D&D 5E Survivor Worst Spells: FIND TRAPS IS THE WORST!

[Gradine]

Drawmij's Instant Summons 4
Feign Death 11
Find Traps 32
Mordenkainen's Sword 9
True Strike 45
Weird 9

 

[Gadget]

Drawmij's Instant Summons 4
Feign Death 9
Find Traps 32
Mordenkainen's Sword 10
True Strike 45
Weird 9

 

[Argyle King]

Drawmij's Instant Summons 4
Feign Death 9
Find Traps 33
Mordenkainen's Sword 10
True Strike 43
Weird 9


I still don't quite get how True Strike is considered worse than some of the other options on the list. Yes, it has issues. However, I can still see uses for it. Having an emergency option for getting advantage when you really want to have it sounds more useful than a spell which may or may not tell you there are traps somewhere in the vicinity.

Find Traps reminds me of a Robin Williams skit in which he was talking about some of the absurdity surrounding how the "war on terror" was handled in the early 2000s. "We don't know where, and we don't know when, but something terrible is going to happen."

 

[Bolares]

Drawmij's Instant Summons 4
Feign Death 9
Find Traps 33
Mordenkainen's Sword 10
True Strike 43
Weird 9


I still don't quite get how True Strike is considered worse than some of the other options on the list. Yes, it has issues. However, I can still see uses for it. Having an emergency option for getting advantage when you really want to have it sounds more useful than a spell which may or may not tell you there are traps somewhere in the vicinity.

Find Traps reminds me of a Robin Williams skit in which he was talking about some of the absurdity surrounding how the "war on terror" was handled in the early 2000s. "We don't know where, and we don't know when, but something terrible is going to happen."

Could you give me some of this uses? Anytime I think of one I remember a restriction on the cantrip's text the limits the use.

 

[Argyle King]

Could you give me some of this uses? Anytime I think of one I remember a restriction on the cantrip's text the limits the use.

Bard firing an arrow and hitting Smaug is the easiest example I can think of to illustrate how True Strike could be used.

"Hey, I want to make sure I hit with this uber-arrow against the BBEG. I'd also like to roll twice and double my chances at getting a crit." Now that I think about it more, I can see True Strike being okay for a ranged attacker who has enough distance to burn an action and who wants to make sure they have advantage on an attack.

I can also think of times when you might be under a magical effect or some other condition which is giving disadvantage. While not the best solution, casting True Strike could cancel that out for a turn and even the odds.

There are a lot of instances when True Strike is not a great use of your action. However, remember that it's a cantrip and does not use slots or resources. It's also worth mentioning that it does not have a verbal component, so it can be done quietly and/or in an area of magical silence. In either case, the fact is that the spell does what it says that it does: it makes hitting something easier.

In contrast, Find Traps uses a 2nd level slot, has both verbal and somatic components, and only works once within 120 feet. Even when it does work, it may not actually tell you anything. If something is not within your line of sight, the spell does nothing. If something is beyond 120 feet, the spell does nothing. Even when the spell does work, it may not tell you anything meaningful. "This spell merely reveals that a trap is present. You don't learn the location of each trap, but you do learn the general nature of the danger posed by a trap you sense." So, assuming success, what you learn is that there is a trap somewhere within 120 feet of you, and you're given a general idea of what kind of danger the trap poses, but you're not told any information about where it is. With that in mind, in a room with multiple traps, the spell is potentially more confusing than helpful because you're given multiple indications that a trap is somewhere near you, but you're not given any indication of where. I can possibly see the appeal if the entire party is terrible at perception, but, even then, the trap tells you only that a trap is somewhere nearby, and you're still going to need to figure out where it is if you want to avoid it.

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[Sacrosanct]

I think true strike could be very useful for a rogue. Since it's a cantrip, you don't even need to multi-class (trickster or magic initiate feat).

 

[Argyle King]

I think true strike could be very useful for a rogue. Since it's a cantrip, you don't even need to multi-class (trickster or magic initiate feat).

A High-Elf character could also choose True Strike. Since True strike doesn't have a damage roll or a to-hit roll which is based on INT, the fact that it counts as a wizard spell and is based on INT has no drawback. (A similar argument can be made for many of the wizard utility cantrips.)

 

[Bolares]

"Hey, I want to make sure I hit with this uber-arrow against the BBEG. I'd also like to roll twice and double my chances at getting a crit." Now that I think about it more, I can see True Strike being okay for a ranged attacker who has enough distance to burn an action and who wants to make sure they have advantage on an attack.

In this one you are probably already unseen, and have advantage on the attack. And advantage is so easy to come by that I find it difficult to reason why you should waste an action to get it.

About togues using it, with a bonus action you can hide and get the advantage, it would be usefull only when you can't hide and have no other source for advantage, and doesn't have any concentration spell active.


About it being a cantrip, I think it makes it worse than being a spell. Every class has a very limited number of cantrips available, and wasting one on this very, very niche option, that gives you an common bonus isn't worth it at all.

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*