D&D (2024) Spells. What needs adjusted?

[Olrox17]

Alternative offer: Tiny Hut automatically gives you the effects of a long rest but can only be cast once per 24 hours.

I think such a spell would alter the balance of the game irreparably, especially since it would be available at a relatively low level.

Suddenly, adventure designers would have to keep in mind that optimized parties have effectively double the daily resources of unoptimized ones. It would be almost impossible to challenge a party with LTH with attrition while keeping things fair for parties without it.

 

[Vaalingrade]

I think such a spell would alter the balance of the game irreparably, especially since it would be available at a relatively low level.

Suddenly, adventure designers would have to keep in mind that optimized parties have effectively double the daily resources of unoptimized ones. It would be almost impossible to challenge a party with LTH with attrition while keeping things fair for parties without it.

Yes. It would effectively kill daily resources and or the idea of a DM screwing with long rests. Now you see the purpose in my actions.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Acid Arrow. There are worse spells, spells more in need of fixing, but this one is personal. I tried. I tried real hard. I cast it. More than once. It never was the right choice. There was never a situation where it wasn't the wrong choice. When it hit and did full damage, I still felt as bad as I did when it missed. Why does this spell only bring sadness to the caster? Melf, who hurt you?

It is a concentration breaker and regeneration breaker spell.

Fail your saving throw and you are guaranteed to be hit next round too, preventing regeneration and forcing a con save.
That does not mean it does not need a buff. But it has a purpose.

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

This is the one thing, IMO, that seems completely borked about the system. It feels like an early, first-draft spitball idea for how saving throws could work before being tossed out for something that works better. Potentially having 4 out of your 6 saving throws never scale feels busted.

They should go back to Fortitude/Reflex/Will. All classes get at least one good save and two half proficiency saves.

 

[Gadget]

It is a concentration breaker and regeneration breaker spell.

Fail your saving throw and you are guaranteed to be hit next round too, preventing regeneration and forcing a con save.
That does not mean it does not need a buff. But it has a purpose.

There is no saving throw for Melf's Acid Arrow, unless you are referring to the CON save to retain concentration when taking damage. In which case, this would have no effect on whether or not you take damage the next round. But any damage spell is a concentration breaker (especially if followed up by a damage cantrip). I guess the advantage with Melf's AA is that you can force two concentration checks for one spell casting action.

As to being a regeneration breaker, I suppose so, for those very rare creatures that have regeneration stopped by acid damage (I can only think of Trolls off hand) and the cantrip Chill Touch does so as well.

On a positive note, Melf's AA is one of the few spells that does some damage on a miss. I would think that the devs might adjust it along the lines of Tasha's Caustic Brew, which does ongoing damage for a full minute until the target (or an alley) spends an action to clean it off. The devs really did over value damage over time spells in 2014 5e.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

There is no saving throw for Melf's Acid Arrow, unless you are referring to the CON save to retain concentration when taking damage. In which case, this would have no effect on whether or not you take damage the next round. But any damage spell is a concentration breaker (especially if followed up by a damage cantrip). I guess the advantage with Melf's AA is that you can force two concentration checks for one spell casting action.

Exactly!

Also troll regeneration is stopped for two rounds. So you can follow up with something different.

 

[OldSchoolGamerGirl]

True Strike should probably be a spell that deserves to exist instead of what it is now.

it's funny how that one changed over the editions

 

[OldSchoolGamerGirl]

They should go back to Fortitude/Reflex/Will. All classes get at least one good save and two half proficiency saves.

make them like the 4e defenses and pull form best of 2 stats too

 

[Vaalingrade]

it's funny how that one changed over the editions

When you only have the one mechanic and are afraid of making the player add numbers together, what were they going to do?

 

[Stalker0]

The devs really did over value damage over time spells in 2014 5e.

Honestly the devs have over valued DOT for a long time. 3e and 4e had the same problems, anything that was DOT just never did enough damage.

I think they feared the once in a blue moon scenario where a spell would activate for a full minute and do more damage than anything else ever and people would cry imbalance. but the truth is that is just so incredibly rare, dnd fights are just too short to be having those kinds of effects.

One houserule in 4e I used that you could for DOT was the notion of "immediate and continuous saves until passed".

For example in 4e you had effects that would do "ongoing 5 damage (save ends)". So each round you would take the damage and make a save (though remember a 4e save is 10+ on a d20, no modifiers except for very specific ones). I houseruled some effects to be "take 5 damage, immediately make a save. If you fail, immediately take another 5 damage and make a save. Continue until you pass".

That gives some real potential fear and oomph to those kinds of spells, though it does require a lot of lucky rolls to get the "big damage".