in 5e, but it is still there.

I disagree, casters are pretty in-line in 5e, when they have 9th level spells the paladin is nova-ing for 100HP+ damage etc. Aside form some shenanigans (simulacrum wish) few will get away with their DM. Also, did you figure action surge in that 29 damage as you should be comparing expendable resource to expendable resource (although Ftr ill get more AS than Wiz will get FB ...)

 

[robus]

I find Silence to be quite overpowered for a second level spell if cast wisely. Given that most spells require some vocalization it's quite an easy way to disable a high-level wizard (as Rath Modar discovered recently) turning what should be an exciting battle into a rout. Unless we're doing it wrong?