D&D (2024) What spells should be dropped?

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

personally I like Pass without Trace for its super ninja stealth cover, its funny that people arent keen on +10 stealth bonus but are okay with Knock giving autosuccess on lock opening

It's also an auto-success on wandering monsters.

Yes, you can open this door. You will probably also have to fight someone who comes to investigate the noise shortly thereafter.

Honestly, I would make a lot more spells involve difficult choices rather than just removing them.

Want to revive someone in battle? What about if everyone else got vitality sapped as a result?

 

[Nadan]

Wish

I think Wish only need one change: Outside of simulate lower level spell DM can monkey paw any other use. Monkey paw a wish is the most exciting thing I hope I have chance to do it as a DM

 

[TheSword]

No

Yes

…

…

A dome of force that I can see through of but you can’t.

That I can move through but you can’t

That I can shoot arrows throw but you can’t

That can last for 8 hours and only takes a minute to cast. It is the most powerful defensive spell in the game that would revolutionize/imbalance warfare in every single world it existed.

It’s a terribly balanced spell in its current incarnation that needs removing or seriously modifying. I.e don’t make the wall impervious to other creatures and make it opaque to everyone.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Or it just jumps time ahead 8 hours and refreshes everything as per a Long Rest.

 

[TheSword]

Or it just jumps time ahead 8 hours and refreshes everything as per a Long Rest.

That can happen without a spell.

It requires only the magic words: “We rest for the night.”

 

[Clint_L]

In play, I see PCs fail with the bonus. All it does for the Paladin is overcome disadvantage by giving them a +10 total mod to the roll. Even the PCs without disadvantage but with little Dex and no prof are still lower than a rogue with expertise and no spell.

Disadvantage is worth roughly -2.5 on the roll. So…yeah, it gives a low level paladin roughly the same as a thief with expertise.

My rule of thumb is that if a spell is so good that it becomes more or less mandatory (i.e. if you can take it, you should), then it either needs a nerf or is a candidate for removal. Pass without a Trace is such a spell. So is healing word. So is spirit guardians. So is fireball. So is revivify. So is wish.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Let's do a bit if spring cleaning. What spells should just be removed from the game?

Either because they are too niche, or overshadowed by other spells, or disrupt play too much, could just be an upcast version of another spell, the merged spell list made a duplicate, or some other reason.

Like removing conjure animals (8 stat blocks slows the game down way too much), and just keeping summon beasts. But what other ones?

I don't see any reason to remove spells. Every one of them is a piece of worldbuilding, created by some NPC for a reason, that adds to the richness of the setting (whatever setting). Also, options are good, and ignorable if you don't care about them.

 

[Yaarel]

Here is a link to my other thread, What Is The Most Powerful Spell.

It seeks to collect every official spell in 5e, and rank them from Worst to Best.

Any spell that is "Worst" in a spell slot − or worse yet is worse than spells that are in lower spell slots − need a fix.

Possible fixes include:
• Deletion (remove the spell from the game, the game is better if uncluttered)
• Demotion (officially change the spell to a lower slot, where it becomes more competitive alongside the lower spells)
• Buff (rewrite the spell to make it more powerful, so that it can become competitive at the current slot)
• Rethink (rewrite the spell to avoid problematic aspects, if concept good but situational usefulness too infrequent)



For the original thread, I want to reformat the list to recombine "Eldritch Knight" melee spells with the spells that can be cast at range. If you dont see a spell in its official slot, it is probably because the spell is very bad design and can be found among lower slots.

 

[Aldarc]

Honestly? All spells over 5th level.

 

[TheSword]

Disadvantage is worth roughly -2.5 on the roll. So…yeah, it gives a low level paladin roughly the same as a thief with expertise.

My rule of thumb is that if a spell is so good that it becomes more or less mandatory (i.e. if you can take it, you should), then it either needs a nerf or is a candidate for removal. Pass without a Trace is such a spell. So is healing word. So is spirit guardians. So is fireball. So is revivify. So is wish.

I think there is a difference between a mandatory spell because it’s so very very good and a mandatory spell because it’s intrinsic to the class.

To me, dispel magic is mandatory, because I don’t really feel like a proper wizard unless I have the ability to undo magic as well as make it. So for me that spell is mandatory, not because it’s amazing but because it’s archetypal. Detect magic falls into the same category.

Fireball though. It’s good, but it’s not like there aren’t alternatives to the fireball spell. I’ve played lots of arcane casters that haven’t had it and I never felt like I was playing with one hand tied behind my back. A lot of it comes down to thematics and what character you’re trying to make. My last sorceress in Ghosts of Saltmarsh used lightning bolt instead because it was more thematic and fun to play that way. It’s not like there isn’t great competition for other 3rd level spell slots - haste, fly etc. give me a choice between fireball and haste and I pick haste every time.