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I remember one time our party was arrested and stuck in a max security prison and I spent a number of days memorizing the shape and appearance of the wardens keys with a LOT of checks and eventually was able to use Prestidigitatiom to replicate the keys and escape.
@@kiranaun9593As a wizard player, you are actually so right lol. I flat out tell my teammates I have 3 different ways to escape and dip out if shit hits the fan. Which is why in my world I use an anti magic/magic dampener metal, plus cover the caster’s eyes, plus special manacles that restrict movement of the fingers, plus cover the casters ears, plus lock them in a completely black room, and then finally chain up the rest of their bodies to that room. Max mage jail
I once had a character get rich off of Prestidigitation. This was back in the mid-2000s, 3.5 Edition, campaign started at level 1, I built a Wizard and put the majority of my skill points into Craft and Profession skills. At level 3 I took the Craft Wondrous Item Feat, and used the money I'd been saving to buy a small shop where I crafted items enchanted with Prestidigitation (and a few items with other cantrips like Light or Mending): self-lighting candles and lanterns, self-cleaning clothes, plates and bowls that keep food warm, tankards that keep drinks cold, forks and spoons that flavor food, and so on. I retired that character since they'd achieved their life goal, and created a new one to replace them. A few levels later, the party is now fairly well-known, and the DM actually brought that character back, now a very wealthy and respected business owner, as the party's NPC patron who bankrolled his old companion's adventures. Honestly, with Prestidigitation and Mending, I'm surprised there aren't more Wizard-operated laundromats.
Yeah, the original idea of Dancing Lights was to create decoys to deceive enemies into thinking your party is going down a hallway or on a path outdoors when you're not. So it wasn't ever meant to be used to light your way, but rather to lure opponents into wasting an ambush on the fake party. It was enough light to muddle darkvision so that creatures couldn't be sure if there were actually people holding the "torches" or not. So, Light was "Here I am!" to darkvision opponents, and Dancing Lights was "There I am!"
100%. Posted already before reading yours but fully in agreement. There is no way Dancing Lights appears on any ‘worst cantrips list’ except by fundamentally misunderstanding its purpose and potential utility. Issue is the same as Chill Touch and Find Traps. Not really dancing and the lights’ purpose are not primarily as a source of illumination to aid vision.
Yes, but they also can be useful as a visual aid because, to hit at a distance, you only need to see your target. Which is a situation where a ranged spell is better, while Light has a range of 'touch'.
@@TheOriginalKZero The range range and unattachment to physical objects can also be useful out of combat. I used it as a beacon one time the party got separated in the wild and we couldn't find each other, another time to make fake will-o-wisps as a distraction, but mostly just to see without having to illuminate myself because I was a human rogue and I needed a light while also sneaking 😅.
Also, on the first example you may have more than one target so having four lights that can separate is nice. Still not among the best cantrips, but not among the worst ones either.
One of my favourite interactions with Green Flame Blade is that you can target yourself with the secondary damage, then cast Absorb Elements as a reaction and gain extra damage next turn on top of another Green Flame Blade
Blade ward is one of those cantrips with so much potential but then you realize it costs an Action. What if it was like a reaction you take when , but ended on the start of your next turn, kinda like Shield but for damage reduction and not using a spell slot. Maybe that would be broken, but that alone would fix it
While it might prove a pain to track, what if it was a reaction and gave you resistance to 1 attack, but followed the scaling of other cantrips to eventually resist two attacks, then 3, then 4? I think that could be pretty neat.
@@tommyeliassen2071soooo, just a better rogue’s uncanny dodge? Yes let’s buff casters even more by giving them a cantrip as good as a martials best defensive feature smh
Earth genasi can cast it as a bonus action and so anyone can become a pseudo barbarian and yeah, it's as op as it sounds. Your version is also pretty overpowered, especially at early levels where you don't have enough spell slots to always cast shield or you play a warlock or other casters with no access to shield. There's a reason it's a level 5 rogue feature and not just a cantrip.
Blade ward works well as an alternative to dodge. The issue is the dodge action outclasses blade ward in damage negation until tier 3, so its pretty bad seeing as it takes up a cantrip slot. Earth genasi get it as a bonus action tho, thats great!
The one time Dancing Lights was useful: Our DM set our low-level party against a shadow creature that was immobilized by any light. Two of us used Dancing Lights to pin the creature in place while the rest of the party wailed on it. The DM was so pissed because he thought the spell was useless.
the original idea of Dancing Lights was to create decoys to deceive enemies into thinking your party is going down a hallway or on a path outdoors when you're not. So it wasn't ever meant to be used to light your way, but rather to lure opponents into wasting an ambush on the fake party. It was enough light to muddle darkvision so that creatures couldn't be sure if there were actually people holding the "torches" or not.
I would actually argue that Prestidigitation is the best Cantrip in the game if you are creative with it. It has been the cause behind some of my favorite character moments and most memorable character quirks
Yes but then again, it relies on the player's creativity which not everyone has in high measure, and a DM that allows for whatever you come up with which may not always be the case. The rest on the other hand do their thing regularly with no need of varying factors. And eldritch blast is fun af especially if you start as a fighter to get action surge
I once had a Bard spend a full day studying a set of keys to steal what ended up being a divine artifact of a Trickster god using prestidigitation. It was amazing
Taking inspiration from the mention of poison, you could also do the opposite and flavor somthing to taste like it had been poisoned to cause panic as a distraction.
I rememeber a decent argument for Dancing Lights: Darkvision states you see dim light as bright light. So if you are fighting an enemy without darkvision, the dim light disadvantage would only apply to the enemy.
@@ManinawigThat’s not true. Being blinded (including total darkness) gives you disadvantage on attack rolls and causes you to automatically fail perception checks that rely on sight. Dim light gives you disadvantage on perception checks but does not affect attack rolls.
@@ColonelMustache Blindness is also not a cantrip though, and dimmer light is less likely to get noticed in mixed light areas which can be handy for sneaking (where you'll probably be going slower anyway), but in general, I agree that DL as written sucks (I homebrewed my own version for the one player that really wanted it over Light)
Dancing Lights can be moved, that's one of its biggest advantages and what it is made for. I've had a player use this spell to laser designate targets for other players, read things in the dark at range, and light up rooms through keyholes. It's more useful than people give it credit for.
the original idea of Dancing Lights was to create decoys to deceive enemies into thinking your party is going down a hallway or on a path outdoors when you're not. So it wasn't ever meant to be used to light your way, but rather to lure opponents into wasting an ambush on the fake party. It was enough light to muddle darkvision so that creatures couldn't be sure if there were actually people holding the "torches" or not.
Same, we nedeed to to find a given person from among a group, while the only npc that knew who the target was couldn't be seen, so I just memorized the faces of the 5 people, and proceeded to make hand sized statues of them, showing them one by one until the npc picked the right one.
I'd like to have shocking grasp and an honorable mention, 1D8 lightning damage is pretty high for a can trip and a not super common resistance, advantage on targets wearing armor made of metal and most importantly the target cannot take reactions until the start of hits next turn which means no shield spell or opportunity attacks.
Hence the metamagic upgrades. Silent Spell as a surprise attack that you can pretend wasn’t your doing if you role play it well enough and Distant Spell lets you nullify a reaction by any target within 30’. It’s such an overpowered effect that they nerfed it in the 2024 ruleset.
Action: casts Shocking Grasp with advantage on the armoured combatant who somehow slipped past the front liners. Movement: runs 30’ feet (no opportunity attack) behind fully armoured life cleric. Bonus action: flips bird and hurls an insult pun that includes the words ‘sparky’, ‘shock’ and ‘enlightening’.
I abuse the hell out of Guidance in Baldur's Gate 3. I literally never do any checks without it if it's an option and I make sure at least one party member has it at all times. And given my love for environmental kills in video games I give Wyll Repelling Blast ASAP on every playthrough. I love giving enemies free flying lessons. Prestidigitation is the cantrip I'd want most to have iRL, and since one of my characters is a kobold who's a bit of a fusspot regarding dirt/grime/gross stuff in general I get a lot of RP use out of it.
I played a noble who was digusted by the poor and after shaking a poor person's hand he created a handkerchief with prestidigitation, wiped his hand, and then tossed it aside where it disappeared in a poof of smoke. He could have just cleaned his hand with prestidigitation, but he was making a point
@@theparkkeeper8659 You’re right, you don’t get a cantrip per attack. But you do get to replace one of your attacks with a cantrip, and if you have Eldritch Blast (and are level 6 which is the minimum level for Bladesinger Extra Attack as I’m sure you know) then you effectively make multiple attacks with that one replacement. So it is, unfortunately, not all Eldritch Blast, but it is more rolls it hit than you’d get otherwise
@@theparkkeeper8659 Extra Attack 6th-level Bladesinging feature You can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn. Moreover, you can cast one of your cantrips in place of one of those attacks.
@@theparkkeeper8659 Per “Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything,” Bladesinger’s 6th Level “Extra Attack” subclass feature reads as follows: “You can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn. Moreover, you can cast one of your cantrips in place of one of those attacks.”
Genuinely surprised there was no mention of Chill Touch in this list -- feel like it should've been somewhere in the top 5 best cantrips, considering it outright prevents healing and regen on hit while also doing damage and having a bonus effect vs undead.
We considered it as an honorable mention but it’s just a bit too niche. The damage is alright and if you aren’t fighting a lot of undead or creatures that heal you won’t get much mileage out of its rider feature. There’s not a whole lot of creature that heal themselves baseline. Now some DMs may use undead and creatures that heal themselves a lot but just as many don’t. In the situations where it’s useful chill touch is incredible. But outside of that it’s a rather underwhelming damage cantrip
Not just creatures that heal themselves. Healing spells from allies, potions, medical kit interventions, goodberries. Rules as written all healing full stop. Criminally under-rated spell effect.
@@DavidAndrews-eb7gm Yeah that's what i meant by creatures that heal themselves. I'll grant you the healing spells from allies but outside of that I don't remember the last time I saw a DM throw a villain at us that used health potions. If your DM does that a lot, then this spell is amazing but if not, then...not.
@@DaddyAsh3r Idk why but I thought of "oh hey this spell instantly locks any target out from Flying but if your DM doesnt use any flying monsters, it no good" like bruh. Imagine just instant locking a dragon out of flying mid flight and watching them crash. 😂
I feel like dancing lights is more for signaling than providing illumination. Movable lights means you can arrange them into predefined signals that could be seen at a distance.
Other people have already posted fantastic justifications for Dancing Lights, but I'd like to also point out that it works conveniently with the Twilight Cleric and Skulker's features. They can trick enemies into thinking your party is lurking somewhere, if you have Darkvision they're treated as bright light which means no disadvantage on Perception checks. But there's one more thing Dancing Lights can do that Light can't. If you want to light something up at a distance... Dancing Lights can turn off. Light, once you cast it, is going to burn for an entire hour unless covered up like a lantern. So if you want to light up some scouts and take them out without giving away your location, then erase your presence, something like Dancing Lights is exactly what you want.
So me and my table have basically rewritten the friends cantrip. You strike up a conversation with 1 target and they now have a favorable opinion of you, unless they are currently hostile. Gain advantage on 1 Charisma check, during the conversation. This Chrasima check cannot cause the target to do something they would not normally do. So, it went from never being cast to being everyone's favriote spell. It's not broken, and you have to have an understanding of the limits of the cantrip. But, for my table it makes it so much better.
This! I mean you making friends, it's boosting your Charisma so people like you more. Why would they be hostile at the end? Your not making them do something that they wouldn't do for a friend.
You can get Illusionist Bracers that allows you to cast a cantrip as a bonus action after casting the same cantrip as an action. This can give you 8 attacks every turn. My fighter/warlock used a set with action to attack a mini boss 12 times with eldritch blast. Pushing it 80ft away until it hit the back wall of the room. It was so far away my party was able to escape before it could even get back to where it started in the room.
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An addendum in defense of Dancing Lights: it's actually intended for creatures with dark vision. Since dark vision treats darkness as dim light, they still have disadvantage on perception and a -5 to the same passive score. It's a way to give them access to "full light" while still being somewhat stealthy
I've had a player manage to make good use of Dancing Lights once! Fighting a homebrewed creature that could only move through darkness, but could also only be _hit_ in darkness, they used the spell to strategically block off doorways to give themselves time to prep and corral it into different parts of the map as the encounter went on. Not many use cases for that level of surgical precision, but it was neat that it worked out then!
Mold earth is a must have for me, you can use it to make cover, solve puzzles, create stears and grab points, you can use it to avoid or straight up block traps from activating, you can even use it as a sort of lockpick or to create hiding spots. The prerequisite is that it must be used on earth or stone/rock. But in a medieval setting is pretty easy to find those in dungeons, fortreses and general buildings. And it's only component is somatic, so its perfect for stealth missions.
I don't think buildings and fortresses have a lot of *loose* earth to move around. That's like, topsoil/dirt/etc that's not been compacted, and you can't move stone/rock
In my campaign, one of my players went with a high elf and picked minor illusion. He then proceeded to use it as a flashbang in many battles by summoning fireworks in the space.
use it to make a torch or other light source... the illusion of the light source might have to fit in a 5ft. cube, but the light it generates doesn't necessarily have to (if your DM agrees... and I readily will)
In my first ever campaign, we started out investigating a valley that had a bunch of goblins camped up in it. When we discovered they'd been keeping a prisoner and torturing him, I started using Prestidigitation to soil the inside of the spigots on the wine and beer barrels they'd looted. Did it do anything? No idea, we didn't hang around long enough and they didn't manage to chase us to the next area we went to, but I like to believe they had to dump the lot in case it was all rotten.
Dancing lights, while terrible fir possible intended use, sounds like a decent flavor cantrip for the new college of dance bard ro use with performance
Minor Illusion is probably still better for that as it fills a 5ft. cube but doesn't take up that space, and you can edit it on the fly. Honestly, a minor illusion of a torch is SOOOO much BETTER than dancing lights, even if you have to cast a new one every 30 or 40ft. (not like it costs anything to do it!)
Playing Strixhaven with the Friends cantrip and the Mask of Many Faces EI can be really fun for shenanigans on campus, but yes, the Friends cantrip is not that great any other time. A pair of players could strategize together, each one disguised as the other player’s target. That way, each target ends up being hostile to each other. Then, the pair of players could take bets from the crowd of students standing nearby and watching the fight.
I’d like to argue, True Strike does have a use, cancelling out Disadvantage. If your next rolls would be a 20, and a 1, but you had disadvantage you’d take the 1, but if you used True Strike you’d get the 20, then next round the 1. So it has a use, if not very good
I’ve used bladeward with armour of agathys, and with spirit guardians concentration protection. It’s best at high levels when you’re doing passive damage and know you’re going to be taking a lot of damage
Blade ward is a very niche alternative to disengage. One, if your enemies already have disadvantage for some reason - such as a fighter's goading attack. Second, you're also using a monk/rogue's bonus action disengage, so resisting the ones that get through. Or third, the enemies have such a high modifier that landing hits is all but guaranteed so your only hope is to reduct the damage taken
Friends is ok if you are a warlock with Mask of Many Faces. Then you can get a lot of mileage out of this spell. Just don't stick around to long or be able to get into a crowd then voila clean escape.
I was just about to say the same. Combined with disguise self, a disguise kit, and/or the actor feat Friends can be a devastating spell for a player who knows how social dynamics work. Less useful if you never encounter society but that's a rarity. Also the more languages you speak the more useful this spell becomes.
I remember early in a campaign getting issued a promissory note for a bounty of gold for capturing a bandit. I used Prestidigitation to add an extra zero on the end of the promised sum, and I'm still riding high from that payout many levels down the line
@@derekhandson351 Minor Illusion doesn't move, it just makes an image of an object (Compare it to leveled illusion spells, like Silent Image or Major Image, which specifically describe that you can use an action to move the illusion in a way that would look natural). You'd be hard pressed to use Minor Illusion to add a number to an existing bounty note and keep it perfectly still, whereas Prestidigitation can literally put a symbol on an object for an hour.
Several of the cantrips mentioned here, from Resistance to Guidance to even good old True Strike are being VASTLY upgraded in One D&D-Look at the Unearthed Arcana document “Bastions and Cantrips” or at the other prior and following UA documents for upgraded cantrips, like my favorite: officially casting Guidance as a reaction!
Friends does have a very good (but niche) use though. It's really good at taunting someone into action. And the spell doesn't have a lot of limiting factors, only that 1) they're a creature and 2) they're not currently hostile towards you. You can choose *any* creature *_anywhere_* . Need to find a person that's hiding? They hate you now, they'll find *you*. You know there's a dragon in its lair on that mountain way off in the distance? Cast Friends, and a) the fight is away from the dragon's lair b) you get time to rest c) you can set up traps and/or protection. You know a noble has violent tendencies and you need a distraction at the party so your rogue can sneak off? Cast Friends, and suddenly a noble attacks you (for seemingly no reason) in front of witnesses
Friends, however bad it may be, is super fun on a rogue when sneaking around. Specifically because, well, if your sneaking around, the guy you just casted this on is probably gonna be hostile anyway. Breaking into a bandit camp to find a hostage? Cast friends, get free entry with your new pal, and maybe some information. After that, say you'll let him go back to his post, and then go hide somewhere before he goes absolutely ballistic. Any situation where that bridge is gonna get burned anyways is a perfect situation to make a quick Friend who will hate you in a minute. May as well get something on the way out.
Chill touch is a great sniper cantrip with spell sniper. As the greatest strength of the sniper is there ability to hit undetected. Chill touch only has a skeleton hand that grabs you in a 5’ area of the target.
Fun fact about Blade Ward: In lower levels, it's generally worse to use than just taking the dodge action, but in later levels it becomes better for damage mitigation on average, since you'll be more likely to get hit even with dodge.
Wait, there are people that take Dancing Lights as actual exploration utility, and not just something to, say, create some colored stage lights so the Bard might get a bonus to perform in a tavern for free room and board for the night, or as a night light for a rescued child to sleep by when the group had to camp before getting them back home, or as a way to help catch fish by giving them something to chase underwater and make them run into the nets? I mean, that's what I used it for, and it never let me down.
Dancing lights - it's okay for characters that don't want to give away their location. Have the lights hover in front of you, illuminating the enemy rather than yourself. Sometimes - based on your situation - dancing lights is what you want.
As a stay-at-home mom, the thought of being able to cook/cool/flavor/clean anything perfectly in 6 seconds is staggering!! Even if it is only 3 sets of 1 foot cubes each casting, that would be amazing!
True strike is nice to save potential spell slots with something like sickening ray. And sorcerer multiclass, or even just taking the metamagic adept feat makes it useful in some situations
Friends kind of became a running gag at my table. I picked it up when making my Sorcerer on a whim, and it took a life of it's own. An interrogation going poorly due to bad Intimidation rolls? Sorc rolls up as the good cop with Friends. A merchant being stingy with price? Friends. Who cares if they become hostile, everyone can vouch to the town guards that he sold it at a discount on their own volition lol Friends is definitely the type of cantrip you use to add a little mischief to a game, and when used right (And not spammed), it gives a great laugh for the table.
"Hello there!" I'm working on a wizard school that trends into archery. It would also gain the ability to render an existing spell into a cantrip arrow on lvl 2 and also shoot cantrips as arrows. (Meaning acid burst d8 or d12 with more than 150 feet range). I would like to ask the question about turning spells into cantrips... So the spell would deal the base dice damage (fireball cantrip is 1d6, gravity is 1d8) and would also give the added effect (force wave pushing) to anything that is in that 5 feet cube area the arrow hits. The class also uses Agility for attack rolls and yes, it is added to cantrip damage now, bc you use it with a bow. The class of course uses Evocation... The secondary feature would be to shoot spells as arrows. It would do with any spell that are centered on the map (magnify gravity, fireball, but not Shatter, Force wave)
My favorite thing with Prestidigitation is the "Soil an object" part. BBEG is a normal(ish) dude in clothes like us? A great, unsettling threat is "I'm going to shit your pants!" And it even works if it ISN'T a normal(ish) looking dude. Dragon? They shit themselves. Sphinx? They shit themselves. Literally any sentient creature capable of feeling embarrassment or humiliation and this works. Assuming your DM is willing to put up with that level of nonsense.
Just had a thought that would be useful, if you quiet cast prestidigitation on an unsuspecting guard, you can make it look and smell like he's soiled himself, forcing him to go and change and having one less person to worry about on the way to wherever you're trying to get into.
Say what you want about Dancing Lights, we used it, alongside another player using Mage Hand with a hunk of raw meat to distract a swarm of Piranhas while our ranger swam to safety and it freakin worked
I would argue that setting yourself on fire is better than dancing lights if you have fire resistance. No concentration required, and grappling enemies deals decent damage, and it's freaking hilarious.
The sad thing about True Strike is that WotC showed a great fix for it accidentally. Remove the Concentration requirement, make it require a bonus action, basically turn it into the Rogue's Steady Aim feature. Heck, just making it a Bonus Action does a lot to fix it.
Yep that would make it much so much more useful. As it is currently written it isn't useless but so extremely niche that unless your DM builds the campaign around said niche anything else would be better. It is for games with limited high powered ammo(The DM is giving you arrows enchanted with a stored high level spell to be unleashed on whatever you hit) and stealth where a target not getting killed on the first attack will result in a lot more enemies charging in.
"make a knick-knack in your hands" .... a common misread. The object must be small enough to "fit" in your hands, but it can be made anywhere in range. I like to summon stinky socks into the mouths of casters or anyone talking too much.
If you use True Strike creatively, it's a great spell. It only has Somatic components so you can't hear it being cast. You're in an ambush and the enemy gets close. Cast True Strike, and signal the attack to begin on the next round by standing up and shooting/stabbing/slashing the enemy you targeted. It also works if the guy walking out front is the enemy tank (with high AC and a shield).
In defense of True Strike. Low level Warlocks. When they want to use a spell slot I can understand sacrificing a turn to increase the chance it’ll hit.
Another bonus to the light spell, is casting it on a sword and then sheathing it, or putting something where the light is covered. Allows you to get instant light once battle starts up and without having to recast the spell, and yup, I know light doesn't use concentration since I have one character that has it and have used it multiple times. Booming Blade works with Warcaster, which is absolutely insane.
Having semi recently played a Divine Soul Sorcerer/Ancients Paladin, I can confirm just how dope a quickened Booming Blade can be. It pairs amazingly well with Thunderous Smite.
13:00 Woah, a surprise BatD! But also, you had to choose a clip from the _least_ photogenic table session when they're just playing in a normal meeting room 😂😂😂
Blade Ward is fantastic for Tanks. It’s basically useless for characters who aren’t Tanks. That doesn’t make it a bad cantrip. I’d even call it a must pick for Armor of Agathys builds.
If you want to argue strict RAW for the target of friends, you can forget about using it to frame people. It doesn't say "becomes hostile toward the creature you appear to be," it becomes hostile toward YOU.
Dancing lights is really better for using as a trap or artsy reasons. Mess with the small minded and distract guards. It looks like ghosts- combine it with noise from minor illusion.
I can think of one (and only one) niche case where True Strike would be useful. Casting it out-of-combat on your rogue archer who's doing the opening strike with an arrow to guarantee the bonus damage.
People say prestidigitation can't summon coins because coins aren't trinkets, but the sailor background has this exact text in it: "I can't help but pocket loose coins and other trinkets I come across." Ergo, coins are trinkets and you can summon a platinum piece for 12 seconds with prestidigitation
Once had a game where we met a bard that spoke and acted alot like Jack Black would (The legendary roadie version, not the unkempt lefty whos getting banned from Australia) and the boss fight of this area was a lute vs evil violin battle between him and the big bad that was summoning creatures. I single handedly made the encounter so trivial when i noted to the DM "Violins are precision instruments that need to be well maintained." So i used Prestidigitation to soil the strings on the violin, making that big bads magnum opus more of a screechy failure of a performance.
A use I found for Friends involve using Disguise self to appear someone you want to attract hate to, and then use Friends on a guard, just say something to him, hide yourself and dismiss both spells. Then, the guard will be hostile against that other creature and not you.
I knew about light not being concentration when I was playing an Aasimar barb. DM said I lose my light spell , gotten from racial passive, when I raged, looked at it again, and we were all like "Oh..."
honestly the best part about eldritch blast imo is how well designed the methods to access it are. any class other than warlock is spending valuable resources (a full feat or a bard's special spells) to get it, and warlocks are the only ones who get to really buff it. its worth it though, as its a great cantrip with great value and brilliant design in when that value can be attained.
It may be a bit homebrew but have an alternative for the worst 3 cantrips. Resistance: treat it like the bless spell, the creature targeted gets a d4 to any save in that minute timespan. Dancing lights: 5 orbs circle you, you create dim light. As a bonus action you can fling one orb at a creature in 30ft. They do a wisdom saving throw and on a failure make their next attack at disadvantage. At 5th, 9th, 13th and 17th you can throw an additional orb at either a different creature or the same. They succeed automatically if they do not rely on sight. True strike: no concentration, bonus action, advantage on next melee or ranged attack in 30ft.
Hmm, my homebrews: Resistance: reaction, when you or another creature you can see within 30ft must make a saving throw, add 1d4 to the roll. 2d4 at 9th and 3d4 at 17th. (I also have Guidance scale like this) Dancing lights: bonus action, concentration, unlimited duration. create up to [proficiency] orbs of light, choose luminosity and colour of each orb at creation (maximum 20ft. bright light with additional 20ft. dim light), all orbs must stay within [your speed x2] ft. of you. Whilst concentrating on these orbs you can change the colour and/or luminosity of 1 or more orbs, and/or move one or more orbs up to your speed (no action). Tie-Off spell - bonus action, fix the position, colour and luminosity of all orbs and specify a duration for each orb (up to one hour) then drop concentration, orbs disapparate after specified duration or when dispelled. True strike: reaction, when you make an attack roll, gain advantage on that attack roll.
12:57 I keep hearing this, but we never played it that way. I did play a bard with it through the old UA version of red moon feat, then I would annoy the DM with casting it every minute until he said “okay unless there is a reason for you not to have it up, you have guidance” but it was never a reaction.
Not saying dancing lights is good but wanted to share a success with it- the party was underwater and I cast dancing lights to position the orbs in various areas in the depth we were at. It helped a lot. Yes, the only time I used it that campaign. But wanted to share!
I will always go up to bat for true strike. There is, believe it or not, a not that uncommon situation it can be used in. A high level rogue that either went into arcane trickster or dipped into spell casting can use true strike to give himself sneak attack damage where he otherwise wouldn't be able to have it. Granted.. a high level rogue would probably have some kind of magic item to do this as a reaction.. but I don't know your DM
Except that there are so many options for rogues to get advantage that don't cost a whole action like Hide and Steady Aim, which only take bonus action, so True Strike is a giant waste of an action. economy.
One natural limiter on the Guidance spam is that it still requires both Verbal and Somatic components. So the Cleric following the Face around the party chanting and waving their holy symbol may be a little off-putting in non-dungeon situations. Also, when cast by an Artificer, Guidance has an M component (like all Artificer spells). You can have some fun role-playing what that entails.
I've found at least 2 viable uses for True Strike 1) Eldritch Knight level 7+. War Magic, after you use your action to cast a cantrip, you can make one weapon attack as a bonus action. The main flaw here is, that by level 5 you can already attack twice a turn, so we run into the same problem where you exchange 2 attacks for 1 with advantage. Though the second viable option I think is straight up good. 2) Rogue (Arcane Trickster, multiclass, Kobold, or High Elf). Advantage = sneak attack, as long as there are more enemies than martials in your party, there'll be some enemies that you won't have sneak attack on, but with this, you can. Might take an action, but from level 3 and on, your sneak attack should deal more damage than attacking twice. honorable mention) setup before combat, if you're already hiding you'll already have advantage, but if you plan on backstabbing someone, or any kind of attack out of initiative order, where action economy isn't a thing, it's somewhat viable, though rare. Still shit cantrip, I think it should last 2 turns, making it a bonus action is broken, especially for rogues
Okay, I'm gonna speak in defense of Dancing Lights. As a means to create light? Yes, it is inferior to Light. You have a limited range on the distance each orb can go, and you pointed out the Concentration issue. HOWEVER!!! While it's the 2nd worst for Utility, you've overlooked its use for ROLEPLAY. You can alter the shape of all four balls of light into anything you want, and change their colors. A Minor Illusion can only make a soundless image, or a sound. I used this spell, as a Wizard, who was bored in a tavern as the rest of the party was off doing whatever. I cast Dancing Lights, and juggle the four balls, and before I know it, the DM says I've attracted a crowd by me amusing myself. I then have the balls change color, have them act as if stacked in a tower, and folks tossed me gold like I was a Bard! When I played a Warlock, I used this spell to feed his cover as a entertainer, telling stories and shaping the lights into four individual shapes to act out the story. Again, I earned some gold and the tavern's owner let the party stay for free because I drew in a big crowd who wanted food, drink and a story. Creativity is what makes any and every spell in D&D, Cantrip to Wish, so special; because not everyone is going to cast and flavor HOW a spell looks when cast the same way.
I think I once used Friends to quickly get information about where the black market was. After getting the info, I turned the corner, used disguise self, & watched as the guy I swindled ran past me. I later found him waiting at the entrance of the black market, still wanting to stab me.
Although bladeward has a few good options, if you’re running a melee sorcerer multiclass or an eldritch knight you can use blade ward and still attack, help you tank damage, and even fill up your bonus action slot to help with your action economy
With regards to Mind Sliver: Divine Soul Sorcerers get extra mileage out of it. Quicken cast Bane to get at least one enemy to have a long term -1d4 to saves, then action cast Mind Sliver on one of the failures to put a short term -1d4 on saves. Two different debuffs, so they stack. Now, when an enemy/your ally hits them with a save-or-suck spell, they’ve got -2d4, which statistically means they’ll take a -5 or greater penalty almost 2/3 of the time.
I disagree with you on Dancing Lights. If you form them into a humanoid shape and have it move ahead of you, you can avoid getting ambushed and give yourself an opening attack while mobs attack the light. Also, if there are any shriekers in the area, you’ll know well before you get to them. I think it’s a very useful spell if used creatively.
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Thanks for the shout out man! It was a lot of fun working on this episode with you!
you forgot to mention that while friend needs 1 action to cast, "banging your mom" is a free action
this was the greatest sponsor segment ever done on youtube, DND ISNT REALLLL
I remember one time our party was arrested and stuck in a max security prison and I spent a number of days memorizing the shape and appearance of the wardens keys with a LOT of checks and eventually was able to use Prestidigitatiom to replicate the keys and escape.
What kind of max security prison doesn't have an antimagic field lol
@@kiranaun9593I don’t have any anti-magic fields in my D&D games at all.
@@lberghaus Not very max security, then. Any wizard worth their salt would have that shit up perpetually.
@@kiranaun9593 Fr "Dimension DOORRR"
@@kiranaun9593As a wizard player, you are actually so right lol. I flat out tell my teammates I have 3 different ways to escape and dip out if shit hits the fan.
Which is why in my world I use an anti magic/magic dampener metal, plus cover the caster’s eyes, plus special manacles that restrict movement of the fingers, plus cover the casters ears, plus lock them in a completely black room, and then finally chain up the rest of their bodies to that room. Max mage jail
I once had a character get rich off of Prestidigitation. This was back in the mid-2000s, 3.5 Edition, campaign started at level 1, I built a Wizard and put the majority of my skill points into Craft and Profession skills. At level 3 I took the Craft Wondrous Item Feat, and used the money I'd been saving to buy a small shop where I crafted items enchanted with Prestidigitation (and a few items with other cantrips like Light or Mending): self-lighting candles and lanterns, self-cleaning clothes, plates and bowls that keep food warm, tankards that keep drinks cold, forks and spoons that flavor food, and so on. I retired that character since they'd achieved their life goal, and created a new one to replace them. A few levels later, the party is now fairly well-known, and the DM actually brought that character back, now a very wealthy and respected business owner, as the party's NPC patron who bankrolled his old companion's adventures.
Honestly, with Prestidigitation and Mending, I'm surprised there aren't more Wizard-operated laundromats.
Welkome to Eberron .
When the DM brings back old character or better yet, retired player character, it's so wholesome
Must've been a fun world
Yeah, the original idea of Dancing Lights was to create decoys to deceive enemies into thinking your party is going down a hallway or on a path outdoors when you're not. So it wasn't ever meant to be used to light your way, but rather to lure opponents into wasting an ambush on the fake party. It was enough light to muddle darkvision so that creatures couldn't be sure if there were actually people holding the "torches" or not.
So, Light was "Here I am!" to darkvision opponents, and Dancing Lights was "There I am!"
100%. Posted already before reading yours but fully in agreement. There is no way Dancing Lights appears on any ‘worst cantrips list’ except by fundamentally misunderstanding its purpose and potential utility.
Issue is the same as Chill Touch and Find Traps. Not really dancing and the lights’ purpose are not primarily as a source of illumination to aid vision.
Yes, but they also can be useful as a visual aid because, to hit at a distance, you only need to see your target. Which is a situation where a ranged spell is better, while Light has a range of 'touch'.
@Katwind touch rock, throw rock. Sadly two actions, but if not in combat yet light is quite mobile.
@@TheOriginalKZero The range range and unattachment to physical objects can also be useful out of combat. I used it as a beacon one time the party got separated in the wild and we couldn't find each other, another time to make fake will-o-wisps as a distraction, but mostly just to see without having to illuminate myself because I was a human rogue and I needed a light while also sneaking 😅.
Also, on the first example you may have more than one target so having four lights that can separate is nice. Still not among the best cantrips, but not among the worst ones either.
One of my favourite interactions with Green Flame Blade is that you can target yourself with the secondary damage, then cast Absorb Elements as a reaction and gain extra damage next turn on top of another Green Flame Blade
Seems like a waste of reaction and spellslot
@Xorrin is it a waste? Probably. Is it funny as hell? Absolutely. Lol
@@casteanpreswyn7528 exactly my point
d4 deep dive?
@@cyancybershock719 you know it!
Blade ward is one of those cantrips with so much potential but then you realize it costs an Action. What if it was like a reaction you take when , but ended on the start of your next turn, kinda like Shield but for damage reduction and not using a spell slot. Maybe that would be broken, but that alone would fix it
Yeah, blade ward is only useful with certain subclasses like E Knight, which can attack after casting a cantrip and even then its niche
While it might prove a pain to track, what if it was a reaction and gave you resistance to 1 attack, but followed the scaling of other cantrips to eventually resist two attacks, then 3, then 4? I think that could be pretty neat.
@@tommyeliassen2071soooo, just a better rogue’s uncanny dodge? Yes let’s buff casters even more by giving them a cantrip as good as a martials best defensive feature smh
Earth genasi can cast it as a bonus action and so anyone can become a pseudo barbarian and yeah, it's as op as it sounds. Your version is also pretty overpowered, especially at early levels where you don't have enough spell slots to always cast shield or you play a warlock or other casters with no access to shield. There's a reason it's a level 5 rogue feature and not just a cantrip.
Blade ward works well as an alternative to dodge. The issue is the dodge action outclasses blade ward in damage negation until tier 3, so its pretty bad seeing as it takes up a cantrip slot. Earth genasi get it as a bonus action tho, thats great!
Presdidigition and druidcraft really should just come normal with thier class rather then need a cantrip slot
And thaumaturgy.
@@theubiquitouspotato aaaand thaumaturgy, thank you
Unfortunately, OneD&D takes the "Mask of the Wild" racial ability away from wood elves and replaces it with the Druidcraft cantrip.
@kenroach5469 "mask of the wild" that's the one that let's wood elves hide in forrest terrain, right? Or am I thinking of a different feature
@@troperhghar9898 irrc it lets them hide in any natural terrain
The one time Dancing Lights was useful: Our DM set our low-level party against a shadow creature that was immobilized by any light. Two of us used Dancing Lights to pin the creature in place while the rest of the party wailed on it. The DM was so pissed because he thought the spell was useless.
the original idea of Dancing Lights was to create decoys to deceive enemies into thinking your party is going down a hallway or on a path outdoors when you're not. So it wasn't ever meant to be used to light your way, but rather to lure opponents into wasting an ambush on the fake party. It was enough light to muddle darkvision so that creatures couldn't be sure if there were actually people holding the "torches" or not.
or just have one person cast light. less turns wasted and you get better light.
I would actually argue that Prestidigitation is the best Cantrip in the game if you are creative with it. It has been the cause behind some of my favorite character moments and most memorable character quirks
Yes but then again, it relies on the player's creativity which not everyone has in high measure, and a DM that allows for whatever you come up with which may not always be the case. The rest on the other hand do their thing regularly with no need of varying factors. And eldritch blast is fun af especially if you start as a fighter to get action surge
In a fairly recent session, I used it alongside Minor Illusion to distract a guard by creating what I described as 'a really fucked up goat'
I once had a Bard spend a full day studying a set of keys to steal what ended up being a divine artifact of a Trickster god using prestidigitation. It was amazing
Pair Friends with M's Hound in a small space. WHEN target becomes hostile, Hound will use them as a chew toy, with no defense.
Friends is excellent for intimidation.
Taking inspiration from the mention of poison, you could also do the opposite and flavor somthing to taste like it had been poisoned to cause panic as a distraction.
Make it taste like poison, and you "saved" that king, queen, bandit lord, ect. Now your a "hero".
I rememeber a decent argument for Dancing Lights: Darkvision states you see dim light as bright light. So if you are fighting an enemy without darkvision, the dim light disadvantage would only apply to the enemy.
Came here to say this
itd only be perception though not very useful still
@@Elipso-jx3td perception, or lack thereof, is what gives you disadvantage on attacks.
@@ManinawigThat’s not true. Being blinded (including total darkness) gives you disadvantage on attack rolls and causes you to automatically fail perception checks that rely on sight. Dim light gives you disadvantage on perception checks but does not affect attack rolls.
@@ColonelMustache Blindness is also not a cantrip though, and dimmer light is less likely to get noticed in mixed light areas which can be handy for sneaking (where you'll probably be going slower anyway), but in general, I agree that DL as written sucks (I homebrewed my own version for the one player that really wanted it over Light)
Honorable mention Chill Touch. A week ago in our campaign I denied the boss's second phase thanks to this cantrip
Dancing Lights can be moved, that's one of its biggest advantages and what it is made for. I've had a player use this spell to laser designate targets for other players, read things in the dark at range, and light up rooms through keyholes. It's more useful than people give it credit for.
the original idea of Dancing Lights was to create decoys to deceive enemies into thinking your party is going down a hallway or on a path outdoors when you're not. So it wasn't ever meant to be used to light your way, but rather to lure opponents into wasting an ambush on the fake party. It was enough light to muddle darkvision so that creatures couldn't be sure if there were actually people holding the "torches" or not.
I once used Prestidigitation to create images in my character's hand while he was explaining something to an NPC
I did the same thing but with our group, it literally let's a person make hand sized holograms
Same, we nedeed to to find a given person from among a group, while the only npc that knew who the target was couldn't be seen, so I just memorized the faces of the 5 people, and proceeded to make hand sized statues of them, showing them one by one until the npc picked the right one.
I'd like to have shocking grasp and an honorable mention, 1D8 lightning damage is pretty high for a can trip and a not super common resistance, advantage on targets wearing armor made of metal and most importantly the target cannot take reactions until the start of hits next turn which means no shield spell or opportunity attacks.
Agreed. Add Distant or Subtle spell for extra utility that is often well worth expending 1 Sorcery point on a cantrip.
The issue is its range of touch. Very few spellcasters want to be within grabbing range of an enemy.
Hence the metamagic upgrades. Silent Spell as a surprise attack that you can pretend wasn’t your doing if you role play it well enough and Distant Spell lets you nullify a reaction by any target within 30’.
It’s such an overpowered effect that they nerfed it in the 2024 ruleset.
I must have overlooked that reaction part because I always dismissed this spell due to the touch range
Action: casts Shocking Grasp with advantage on the armoured combatant who somehow slipped past the front liners.
Movement: runs 30’ feet (no opportunity attack) behind fully armoured life cleric.
Bonus action: flips bird and hurls an insult pun that includes the words ‘sparky’, ‘shock’ and ‘enlightening’.
Something you probably don’t hear enough, is that your ad-reads are amazing! This is one of the only channels I don’t skip the ads.
word
I abuse the hell out of Guidance in Baldur's Gate 3. I literally never do any checks without it if it's an option and I make sure at least one party member has it at all times. And given my love for environmental kills in video games I give Wyll Repelling Blast ASAP on every playthrough. I love giving enemies free flying lessons.
Prestidigitation is the cantrip I'd want most to have iRL, and since one of my characters is a kobold who's a bit of a fusspot regarding dirt/grime/gross stuff in general I get a lot of RP use out of it.
I played a noble who was digusted by the poor and after shaking a poor person's hand he created a handkerchief with prestidigitation, wiped his hand, and then tossed it aside where it disappeared in a poof of smoke. He could have just cleaned his hand with prestidigitation, but he was making a point
@@thepip3599 Yeah, Prestidigitation is such a great RP cantrip for things like that.
Bless doesn't affect any ability checks at any point in the minute it is active.
I came down here to comment the same thing
and last 1 minute
Yea I was saying that too. He was probably thinking of the peace cleric’s bond feature (if I remember that affects ability checks it’s been awhile).
Eldritch Blast + Bladesinger Extra Attack + Action Surge + Quicken Spell = Way more attacks than anyone else
Don’t forget to have Haste going too!
You don't get to cast a cantrip per attack with Blade Singers extra attack do you? I've never heard of something like that.
@@theparkkeeper8659 You’re right, you don’t get a cantrip per attack. But you do get to replace one of your attacks with a cantrip, and if you have Eldritch Blast (and are level 6 which is the minimum level for Bladesinger Extra Attack as I’m sure you know) then you effectively make multiple attacks with that one replacement. So it is, unfortunately, not all Eldritch Blast, but it is more rolls it hit than you’d get otherwise
@@theparkkeeper8659 Extra Attack
6th-level Bladesinging feature
You can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn. Moreover, you can cast one of your cantrips in place of one of those attacks.
@@theparkkeeper8659 Per “Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything,” Bladesinger’s 6th Level “Extra Attack” subclass feature reads as follows:
“You can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn. Moreover, you can cast one of your cantrips in place of one of those attacks.”
Genuinely surprised there was no mention of Chill Touch in this list -- feel like it should've been somewhere in the top 5 best cantrips, considering it outright prevents healing and regen on hit while also doing damage and having a bonus effect vs undead.
We considered it as an honorable mention but it’s just a bit too niche. The damage is alright and if you aren’t fighting a lot of undead or creatures that heal you won’t get much mileage out of its rider feature. There’s not a whole lot of creature that heal themselves baseline. Now some DMs may use undead and creatures that heal themselves a lot but just as many don’t. In the situations where it’s useful chill touch is incredible. But outside of that it’s a rather underwhelming damage cantrip
Bonus, if you gain it from playing a Death Cleric, you get to target two opponents (they have to be within 5 ft of each other, tho).
Not just creatures that heal themselves. Healing spells from allies, potions, medical kit interventions, goodberries. Rules as written all healing full stop.
Criminally under-rated spell effect.
@@DavidAndrews-eb7gm Yeah that's what i meant by creatures that heal themselves. I'll grant you the healing spells from allies but outside of that I don't remember the last time I saw a DM throw a villain at us that used health potions. If your DM does that a lot, then this spell is amazing but if not, then...not.
@@DaddyAsh3r Idk why but I thought of "oh hey this spell instantly locks any target out from Flying but if your DM doesnt use any flying monsters, it no good" like bruh.
Imagine just instant locking a dragon out of flying mid flight and watching them crash. 😂
I feel like dancing lights is more for signaling than providing illumination. Movable lights means you can arrange them into predefined signals that could be seen at a distance.
Other people have already posted fantastic justifications for Dancing Lights, but I'd like to also point out that it works conveniently with the Twilight Cleric and Skulker's features. They can trick enemies into thinking your party is lurking somewhere, if you have Darkvision they're treated as bright light which means no disadvantage on Perception checks.
But there's one more thing Dancing Lights can do that Light can't. If you want to light something up at a distance... Dancing Lights can turn off. Light, once you cast it, is going to burn for an entire hour unless covered up like a lantern. So if you want to light up some scouts and take them out without giving away your location, then erase your presence, something like Dancing Lights is exactly what you want.
Definitely "A."; Gary Gygax was a C.I.A. PsyOp that got out of control
So me and my table have basically rewritten the friends cantrip.
You strike up a conversation with 1 target and they now have a favorable opinion of you, unless they are currently hostile. Gain advantage on 1 Charisma check, during the conversation. This Chrasima check cannot cause the target to do something they would not normally do.
So, it went from never being cast to being everyone's favriote spell. It's not broken, and you have to have an understanding of the limits of the cantrip. But, for my table it makes it so much better.
May have to copy that, thanks 👍
This! I mean you making friends, it's boosting your Charisma so people like you more. Why would they be hostile at the end? Your not making them do something that they wouldn't do for a friend.
You can get Illusionist Bracers that allows you to cast a cantrip as a bonus action after casting the same cantrip as an action. This can give you 8 attacks every turn. My fighter/warlock used a set with action to attack a mini boss 12 times with eldritch blast. Pushing it 80ft away until it hit the back wall of the room. It was so far away my party was able to escape before it could even get back to where it started in the room.
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Dude your stuff kicks ass!! I have a masters degree in percussion performance from Newcastle University and have composed the music for 80s inspired arcade games on famitracker - it’s like your content was custom made for me to be addicted to haha
An addendum in defense of Dancing Lights: it's actually intended for creatures with dark vision. Since dark vision treats darkness as dim light, they still have disadvantage on perception and a -5 to the same passive score. It's a way to give them access to "full light" while still being somewhat stealthy
I've had a player manage to make good use of Dancing Lights once! Fighting a homebrewed creature that could only move through darkness, but could also only be _hit_ in darkness, they used the spell to strategically block off doorways to give themselves time to prep and corral it into different parts of the map as the encounter went on. Not many use cases for that level of surgical precision, but it was neat that it worked out then!
Mold earth is a must have for me, you can use it to make cover, solve puzzles, create stears and grab points, you can use it to avoid or straight up block traps from activating, you can even use it as a sort of lockpick or to create hiding spots. The prerequisite is that it must be used on earth or stone/rock. But in a medieval setting is pretty easy to find those in dungeons, fortreses and general buildings. And it's only component is somatic, so its perfect for stealth missions.
It is even possible to bury small creatures alive with it as an action.
I don't think buildings and fortresses have a lot of *loose* earth to move around. That's like, topsoil/dirt/etc that's not been compacted, and you can't move stone/rock
@@shadowfate05 No, but you can turn a 5 foot square of stone into difficult terrain for 1 hour. And you can have 2 of those active at once.
In my campaign, one of my players went with a high elf and picked minor illusion. He then proceeded to use it as a flashbang in many battles by summoning fireworks in the space.
use it to make a torch or other light source... the illusion of the light source might have to fit in a 5ft. cube, but the light it generates doesn't necessarily have to (if your DM agrees... and I readily will)
"The image can’t create sound, light, smell, or any other sensory effect" That's gonna be a pretty ineffective flashbang.
@@shadowfate05 The point of it is to visually disorrient.
In my first ever campaign, we started out investigating a valley that had a bunch of goblins camped up in it. When we discovered they'd been keeping a prisoner and torturing him, I started using Prestidigitation to soil the inside of the spigots on the wine and beer barrels they'd looted. Did it do anything? No idea, we didn't hang around long enough and they didn't manage to chase us to the next area we went to, but I like to believe they had to dump the lot in case it was all rotten.
friends in BG3: Amazing, S-tier for the millions of dialogue checks you need
Friends in DnD: Why would you do this?
Dancing lights, while terrible fir possible intended use, sounds like a decent flavor cantrip for the new college of dance bard ro use with performance
With Dancing Lights, you can also combine the lights into a single entity that resembles a humanoid, so you could theoretically make a backup dancer.
@@CaptainWobbs does this entity take up space. If not, there's potentially more stuff you could do with it
Minor Illusion is probably still better for that as it fills a 5ft. cube but doesn't take up that space, and you can edit it on the fly. Honestly, a minor illusion of a torch is SOOOO much BETTER than dancing lights, even if you have to cast a new one every 30 or 40ft. (not like it costs anything to do it!)
I think Eldritch Blast being made a cantrip rather than being unique to the Warlock class is one of the worst things to happen to D&D.
Well one of the good things about the new book is that now the only way to get access to the Warlock spell list is to take a level in Warlock.
Well, WoTC agree with you because now only Warlocks get it.
Playing Strixhaven with the Friends cantrip and the Mask of Many Faces EI can be really fun for shenanigans on campus, but yes, the Friends cantrip is not that great any other time.
A pair of players could strategize together, each one disguised as the other player’s target. That way, each target ends up being hostile to each other. Then, the pair of players could take bets from the crowd of students standing nearby and watching the fight.
I’d like to argue, True Strike does have a use, cancelling out Disadvantage.
If your next rolls would be a 20, and a 1, but you had disadvantage you’d take the 1, but if you used True Strike you’d get the 20, then next round the 1.
So it has a use, if not very good
So much entertainment + education in one short clip -- LOVE all your stuff!
Am I the only one who uses dancing lights to trick an enemy into thinking There's a party of adventurers somewhere else on the map?
I’ve used bladeward with armour of agathys, and with spirit guardians concentration protection. It’s best at high levels when you’re doing passive damage and know you’re going to be taking a lot of damage
Blade ward is a very niche alternative to disengage. One, if your enemies already have disadvantage for some reason - such as a fighter's goading attack. Second, you're also using a monk/rogue's bonus action disengage, so resisting the ones that get through. Or third, the enemies have such a high modifier that landing hits is all but guaranteed so your only hope is to reduct the damage taken
Friends is ok if you are a warlock with Mask of Many Faces. Then you can get a lot of mileage out of this spell. Just don't stick around to long or be able to get into a crowd then voila clean escape.
I was just about to say the same. Combined with disguise self, a disguise kit, and/or the actor feat Friends can be a devastating spell for a player who knows how social dynamics work.
Less useful if you never encounter society but that's a rarity. Also the more languages you speak the more useful this spell becomes.
Blade Ward is great on an Earth Genasi martial PC.
Glad you mentioned it. My EG EK fighter makes good use of it.
I remember early in a campaign getting issued a promissory note for a bounty of gold for capturing a bandit. I used Prestidigitation to add an extra zero on the end of the promised sum, and I'm still riding high from that payout many levels down the line
I feel like that overlaps Minor illusion
@@derekhandson351 Minor Illusion doesn't move, it just makes an image of an object (Compare it to leveled illusion spells, like Silent Image or Major Image, which specifically describe that you can use an action to move the illusion in a way that would look natural). You'd be hard pressed to use Minor Illusion to add a number to an existing bounty note and keep it perfectly still, whereas Prestidigitation can literally put a symbol on an object for an hour.
Dancing Lights works much better as a distraction than as an actual utility. Draw the enemies over yonder while you sneak in.
Well that's a very fast way to go from not even having met Tiamat to having your entire party killed by it... and all it took was a cantrip 😅
Several of the cantrips mentioned here, from Resistance to Guidance to even good old True Strike are being VASTLY upgraded in One D&D-Look at the Unearthed Arcana document “Bastions and Cantrips” or at the other prior and following UA documents for upgraded cantrips, like my favorite: officially casting Guidance as a reaction!
Awesome video as always! You can also be a super sniper by doing Eldritch Blast + Eldritch Spear + Spell Sniper increasing the range to 600ft!
Friends does have a very good (but niche) use though. It's really good at taunting someone into action. And the spell doesn't have a lot of limiting factors, only that 1) they're a creature and 2) they're not currently hostile towards you. You can choose *any* creature *_anywhere_* .
Need to find a person that's hiding? They hate you now, they'll find *you*.
You know there's a dragon in its lair on that mountain way off in the distance? Cast Friends, and a) the fight is away from the dragon's lair b) you get time to rest c) you can set up traps and/or protection.
You know a noble has violent tendencies and you need a distraction at the party so your rogue can sneak off? Cast Friends, and suddenly a noble attacks you (for seemingly no reason) in front of witnesses
Cast it on your party, meaning that they're officially hostile, thus enabling you to buff passing martials as a reaction using Warcaster
Friends, however bad it may be, is super fun on a rogue when sneaking around. Specifically because, well, if your sneaking around, the guy you just casted this on is probably gonna be hostile anyway.
Breaking into a bandit camp to find a hostage? Cast friends, get free entry with your new pal, and maybe some information. After that, say you'll let him go back to his post, and then go hide somewhere before he goes absolutely ballistic.
Any situation where that bridge is gonna get burned anyways is a perfect situation to make a quick Friend who will hate you in a minute. May as well get something on the way out.
Chill touch is a great sniper cantrip with spell sniper. As the greatest strength of the sniper is there ability to hit undetected. Chill touch only has a skeleton hand that grabs you in a 5’ area of the target.
Fun fact about Blade Ward: In lower levels, it's generally worse to use than just taking the dodge action, but in later levels it becomes better for damage mitigation on average, since you'll be more likely to get hit even with dodge.
Yup
Wait, there are people that take Dancing Lights as actual exploration utility, and not just something to, say, create some colored stage lights so the Bard might get a bonus to perform in a tavern for free room and board for the night, or as a night light for a rescued child to sleep by when the group had to camp before getting them back home, or as a way to help catch fish by giving them something to chase underwater and make them run into the nets? I mean, that's what I used it for, and it never let me down.
Dancing lights - it's okay for characters that don't want to give away their location. Have the lights hover in front of you, illuminating the enemy rather than yourself. Sometimes - based on your situation - dancing lights is what you want.
As a stay-at-home mom, the thought of being able to cook/cool/flavor/clean anything perfectly in 6 seconds is staggering!! Even if it is only 3 sets of 1 foot cubes each casting, that would be amazing!
True strike is nice to save potential spell slots with something like sickening ray. And sorcerer multiclass, or even just taking the metamagic adept feat makes it useful in some situations
Friends kind of became a running gag at my table. I picked it up when making my Sorcerer on a whim, and it took a life of it's own.
An interrogation going poorly due to bad Intimidation rolls? Sorc rolls up as the good cop with Friends. A merchant being stingy with price? Friends. Who cares if they become hostile, everyone can vouch to the town guards that he sold it at a discount on their own volition lol
Friends is definitely the type of cantrip you use to add a little mischief to a game, and when used right (And not spammed), it gives a great laugh for the table.
"Hello there!"
I'm working on a wizard school that trends into archery.
It would also gain the ability to render an existing spell into a cantrip arrow on lvl 2 and also shoot cantrips as arrows. (Meaning acid burst d8 or d12 with more than 150 feet range). I would like to ask the question about turning spells into cantrips... So the spell would deal the base dice damage (fireball cantrip is 1d6, gravity is 1d8) and would also give the added effect (force wave pushing) to anything that is in that 5 feet cube area the arrow hits.
The class also uses Agility for attack rolls and yes, it is added to cantrip damage now, bc you use it with a bow.
The class of course uses Evocation...
The secondary feature would be to shoot spells as arrows. It would do with any spell that are centered on the map (magnify gravity, fireball, but not Shatter, Force wave)
As an electrician I cannot tell you how much I appreciate the Edison dis. Excellent informative content as always
My favorite thing with Prestidigitation is the "Soil an object" part. BBEG is a normal(ish) dude in clothes like us? A great, unsettling threat is "I'm going to shit your pants!"
And it even works if it ISN'T a normal(ish) looking dude. Dragon? They shit themselves. Sphinx? They shit themselves. Literally any sentient creature capable of feeling embarrassment or humiliation and this works.
Assuming your DM is willing to put up with that level of nonsense.
The clothes do have the requirement of fitting into a 1ft. cube... and that dragon's pants probably aren't going to fit, no matter how you fold them.
Just had a thought that would be useful, if you quiet cast prestidigitation on an unsuspecting guard, you can make it look and smell like he's soiled himself, forcing him to go and change and having one less person to worry about on the way to wherever you're trying to get into.
Say what you want about Dancing Lights, we used it, alongside another player using Mage Hand with a hunk of raw meat to distract a swarm of Piranhas while our ranger swam to safety and it freakin worked
I would argue that setting yourself on fire is better than dancing lights if you have fire resistance. No concentration required, and grappling enemies deals decent damage, and it's freaking hilarious.
Only problem is that your stuff burns up.
@@eugenerodriguez9644True 😂
The sad thing about True Strike is that WotC showed a great fix for it accidentally. Remove the Concentration requirement, make it require a bonus action, basically turn it into the Rogue's Steady Aim feature.
Heck, just making it a Bonus Action does a lot to fix it.
Yep that would make it much so much more useful. As it is currently written it isn't useless but so extremely niche that unless your DM builds the campaign around said niche anything else would be better.
It is for games with limited high powered ammo(The DM is giving you arrows enchanted with a stored high level spell to be unleashed on whatever you hit) and stealth where a target not getting killed on the first attack will result in a lot more enemies charging in.
"make a knick-knack in your hands" .... a common misread. The object must be small enough to "fit" in your hands, but it can be made anywhere in range. I like to summon stinky socks into the mouths of casters or anyone talking too much.
6:31 thank you for the compliment kind sir.
If you use True Strike creatively, it's a great spell. It only has Somatic components so you can't hear it being cast. You're in an ambush and the enemy gets close. Cast True Strike, and signal the attack to begin on the next round by standing up and shooting/stabbing/slashing the enemy you targeted. It also works if the guy walking out front is the enemy tank (with high AC and a shield).
In defense of True Strike. Low level Warlocks. When they want to use a spell slot I can understand sacrificing a turn to increase the chance it’ll hit.
Another bonus to the light spell, is casting it on a sword and then sheathing it, or putting something where the light is covered. Allows you to get instant light once battle starts up and without having to recast the spell, and yup, I know light doesn't use concentration since I have one character that has it and have used it multiple times. Booming Blade works with Warcaster, which is absolutely insane.
Having semi recently played a Divine Soul Sorcerer/Ancients Paladin, I can confirm just how dope a quickened Booming Blade can be. It pairs amazingly well with Thunderous Smite.
13:00 Woah, a surprise BatD! But also, you had to choose a clip from the _least_ photogenic table session when they're just playing in a normal meeting room 😂😂😂
Blade Ward is fantastic for Tanks. It’s basically useless for characters who aren’t Tanks. That doesn’t make it a bad cantrip. I’d even call it a must pick for Armor of Agathys builds.
1:13 I thought, until "4th best Booming Blade" came along, that the spell was called "5 worst friends" and that kind of made sense... lol!
If you want to argue strict RAW for the target of friends, you can forget about using it to frame people. It doesn't say "becomes hostile toward the creature you appear to be," it becomes hostile toward YOU.
Dancing lights is really better for using as a trap or artsy reasons. Mess with the small minded and distract guards. It looks like ghosts- combine it with noise from minor illusion.
I can think of one (and only one) niche case where True Strike would be useful. Casting it out-of-combat on your rogue archer who's doing the opening strike with an arrow to guarantee the bonus damage.
People say prestidigitation can't summon coins because coins aren't trinkets, but the sailor background has this exact text in it: "I can't help but pocket loose coins and other trinkets I come across." Ergo, coins are trinkets and you can summon a platinum piece for 12 seconds with prestidigitation
Once had a game where we met a bard that spoke and acted alot like Jack Black would (The legendary roadie version, not the unkempt lefty whos getting banned from Australia) and the boss fight of this area was a lute vs evil violin battle between him and the big bad that was summoning creatures. I single handedly made the encounter so trivial when i noted to the DM "Violins are precision instruments that need to be well maintained." So i used Prestidigitation to soil the strings on the violin, making that big bads magnum opus more of a screechy failure of a performance.
the thing i love most about prestidigitation is making wine taste like poison then watching the ensuing chaos
A use I found for Friends involve using Disguise self to appear someone you want to attract hate to, and then use Friends on a guard, just say something to him, hide yourself and dismiss both spells. Then, the guard will be hostile against that other creature and not you.
I knew about light not being concentration when I was playing an Aasimar barb. DM said I lose my light spell , gotten from racial passive, when I raged, looked at it again, and we were all like "Oh..."
honestly the best part about eldritch blast imo is how well designed the methods to access it are. any class other than warlock is spending valuable resources (a full feat or a bard's special spells) to get it, and warlocks are the only ones who get to really buff it. its worth it though, as its a great cantrip with great value and brilliant design in when that value can be attained.
It may be a bit homebrew but have an alternative for the worst 3 cantrips.
Resistance: treat it like the bless spell, the creature targeted gets a d4 to any save in that minute timespan.
Dancing lights: 5 orbs circle you, you create dim light. As a bonus action you can fling one orb at a creature in 30ft. They do a wisdom saving throw and on a failure make their next attack at disadvantage. At 5th, 9th, 13th and 17th you can throw an additional orb at either a different creature or the same. They succeed automatically if they do not rely on sight.
True strike: no concentration, bonus action, advantage on next melee or ranged attack in 30ft.
Hmm, my homebrews:
Resistance: reaction, when you or another creature you can see within 30ft must make a saving throw, add 1d4 to the roll. 2d4 at 9th and 3d4 at 17th.
(I also have Guidance scale like this)
Dancing lights: bonus action, concentration, unlimited duration. create up to [proficiency] orbs of light, choose luminosity and colour of each orb at creation (maximum 20ft. bright light with additional 20ft. dim light), all orbs must stay within [your speed x2] ft. of you. Whilst concentrating on these orbs you can change the colour and/or luminosity of 1 or more orbs, and/or move one or more orbs up to your speed (no action). Tie-Off spell - bonus action, fix the position, colour and luminosity of all orbs and specify a duration for each orb (up to one hour) then drop concentration, orbs disapparate after specified duration or when dispelled.
True strike: reaction, when you make an attack roll, gain advantage on that attack roll.
12:57 I keep hearing this, but we never played it that way. I did play a bard with it through the old UA version of red moon feat, then I would annoy the DM with casting it every minute until he said “okay unless there is a reason for you not to have it up, you have guidance” but it was never a reaction.
Not saying dancing lights is good but wanted to share a success with it- the party was underwater and I cast dancing lights to position the orbs in various areas in the depth we were at. It helped a lot. Yes, the only time I used it that campaign. But wanted to share!
I will always go up to bat for true strike. There is, believe it or not, a not that uncommon situation it can be used in. A high level rogue that either went into arcane trickster or dipped into spell casting can use true strike to give himself sneak attack damage where he otherwise wouldn't be able to have it. Granted.. a high level rogue would probably have some kind of magic item to do this as a reaction.. but I don't know your DM
Except that there are so many options for rogues to get advantage that don't cost a whole action like Hide and Steady Aim, which only take bonus action, so True Strike is a giant waste of an action. economy.
One natural limiter on the Guidance spam is that it still requires both Verbal and Somatic components. So the Cleric following the Face around the party chanting and waving their holy symbol may be a little off-putting in non-dungeon situations.
Also, when cast by an Artificer, Guidance has an M component (like all Artificer spells). You can have some fun role-playing what that entails.
I heavily appreciate the use of dragon prince clips in this video.
I've found at least 2 viable uses for True Strike
1) Eldritch Knight level 7+. War Magic, after you use your action to cast a cantrip, you can make one weapon attack as a bonus action. The main flaw here is, that by level 5 you can already attack twice a turn, so we run into the same problem where you exchange 2 attacks for 1 with advantage. Though the second viable option I think is straight up good.
2) Rogue (Arcane Trickster, multiclass, Kobold, or High Elf). Advantage = sneak attack, as long as there are more enemies than martials in your party, there'll be some enemies that you won't have sneak attack on, but with this, you can. Might take an action, but from level 3 and on, your sneak attack should deal more damage than attacking twice.
honorable mention) setup before combat, if you're already hiding you'll already have advantage, but if you plan on backstabbing someone, or any kind of attack out of initiative order, where action economy isn't a thing, it's somewhat viable, though rare.
Still shit cantrip, I think it should last 2 turns, making it a bonus action is broken, especially for rogues
2:53 "claim to friends with the god of all evil dragons" *shows Avizandum, who was good-aligned*
Lol
Prestigititation is so fun to use! My sweet harengon girl made a flower for a child.
Literally just signed up for a game (hopefully starting next week) via Start Playing last night XD
Okay, I'm gonna speak in defense of Dancing Lights. As a means to create light? Yes, it is inferior to Light. You have a limited range on the distance each orb can go, and you pointed out the Concentration issue. HOWEVER!!! While it's the 2nd worst for Utility, you've overlooked its use for ROLEPLAY. You can alter the shape of all four balls of light into anything you want, and change their colors. A Minor Illusion can only make a soundless image, or a sound. I used this spell, as a Wizard, who was bored in a tavern as the rest of the party was off doing whatever.
I cast Dancing Lights, and juggle the four balls, and before I know it, the DM says I've attracted a crowd by me amusing myself. I then have the balls change color, have them act as if stacked in a tower, and folks tossed me gold like I was a Bard! When I played a Warlock, I used this spell to feed his cover as a entertainer, telling stories and shaping the lights into four individual shapes to act out the story. Again, I earned some gold and the tavern's owner let the party stay for free because I drew in a big crowd who wanted food, drink and a story.
Creativity is what makes any and every spell in D&D, Cantrip to Wish, so special; because not everyone is going to cast and flavor HOW a spell looks when cast the same way.
I think I once used Friends to quickly get information about where the black market was. After getting the info, I turned the corner, used disguise self, & watched as the guy I swindled ran past me. I later found him waiting at the entrance of the black market, still wanting to stab me.
Blade ward could be a good replacement for the dodge action on late game, where monsters have +15 to hit all the time
Although bladeward has a few good options, if you’re running a melee sorcerer multiclass or an eldritch knight you can use blade ward and still attack, help you tank damage, and even fill up your bonus action slot to help with your action economy
With regards to Mind Sliver: Divine Soul Sorcerers get extra mileage out of it. Quicken cast Bane to get at least one enemy to have a long term -1d4 to saves, then action cast Mind Sliver on one of the failures to put a short term -1d4 on saves. Two different debuffs, so they stack. Now, when an enemy/your ally hits them with a save-or-suck spell, they’ve got -2d4, which statistically means they’ll take a -5 or greater penalty almost 2/3 of the time.
Friends is for Bugs Bunny shenanigans, Charm Person is for short-run cons, and Suggestion is for long cons.
I disagree with you on Dancing Lights. If you form them into a humanoid shape and have it move ahead of you, you can avoid getting ambushed and give yourself an opening attack while mobs attack the light. Also, if there are any shriekers in the area, you’ll know well before you get to them. I think it’s a very useful spell if used creatively.
People don’t understand Friends. It’s a combat cantrip.
It can be used for denial if you are in trouble and get away to a range safly