The biggest value of Tasha’s mind whip is no concentration, so it’s particularly valuable for a wizard with a prepared spell list full of concentration spells
at higher levels, it could be even better than blindness/deafness spam, which is the spell i'd compare it to. The effect isn't quite as strong, but it goes from targeting the worst to the best saving throw.
For the DM's out there all the spells that most players generally say are "bad" are really good to use on monsters cause players often don't understand their mechanics as intricately as spells that are "good" which they have likely selected and understand intimately.
Exactly, so often I disagree with Chris’s interpretation of how to use a spell or how I see it being more effective than the rating he gives it, but I’m the most experienced one at my table and have tons of experience DM-ing so I think more strategically than the other players.
My first thought was “nah, more like 99% of D&D youtubers.” My second thought was “okay actually I cannot think of a single person on youtube that is more thorough and well-thought out in terms of analysis.” So to me Treantmonk is more or less the best in terms of content for true optimizers.
Please share if you’ve found the other 10 %! Treantmonk is by far the best I’ve ever encountered. (Dungeon Dudes is my next favorite, also insightful and more noob-friendly, but not better than big T).
Power gamer tactics room is real good, i think he's better than dungeon dudes too but I still like monk better than both. There's some channels that I think are pretty bad incomparison "like I think they don't really know what they're talking about".
@@pearshaped9116 Its because of the errata and how it was reprinted of Tasha's, it says that the range is 'self' instead of 5 ft. Twinned Spell doesn't work with spells with range 'self'.
Alexandre Batista ah, oh well it always made it janky with reach weapons and range boosting things anyway, probably a needed change lol... grumble grumble...
Mind sliver combines partivularly well with another quickened spell on a sorcerer, or with spells that provide saves every round to escape their effect. Still not a good default damage spell when nothing else is going on, but its good utility to have access to.
Mind Sliver is even better when combined in a multi-caster party. I’m in a triple Sorlock party right now and a lot of times fights open with twinned Mind Sliver into twinned Mind Sliver into Hypnotic Pattern.
Yeah I’ve really been thinking about a Divine Soul Sorc who quickens Bane, follows up with Mind Sliver, and then the following turn uses Synpatic Static. If you have a Monk in the party they will become borderline broken.
I think Mind Sliver is particularly good with the new feat Telekinetic. The 1d4 penalty last till the end of your next turn, so if push comes to shove and nobody has taken advantage of it, just use your bonus action from Telekinetic, maneuver them around the battlefield a bit, and then start it again with your action. Just a little sliver of insight that I had.
I used Mind Sliver with a wizard in some low level fights - to prepare abilities of my allies (spells, smites, magic arrows) - to support my own spells (like web in the rounds after I used it) - to break enemy concentration (which is the next save, after the Mind Sliver Dmg) - to deal ranged spell damage without disadvantage, when I was bound in melee - to prepare my next Mind Sliver
> This is only really good if you're surrounded by creatures, and they should _probably_ all be hostile creatures. What if they _will_ be if you keep using this while they're in range? Does that count? Does that move it up to S-tier, like _Friends_? Enquiring minds need to know!
Remember, the Aberrant mind can cast it free subtle... It's absolutely broken with Psionic Dominate Person. Mind Sliver free subtly with Psionic Sorcerer is too good.
"Beginning at 6th level, when you cast any spell of 1st level or higher from your Psionic Spells feature" Mind Sliver isn't a spell of 1st level or higher. That being said, Subtle Casting Immolation at a dinner party was my sorcerer's favorite trick. Were there stronger spells, yes. Were any of them as satisfying as seeing that annoying noble spontaneously combust, no.
Wow, personally I love Tasha's Otherworldly Guise and gave it a rare Superior rating. The maneuverability/defenses it offers are ELITE, and that always gets my attention. Especially if you can get it into a Glyph of Warding! (though that requires 13th level for a 7th level slot)
Keep in mind that Mind Sliver subtracts from a save made "Before the end of your next turn". This means you can cast Mind Sliver on t1 to set yourself up for Hold Person on t2, and the enemy will take the -1d4. Or you can just cast Mind Sliver every turn, and they get the -1d4 to the save against the next Mind Sliver. Even if you're the only caster in your party, I can't ever see a situation where you would not get value out of the -1d4.
I suppose the issue is whether the enemy rolls a saving throw every round. Any turn where no save is made, almost any attack cantrip will do better. Any time the enemy dies before your chance to cast hold comes around, almost any attack cantrip will do better. It's also only useful in the edge cases where the enemy aaaaalmost fails the save (which i fully admit does come up). The question is whether those factors readily outweigh the missed opportunity to have a consistent impact. (Kinda like vicious mockery. Decent rider, underwhelming to use round after round while the rest of the party cleans the floor.)
Saw something on Twitter, someone unhappy about anyone figuring out which spells are good. The way I see it, I don’t have a lot of time. Wizards can only pick a certain number of spells. Some spells are underwhelming. Best to know in advance.
A few Hot-Takes of mine, if you wish: Tasha's Mind whip is phenomenal as a Spell Mastery selection for an Enchanter (being able to do a reasonable debuff to 2 creatures every time you want to seems pretty good); If you have proficiency, pulling out a long bow and doing some attacks while flying out of reach with Tasha's Otherworldly Guise doesn't appear to be a horrible option. At the very least, you're pretty hard to get to, now (if you have a shield, you're probably better off with cantrips, tough). Blade os Disaster becomes a lot better if there is another caster in your party capable of doing a wall of force(like an Armorer), since you can trap an enemy there and they're just stuck taking your hits if they don't have a teleportation option (i mean, you probably also have force cage if they do).
@@chrislieu6757 Spell masteries are things you want to spam, not concentration spells. You'd get 2 creatures because of Split Enchantment from Enchanter.
@@quetzalcoatlus1892 OK I see. The situation you seem to be presenting is that I am already concentrating on a better spell so you want something impactful that won't disrupt concentration. And at 18th level you certainly have better uses for your concentration. In fact this is probably the case starting as soon as you get 3rd level spells. Although Phantasmal Force still seems like a good option for single targets. OK. You've convinced me. And perhaps this is the answer to why this is a green spell while phantasmal force is a purple spell. Phantasmal force is a better spell when you first get it but loses mileage as you get better concentration spells. Mind whip is a good INT save spell that does modest damage and inflicts a moderate condition and you are much more likely to spam a 2nd level spell while concentrating on other things. I suppose one reason this hasn't dawned on me is because mind whip came out at the same time as fey touched and i have been inclined to take fey touched with command as a spam spell and command seems more effective and more flexible than mind whip.
They at least have magic items that are useful to them now in the tatoos. But you only get one tatoo thats useful for you and thats ths magic weapon one.
Well, the thing is: i've only now been able to make any monk build go above baseline at level 20. The new optional class features helped (specially focused aim and ki-empowered strikes) but the new feats helped a lot more. Being able to get fighting style iniciate (blind fighting) on a Shadow Monk makes them miles more effective, or starting with a Vuman and taking Crusher on a Open Hand monk to send people up into the air with their open-hand technique (shoryuken?), or fey touched in a Mercy Monk that is going to multiclass into Spore Druid so they can get Hex and combine it with Symbiotic Entity. Heck, with Kensei, you take fighting initiate (dueling) at lvl 1, change it to archery at lvl 4 while you pick sharpshooter, and then go on to use focused aim or deft strike to trigger an additional sharpshooter fuelled attack with your bonus action, you're actually doing good damage. There are now offensive feats that actually go well with the Monk's kit. Are they still the worst class? Absolutely. But at the very least a number of subclasses can be made into moderately effective characters now.
Hey Chris. Just to let your know that watching your videos is a special source of anxiety relief. Always were, but specially so during this pandemic. Today I was really stressed out from work and I asked myself: "I need a break. Wonder if Treantmonk has released some new video". And you did. So thanks.
Once you've cast a bonus action spell on your turn, you are limited to a cantrip with a casting time of 1 action. I'm not sure how you could quicken mind sliver and then cast suggestion under the spellcasting rules
@@PlanetOfTheApes999 I might be misinterpreting exactly what you are saying, but here is a direct quote from the PHB. A spell cast with a bonus action is especially swift. You must use a bonus action on your turn to cast the spell, provided that you haven't already taken a bonus action this turn. You can't cast another spell during the same turn, except for a cantrip with a casting time of 1 action.
@@gryffithan You got the rulings mixed up. You can only cast 1 leveled spell per turn (with either your action or bonus action). So you can cast a quickened leveld spell > use your action to cast a cantrip. Also there is nothing stopping you from quickening suggestion instead and using your action for mind sliver.
Actually booming blade new wording dont allow any of those: -spellsniper -twinned spell -distant spell -use of summoned weapons like shadow blade Warcaster was saved by a JC tweet
@@dustinsmith2021 I don't think it's meant to be retroactive balancing so much as clarification. The way the spells were written led to a lot of confusion. For instance, under the old wording you could use a focus to sub for the material component - but then what are you making the attack with?
@@PAPP0NE Idk bro. I just hated in WoW whenever they brought in big changes and anything added to D&D that seems to impose a restriction irritates me. If a spell previously interacted with a feat, such as booming blade with spell sniper, but no longer interacts after changes, then I roll my eyes. I don’t need some dude 1000 miles away changing how I play a pen and paper game.
I think the ranger is almost fully fixed. 1. Having a ton of worthless and unfun abilities - Fixed! 2. Not having anything fun to contribute with in exploration - Fixed! (free spells and skills) 3. All other combat spells being useless because of concentration on Hunter’s Mark? - Mixed. Favored Foe is concentration and only works on one attack per turn, but it doesn’t require a spell slot or spell known, or even a bonus action to set up. You can cast Ensnaring Strike or similar and Favored Foe in the same turn for at least as much damage as Hunter’s Mark, but with upsides. And now you have a great and fun second level spell for combat with Summon Beast.
@@1986Hikaru Everyone but Artificers. Not at all to the same extent though (Bards, Warlocks and Wizards are mostly unchanged e.g.). If you're comparing the Ranger to the UA, it's not as good, but compared to the PHB it's an incredible improvement.
21:00 If you play in the classic DnD settings sure but if you play in one of the MTG settings you can fairly easily find someone or something from another material plane. Especially ravnica where after the war of the spark things from other worlds is a dime a dozen.
Only one sorcery point less than Heightened spell, and usually about half as good. But I agree that it's interesting. 5 sorcery points for -1d4 and disadvantage is hilarious against anything that doesn't have legendary resistance.
Spirit shroud is also great for Scribe Wizard to get you access to three damage types with 1 spell for your fireball, two of which are very good. Same with Tasha's Transformation; access to poison, radiant, and necrotic damage for level 6 spells.
Great video but I don't understand the green rating on Mind Whip. You had previously rated Phantasmal Force as purple. I am not sure when Mind Whip would be a better cast than Phantasmal Force unless I am upcasting Mind Whip, or if your DM is very hostile to illusions. ETA: I now see that Mind Whip is a better spell when your concentration is better occupied.
I personally think mindsliver is blue, I would definitely take it on any primary spellcaster where I could. Especially with sorcerer, or anyone who can quicken spells.
The important thing to remember is it is not all about you. Fight as a team. Most of your party members have abilities that force saving throws. Any thoughtful character who regularly uses attack cantrips can get good mileage out of Mind Sliver. This advice applies to Portent too. Those low dice are just as good for other people's save-or-suck spells as your own. You just need to open your eyes and your mind.
@@thomaspeters8023 that's glaringly obvious, but definitely makes it even better yes. I focus a lot on teamwork when I play, but in discussing optimization in general one tends to focus on what a character can do completely by themselves, simply because you can never guarantee what the rest of the party is playing or is up to ;)
> Tenser's Transformation is a bad spell, don't ever take it. Don't you still have people arguing it can be good? Well, here's mine: If you're Order of the Scribe and you stumble uncontrollably into a copy of _Tenser's Transformation_ on a scroll, copy that bugger into your spellbook because you can use it to fuel _One with the Word_ for sweet victory!
I'd also love to hear your take on the unarmed fighting style vs the monk, could it even be used with a monk till lvl 11, then switched out, maybe? I hope it gets a mention. :)
I think spirit shroud is not as good as hex or hunters mark as a 3rd level spell vs a 1st level spell. The extra 1 dmg per attack and minor add ons are not worth it. However, upcasting it may be useful 5th level spell extra 2d8 per attack may be really good.
I like it as a method of trapping enemies around a tank, especially a paladin with a summoned steed that gets affected by all spells targeting self. Even if the steed doesn’t use attacks to get more mileage out of it’s damage, it can still shut down an additional 10ft of movement with no save, meaning all creatures in range have a total of -20ft, making leaving to pursue a softer target really difficult with good battle field spacing. If damage is what you’re after, I agree that upcast hunters mark or hex is going to be around for more hits, but if you’re trying to perform better as a tank and make you’re self a more visible threat holding concentration with ways to then keep them trapped with you, I think this spell does more than pump dpr.
@@mojorn8837 If it were a lower level spell, maybe. But getting this at 9th or 10th level as a tank you must already have some sort of CC. And it is concentration. I just do not think it is enough to constitute a 3rd level spell. It would also mean having to prepare it and paladins do not get many preparations. Looking at its competitors. Also, crusaders mantle would work similarly and can be pretty good depending on team comp. Or, using a crit smite is going to be better. Also saving a slot for revivify. Blinding smite does comparable damage to smite but also blinds the opponent for a turn. As a 2nd level spell though, it would be good.
My armor of agathys frontline abjurer might also take it for the drawing attacks angle and the pairing it with a steel wind strike for up to 6 attacks in a round.
With Elven Accuracy, crit range of 18-20 and a reliable way to generate advantage one has about 39% chance to crit. That means, on average, one can expect to crit once every 2,5 attacks. So no, you can't expect one crit per round but you aren't that far off. It's about 4 crits in 5 turns. So assuming you don't lose concentration and enemy doesn't flee from the blade, you can expect 8 crits in 10 turns. That's 8 guaranteed hits for a total of 96d12 force damage (624 damage on average). That's 52 damage short of killing a Tarrasque. Shite, for a moment I believed you can pretty much auto kill Tarrasque with that spell.
Love this man - super helpful in building my Divination Wizard! I noticed Tasha's Mind Whip wasn't in your Wizard Guide - if you could choose only 2 of these 3 spells for a Div Wizard, which would you go with? Tasha's Mind Whip, Levitate, and Web
I've done IMMENSE damage with spirit shroud + eldritch blast/scorching ray, especially with 5th lvl pact slots. My lvl 11 warlock did the following: Round 1; BA spirit shroud + A Eldritch blast (3d10+6d8+agonizing blast damage). Round 2; A scorching ray (12d6+12d8!!!)
Spirit Shroud and Scorching Ray. Yes you have to come close, but only close, not melee, unless they have reach 10+. scorchingRay[level_, spiritShroud_] := If[level < 2, 0, (level + 1) (2 d[6] + spiritShroud d[8])]; That goes up to 225. I am unaware of anything doing that without multiclassing.
Mind Sliver is ESPECIALLY useful if you're a sorcerer with Quicken Spell. Always being able to give the target of your save-or-suck spells a negative modifier to its saving throw is uh-MAY-zing. ;) Spirit Shroud is not "Divine Favor done right." It's a cheap knockoff of Spirit Guardians for spellcasters who can't actually take Spirit Guardians. Dream of the Blue Veil is a plot hook and nothing more, and frankly I would never cast it. If a DM wants to move me from one campaign world to another, he can give me a damn Spelljammer ship. ;) :P
@@keeganmbg6999 same level, same damage types (besides cold option). This spell has worse scaling (spirit guardian's increases by 1d8 per level). This spell has worse duration (1 minute to spirit guardian's 10). This spell has worse range (10' to spirit guardian's 15'). This spell has different speed reduction (-10' to its speed vs spirit guardian's halving inside 15' area). This spell has worse damage delivery (has to hit with an attack within 10' vs automatically cause wisdom saves to hostile creatures within 15' who still take half damage on a successful save). -So unless you are a genie warlock using limited wish to cast steel wind strike with spirit shroud up, you are probably going to be worse off with spirit shroud.
@@elliotbryant3459 I guess you hate Hex compared to Spirit Guardians as well? It’s a terrible comparison because the spells are nothing alike. That’s like comparing cute wounds to inflict wound. Cute wounds is a terrible damage dealing spell. If you compare every spell to spirit guardians almost all of them suck. You should be comparing it to Shadow Blade, Hex, or another single target damage spell that boost the attacks you make while it’s active.
@@keeganmbg6999 Honestly I'm not a fan of hex. Spirit guardians and spirit shroud are Very alike. -Think of spirit guardians as boosting your attacks to all the enemies in the vicinity -without you having to do anything [at base level spirit guardians deals more damage on a successful save than shroud deals on a hit]. They are the same level, have similar thematics [and name], and produce the same effects mechanically except that 1 generally deals more damage and can effect more than 1 creature without reducing its output (also shroud has the chill touch anti healing effect). Spirit guardians is passive, has a larger range, scales better and does more damage from the base level -and can potentially last for more than 1 encounter. For a blade warlock using a slot of 5th level or higher you are maxed at +6d8 to 1 creature on your turn -this is contingent upon thirsting blade and two weapon fighting [so attacks using 1d6 instead of 2d6 heavy weapons and no GWM -5/+10] -and then landing all 3 attacks. Or being 10' from your target [but not 5' from a hostile creature] and landing 4 eldritch blasts for up to 8d8 [averaging an additional 9 damage per hit -not accounting for crits]. Spirit guardians meanwhile is steadily doing 5d8 [averaging 11 on a success save, 23 on a failure to any enemy in the vicinity halved on a save -and all of your actions are free to do anything. -I think it's safe to consider this the poor man's spirit guardians. If you're a crit fisher and/or have the crossbow expert feat with scorching ray you can dish out some damage but that's becoming a pretty niche build and you're out 2 of your 2-4 slots in 1 encounter. -A muticlassed eldritch knight (11+) with full caster levels for 5th level slots could wreak havoc with it though.
@@keeganmbg6999 How is Spirit Shroud similar to Spirit Guardians? Gee, I dunno ... it's a 3rd-level Concentration spell that does radiant or necrotic damage and slows opponents within a radius centered around the caster, maybe? Oh, except it only lasts 10 rounds instead of 100, has the possibility for most casters of damaging exactly ONE target, and even has a worse battlefield control radius. Gee, I wonder why I might consider it a cheap knockoff of that OTHER 3rd-level Concentration spell. And frankly, you're engaging quite vigorously in the Straw Man fallacy, implying that elliot bryant was comparing Hex, a FIRST-LEVEL spell, with Spirit Guardians, a THIRD-LEVEL spell. He wasn't. *I* wasn't. We were comparing ONE level-3 Concentration spell that does damage and slows opponents to ANOTHER spell of the same level that does basically the same things, only much less effectively. THEN you engage just as energetically in a couple of False Equivalence fallacies, first comparing Cure Wounds (I assume you meant Cure Wounds; there's no such thing as a cute wound) with Inflict Wounds as damage dealers, and then a first-level and a second-level spell with two THIRD-LEVEL spells, when we ALL know that level 3 spells are at least an order of magnitude more powerful than "beginner" spells like Hex and Shadow Blade. Oh, and nice work, suggesting to him that he DO exactly what you were just criticizing his argument for in comparing Hex to another 3rd-level spell.
The thing that really stuck out to me with the caustic brew is that 5 feet wide and 30 feet long is an area of 150 feet. This will completely cover an narrow hallway so if you throw it ahead of the party and then step back it's going to cover an entire group of enemies in a traditional dungeon crawl situation and could force enemies to dodge to the walls on either side of a larger one (10 ft wide) assuming they get a reaction to what is happening. Wipe it off? Are we giving them time to do that? Or are the front line guys doing their best to make sure they are engaged blocking attacks, dodging around, etc . . . Also what counts as wiping it off? If it's full body shouldn't they need to get a towel or something to wipe off this brew? Dropping your shield or sword and rummaging around your pack for a towel or a clean set of clothes in combat . . . As a game master I'd be a stickler and not allow that. Of course I'd also have the enemy using this on the PC's because it sounds super annoying at low levels. I might even set up the entrance to some important rooms to be exactly 30 feet long and five foot wide, with alcoves at the end where somebody could dodge out, cast this at the enemy, and then maybe lock themselves in. A few guys able to take turns casting line spells of this width and range could be very annoying, especially if it caused the enemy to have to retreat and wash up or just take damage each turn until they can knock out that caster. Add a few traps in that narrow hallway and the enemies main force in the next room waiting to attack whoever gets through and somebody is having a bad day. But then again my dad had a copy of Grimtooths Book of Traps. If it exists in the world people are using it, especially if it's a low level spell. www.abebooks.com/Grimtooths-Traps-2nd-Edition-1st-5th-Printings/30710009996/bd?cm_mmc=ggl-_-US_Shopp_Trade-_-naa-_-naa&gclid=Cj0KCQiAyJOBBhDCARIsAJG2h5fgVk6VVPqgdEOahJOUv9OTa85n2BpCaOEyO7WXA6x4jUYy7y4SGw4aAs7lEALw_wcB
The reason they went after the blade Cantrips was to hamstring sorcerers. No more twin booming Blade badassery. Except adventure’s league is PHB +1 and I’ll just take SCAG and flip the new versions the finger.
1) Spirit Shroud 2) Scimitar of Speed 3) … 4) Profit As a melee focused Bladesinger with a Phantom Steed, this is a fun spell and, if you’re doing it right, will let you add damage throughout the entire encounter.
I love sword burst. It’s tricky to use but I love it when enemies are close together and I can use it. I’m playing a defense based character so I can jump in to use it without fear of damage.
I personally think Mind Sliver is great for consistent damage, because the -1d4 lasts until end of your next turn, so it works with itself even if nobody else takes advantage of it. Considering it targets INT on top of that average -2.5 save, there's likely no more consistent cantrip in the game for hitting every round, outside of the obviously powerful Eldritch Blast once it gets many shots. In low to medium levels I find Mind Sliver great for a Pact of the Chain Warlock. With Investment of the Chain Master, the save DC of a familiar ability becomes your spell DC, which at level 1 should easily be 13. Since you can also now use a bonus action to grant your familiar the Attack action, you can standard action a Mind Sliver and then bonus action a familiar attack. A Sprite poisons for 1 minute from a range of 40/160, and the target falls unconscious if their result is 5 or less on the save. The extra -1d4 makes it not only more likely you'll poison for a minute by making them require an average 15.5 saving throw, but now they fall unconscious on an average result of 7.5 instead of just 5. Rolling a 4 on the d4 means a result of 9 or lower equals unconsciousness. At the super low levels, this can be a great way to try and get that 1d4+3 with 3d6 poison damage of an imp familiar, since it has 10 HP, magic resistance, and you can use your reaction to give it resistance to an attack each round. This way you're effectively starting level 3 with an extra little Rogue that can turn invisible and communicate with you telepathically, while having an attack that supplements it very well. Of course all of these things are ruined by the game's insistence on making enemies immune to poison, but low level games are often against bandits, goblinoids, kobolds, and/or orcs, so it will work out starting off in most campaigns. As for Tasha's Mind Whip, it's amazing when paired with abilities that already have controlling effects that require actions to escape. If you have enemies held in a Web, for example, they must spend an action to make a STR check to remove the restrained condition. Once they use an action this way, if hit by a Mind Whip, they cannot then move to leave the Web. This means even if they broke free they still begin their next turn in the web, where they have to make their save or be restrained again. Side note to that, Mind Sliver is also great for maintaining effects that allow the target to make a saving throw on each turn to end the effect, or that can otherwise call for a save each turn, like with Web, Call Lightning or Flaming Sphere.
Obviously it shouldn't affect people's judgement of the spell, but I've loved Tasha's otherworldly guise on my high level bard. She's a bit on the evil side, ended up becoming a vampire (pretty wild campaign, so she's got all the fun vampire abilities, and downsides ...) so being able to get immunity to radiant damage makes fighting outside during the day not a death sentence lmao
With Lighting Lure, since you can pull targets 5 ft towards you without them taking damage, you can help allies disengage in your turn. Not amazing, and Telepathic does it better, but it's something.
From my experience, Mind Sliver should be used in 2 scenarios: 1) You have planned with an ally and he is going to do something that forces your target a saving throw. Or, 2) You have planned with all allies and nobody is going to do something that forces your target a saving throw, so you can exploit it on your next round. The only major risk is if any ally forces any reflex saving throw from AoE spells, but usually if you plan with your allies, it'll work as planned. As an Enchanter Wizard, I've used Mind Sliver to set up Enchantment spells like Tasha's Hideous Laughter, for example. Sometimes, 1d4 will only reduce 1, which is subpar, but it is already another +5% chance of failure (or -5% chance saving), but if the DM rolls 4 on that d4, this is a huge -20% chance of success. Since Enchantment spells usually have lesser accuracy than other spells (a wall spell never "fails"), but can turn the tables of an encounter drastically, I've set some nasty effects with this cantrip. If you just cast Tasha's Hideous Laughter twice (one on the 1st round and, if it saves, another one on the 2nd round) you chance would be even higher (forcing 2 saves is better than a slight debuff on a single roll), but Mind Sliver is better from a spell slot point of view. Also, enchantment spells often allow more saves, so if you keep "refreshing" the Mind Sliver, the target will keep having lower chances of success, as long as your ally doesn't force any saving throw to consume the Mind Sliver debuff. You just have to take care to not "waste all turns maintaining it" and not being useful in any other way.
I think you've been a bit too kind to Blade of Desaster - which truely is a disaster of a 9th level spell ! Like you said: This needs to be compared to other 9th level spells ! Even if we discount the ability to use Wish to break campaigns, we still need to compare this to common Wish uses (like casting Simulacrum using 1 action), Foresight and Meteor Swarm, among others. And even for critfishing builds - are those really supposed to rely on a 9th level concentration spell ? One decent hit by anything, including nasty auras and other AoE effects, and the sword is gone ! With Foresight, you get to critfish for basically the entire combat part of the adventuring day and you get some really decent defense of top of it !
Sir, Your Summoning Spells video appears to be set to Private and is not able to be viewed. I'm looking to build a conjurer and am looking forward to seeing your perspective on these new spells. I hope your able to fix the issue, you have the best channel on YT for this type of content 100%
Didn't see anyone else comment on how the Blade cantrips now have 10 ft reach with polearms. That's at least one upside, even though it no longer works with Twinned and Spell Sniper, nor qualify for the War Caster AoO.
The only time i used sword burst i didn't even actually used. I was the DM and there was this all powerfull evil wizard that my party "captured" (he let them catch and tie him). So, after the party asked him some questions and i had him answer just what i needed them to know, he used sword burst to break free the rope (because it only has verbal component) and then he stood still for a turn, taking the low level party hits, and left by teleporting, without paying atention to them trying to damage him. That was the only time sword burst was used in my games
Tasha's mind whip is basically damage plus one round of slow. I don't know whether upcasting it is worth it if you aren't concentrating on anything considering slow does 6 creatures with those effects for 1 minute compared to 2 for 1 round.
Sword burst red is harsh. It is excellent for melee casters, its force damage the best type in the game. Dex save which is easier to land than a Con save. Anytime you have 3 or more enemies surrounding you it's a perfect spell AOE cantrip your melee caster types typically only have one or 2 attacks they have a very hard time targeting 3 or more enemies without losing any resources.
One thing about lightning lure, that makes it better than Thorn whip, is the fact that it doesn't do the damage automatically. And you can choose how close you want to pull them. So if you need to pull an Ally out of something, like a grapple, you can be 15 ft away from them, pull them 5 ft, and not do any damage
I like Tasha's Mind Whip and rated it highly myself, but personally I'm not too keen on blowing a 2nd level spell on relatively trivial offense, when the opportunity cost is Misty Step/Invisible/See Invisible which to me are MUST HAVE utility spells which you can't just prep, but must also retain slots for. Blowing a slot on an offense is just distasteful to me and seems low ROI given the OC.
! Tasha's Caustic Brew is potentially one of the strongest spells in the game, that can deal up to 640 damage with two level 7 Sorcerers! One casts Tasha's Caustic Brew, the other follows up with Banishment. If the target fails both saves they get banished to a demiplane and become incapacitated for the spells duration. During this time, the damage of Tasha's Caustic Brew will trigger every round. This on its own already deals an average of 200 damage, which is almost enough to kill an adult red dragon. If they then also use meta magic in order to double the duration of both spells the damage increases to an average of 400. The target can normally scrape/wash the acid of using an action, but because they are incapacitated, they can't take actions. This is why this spell is massively underrated!
Honestly I was surprised he didn’t make a Tortle HexSinger right there. 3 levels into Warlock and 17 into Wizard, you only need the Crossbowexpert Feat and a magic crossbow. (You could alternatively go Artificer 1/Warlock 2) At low levels this doesn’t do more than Hex would, so just use Hex if you have nothing better to concentrate on. At higher levels on your first turn you get 5 attacks and 6 on your second. On a 9th level spirit shroud that’s 20d8 on your first turn and 24d8 on your second.not including your attacks either.
Mind sliver save penalty works until the end of your next turn, so that means that even when that's your main cantrip it's way more reliable than most other cantrips(and will compliment an attack cantrip quite well, as most enemies that have proficiency with int saves are of the wizardly type and usually have lower AC than their CR would assume). It can also set up a big spell for the next turn(although I don't think it's efficient to waste a turn to reduce a saving throw by a d4, unless it's under very specific circumstances). My hunch tells me that toll the dead is still a better cantrip, but I'm quite interested in running the math on that. I'll see if I get some time to do so and perhaps post on discord if I find something interesting.
I think if you run the math on a two turn set, showing 4 different arrangements success & success, fail & fail, success & fail, fail & success you will come out with Toll the Dead being all around better but it will be very close on the ones where the enemy fails on their first save as their chance to be hit on the second one increases by 12.5%.
Alright, so I ended up exporting all monsters in 5e.tools to json and parsing their stats I found the following things: With a few assumptions for simplicity( toll the dead deals d12 damage always, the -d4 in saves is applied from the first mind sliver cast, the selection being campaign-agnostic, meaning that there's an equal chance of meeting any monster in the phb/volo's/printed adventures when considering immunities,resistances,vulnerabilities etc, and normalising accordingly) I found that while toll the dead still does more average damage per cast, it's very slightly more (normalised for hitting with 100% chance, mind sliver seems to scale to slightly better than d10 levels (5.95 average dmg compared to 6.5 for toll the dead), and if you consider the fact that mind sliver can affect a following turn cast by a somewhat significant amount, I do think that mind sliver should be considered a same tier spell as toll the dead. I can post in the discord if you care for details on the math. I actually didn't expect that, tbh, but I'll be picking mind sliver a lot higher now! I also think that it makes for a great pick for Eldritch Knight, where you can keep attacking and casting it on a held person(attack+sliver to reduce hold save and have them save with disadvantage) then attack+sliver every turn to impose the -d4 penalty to their save to break the hold allowing the holding to last longer making it way more effective. Or use it on similar EK shenanigans.
@@keeganmbg6999 Exactly, which, if you consider a 50ish % chance to hit with the spell, scales that 12.5% to "sliver hits 25% more often than toll the dead". If you read my other comment on this comment thread, I ran some math. The average modifier for int in the MM is -1 while the average wisdom modifier is a +2, which scales the average difference to a 27.5ish %(let's assume closer to 20% in practice, it's still a very significant increase in landing the spell). Plus it has an upside for other spellcasters or for you on your following turn! I'm starting to really like this spell(plus flavour-wise I find that I always have to reskin toll the dead to something less silly than a bell sounding and causing necrotic damage - disrupting the targets thoughts / flaying their mind seems much stronger, flavour-wise and can stand as it is without reskinning - although that's personal preference )
booming blade and greenflame blade still dont work with reach weapons. Spell sniper was a possible method to get around that limitation. I do not understand why they made these spells like this. "Make a melee weapon attack against a creature withing the melee weapons reach"
It's actually an amazing debuff spell, as it completely removes the ability of a high level wizard to cast spells with no saving throw. Unfortunately you are the target.
Otherworldly Guise sounds like a great spell on a Bladesinger. You already need to be high level so let's assume all levels in Bladesinger, a 14th level highelf Wizard without any magic items. First round you use your bonus action to get AC 22(Mage Armor+18dex+20int), 40ft walking speed and +5 to concentration checks. Whether you are already in melee range or not, stow one of your weapons as part of you attack/move to set up for your spell next round. Next round use your bonus action to cast Otherworldly Guise and gain potentially relevant immunities, a goddamn fly speed equal to your walkingspeed, 24 AC and all your attacks now use a +5 instead of a +4, giving you 1d6+10 for two attacks every round. Subsequent rounds you don't really have all that much use for your bonus action so why not use it for that extra 1d6+5 attack when you can. Oh and don't forget Green Flame Blade as part of your attack too, totaling 3d6 + 2d8 + 25 to one creature and 2d8+5 to the one next to it. Averaging 47 or 62(an extra 15 if there's an second target) damage per round at level 14(assuming all attacks hit because god knows i'm not good enough at maths to calculate with hit chance). The +5 to concentration coupled with being able to burn spellslots to reduce damage means you're very unlikely to lose concentration on this spell even if they manage to hit your 24 AC with something you're not already immune to. And if disaster strikes you can always cast Shield for a ridiculous 29 AC. A fly speed is amazing utility for melee fighters and while you can already make more than one attack, at this point you don't have a full dex score(given a highelf, pointbuy, 1 ASI in dex and 2 in int) so making int your attack modifier is nice, even more so if you've somehow managed to not stumble upon magic weapons until now. A bit less useful at 16th level and up if you've maxed dex too but still very handy in a lot of situations what with all the flying, immunities and AC bonus. It really complements what the Bladesinger can already do, making them waaay harder to hit and even more mobile.
I think that there are better concentration spells damage-vise than getting +1 to hit from Guise. Other bonuses... Immunities are situational, the flight isn't that useful for a melee character, and +2 AC is nice, but isn't worth 6th lvl slot.
@@antongrigoryev6381 Yeah i agree that it's definitely a situational spell but it still looks really nice in those (not all that uncommon) situations. At that lvl you're gonna have at least 32 spells known and 19 spells prepared so why not add this one to the list for when it comes up.
put this build on an aasimar in its transformation mode, your first damage roll on your turn deals additional damage = to your level. -Also, regardless of race, if you booming blade a flying creature [without hover] as part of the bladesinger attack action they either have to fall prone or automatically take the thunder damage on their turn]. You would probably still want mobile [or tough?] as melee wizard though, you only have so many hit points.
Ok, so hear me out. 11th level Storm Sorcerer with quickened spell metamagic. Tasha's Otherworldly Guise would allow me to get in close, attack my foes, cast a quickened spell, and use the Storm Sorcerer's 10ft of disengaged flight to get away. Don't know how optimized that is, but it sounds so awesome that I can't NOT do it!
I'm in the creation process of a Scribe wizard that I'll play soon. My thought was to use Sword Burst from the Manifest Mind, moving it by flying through a Sleet Storm or other circumstances while the familiar is busy with Dragon's Breath. Would you say that it would be a good cantrip then? Or I shouldn't bother with it and look at something else?
I've been looking at monks.... yeah they aren't fixed. They still have fundimental issues that make them horrible and actually got indirectly nerfed with the unarmed fighting style being a thing. They did however get magic items in the from of the tatoos and the artifact teeth they can use though, so at least they have more magic item choices. (Although as a DM, you are pretty much required to allow the tatoo that gives +1/+2/+3 to unarmed strikes if you have a monk in your group.) Still a shame a fighter or anyone gets unarmed strikes starting at a d8 while your stuck at a d4 as a monk. Sure you can multiclass as a monk, but you get so little from the class your multiclassing to for that d8 martial die. Buut then to get your punching power as a monk your going fighter, which just feels wrong conceptually. Or you have a fighter who is just a better monk than the monk at every level until 17.
She’s hardly optimal, but I love my wild magic sorcerer. Between Lucky, Tides of Chaos, and Seeking Spell, she seems to have plenty of opportunities to fish for crits. She just got Blade of Disaster but I haven’t had the chance to use it. With so many ways she has to mess with the attack roll, I think it will be fun to try out.
The blade Nerfs were Anti-Fun, in my opinion. If the person casts it with a spell pouch, then you only get the spell damage, not weapon damage, or just use an unarmed strike as a base. The same thing can be said about the errata saying Paladins can't use Unarmed Strikes to Smite, purely Anti-Fun.
Tasha’s Mind Whip is such a good spell that I almost want to give it a Blue rating but it’s hard to say it’s a “must take” spell when there are already so many other great 2nd Level Spells. Which brings me to my main complaint: “Come on, WotC. Can you show a little love for 6th-8th level spells?” There are some decent spells at those levels and the new summoning spells gives a couple of more options but it really feels like after Animate Objects at 5th level there isn’t another spell I’m really excited about until Wish at 9th level.
A side note on mind sliver, it's particularly sweet on a enchantment wizard. At that point, it sets you opponents for all of your spells and deal 6d6 with an amazing save. REALLY good
Set up your bro with mind sliver action -> unsettling words bonus action. If your friend has heighten or shadow dog, it could be a nice way to land a save or suck. Or you can portent or something. But that's no fun.
Tenser's transformation isn't bad, it's just bad for wizards and they are the only class who normally gets it. If you can find some way to get it on classes who actually attack for their action it's not bad. Loads better than otherworldly guise. blade of disaster is similar though probably harder to get ona non wizard.
Orange is fair for intellect fortress, however I would point out that it's fantastic in a few other situations. Namely fighting fey, dragons, and creatures that have lockdown effects (mind control, charm, fear, etc) since you can give advantage on the saves too resist to your allies with poor saves. Additionally it's a fine spell to cast before social interactions, especially if you know there will be a spell caster. Such as going to speak to a lord or noble with a court mage, for instance. It would be twice as good if it could block creatures from reading your mind though.
"I could see Lightning Lure having some draw." Yep, 10ft of it!
The biggest value of Tasha’s mind whip is no concentration, so it’s particularly valuable for a wizard with a prepared spell list full of concentration spells
Yeah... I built a summoning wizard (with the new spells) and I grabbed it for the no concentration reason.
at higher levels, it could be even better than blindness/deafness spam, which is the spell i'd compare it to. The effect isn't quite as strong, but it goes from targeting the worst to the best saving throw.
I'm playing divine soul sorcerer and my usual tactics is quickened Mind Sliver + Web and next round I'll use Tasha's Mind Whip.
Fun fact: the full title of the book is actually _Tasha's Cauldron of Everything: Do Bards Even Cast Spells?_
Bards can literally take any spell from any list in the game, don't worry about them.
For the DM's out there all the spells that most players generally say are "bad" are really good to use on monsters cause players often don't understand their mechanics as intricately as spells that are "good" which they have likely selected and understand intimately.
Exactly, so often I disagree with Chris’s interpretation of how to use a spell or how I see it being more effective than the rating he gives it, but I’m the most experienced one at my table and have tons of experience DM-ing so I think more strategically than the other players.
Treantmonk's review is the one i've been waiting for! Your analysis is sooo much better than 90% of other D&D youtubers
My first thought was “nah, more like 99% of D&D youtubers.” My second thought was “okay actually I cannot think of a single person on youtube that is more thorough and well-thought out in terms of analysis.” So to me Treantmonk is more or less the best in terms of content for true optimizers.
Please share if you’ve found the other 10 %! Treantmonk is by far the best I’ve ever encountered. (Dungeon Dudes is my next favorite, also insightful and more noob-friendly, but not better than big T).
@@nilsjonsson4446 you should check out D&D 5e Powergamer's Tactics Room, it's a pretty new channel but very good IMO.
@@adaml8827 Thank you. It’s actually great!
Power gamer tactics room is real good, i think he's better than dungeon dudes too but I still like monk better than both. There's some channels that I think are pretty bad incomparison "like I think they don't really know what they're talking about".
Shadow Sorcerer's Hound of Ill Omem apply disadvantage against saving throw and mind sliver -1d4 on saving throw. It's insane.
And with Bane from a Cleric or Bard... That person is not gonna be making ANY saving throws.
@@wanderingshade8383 an eloquence bard can poison that saving throw too with Unsettling Words.
One thing that should be mentioned. Can't use Twined Spell with Booming Blade anymore, though I can see a lot of DMs ignoring this.
What why?! Did it get crawforded?
@@pearshaped9116 Its because of the errata and how it was reprinted of Tasha's, it says that the range is 'self' instead of 5 ft. Twinned Spell doesn't work with spells with range 'self'.
Alexandre Batista ah, oh well it always made it janky with reach weapons and range boosting things anyway, probably a needed change lol... grumble grumble...
Mind sliver combines partivularly well with another quickened spell on a sorcerer, or with spells that provide saves every round to escape their effect. Still not a good default damage spell when nothing else is going on, but its good utility to have access to.
Mind Sliver is even better when combined in a multi-caster party. I’m in a triple Sorlock party right now and a lot of times fights open with twinned Mind Sliver into twinned Mind Sliver into Hypnotic Pattern.
Yeah I’ve really been thinking about a Divine Soul Sorc who quickens Bane, follows up with Mind Sliver, and then the following turn uses Synpatic Static. If you have a Monk in the party they will become borderline broken.
I think Mind Sliver is particularly good with the new feat Telekinetic. The 1d4 penalty last till the end of your next turn, so if push comes to shove and nobody has taken advantage of it, just use your bonus action from Telekinetic, maneuver them around the battlefield a bit, and then start it again with your action. Just a little sliver of insight that I had.
@@M0ebius 3 sorlocks in one party? I feel bad for your DM
@@cfoscoop why is it that when I hear about a sorlock party I think of Sailor Moon and the Sailor Soldiers?
I used Mind Sliver with a wizard in some low level fights
- to prepare abilities of my allies (spells, smites, magic arrows)
- to support my own spells (like web in the rounds after I used it)
- to break enemy concentration (which is the next save, after the Mind Sliver Dmg)
- to deal ranged spell damage without disadvantage, when I was bound in melee
- to prepare my next Mind Sliver
It is definitely better than some would give it credit. 👍👍
Ooh, I never would have thought about using mind sliver as a concentration breaker.
I love it on sorcerer's. Mind Sliver and then quicken whatever saving throw spell you want to do after. So good.
> This is only really good if you're surrounded by creatures, and they should _probably_ all be hostile creatures.
What if they _will_ be if you keep using this while they're in range? Does that count? Does that move it up to S-tier, like _Friends_? Enquiring minds need to know!
Mind Sliver on a divination wizard to really fuck something over on its checks.
Insulting my beautiful baby Tenser's Transformation, my Bardcher and their greater steed are crying at Treantmonk's rebuke :(
Lighting lure can also pull allies out of melee without damaging them.
Remember, the Aberrant mind can cast it free subtle... It's absolutely broken with Psionic Dominate Person.
Mind Sliver free subtly with Psionic Sorcerer is too good.
"Beginning at 6th level, when you cast any spell of 1st level or higher from your Psionic Spells feature"
Mind Sliver isn't a spell of 1st level or higher.
That being said, Subtle Casting Immolation at a dinner party was my sorcerer's favorite trick. Were there stronger spells, yes. Were any of them as satisfying as seeing that annoying noble spontaneously combust, no.
Oh I love the increased output of videos, thanks TM!
Wow, personally I love Tasha's Otherworldly Guise and gave it a rare Superior rating. The maneuverability/defenses it offers are ELITE, and that always gets my attention. Especially if you can get it into a Glyph of Warding! (though that requires 13th level for a 7th level slot)
Keep in mind that Mind Sliver subtracts from a save made "Before the end of your next turn". This means you can cast Mind Sliver on t1 to set yourself up for Hold Person on t2, and the enemy will take the -1d4. Or you can just cast Mind Sliver every turn, and they get the -1d4 to the save against the next Mind Sliver. Even if you're the only caster in your party, I can't ever see a situation where you would not get value out of the -1d4.
I suppose the issue is whether the enemy rolls a saving throw every round. Any turn where no save is made, almost any attack cantrip will do better. Any time the enemy dies before your chance to cast hold comes around, almost any attack cantrip will do better. It's also only useful in the edge cases where the enemy aaaaalmost fails the save (which i fully admit does come up). The question is whether those factors readily outweigh the missed opportunity to have a consistent impact. (Kinda like vicious mockery. Decent rider, underwhelming to use round after round while the rest of the party cleans the floor.)
Saw something on Twitter, someone unhappy about anyone figuring out which spells are good. The way I see it, I don’t have a lot of time. Wizards can only pick a certain number of spells. Some spells are underwhelming. Best to know in advance.
A few Hot-Takes of mine, if you wish:
Tasha's Mind whip is phenomenal as a Spell Mastery selection for an Enchanter (being able to do a reasonable debuff to 2 creatures every time you want to seems pretty good);
If you have proficiency, pulling out a long bow and doing some attacks while flying out of reach with Tasha's Otherworldly Guise doesn't appear to be a horrible option. At the very least, you're pretty hard to get to, now (if you have a shield, you're probably better off with cantrips, tough).
Blade os Disaster becomes a lot better if there is another caster in your party capable of doing a wall of force(like an Armorer), since you can trap an enemy there and they're just stuck taking your hits if they don't have a teleportation option (i mean, you probably also have force cage if they do).
As a spell mastery, I am not sure how Mind Whip would be a better choice than Phantasmal Force. You can't upcast with Spell mastery.
@@chrislieu6757 Spell masteries are things you want to spam, not concentration spells. You'd get 2 creatures because of Split Enchantment from Enchanter.
@@quetzalcoatlus1892 OK I see. The situation you seem to be presenting is that I am already concentrating on a better spell so you want something impactful that won't disrupt concentration. And at 18th level you certainly have better uses for your concentration. In fact this is probably the case starting as soon as you get 3rd level spells. Although Phantasmal Force still seems like a good option for single targets.
OK. You've convinced me.
And perhaps this is the answer to why this is a green spell while phantasmal force is a purple spell. Phantasmal force is a better spell when you first get it but loses mileage as you get better concentration spells. Mind whip is a good INT save spell that does modest damage and inflicts a moderate condition and you are much more likely to spam a 2nd level spell while concentrating on other things.
I suppose one reason this hasn't dawned on me is because mind whip came out at the same time as fey touched and i have been inclined to take fey touched with command as a spam spell and command seems more effective and more flexible than mind whip.
"Were monks fixed in Tasha's?"
Spoilers: No.
They at least have magic items that are useful to them now in the tatoos. But you only get one tatoo thats useful for you and thats ths magic weapon one.
Well, the thing is: i've only now been able to make any monk build go above baseline at level 20. The new optional class features helped (specially focused aim and ki-empowered strikes) but the new feats helped a lot more. Being able to get fighting style iniciate (blind fighting) on a Shadow Monk makes them miles more effective, or starting with a Vuman and taking Crusher on a Open Hand monk to send people up into the air with their open-hand technique (shoryuken?), or fey touched in a Mercy Monk that is going to multiclass into Spore Druid so they can get Hex and combine it with Symbiotic Entity. Heck, with Kensei, you take fighting initiate (dueling) at lvl 1, change it to archery at lvl 4 while you pick sharpshooter, and then go on to use focused aim or deft strike to trigger an additional sharpshooter fuelled attack with your bonus action, you're actually doing good damage. There are now offensive feats that actually go well with the Monk's kit. Are they still the worst class? Absolutely. But at the very least a number of subclasses can be made into moderately effective characters now.
Hey Chris. Just to let your know that watching your videos is a special source of anxiety relief. Always were, but specially so during this pandemic. Today I was really stressed out from work and I asked myself: "I need a break. Wonder if Treantmonk has released some new video". And you did. So thanks.
Glad to hear it!
Mind Sliver makes Sorlocks even better. Quicken Spell + Mind Sliver + Suggestion = win.
Divine sorcerers with mindsliver+bane+save or suck spell. OoOf
Once you've cast a bonus action spell on your turn, you are limited to a cantrip with a casting time of 1 action. I'm not sure how you could quicken mind sliver and then cast suggestion under the spellcasting rules
@@gryffithan I don't think the rules work that way.
@@PlanetOfTheApes999 I might be misinterpreting exactly what you are saying, but here is a direct quote from the PHB.
A spell cast with a bonus action is especially swift. You must use a bonus action on your turn to cast the spell, provided that you haven't already taken a bonus action this turn. You can't cast another spell during the same turn, except for a cantrip with a casting time of 1 action.
@@gryffithan You got the rulings mixed up. You can only cast 1 leveled spell per turn (with either your action or bonus action). So you can cast a quickened leveld spell > use your action to cast a cantrip. Also there is nothing stopping you from quickening suggestion instead and using your action for mind sliver.
Actually booming blade new wording dont allow any of those:
-spellsniper
-twinned spell
-distant spell
-use of summoned weapons like shadow blade
Warcaster was saved by a JC tweet
Good catch on Twinned, maybe that is the real reason it was reworded to this weird "range self" range.
I’d just play it the old way. I don’t care for all this retroactive balancing they try to do. Too “video gamey”.
@@dustinsmith2021 Do you dislike nerfs only, or are buffs also annoying to you(Honest question, i'm not trying to be snarky)?
@@dustinsmith2021 I don't think it's meant to be retroactive balancing so much as clarification. The way the spells were written led to a lot of confusion. For instance, under the old wording you could use a focus to sub for the material component - but then what are you making the attack with?
@@PAPP0NE Idk bro. I just hated in WoW whenever they brought in big changes and anything added to D&D that seems to impose a restriction irritates me. If a spell previously interacted with a feat, such as booming blade with spell sniper, but no longer interacts after changes, then I roll my eyes. I don’t need some dude 1000 miles away changing how I play a pen and paper game.
You can talk about how much Tasha don't fixed the Monk and Ranger?
I think the ranger is almost fully fixed.
1. Having a ton of worthless and unfun abilities - Fixed!
2. Not having anything fun to contribute with in exploration - Fixed! (free spells and skills)
3. All other combat spells being useless because of concentration on Hunter’s Mark? - Mixed. Favored Foe is concentration and only works on one attack per turn, but it doesn’t require a spell slot or spell known, or even a bonus action to set up. You can cast Ensnaring Strike or similar and Favored Foe in the same turn for at least as much damage as Hunter’s Mark, but with upsides. And now you have a great and fun second level spell for combat with Summon Beast.
@@nilsjonsson4446 it's cool and all. But everyone got upgrades too.
@@1986Hikaru Everyone but Artificers. Not at all to the same extent though (Bards, Warlocks and Wizards are mostly unchanged e.g.). If you're comparing the Ranger to the UA, it's not as good, but compared to the PHB it's an incredible improvement.
Monk is fixed. It's been renamed "Battlemaster", and is now under the Fighter Class
21:00 If you play in the classic DnD settings sure but if you play in one of the MTG settings you can fairly easily find someone or something from another material plane. Especially ravnica where after the war of the spark things from other worlds is a dime a dozen.
Quicken spell: mindsliver-hold person for example
Only one sorcery point less than Heightened spell, and usually about half as good. But I agree that it's interesting. 5 sorcery points for -1d4 and disadvantage is hilarious against anything that doesn't have legendary resistance.
@@collegeoffoliage6776 it's important to note that sorcerers get a lot more cantrips than metamagic options, though
Spirit shroud is also great for Scribe Wizard to get you access to three damage types with 1 spell for your fireball, two of which are very good. Same with Tasha's Transformation; access to poison, radiant, and necrotic damage for level 6 spells.
Great video but I don't understand the green rating on Mind Whip.
You had previously rated Phantasmal Force as purple. I am not sure when Mind Whip would be a better cast than Phantasmal Force unless I am upcasting Mind Whip, or if your DM is very hostile to illusions.
ETA: I now see that Mind Whip is a better spell when your concentration is better occupied.
I personally think mindsliver is blue, I would definitely take it on any primary spellcaster where I could. Especially with sorcerer, or anyone who can quicken spells.
The important thing to remember is it is not all about you. Fight as a team. Most of your party members have abilities that force saving throws. Any thoughtful character who regularly uses attack cantrips can get good mileage out of Mind Sliver.
This advice applies to Portent too. Those low dice are just as good for other people's save-or-suck spells as your own. You just need to open your eyes and your mind.
@@thomaspeters8023 that's glaringly obvious, but definitely makes it even better yes. I focus a lot on teamwork when I play, but in discussing optimization in general one tends to focus on what a character can do completely by themselves, simply because you can never guarantee what the rest of the party is playing or is up to ;)
Chris: I love the art you choose for your videos!
> Tenser's Transformation is a bad spell, don't ever take it.
Don't you still have people arguing it can be good? Well, here's mine: If you're Order of the Scribe and you stumble uncontrollably into a copy of _Tenser's Transformation_ on a scroll, copy that bugger into your spellbook because you can use it to fuel _One with the Word_ for sweet victory!
Too bad! My orc battlesinger says Moon Prism Power, Make Up!
It also gets you access to poison, radiant, and necrotic damage for level 6 spells.
Mind Sliver also deals Psychic damage, which is one of the best in the game
I'd also love to hear your take on the unarmed fighting style vs the monk, could it even be used with a monk till lvl 11, then switched out, maybe? I hope it gets a mention. :)
Spirit shroud only works for attacks within 10 feet, so I'm not sure how good it is with EB warlocks
"It's not the new Tensor's Transformation...and btw, don't take Tensor's Transformation, it's a terrible spell." LMAO
Were monks fixed? Hint: no, they were not.
I think spirit shroud is not as good as hex or hunters mark as a 3rd level spell vs a 1st level spell. The extra 1 dmg per attack and minor add ons are not worth it. However, upcasting it may be useful 5th level spell extra 2d8 per attack may be really good.
I like it as a method of trapping enemies around a tank, especially a paladin with a summoned steed that gets affected by all spells targeting self. Even if the steed doesn’t use attacks to get more mileage out of it’s damage, it can still shut down an additional 10ft of movement with no save, meaning all creatures in range have a total of -20ft, making leaving to pursue a softer target really difficult with good battle field spacing. If damage is what you’re after, I agree that upcast hunters mark or hex is going to be around for more hits, but if you’re trying to perform better as a tank and make you’re self a more visible threat holding concentration with ways to then keep them trapped with you, I think this spell does more than pump dpr.
@@mojorn8837 If it were a lower level spell, maybe. But getting this at 9th or 10th level as a tank you must already have some sort of CC. And it is concentration. I just do not think it is enough to constitute a 3rd level spell. It would also mean having to prepare it and paladins do not get many preparations.
Looking at its competitors.
Also, crusaders mantle would work similarly and can be pretty good depending on team comp. Or, using a crit smite is going to be better. Also saving a slot for revivify.
Blinding smite does comparable damage to smite but also blinds the opponent for a turn.
As a 2nd level spell though, it would be good.
My armor of agathys frontline abjurer might also take it for the drawing attacks angle and the pairing it with a steel wind strike for up to 6 attacks in a round.
With Elven Accuracy, crit range of 18-20 and a reliable way to generate advantage one has about 39% chance to crit. That means, on average, one can expect to crit once every 2,5 attacks. So no, you can't expect one crit per round but you aren't that far off. It's about 4 crits in 5 turns. So assuming you don't lose concentration and enemy doesn't flee from the blade, you can expect 8 crits in 10 turns. That's 8 guaranteed hits for a total of 96d12 force damage (624 damage on average). That's 52 damage short of killing a Tarrasque.
Shite, for a moment I believed you can pretty much auto kill Tarrasque with that spell.
Love this man - super helpful in building my Divination Wizard! I noticed Tasha's Mind Whip wasn't in your Wizard Guide - if you could choose only 2 of these 3 spells for a Div Wizard, which would you go with? Tasha's Mind Whip, Levitate, and Web
“I can see Lightning Lure having some draw.” Ha. Get it?
I've done IMMENSE damage with spirit shroud + eldritch blast/scorching ray, especially with 5th lvl pact slots. My lvl 11 warlock did the following:
Round 1; BA spirit shroud + A Eldritch blast (3d10+6d8+agonizing blast damage). Round 2; A scorching ray (12d6+12d8!!!)
Spirit Shroud and Scorching Ray. Yes you have to come close, but only close, not melee, unless they have reach 10+.
scorchingRay[level_, spiritShroud_] :=
If[level < 2, 0, (level + 1) (2 d[6] + spiritShroud d[8])];
That goes up to 225. I am unaware of anything doing that without multiclassing.
Mind Sliver is ESPECIALLY useful if you're a sorcerer with Quicken Spell. Always being able to give the target of your save-or-suck spells a negative modifier to its saving throw is uh-MAY-zing. ;)
Spirit Shroud is not "Divine Favor done right." It's a cheap knockoff of Spirit Guardians for spellcasters who can't actually take Spirit Guardians.
Dream of the Blue Veil is a plot hook and nothing more, and frankly I would never cast it. If a DM wants to move me from one campaign world to another, he can give me a damn Spelljammer ship. ;) :P
How do you figure that it’s like spirit guardians at all?
@@keeganmbg6999 same level, same damage types (besides cold option). This spell has worse scaling (spirit guardian's increases by 1d8 per level). This spell has worse duration (1 minute to spirit guardian's 10). This spell has worse range (10' to spirit guardian's 15'). This spell has different speed reduction (-10' to its speed vs spirit guardian's halving inside 15' area). This spell has worse damage delivery (has to hit with an attack within 10' vs automatically cause wisdom saves to hostile creatures within 15' who still take half damage on a successful save). -So unless you are a genie warlock using limited wish to cast steel wind strike with spirit shroud up, you are probably going to be worse off with spirit shroud.
@@elliotbryant3459 I guess you hate Hex compared to Spirit Guardians as well? It’s a terrible comparison because the spells are nothing alike. That’s like comparing cute wounds to inflict wound. Cute wounds is a terrible damage dealing spell.
If you compare every spell to spirit guardians almost all of them suck.
You should be comparing it to Shadow Blade, Hex, or another single target damage spell that boost the attacks you make while it’s active.
@@keeganmbg6999 Honestly I'm not a fan of hex. Spirit guardians and spirit shroud are Very alike. -Think of spirit guardians as boosting your attacks to all the enemies in the vicinity -without you having to do anything [at base level spirit guardians deals more damage on a successful save than shroud deals on a hit]. They are the same level, have similar thematics [and name], and produce the same effects mechanically except that 1 generally deals more damage and can effect more than 1 creature without reducing its output (also shroud has the chill touch anti healing effect). Spirit guardians is passive, has a larger range, scales better and does more damage from the base level -and can potentially last for more than 1 encounter. For a blade warlock using a slot of 5th level or higher you are maxed at +6d8 to 1 creature on your turn -this is contingent upon thirsting blade and two weapon fighting [so attacks using 1d6 instead of 2d6 heavy weapons and no GWM -5/+10] -and then landing all 3 attacks. Or being 10' from your target [but not 5' from a hostile creature] and landing 4 eldritch blasts for up to 8d8 [averaging an additional 9 damage per hit -not accounting for crits]. Spirit guardians meanwhile is steadily doing 5d8 [averaging 11 on a success save, 23 on a failure to any enemy in the vicinity halved on a save -and all of your actions are free to do anything. -I think it's safe to consider this the poor man's spirit guardians.
If you're a crit fisher and/or have the crossbow expert feat with scorching ray you can dish out some damage but that's becoming a pretty niche build and you're out 2 of your 2-4 slots in 1 encounter. -A muticlassed eldritch knight (11+) with full caster levels for 5th level slots could wreak havoc with it though.
@@keeganmbg6999 How is Spirit Shroud similar to Spirit Guardians? Gee, I dunno ... it's a 3rd-level Concentration spell that does radiant or necrotic damage and slows opponents within a radius centered around the caster, maybe? Oh, except it only lasts 10 rounds instead of 100, has the possibility for most casters of damaging exactly ONE target, and even has a worse battlefield control radius. Gee, I wonder why I might consider it a cheap knockoff of that OTHER 3rd-level Concentration spell.
And frankly, you're engaging quite vigorously in the Straw Man fallacy, implying that elliot bryant was comparing Hex, a FIRST-LEVEL spell, with Spirit Guardians, a THIRD-LEVEL spell. He wasn't. *I* wasn't. We were comparing ONE level-3 Concentration spell that does damage and slows opponents to ANOTHER spell of the same level that does basically the same things, only much less effectively.
THEN you engage just as energetically in a couple of False Equivalence fallacies, first comparing Cure Wounds (I assume you meant Cure Wounds; there's no such thing as a cute wound) with Inflict Wounds as damage dealers, and then a first-level and a second-level spell with two THIRD-LEVEL spells, when we ALL know that level 3 spells are at least an order of magnitude more powerful than "beginner" spells like Hex and Shadow Blade.
Oh, and nice work, suggesting to him that he DO exactly what you were just criticizing his argument for in comparing Hex to another 3rd-level spell.
The thing that really stuck out to me with the caustic brew is that 5 feet wide and 30 feet long is an area of 150 feet. This will completely cover an narrow hallway so if you throw it ahead of the party and then step back it's going to cover an entire group of enemies in a traditional dungeon crawl situation and could force enemies to dodge to the walls on either side of a larger one (10 ft wide) assuming they get a reaction to what is happening.
Wipe it off? Are we giving them time to do that? Or are the front line guys doing their best to make sure they are engaged blocking attacks, dodging around, etc . . . Also what counts as wiping it off? If it's full body shouldn't they need to get a towel or something to wipe off this brew? Dropping your shield or sword and rummaging around your pack for a towel or a clean set of clothes in combat . . . As a game master I'd be a stickler and not allow that. Of course I'd also have the enemy using this on the PC's because it sounds super annoying at low levels.
I might even set up the entrance to some important rooms to be exactly 30 feet long and five foot wide, with alcoves at the end where somebody could dodge out, cast this at the enemy, and then maybe lock themselves in. A few guys able to take turns casting line spells of this width and range could be very annoying, especially if it caused the enemy to have to retreat and wash up or just take damage each turn until they can knock out that caster.
Add a few traps in that narrow hallway and the enemies main force in the next room waiting to attack whoever gets through and somebody is having a bad day. But then again my dad had a copy of Grimtooths Book of Traps. If it exists in the world people are using it, especially if it's a low level spell.
www.abebooks.com/Grimtooths-Traps-2nd-Edition-1st-5th-Printings/30710009996/bd?cm_mmc=ggl-_-US_Shopp_Trade-_-naa-_-naa&gclid=Cj0KCQiAyJOBBhDCARIsAJG2h5fgVk6VVPqgdEOahJOUv9OTa85n2BpCaOEyO7WXA6x4jUYy7y4SGw4aAs7lEALw_wcB
The reason they went after the blade Cantrips was to hamstring sorcerers. No more twin booming Blade badassery. Except adventure’s league is PHB +1 and I’ll just take SCAG and flip the new versions the finger.
1) Spirit Shroud
2) Scimitar of Speed
3) …
4) Profit
As a melee focused Bladesinger with a Phantom Steed, this is a fun spell and, if you’re doing it right, will let you add damage throughout the entire encounter.
I love sword burst. It’s tricky to use but I love it when enemies are close together and I can use it. I’m playing a defense based character so I can jump in to use it without fear of damage.
Intellect Fortress sounds like a great Mid level Warlock spell based on your Warlock Videos. Circumstantial but a big deal when you need it.
I personally think Mind Sliver is great for consistent damage, because the -1d4 lasts until end of your next turn, so it works with itself even if nobody else takes advantage of it. Considering it targets INT on top of that average -2.5 save, there's likely no more consistent cantrip in the game for hitting every round, outside of the obviously powerful Eldritch Blast once it gets many shots.
In low to medium levels I find Mind Sliver great for a Pact of the Chain Warlock. With Investment of the Chain Master, the save DC of a familiar ability becomes your spell DC, which at level 1 should easily be 13. Since you can also now use a bonus action to grant your familiar the Attack action, you can standard action a Mind Sliver and then bonus action a familiar attack. A Sprite poisons for 1 minute from a range of 40/160, and the target falls unconscious if their result is 5 or less on the save. The extra -1d4 makes it not only more likely you'll poison for a minute by making them require an average 15.5 saving throw, but now they fall unconscious on an average result of 7.5 instead of just 5. Rolling a 4 on the d4 means a result of 9 or lower equals unconsciousness.
At the super low levels, this can be a great way to try and get that 1d4+3 with 3d6 poison damage of an imp familiar, since it has 10 HP, magic resistance, and you can use your reaction to give it resistance to an attack each round. This way you're effectively starting level 3 with an extra little Rogue that can turn invisible and communicate with you telepathically, while having an attack that supplements it very well. Of course all of these things are ruined by the game's insistence on making enemies immune to poison, but low level games are often against bandits, goblinoids, kobolds, and/or orcs, so it will work out starting off in most campaigns.
As for Tasha's Mind Whip, it's amazing when paired with abilities that already have controlling effects that require actions to escape. If you have enemies held in a Web, for example, they must spend an action to make a STR check to remove the restrained condition. Once they use an action this way, if hit by a Mind Whip, they cannot then move to leave the Web. This means even if they broke free they still begin their next turn in the web, where they have to make their save or be restrained again.
Side note to that, Mind Sliver is also great for maintaining effects that allow the target to make a saving throw on each turn to end the effect, or that can otherwise call for a save each turn, like with Web, Call Lightning or Flaming Sphere.
Obviously it shouldn't affect people's judgement of the spell, but I've loved Tasha's otherworldly guise on my high level bard. She's a bit on the evil side, ended up becoming a vampire (pretty wild campaign, so she's got all the fun vampire abilities, and downsides ...) so being able to get immunity to radiant damage makes fighting outside during the day not a death sentence lmao
What if i have heavy armor, shield, my spell casting focus is a +2 Staff, can i be a decent fighter for a minute with Tasha's OwG?
With Lighting Lure, since you can pull targets 5 ft towards you without them taking damage, you can help allies disengage in your turn. Not amazing, and Telepathic does it better, but it's something.
From my experience, Mind Sliver should be used in 2 scenarios:
1) You have planned with an ally and he is going to do something that forces your target a saving throw. Or,
2) You have planned with all allies and nobody is going to do something that forces your target a saving throw, so you can exploit it on your next round.
The only major risk is if any ally forces any reflex saving throw from AoE spells, but usually if you plan with your allies, it'll work as planned.
As an Enchanter Wizard, I've used Mind Sliver to set up Enchantment spells like Tasha's Hideous Laughter, for example.
Sometimes, 1d4 will only reduce 1, which is subpar, but it is already another +5% chance of failure (or -5% chance saving), but if the DM rolls 4 on that d4, this is a huge -20% chance of success.
Since Enchantment spells usually have lesser accuracy than other spells (a wall spell never "fails"), but can turn the tables of an encounter drastically, I've set some nasty effects with this cantrip.
If you just cast Tasha's Hideous Laughter twice (one on the 1st round and, if it saves, another one on the 2nd round) you chance would be even higher (forcing 2 saves is better than a slight debuff on a single roll), but Mind Sliver is better from a spell slot point of view.
Also, enchantment spells often allow more saves, so if you keep "refreshing" the Mind Sliver, the target will keep having lower chances of success, as long as your ally doesn't force any saving throw to consume the Mind Sliver debuff. You just have to take care to not "waste all turns maintaining it" and not being useful in any other way.
I think you've been a bit too kind to Blade of Desaster - which truely is a disaster of a 9th level spell ! Like you said: This needs to be compared to other 9th level spells ! Even if we discount the ability to use Wish to break campaigns, we still need to compare this to common Wish uses (like casting Simulacrum using 1 action), Foresight and Meteor Swarm, among others. And even for critfishing builds - are those really supposed to rely on a 9th level concentration spell ? One decent hit by anything, including nasty auras and other AoE effects, and the sword is gone ! With Foresight, you get to critfish for basically the entire combat part of the adventuring day and you get some really decent defense of top of it !
Spirit Shroud is a low rent Spirit Guardians unless you have a lot of attacks, and that's just for single target.
Sir, Your Summoning Spells video appears to be set to Private and is not able to be viewed. I'm looking to build a conjurer and am looking forward to seeing your perspective on these new spells. I hope your able to fix the issue, you have the best channel on YT for this type of content 100%
Didn't see anyone else comment on how the Blade cantrips now have 10 ft reach with polearms. That's at least one upside, even though it no longer works with Twinned and Spell Sniper, nor qualify for the War Caster AoO.
How do you feel Tasha's Mind Whip compares to Blindness/Deafness for wizards in general, and especially divination wizards?
Argh! Content so good, I can't wait another week! Lol. Keep up the amazing work!
Weird that mind whip isn't a warlock spell
The only time i used sword burst i didn't even actually used. I was the DM and there was this all powerfull evil wizard that my party "captured" (he let them catch and tie him). So, after the party asked him some questions and i had him answer just what i needed them to know, he used sword burst to break free the rope (because it only has verbal component) and then he stood still for a turn, taking the low level party hits, and left by teleporting, without paying atention to them trying to damage him. That was the only time sword burst was used in my games
Tasha's mind whip is basically damage plus one round of slow. I don't know whether upcasting it is worth it if you aren't concentrating on anything considering slow does 6 creatures with those effects for 1 minute compared to 2 for 1 round.
Sword burst red is harsh. It is excellent for melee casters, its force damage the best type in the game. Dex save which is easier to land than a Con save. Anytime you have 3 or more enemies surrounding you it's a perfect spell AOE cantrip your melee caster types typically only have one or 2 attacks they have a very hard time targeting 3 or more enemies without losing any resources.
One thing about lightning lure, that makes it better than Thorn whip, is the fact that it doesn't do the damage automatically. And you can choose how close you want to pull them.
So if you need to pull an Ally out of something, like a grapple, you can be 15 ft away from them, pull them 5 ft, and not do any damage
I hope he updates the wizard school Google docs... the video-essays just aren't something I can sit through.
I really appreciate you considering color blind viewers. :) not a huge thing but it speaks volumes.
When will you write Tasha book spells to wizard guide google document? ^^
Tenser's is a bad spell don't ever take it.
*Laughs in Warmage with decent Physical stats.*
Mind Sliver is a must for Quicken Spell. Get a four and Quicken your own setup spell
Dream of the Blue Veil, or Summon Referee Fiat as it's also known. ;p
Otherworldly guise is great for sorcerers especially with Shadow blade
Intellect fortress should be level 2 spell, or if it is level 3 make it target up to 3 creatures then upcast for more.
Just another day of appreciating TM 🥰 ✨
Chris, where is your beautiful face? Again?
Blade of disaster + hold spell would be ridiculous if a party could pull it off
Tashas otherworldly guise = rp potential.
I like Tasha's Mind Whip and rated it highly myself, but personally I'm not too keen on blowing a 2nd level spell on relatively trivial offense, when the opportunity cost is Misty Step/Invisible/See Invisible which to me are MUST HAVE utility spells which you can't just prep, but must also retain slots for. Blowing a slot on an offense is just distasteful to me and seems low ROI given the OC.
the cantrip change does make Whip get a use for it to get 10ft though
! Tasha's Caustic Brew is potentially one of the strongest spells in the game, that can deal up to 640 damage with two level 7 Sorcerers! One casts Tasha's Caustic Brew, the other follows up with Banishment. If the target fails both saves they get banished to a demiplane and become incapacitated for the spells duration. During this time, the damage of Tasha's Caustic Brew will trigger every round. This on its own already deals an average of 200 damage, which is almost enough to kill an adult red dragon. If they then also use meta magic in order to double the duration of both spells the damage increases to an average of 400. The target can normally scrape/wash the acid of using an action, but because they are incapacitated, they can't take actions. This is why this spell is massively underrated!
4th level Tasha's Caustic Brew: 8*d4=8*2,5=20 dpr
1 min = 20*10=200
2 min = 20*20=400
Max: if you only roll 4s on damage which is very unlikely
I was waiting for this one, hey dont you think spirit shroud can be really good against a BBEG if used with upcasted scorching ray ?
Whatever gets you a ton of attack hits.
Remember that Spirit Shroud is 10ft only, so you need to be really close to BBEG.
Honestly I was surprised he didn’t make a Tortle HexSinger right there. 3 levels into Warlock and 17 into Wizard, you only need the Crossbowexpert Feat and a magic crossbow. (You could alternatively go Artificer 1/Warlock 2)
At low levels this doesn’t do more than Hex would, so just use Hex if you have nothing better to concentrate on. At higher levels on your first turn you get 5 attacks and 6 on your second. On a 9th level spirit shroud that’s 20d8 on your first turn and 24d8 on your second.not including your attacks either.
Mind sliver save penalty works until the end of your next turn, so that means that even when that's your main cantrip it's way more reliable than most other cantrips(and will compliment an attack cantrip quite well, as most enemies that have proficiency with int saves are of the wizardly type and usually have lower AC than their CR would assume). It can also set up a big spell for the next turn(although I don't think it's efficient to waste a turn to reduce a saving throw by a d4, unless it's under very specific circumstances). My hunch tells me that toll the dead is still a better cantrip, but I'm quite interested in running the math on that. I'll see if I get some time to do so and perhaps post on discord if I find something interesting.
I think if you run the math on a two turn set, showing 4 different arrangements success & success, fail & fail, success & fail, fail & success you will come out with Toll the Dead being all around better but it will be very close on the ones where the enemy fails on their first save as their chance to be hit on the second one increases by 12.5%.
Alright, so I ended up exporting all monsters in 5e.tools to json and parsing their stats I found the following things:
With a few assumptions for simplicity( toll the dead deals d12 damage always, the -d4 in saves is applied from the first mind sliver cast, the selection being campaign-agnostic, meaning that there's an equal chance of meeting any monster in the phb/volo's/printed adventures when considering immunities,resistances,vulnerabilities etc, and normalising accordingly) I found that while toll the dead still does more average damage per cast, it's very slightly more (normalised for hitting with 100% chance, mind sliver seems to scale to slightly better than d10 levels (5.95 average dmg compared to 6.5 for toll the dead), and if you consider the fact that mind sliver can affect a following turn cast by a somewhat significant amount, I do think that mind sliver should be considered a same tier spell as toll the dead.
I can post in the discord if you care for details on the math.
I actually didn't expect that, tbh, but I'll be picking mind sliver a lot higher now!
I also think that it makes for a great pick for Eldritch Knight, where you can keep attacking and casting it on a held person(attack+sliver to reduce hold save and have them save with disadvantage) then attack+sliver every turn to impose the -d4 penalty to their save to break the hold allowing the holding to last longer making it way more effective. Or use it on similar EK shenanigans.
@@keeganmbg6999 Exactly, which, if you consider a 50ish % chance to hit with the spell, scales that 12.5% to "sliver hits 25% more often than toll the dead".
If you read my other comment on this comment thread, I ran some math. The average modifier for int in the MM is -1 while the average wisdom modifier is a +2, which scales the average difference to a 27.5ish %(let's assume closer to 20% in practice, it's still a very significant increase in landing the spell). Plus it has an upside for other spellcasters or for you on your following turn! I'm starting to really like this spell(plus flavour-wise I find that I always have to reskin toll the dead to something less silly than a bell sounding and causing necrotic damage - disrupting the targets thoughts / flaying their mind seems much stronger, flavour-wise and can stand as it is without reskinning - although that's personal preference )
Spirit shroud bladesinger, sounds fun
booming blade and greenflame blade still dont work with reach weapons.
Spell sniper was a possible method to get around that limitation.
I do not understand why they made these spells like this.
"Make a melee weapon attack against a creature withing the melee weapons reach"
My man is working hard to differentiate Lightning Lure from Thorn Whip! I like it... (the approach, not the cantrip, lol)
Why is Tensers Transformation bad? I just reached level 11 as a wizard and was going to take it.
It's actually an amazing debuff spell, as it completely removes the ability of a high level wizard to cast spells with no saving throw. Unfortunately you are the target.
Why do you hate bladesinger
Mind Sliver is like a better True Strike
Otherworldly Guise sounds like a great spell on a Bladesinger. You already need to be high level so let's assume all levels in Bladesinger, a 14th level highelf Wizard without any magic items.
First round you use your bonus action to get AC 22(Mage Armor+18dex+20int), 40ft walking speed and +5 to concentration checks.
Whether you are already in melee range or not, stow one of your weapons as part of you attack/move to set up for your spell next round.
Next round use your bonus action to cast Otherworldly Guise and gain potentially relevant immunities, a goddamn fly speed equal to your walkingspeed, 24 AC and all your attacks now use a +5 instead of a +4, giving you 1d6+10 for two attacks every round. Subsequent rounds you don't really have all that much use for your bonus action so why not use it for that extra 1d6+5 attack when you can.
Oh and don't forget Green Flame Blade as part of your attack too, totaling 3d6 + 2d8 + 25 to one creature and 2d8+5 to the one next to it. Averaging 47 or 62(an extra 15 if there's an second target) damage per round at level 14(assuming all attacks hit because god knows i'm not good enough at maths to calculate with hit chance).
The +5 to concentration coupled with being able to burn spellslots to reduce damage means you're very unlikely to lose concentration on this spell even if they manage to hit your 24 AC with something you're not already immune to. And if disaster strikes you can always cast Shield for a ridiculous 29 AC.
A fly speed is amazing utility for melee fighters and while you can already make more than one attack, at this point you don't have a full dex score(given a highelf, pointbuy, 1 ASI in dex and 2 in int) so making int your attack modifier is nice, even more so if you've somehow managed to not stumble upon magic weapons until now.
A bit less useful at 16th level and up if you've maxed dex too but still very handy in a lot of situations what with all the flying, immunities and AC bonus. It really complements what the Bladesinger can already do, making them waaay harder to hit and even more mobile.
I think that there are better concentration spells damage-vise than getting +1 to hit from Guise. Other bonuses... Immunities are situational, the flight isn't that useful for a melee character, and +2 AC is nice, but isn't worth 6th lvl slot.
@@antongrigoryev6381 Yeah i agree that it's definitely a situational spell but it still looks really nice in those (not all that uncommon) situations. At that lvl you're gonna have at least 32 spells known and 19 spells prepared so why not add this one to the list for when it comes up.
put this build on an aasimar in its transformation mode, your first damage roll on your turn deals additional damage = to your level. -Also, regardless of race, if you booming blade a flying creature [without hover] as part of the bladesinger attack action they either have to fall prone or automatically take the thunder damage on their turn]. You would probably still want mobile [or tough?] as melee wizard though, you only have so many hit points.
Ok, so hear me out. 11th level Storm Sorcerer with quickened spell metamagic. Tasha's Otherworldly Guise would allow me to get in close, attack my foes, cast a quickened spell, and use the Storm Sorcerer's 10ft of disengaged flight to get away. Don't know how optimized that is, but it sounds so awesome that I can't NOT do it!
Intellect Fortress seems like a great Warlock spell. Circumstantial, which doesn't hurt as much for a warlock, and built in scaling & upcasting.
I'm in the creation process of a Scribe wizard that I'll play soon. My thought was to use Sword Burst from the Manifest Mind, moving it by flying through a Sleet Storm or other circumstances while the familiar is busy with Dragon's Breath. Would you say that it would be a good cantrip then? Or I shouldn't bother with it and look at something else?
I've been looking at monks.... yeah they aren't fixed. They still have fundimental issues that make them horrible and actually got indirectly nerfed with the unarmed fighting style being a thing. They did however get magic items in the from of the tatoos and the artifact teeth they can use though, so at least they have more magic item choices. (Although as a DM, you are pretty much required to allow the tatoo that gives +1/+2/+3 to unarmed strikes if you have a monk in your group.)
Still a shame a fighter or anyone gets unarmed strikes starting at a d8 while your stuck at a d4 as a monk. Sure you can multiclass as a monk, but you get so little from the class your multiclassing to for that d8 martial die. Buut then to get your punching power as a monk your going fighter, which just feels wrong conceptually. Or you have a fighter who is just a better monk than the monk at every level until 17.
She’s hardly optimal, but I love my wild magic sorcerer. Between Lucky, Tides of Chaos, and Seeking Spell, she seems to have plenty of opportunities to fish for crits. She just got Blade of Disaster but I haven’t had the chance to use it. With so many ways she has to mess with the attack roll, I think it will be fun to try out.
You know, I don't think you ever reviewed Xanathar's guide to everything spells in a similar video? Maybe worth doing as a comparison?
The blade Nerfs were Anti-Fun, in my opinion. If the person casts it with a spell pouch, then you only get the spell damage, not weapon damage, or just use an unarmed strike as a base. The same thing can be said about the errata saying Paladins can't use Unarmed Strikes to Smite, purely Anti-Fun.
Tasha’s Mind Whip is such a good spell that I almost want to give it a Blue rating but it’s hard to say it’s a “must take” spell when there are already so many other great 2nd Level Spells. Which brings me to my main complaint: “Come on, WotC. Can you show a little love for 6th-8th level spells?” There are some decent spells at those levels and the new summoning spells gives a couple of more options but it really feels like after Animate Objects at 5th level there isn’t another spell I’m really excited about until Wish at 9th level.
A side note on mind sliver, it's particularly sweet on a enchantment wizard. At that point, it sets you opponents for all of your spells and deal 6d6 with an amazing save. REALLY good
Set up your bro with mind sliver action -> unsettling words bonus action. If your friend has heighten or shadow dog, it could be a nice way to land a save or suck. Or you can portent or something. But that's no fun.
Tenser's transformation isn't bad, it's just bad for wizards and they are the only class who normally gets it. If you can find some way to get it on classes who actually attack for their action it's not bad. Loads better than otherworldly guise. blade of disaster is similar though probably harder to get ona non wizard.
Orange is fair for intellect fortress, however I would point out that it's fantastic in a few other situations. Namely fighting fey, dragons, and creatures that have lockdown effects (mind control, charm, fear, etc) since you can give advantage on the saves too resist to your allies with poor saves.
Additionally it's a fine spell to cast before social interactions, especially if you know there will be a spell caster. Such as going to speak to a lord or noble with a court mage, for instance. It would be twice as good if it could block creatures from reading your mind though.