Gator's guide to Catapult! - D&D 5E
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 27 апр 2022
- The Video is Sponsored by dScryb: dscryb.com/packtactics
Please check them out and if you like what they do and want more stuff from them, use the coupon code PACKTACTICS (not case sensitive) for 10% off your first subscription!
Thank you very much dScryb for sponsoring this video!
Link to patreon, merch shop, discord and twitter:
www.patreon.com/Packtactics?f...
/ discord
/ pack_tacticss
my-store-c2baed.creator-sprin...
Gator art by Drakeven: / drakeven1
Kobold reading scroll Art by Nova: ruclips.net/channel/UCmJF... 
Хобби
GATOR RLEASED THE WRONG VIDEO!!!!!!! NOOOOOOOOO!!!
Oh no! Take it down. Upload whatever it was supposed to be then re-upload this later. I'll watch it again.
Does this mean you are in favor of catapulting a gnome affecting by enlarge/reduce at gator when he annoys you?
@@tommytigert5993 Its too late anyways because algorithm.
Aaaaa panic!
Man of taste catapult is a great undervalued spell.
Varsity over damage any day as a caster!
Edit: Another overlooked part of catapult is you can take it to save a cantrip & have near equivalent to mage hand.
Any 1st level spell that doubles in the role of a cantrip is worth it to me.
Catapult damages both target and object: "When the object strikes something, the object and what it strikes each take 3d8 bludgeoning damage". Acid and Alchemist Fire both have "shattering it on impact" text, so i don't see any problems with combining them with Catapult.
Was gonna do that with holy water in my CoS campaign but it never came up
One of the best ways to abuse this is on artificers, since you can infuse an alchemy jug and create a bunch of free acid (just pay for vials I guess) and deal fun damage.
@@callmeconvay7977 do I have a story for you
@@jer2689 if you read holy water, it’s not actually holy water it’s just silvered water , so why do you need a spell to make it
@@cjslime8847 because the cleric/paladin's ritual is what makes it holy; otherwise, you merely have silvered water
I like how this video implies kobold recorded himself reading the desctiption of every single spell in dnd out loud
Aggressively implies too 😂
Honestly I would subscribe to a Chanel that read everything spell , then cleared up any confusion about the spell and then said it’s a common rule to rules this this way and it’s not broken, this way of ruling it is broken
you gotta find something to do in a dark damp cave
@@cjslime8847
Look for a channel called Chance's D&D spellbook, it has pretty cool videos.
@@pogosoloHD I am subbed them I so forgot they existed
Rogue: "That's it, we're screwed!"
Wizard: "Not yet. Everyone take your clothes off."
Party: "WHAT? Ok."
*Wizard proceeds to snipe enemies using common clothes as catapult ammo*
Rock in a Sock Catapult?
@@dasirrlicht5415 firebolt a pile of socks so they melt together, then use catapult on the molten sock clump
Orc: "Thog, why there so many socks outside castle wall?"
Hours later..
Rogue: “Wait, couldn’t you have just used rocks or copper coins instead?”
Wizard: “Yes, but I bet bard I could get paladin down to their underwear first.”
@@Turglayfopa These socks made of synthetic thread?
Barbarians unwashed loin cloth causes the poisoned condition.
played with a guy who used catapult to fling pies at enemies. they had bricks in them. funniest shit ive ever seen.
Fill pies with goodberries and catapult them into someone's mouth. They will have consumed 10 days of calories in 6 seconds. Sure, they will gain a few hp, but then lose a turn vomiting from vastly overeating.
Okay that's hilarious
Fighting in the woods. Catapult the birds nest. now you do damage and have multiple birds helping you.
@@ccibinel Catapult a wasp's nest at your enemies :)
Never-Ending Pie-Throwing Robot
As long as we’re cheating, the bead of force makes its contents weigh a grand total of one pound. It’s expensive, but hysterical to consider launching someone 90 feet straight up in a giant hamster ball.
My DM actually let me do this while fighting a boss with our party. Once we had them trapped in the bead of force, I launched the bad guy into the air 90ft, and while they were falling, my party set up caltrops, alchemist fires, and explosive powder on the floor for when the bead would run out, allowing the bad guy to not only take fall damage, but everything the trap was set up all at once.
The fastball special
"Screw the rules, this is fun"--Kobold 2022
Words to live by.
"Screw the rules, I have money." -Kobold after the Descrybe check clears.
@@eros5420 cultured, I see
@@torva360 Game Recognizes Game. 😉
I really hope people get the joke with the dpr. But just like attacks in DnD, it's gonna miss sometimes.
What do you mean? His calculation was correct, unless I'm missing something?
No no, he's got a point. Line up 90 feet of people and statistically you're almost guaranteed to hit.
@@fyrnenskulman6071 So Gator calculated the correct average damage of the spell, but DPR calculates chance of hitting. If you notice Kobold’s calculation it had (0.6 x 13.5) since Catapult has roughly a 60% chance of hitting
Yeah I was waiting for Kobold to explain to.Gator that the DPR was missing chance to hit, but the description never came, so instead of a joke, it became misinformation because a lot of people will take that seriously if they don't realize it
@@1.21jiggawatts2 Thanks^^ But I actually was just also continuing the pun about missing^^
There's a reason I like this, but not Conjure Elementals for Chwingas. This is modest. Is it "cheating"? Eh, maybe, but what's it cheating to do? A net? Acid? A small flaming poof of flour? It's fine.
Stuff like the Chwingas blessings, the Artificer Tattoo loophole, Coffee-Locking... even if that's more comfortably within RAW, it feels more exploit-y.
RAW: "Oh... You lost all of your hp with only 1 hp left?... Take a long rest."
RAW: you have 1hp because you fell just shy of instant death (overflowing max hp) and a druid shoved a goodberry in your mouth, just sleep for 8hrs and your shattered bines and ruptured organs will be good as new.
Also RAW: it takes 8hrs per 25 gold (final value) to craft an item, half the cold cost of consumables. This makes a basic healing potion take 2 full workdays to craft, and subsequent tiers take 10 days, 100 days, and 1000 days to craft. Who has time to make these things 1 at a time. (All other details of crafting is considered RP and up to DM's discretion as long as the material cost is met)
Tldr; RAW say crafting takes an eternity but healing is an overnight process. IRL its pretty much the reverse as long as you have instructions for what to craft. (For most of what an adventure might want to make themselves its pretty comperable to home brewing or appliance repair. This mainly being consumables like potions, arrows, ect.)
Catapult, or, as I like to call it, Power Word Yeet, has another potential use. Imagine that you are facing an enemy that is within an antimagic field. You *should* be able to catapult objects from outside the field in to it. Orb of Force was a common spell on 3.5 sheets for this reason, and it was a higher level spell that dealt less damage.
I'm remembering a Spheres of Power spell-like ability from Pathfinder 1E that literally just conjures a rock and hurls it at an enemy. Can't be used in an AM field but it can pass though one with no issue due to it just being a rock summoned in motion
Raw says no
I'd say that the object should likely just fall straight to floor the moment it entered an antimagic field as the momentum itself is magical.
@David Holmes I'm not sure that it does, since it is an instantaneous effect. It takes longer than an instant for an object to fly 90 feet
@@nunyabidness8870 the spell says nothing about going further and per raw that means it doesn't it also doesn't say it works in anti magic so per raw you follow the checklist and spells are magic.
So what I'm hearing is to have the druid polymorph the barbarian into a snail, put said snail in a bottle. Then fling the bottle to our enemy with catapult. Getting the barbarian right in front of our target and possibly some cheeky damage
Add a gaseous form paladin in the jar for flavor
A creature is not an object. No
@@UncleBBQ you're flinging the object that a creature happens to be inside of though, not the creature itself
@@tektonik4616 For some reason my brain completely skipped the "put in bottle" part. My bad
@Uncle BBQ just kill the barbarian then 5head, then it's all cleared up. Better yet, cast true polymorph then and turn him into a plant before fights, you start off all level 20 fights by flinging a very angry barbarian at someone's face.
Ah yes, the sling spell. The spell that does a similar thing to a sling, if your DM is a nice person.
Also known to destroy traps, break locks, and steal that shiny orb off of the death pedastal. Truly the most gator spell of all 🐊🐊🐊
Catapult's really fun if you've got a DM willing to adjust things based on what you're doing. I understand it's not supported by RAW, but it makes logical sense that launching acid with Catapult would be more effective and it's so much fun.
I mean, catapult damages the item as well, so the vial would break.
Acid vials shatter on impact RAW so it works. However,
DM: "you trip and fall down the stairs, take 1d6 damage"
Me: "sure ok"
DM: "now how many vials of acid were you carrying?"
Me: "...."
@@exqueue3813
Kobald is correct, RAW it does not work :/ Must have cool DM. Ask DM. Be honest with DM.
@@peterwhitcomb8315
In RAW... That's true.
In RAI... It's debatable but not illegal.
Example: "If the potion bottle must break in order to take effect, then using the Catapult Spell is valid since this spell can damage the potion bottle with bludgeoning damage."
Unless (if it exists) where 5e explicitly states that multi effects cannot happen in one "hit/action". Then RAI... This is valid.
It is RAW though. Within the DMG, tiny fragile items (read as a glass vial filled with acid) only have a d4 hp with a recommended average of 2 (although if they rounded up to 3 it wouldn't change anything). Catapult's minimum damage at level 1 is 3, guaranteeing the vial shatters if it uses the average vial health. If it is using rolled damage there is only a .05%, or a 1 in 2000, chance that the vial remains intact after having catapult cast on it.
I recently went crazy with catapult too and made my DM question his sanity with this spell. It would be completely useless and risky but technically if you ready the spell as an action couldn’t you cast it on an attackers arrow and turn it back on them. I just love thinking of scenarios with this spell that definitely won’t come true but it’s fun to dream
Ok Fist of the North Star
As a DM, I'd allow this. Maybe with a contested check if it turned out to be too powerful? Give the caster an edge in that check since I feel the spell slot is a more valuable piece of "ammunition" as compared with an arrow or bolt or bullet.
@@0_Body
That’s catapult of the North Star to you!
I don't think that's too powerful. A 1st level spell and an action to redirect 1 arrow ain't too bad. Monks can do that with a reaction and a ki point. At lower levels, a 1st level spell slot is quite powerful and at later level, enemies have oodles upon oodles of multi-attack.
Though while it's not overpowered, what it is is absolutely bad ass.
Never considered that, and that's a really interesting use case. Would totally allow that as a DM. Lil tip for anyone who disagrees. Consuming your whole action, 1st level slot, and reaction on just something that might work is not strong or overpowered. We've not even considered if whoever receives this redirected arrow also has to make a dex save.
My favorite thing I've ever used with the catapult spell is a beehive. It's rare that you'll encounter one in game without asking specifically if it's there, but that ogre never saw it coming.
Line targets up with catapult. You can almost always line up two creatures sometimes more. It can only HIT one, but the text says it only stops moving if the creature fails the save and that still gives you 2 or 3 chances to deal damage. Assuming a 60% chance each target fails that's 13.5 x 0.84 = 11.34 dpr for 2 targets, or higher dpr than magic missile. It gets closer to 13.5 dpr the more creatures you can line up. Yes it's situation and yes you have less control who you hit, but it's something to think about with the spell.
THANK YOU! People always talk about Catapult as if it's a single target spell.
They do that same stupid single target damage calculation vs Magic Missile and smugly conclude that Magic Missile is strictly better. Ironically, Pack Tactics makes a similar mistake to what he mocks Gator for in the video by not taking into account the innate potential to increase Catapult's accuracy to 80 or 90%.
While the net is subjective, alchemist fire and acid are not because if they smack into you at high speeds you will get their contents on you.
I suspect that was why they added the line that the object took damage as well.
Btw in case anyone thinks that the net will break remember that the net says in its description that it can only be destroyed by piercing damage and the catapult spell deals bludgeoning damage
Acid and alchemist fire are literally designed to be used by hurling them at people, so I don't know why people think using a spell that hurls things would not work.
@@lucasramey6427*Slashing damage, not piercing damage.
The stuff you can do with catapult this way is a whole lot more interactive and inventive than the things you do with the optimal spells.
On a more RAW oriented perspective: Catapult only requires line of sight of the object, not the destination you're trying to throw it at. So you can hit someone way down a corridor.
It's also quite intuitive to rule that items retain their natural properties if manipulated by a spell (unless the spell specifically alters those properties) - there's animating silver coins to hit werewolves for instance.
Murdering people by shooting coins at them? Is this Mistborn?
Eldritch Knight: "I cast Catapult on my heavy great sword toward the enemy. Then Weapon Bond it back to my hand..."
The enemy: "Alright, I'm out... I'm not dealing with magical knights."
Slight critique on the Dyscribe text. Murder holes are between a pair of gates. You break one gate down and are trapped in an area where they can fire upon you from all directions and drop stuff from above. These are murder holes. Author most likely meant arrow slits
Edit: also, the image you showed on the left are known as machiculations, not murder holes.
Not all of them are between the gates, several walls and towers have them on the edges to aid in dealing with enemies up against the walls.
@@AzraelThanatos do you mean machiculations? The overhangs on walls that allowed people to aim straight down? Or something else?
@@crownlexicon5225 Machiculations were for archers to be able to do so. A lot of fortifications had things that were similar that were intended for things like dropping piles of large rocks, oil, boiling water, or similar things down the walls as well. There wouldn't be many of them compared to machiculations, but there were several of them. It was largely to handle things like latters or other things that the enemy would have to cluster in order to get into position, so areas where it was relatively flat along the base of the walls might have them...and several also semi-repurposed toilets for the same sort of thing.
@@AzraelThanatos huh. Good to know!
Most fun we used catapult with: bead of force holding a young dragon at a band of pirates. There's no size limit, only a weight limit.
DM allowed it, but with the caveat the bead just floated down and popped, posted fought the dragon while we chased down the mama dragon. Still super fun use
IMO, Catapult is one of the best damaging spells because it teaches newer players creativity with their spells (Kinda like Rime's Binding Ice for utility instead of control). Ice watched a number of players try a lot of fun things with this spell. My favorite was a wizard holding his action to catapult an enemy cannonball back at the ship. Its damage is below average but it teaches new players how to get value without just blasting everything.
I love catapult! I usually use it with a grappling hook to target flying enemies. And since the spell flings something in range, you can actually fling things that are behind people you're fighting and get around things like cover. This spell's rad early.
Just a shame a grappling hook and 50 feet of rope weigh 14 pounds together, so it only works if you have a friendly dm or upcast it. But a cool strategy regardless
Gator and Kobold going to get icecream afterwards shows how while they have their differences in how they like to play the game, they are still good friends.
There are some fun interactions that I think would work too: catapulting the bead created by delayed blast fireball for example. Or Catapulting the enemy's weapon right after the fighting uses disarming strike
Ohh imagine a battle master with magic initiate to action surge trow the disarmed weapon onto another enemy
Flaming sphere but make it a war crime.
There is one genuine reason to use Catapult: Accessibility. Yeah, it's *very* specific, but Alchemists and Battlesmith Artificers can use Catapult for the damage part of it and throw something at people, and unlike the other two subclasses, you don't have access to Thunderwave or Magic Missile. Still, you have stuff that is on the Artificer's main spell list, like Caustic Brew for the damage, or Grease and Faerie Fire for much more effective control or... yeah, Catapult RAW is quite bad.
There is another good reason to use that spell, and it involves corners. Not many spells will allow you to attack up to 90 feet down a hallway you are perpendicular to.
It’s only “bad” when considering it only as a damage spell. A lot of Catapult’s power is in its utility instead.
Plot-relevant artifact about to be grabbed by the bad guys? Catapult it away, these things tend to be durable (can even put the endpoint in the air and have it fall to the ground naturally, meaning no damage to the object as long as it falls less than 10 feet).
Made an enemy drop their weapon/casting focus/spellbook and don’t want them picking it up on their next turn? Catapult it away. Bonus points if you’re near water or a cliff.
Want to just break something from a distance? Catapult it straight up for 9d6 fall damage.
There’s a lot you can do with it.
Catapult RAW isn't bad; The damage formula used in the video is misleading as it is only concerning itself with a single creature; By RAW, if a creature succeeds it's save, catapult continues and can hit other creatures instead. This means you can launch things in lines across multiple hostile creatures and the average easily beats out Magic Missile then.
@@Owlfeathers0117
Cast Catapult on an object then use Telekinetic Feat on the enemy. If they're close to a cliff. It's even better.
@@Owlfeathers0117 This is true, but consider that there are relatively few ways to get an item away from somebody and if you manage to do it you can usually just pick it up as a free action assuming you haven't already used your free interact with object.
I once made an ice sorcerer who used catapult to throw snowballs made with shape water. I loved that character.
You know what can Catapult also do, fully RAW?
Grab something 60ft away from you and deposit it into your hand.
Since you can control to the mm a Cone of Cold, you should be able to retrieve the McGuffin while bypassing all the traps; or getting it before the antagonist puts its paw over it.
You'd take 3d8 damage though if you caught it, as would the item you fling. This isn't a gentle telekineses, it flings an item full force.
@@jiminkpen9750 Yes a fling that stops exactly where you want it.
Because if you can put precisely a fireball where you want at 120ft of distance, you can stop the telekinesis where you want.
@@WexMajor82 I thought it flew 90ft only stopping if it hit something? It doesn't say you can make it go different distances.
@@jiminkpen9750 You are correct. However, there are times when getting the thing is worth taking 3d8 points of damage, and frequently the thing you're trying to get is a magic item or something that you just don't want the BBEG to have. So, it'll either survive the impact or be destroyed and out of the BBEG's reach.
@@natashasurvivallady8021 yeah, totally can be worth it, and another person mentioned comboing with a held action to fling an opponents disarmed weapon away. Those are cool, clever uses and work with other party members :)
I love catapult with all of its soft power. Silence, for example, can turn off most spells and eve cantrips but not catapult. Seeing the target? Bah, catapult doesnt care. But the best is that you can use it in time stop to get multiple turns of casting damage spells and not break the effect. To make a car analogy it doesnt have the most under the hood but its got 4 wheel drive.
i see this as a Test to see how much we learned over the past videos. The objective is to find the errors of Kobold like the dmg as in his world the enemie always fails the check. I hope i made my teacher proud.
Don’t forget about casting Catapult on Oil. Helpful if you wanna set up for one of your more Pyromantic allies.
Also consider casting Catapult on magical ammunition. This is far more DM dependent but it’s definitely something to consider.
Also ask your DM if casting catapult on a bag of Ball Bearings or Caltrops will allow them to scatter onto the enemy’s feet. If that doesn’t work on standard bags ask your DM if you can devote downtime and gold to making bags that allow this to happen.
This spell feels like it was designed for object interactions, it even states in the spell the object launched also takes damage. Find items to use it with.
If the DM allows it, you can do this:
Step 1: Make an artificer.
Step 2: use infusions to make an alchemy jug and use it to make acid vials.
Step 3: catapult the acid vials. For an extra 2d6 damage on hit!
Step 4: profit???
The even stronger play of launching a gallon of mayonnaise
@@tymera lmao! Now that is an op move
@@tymera but tymera! a gallon of mayonnaise weighs 7 pounds!
@@damianwilson8974 make sandwiches for the party, and THEN launch the mayonnaise.
The fact that mayo is flammable makes for some really fun mayonnanigans
So if Catapult's weight capacity increases by 5 lbs per level, and Acid Vial weighs 1 lbs, a creative DM could allow you to strap 45 vials of Acid together when you cast the spell at 9th level, dealing a total of 11d8 bludgeoning + 90d6 Acid damage to a single creature, if they fail the saving throw.
Costs 1125 gp and a 9th level spell slot with a chance of doing fuck all and being resisted/immuned by a lot of things, but potentially dealing an average 365 damage to a single creature is worth it.
I don’t see why a DM wouldn’t allow it. Most 9th-level spells are insanely powerful anyway, and this really isn’t that much of a stretch.
Have someone cast reduce on it (reduces weight to 1/8 of original) and you can cast that as a level 2 spell. Or better... get 450 vials of acid and reduce that the catapult at 9th to do...
...
Holy fuck is this legal?
720d6 Acid can't be right. I must have made a mistake.
This also might spark a debate with your GM on how much 2 objects have to combine to be considered "one object"
Catapult is fun for RP when you have an Eldritch Fighter based off of Thor. Combo with Hammer of Returning and the fun ensues.
I like Catapult exactly for the reasons said in this video.
Even not doing something as creative as the flour bomb or catapulting a net or potion, How humiliating would it be to tell the raven queen you died because someone threw a Teddybear at you?
I love this spell. Once nearly killed an Enlarged Duergar with a 5lb T-Bone Steak. He went invisible and ran when he realized a lvl 1 Sorcerer nearly killed him with his own lunch.
6:40 - as a 'super cool' DM I'd love to see this at a table. The manga/anime Goblin Slayer pulled this scientifically accurate trick as well, and it's super hilarious in the right cases.
This is very important low level utility.
This is one of the few ways RAW to reliability damage objects. It destroys light sources, drops Chandlers, it starts fires, it destroys ritual circles/altars, it is a long range item delivery spell. And it does all of these things with perfect accuracy.
More importantly the range is indirect. The range of the spell refers to how far away the object you throw can be. The 90' throw is independent of the spells range. This means this spell is basically power word patsy. You can undetectably frame someone for murder from a block away. You can start tavern brawls, and incite riots and blame whoever you want; all while never placing yourself in any danger.
You don't need line of sight. You don't even need to target the object. So this is one of the few ways to do damage to someone inside a tiny hut or similar barrier.
And you can do this at level 1
My eldritch knight has a good time with catapult. There's all kinds of fun things you can throw with catapult, especially with a fighter's action surge: acid vials, alchemist fire, nets, bags of caltrops, bags of ball bearings, heavy/ shrunken items, keys, ritual items, newly disarmed weapons, bags of flour (for fire or detecting the invisible), magic items that must be throw/broken, various maguffins, and so forth.
Try this: cast reduce on an 80-pound cannon ball (now 10 pounds), cast catapult to launch it 90 feet into the air, release concentration (now it's 80 pounds again), action surge to cast enlarge (it now weighs 640 pounds). It's one heck of a way to knock on the gate of a castle.
As a DM I might require some concentration checks to get that all done in one turn, while the cannon ball is rocketing off in mid-air. But still badass!
I have Catapulted so many mcguffins once theyve been dropped by the BBEG, so much more useful than mage hand for that
Absolutely one of the best uses for the spell, there's almost nothing they can do about it too. Just _woosh_ and gone.
I once had a wizard PC find a magical, possessed knife. It was mostly used as ammunition for catapult and let me tell you that evil necromancer who trapped his soul in a dagger really loved to fly!
Speaking of Catapults... Eldritch Knight's Weapon Bond only specifies weapon, not "simple or martial weapon." No reason you couldn't keep a loaded Catapult somewhere, and summon it up when you need it.
Or a Cannon. If it's pre-loaded, it takes one action to aim, and one action to shoot. You could minor action summon it, then use Action Surge to have a one-round 8d10 kaboom.
*multiclasses into Wizard*
Ya know, knowledge is a weapon so I should be able to bind to my spellbook right?
@@fly1ing891 Say there's a monk in the party. Their fists are deadly weapons. Bond them, and now you can teleport your monk to you. *DM scratches head *
Then there's the joke about catapulting a necklace of fireballs... It works don't get me wrong, you can trigger the fireballs with this spell, but you have to think that if it misses it still has to hit something, it better not be a house wall or something else, I mean you're gonna cause collateral damage, possibly helping possibly damaging yourself, but anyway.
You can still use it to throw things to your allies that are very far away, I had an artificer use it to throw me the mcguffin we had to retrieve and secure it.
The best thing about catapult isn't nets or alchemist's fire etc. It's the target is the object so you can twin it to hit the same creature!
My skin turned blue reading this comment
@@fly1ing891 wink wink nod nod and yes, that's when I realised it, too!
Catapult net is absolutely being added to my "superior spider-man" inspired healer
Also caltrops and ball berrings are good for control, i make an artificer that prepares glass balls full whit this things and catapult them, if you stak acid in a big ball you get more aoe area, no more damage, you can use alquemic jar to get a lot of acid and oil for free.
I love catapult!!! 🐢
It's refreshing seeing Kobold and Gator get along and be friends.
More teamplay like multiplayer combos with Gator please! He could even have a small "loose rule interpretation" segment where he goes over creative uses of spells outside of RAW and RAI
I will never forget the first time I played an artificer
it was for a one-shot and was a dwarf
Bratty kid and his friends had a mcguffin we needed. we managed to get it from him, but he started ranting about how we couldn't have it
my dwarf decided to settup a Shortspear at just the right angle that, when catapult was cast on it, would barely avoid castrating the kid
missed on purpose, so no damage. intimidation was VERY successful. kid ran away crying and needing new trousers.
One thing to note about how the catapulted object flies: the object can hit another creature along the 90-foot line if a creature ahead of it succeeds on its save. Ideally, you would line it up so at least two different creatures are at risk of getting hit by this spell, rather than using it on just one creature. So depending on those situations, the math might shake out a bit differently.
LMAO
Just did a quick calculation using Kobold’s assumptions for Dex save chance, and the bonus to DPR from multiple enemies is pretty negligible.
Assuming two creatures lined up (the only guaranteed amount you could get in a 90-foot line in a combat with more than one creature), you’d get 8.34 dpr (.60x13.5+.40x.60x13.5) when cast at 1st level. You have to take into account that if the first creature fails its save, the second creature automatically succeeds, so the second creature’s chance to get hit is contingent on the first creature’s failure, hence the .40x.60; further creatures would just have even less impact on the dpr as the calculations continue. Best case scenario would be an asymptote approaching 13.5 dpr with a 1st-level spell slot.
I actually love Catapult as an RP spell.
Nothing like waving your hand and that dagger on the floor starts floating and stabs the king's advisor in the back.
a fun idea off the top of my head for this is to have a friend with maneuvers disarm an opponent and yeet their weapon off into the unknown, 90 feet is more than most creatures armed in such a way would have and the majority of weapons are less than 5 pounds so this could very well work to make a potential opponent much weaker or force an assailant to surrender. It's also worth noting that any creature in the line can be hit by it, it's sort of a line spell without being a line spell, so if the object you're launching has multiple creatures in it's path, it's got the potential to make multiple creatures save against it which means there's a solid chance you might hit something with it.
This is so awesome!
Such a great skit & very informative x
As always
I appreciate that you and Gator took the time to not only explain the reason why its often suboptimal, but explained how it could potentially be optimal at certain tables under certain DM's. It would have been easier to simply compare it to sleep or other staple first level spells and be done with it, but you took the time to consider when it could be optimal, or under what circumstance could you get the most out of it. I certainly as a DM would allow using catapult to fling acid vials and holy water, and probably the net. I totally agree that its a way to reward creativity, while staying with the spirit of the spell, and making relatively "Useless" (situational) items much more practical. Very nice video :)
Its very good with a little creativity AND because you target an object, you can use twinned spell and cast it twice on one enemy and do big damge if they dont dodge.
This was actually pretty wholesome. I liked that the two friends worked together to do something cool in the end :>
Something I love catapult for is that it is Somatic only. I'm currently in a city campaign, less fighting more investigation and discussion in shady locations. With a distraction + gm choice of stealth or deception, we've been able catch someone totally off guard and pin the guilt on someone else. The other awesome part is the attack comes from a different starting location from the caster. Indirect fire is great for combos or neat tricks. Also used for interactions like getting the other end of a long rope to an ally.
I'm not a DM, but I'd argue that you'd need to make an additional roll to see if the net unfurls properly or just stays clumped up, and I'd also put forward the caveat that the damage should be halved; if the roll fails, the spell still does full damage. Conversely, if the intent was to do full damage, a failure on the aforementioned roll would cause the net to unfurl and deal half damage, but still cause it to restrain the target.
I was playing a homebrew campaign with friends, and I had a bottle of illithid blood, which was prior proven to be acidic and crystallize on contact with water. We were fighting a hydra, so I catapulted this bottle at it, it took normal and acid damage and it crystallized on the hydra’s torso neck area. As it tried to take off these crystals, they cut the hydra’s claws, necks and heads, and then exploded, leaving a huge hole, killing it. It was amazing.
Moral of the story, be creative with catapult and it can have amazing effects.
Catapult is amazing. I had a wizard with a magic bracelet that allowed him to shrink items as a charm for it. As a free action I could pull and drop the charm off the bracelet, and make the item revert to its original size. so naturally i made my charms items that could be used with catapult like, nets, acid, fire, and weapons.
Gator is absolutely precious and adorable. He must be protected at all costs. Ngl I also love the bagpipe music in the background.
once a wizard used this spell to throw my sword back to me after he took it back from a thief at middle of combat.
He did so by throwing it an enemy next to me. DM ruled that it's side hit so no bonus dmg and its still bludgeoning but thats fine we didn't do that to deal bonus dmg... we did that so fighter(I am) would be armed at my turn again. (DM allowed me to use a reaction to grab sword early)
And catapult is only a first level spell, meaning an entire hoard of kobolds can learn and employ this with basic trap objects to cripple an entire party for several turns at negligible cost. But also they could be running a killer haunted house, from the secret passages XD
What you're missing is that Catapult has no verbal component, meaning you can use it to fight while silenced.
Also, the object flies in a line, meaning you can target multiple enemies and if it misses the first one, it might still hit the second one. Sure you can only _hit_ one, and it's not the most powerful spell for regular targets, but that one time you get ambushed at night by some jerks with the Silence spell, you'll be so glad you have this (or any other somatic-only spell you can use to defend yourself)!
Catapult + Acid Bottle = 3D8 Bludgeoning Damage + 12D6 Acid Damage. For a 1st level slot. It is scaleable later on. the maths works out on the 5 pound limit. There is also Enlarge and Reduce to do even funny things.
I love this video! Thanks!
I think this is the most meta thing I have seen - and I’m all for it. Go gator 🏴
The "gator just adds the average of every die and call it dpr" joke is PERFECTLY delivered here, but it's actually the average damage of it if you only use it on creatures that automatically fail the save!!
Do you use web or the lesser web(constrain) a lot? You can deal fireball damage to a single restrained creature if you use acid, that's guaranteed damage too!! Not bad for a spell slot two levels bellow fireball, it's great at level 3 and 4, it solves problems only a second or third level slot could solve, for way cheaper, when the situation is just right! (except sleep solves all those problems and more, without the need of the specific situation of restrained enemies, and is way more versatile while being the same price... oh well)
Gator is precious and I love him 💖
Another thing to consider is if you line up multiple enemies and the first one succeeds their dex save, the object continues to the next enemy (I think) until one fails or it reaches max range/solid surface
It's also *very easy* to do this. 60 foot range to draw your line from means that as long as there's more than one enemy in the encounter you can probably find a point where they both align and fire from there... if you're outdoors you can probably find a pebble, indoors might be a bit trickier though.
There is a couple key parts to the spell that was not mentioned at all; it only requires somatic components, and can be cast in any direction. It is a viable spell to use in stealth. Send an unattended item into someone else to make them start a bar fight, cause an object to make an impact sound to distract guards, a bag of caltrops can be sent 90ft away, or even steal items by having them sent to you.
I watch these videos to get a better understanding of the mechanics, but I completely agree with the message of the video.
Like, how often are you going to get to use the flour bomb? Probably once. And it will be memorable as hell, and everyone will get a huge kick out of it. (And… isn’t that the point of this game?)
And honestly, if my players scheme to start using flour bombs (or super nets) everywhere, then their enemies will quickly learn about their commonly used tactic, and will devise counters to it. And that’s fun in its own way, too.
Great stuff.
To play "RAW lawyer" with it, the net does say "when a creature is hit" its effects happen. I agree that that's stretching it, though.
As somebody else says, acid and alchemist's fire both work fine per the RAW. They're GOING to splash all over whatever they hit.
My current favorite is actually the 1 sp pint of oil, however. Hurl that, and, no, it's not doing any extra damage right away, but your follow-up rounds of _firebolt_ will be each doing 5 extra damage for the next minute to the creature you hit with it. And you're still doing 3d8 bludgeoning damage with that first level spell slot.
To minimize your chance of missing, too, make sure to hurl down a line of enemies. Each needs to make a save in succession; the more saves, the less chance all of them will be made.
Finally, _catapult_ is interesting because you can launch the object in any direction from its location. This can get you some interesting line effects that don't originate from you.
The "WARNING GATOR CHEATS" was so loud and startling it woke me early from a sleep spell
You guys should do wholesome shit like this more often
My favorite use of catapult was upcasting it on a combo silk rope and grappling hook to yeet a grappling hook UP like a grapple-gun or hookshot, so we can climb straight up to a bridge we were 60 feet underneath with relative ease in extremely short order.
"Goodberry ice cream" alone is worth the cost of admission for this video. 🍦😋
The gator lore is what keeps me coming back
I've been waiting for you to cover this spell
I'm a fan of using catapult on juvenile mimics (sized tiny, so should be light enough).
Their shape shift (shapechanger on other sizes) specifies they change into objects. They are still creatures, just as the case with corpses still being creatures, but also being objects (see improvised weapons).
The notion of magically lobbing a mimic across the room at another enemy gives me a good chuckle.
You love to see this collaboration. I actually got a lot of mileage out of this spell as a very low level artificer. Make/acquire the proper chemicals, put it in a 5 lb. Jug, have the barbarian give it a toss and fling it at the enemy to set them on fire and do some extra damage. Quite effective with a realistic game style DM.
I played an Artillerist once and the DM let me make bombs or Molotov cocktails that I could then throw at people with Catapult.
Is it the best or strongest strategy? Strictly speaking, no. But it was some of the most fun I've had playing a caster.
Another solid point on Catapult is that it is Somatic only. You can cast it from stealth without giving away your position. You can cast it when silenced, magically or otherwise. It probably shouldn't be your primary damage spell, but it's got a lot of less-than-obvious utility.
I actually had a sorcerer that used this tactic with flasks of oil. quickened spell catapault on the flask to send it if the enemy fails the save they and the flask take 3d8 damage destroying the flask and covering them in oil, I then use my action to firebolt them for an extra 5 damage. definitely sub-optimal but damn it was fun. at one point I got right up on a group of enemies, just doused the front one with the oil then quickened burning hands. my description was a little more... graphic, as I slid right up next to them and presented the flask as if to offer it as a gift only to have the flask glow red hot then burst forth with boiling oil completely covering the front enemy and splashing the rest. dm liked the description so much he gave me the extra damage on all three of them.
An oil flask and firebolt should work RAW, if your DM has never seen a grain elevator explosion on youtube.
This is actually pretty cool!
I want a Kobold merch:
A button the says "But Kobold!" when you press it
Gator sleeping while kobold does the work is such a mood
2 points make a line, so when you catapult you can always get at least 2 enemies in a straight line. Therefore if the first target makes its save you can force at least one more to make a save. Therefore casting catapult is actually like forcing a save at disadvantage. The damage, while not great, isn't as unreliable as you make it out to be because it's not unreasonable to "try again" on 1 or more secondary targets. Remember you don't need to use catapult on an object in your possession, you can catapult pebbles or loose objects anywhere on the battlefield.
I love how Gator is in charge of the fun spell video
Now what you can do is catapult something that has a PASSIVE area effect into an area.
A stone you cast silence or darkness or light on, a lantern of revealing, a small powder keg of smoke powder.
With the last one it won’t explode on impact but a fellow spell caster could ignite it for aoe damage with a firebolt after your turn.
It’s a fun spell even if you don’t “cheat” with it, just gotta think outside the box.
I love the idea of killing something with a Catapulted feather pillow using this spell description. 🤣
Honestly, every party should have a PC with powerful build carry around a big bag of rocks. Use them as catapult ammo. Stick googly eyes on them to scry through. Scribble misspellings of counterspell on them in crayon and have the strongest PC chuck them at the enemy caster's head. There's hundreds of hours of fun to be had from giving the strength based PCs a bag of holding filled to the brim with 10 to 20 pound roughly bowling ball sized rocks.
On the surface this comes across as a d&d player that's gone totally unhinged. I love it.
what a great channel thanks gat0r
This kind of reminds me of a combo from my Pathfinder days. I was playing a fighter with the "Throw Anything" feat, and our party wizard had the "spark" cantrip. Spark normally sucks, but we realized that we could buy vials of oil cheaply, so I would throw them at the enemy and then the wizard would spark them, causing them to burst into flames. It wasn't huge damage, but it was fun.
My DM taught me how to make a level 1 Fire Elemental. Take the level 1 spells, Resist Fire which gives you DR 10 fire. Lotion said player up with Vials of Oil. Light them on Fire. And then send them into the pack of Kobalds!
Now if said player is a Raging Dwarf Barbarian wielding a Great Axe... Guess they did it in a 1-shot at the Comic Book Store.
I had a similar situation a few months ago on our Pathfinder campaign. An oversized Liopleurodon attacked the ship we were in and between the brawler and I, the ocultist let a bottle of alcohol on fire when in the mouth of the beast using spark, and we managed to drive it away after a huge number of plans failed. That sesion was very cool.
Another one that could be added to the list for sheer DPS (and also cost effectiveness) are flasks of oil
If you have a Familiar, you can cast Dragon's breath on it and make it have fire breath that it can use as an Action
Now you can cast Catapult, throw a flask of oil, and have your familiar swoop in to deal 3d6 fire damage and tack on an extra 5 fire damage from the oil flask.
Admittedly this does require both a level 1 and a level 2 spell, but for what it does (being 3d8+3d6+5 damage total to a single creature) it can be devastating for encounters, especially just having a miniature dragon as a familiar assuming you can keep concentration up
Catapult. Bad spell? Perhaps. Fun spell? You bet your ass it is. The very act of just flinging a fucking brick at your enemies is cool. Hell, if you lack mage hand you could even use it for an overkill telekenesis effect (although you would have to be wary about the damage the object takes). Another thing is that the spell states that the object only stops moving after it travels 90 feet, or until it hits something. So if a creature dodges the spell with a dex save, depending on the DM they might rule that other creatures in that line might have to make a dex save to avoid the damage.
What i like about catapult is that it says that when a creature fails a save against it the object impacts does dmg and stops. For me that means that if someone saves, he dodges the object and it flies on so if there is more enemies in a straight line every next person needs to roll a save until it hits something or runs out of range
It is my favorite spell to cast with magic stone. Turn starts, bonus action, cast magic stone on three stones already on the ground, action, cast catapult. BOOM EAT IT!
The weights are slightly off for the spells, but more often than not a DM has allowed it cause it’s fun and not really an op combo just some okay damage.
Pebbles usually don’t weight 1 pound is what I mean by the way.
being a dick here, but bonus cantrip means no levelled spells as action...but for shits'n'giggles and raw fun it should be allowed.
Oh good, the flour + fire combo. I got hit with that twice, at work, at a flour mill. Even if you evade the damage you and your clothes are stuck smelling like burnt flour for the rest of the day.
Catapuly goodberries at the enemy. It will leave them feeling conflicted.