The WORST Spells in D&D 5e (And how to fix them)
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- Опубликовано: 25 июн 2024
- Today we dive into the absoulte worst spells in Dungeons and Dragons 5e. We look at spells ranging from cantrips all the way up to 7th level and go over the mechanics and discuss why these spells fall short of expectations. But thats not all! Alongside identifying these true stinkers of spells, I go over solutions and homebrew tweaks to revitalize these spells, turning them from disappointments into actual fun spells that you can pull out at your D&D table. Whether you're a Dungeon Master seeking to enhance your players' experiences or a player eager to optimize your spellbook, these fixed spells offer you new solutions to ensure your next D&D campaign is filled with truly fun and unique spells.
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I’m really blown away by the quality of this video. Keep it up!
I'm so glad you enjoyed! Thanks a bunch!!!
At one table I played at, the DM pretty much made the same changes you suggested to Witch Bolt only with a 90 foot range instead. It was NOT overpowered in the slightest because the damage was still a little on the low side, but it was most definitely usable and became the go to spell for our Storm Sorcerer when he didn't want to blow a higher level spell slot.
I already use the Friends cantrip to start conflicts and mess with people I don't like. It combos perfectly with Disguise Self. Heck, it doesn't have a specified range, it`s not even limited to the same plane of existence. You can cause both Orcus AND Tiamat to hate anyone you want, including some random jerk lord in some backwater town somewhere. Or simply make the King hostile to them... I hope they enjoy ALL their new "Friends".
As silly as it sounds, I love the idea of Orcus being fooled by a cantrip hahahh
True Strike is being revised (they announced it along with the bastion rules). Now it’s instantaneous, the materials are a weapon you are proficient with, and its wording is, “guided by a flash of magical insight, you make one attack with the weapon used in the spell’s casting. The attack uses your spellcasting ability for the attack and damage rolls instead of using strength or dexterity. If the attack deals damage, it can be radiant damage or weapons, normal damage type (your choice). Cantrip upgrade: whether you choose to deal radiant damage or the weapon’s normal damage type, the attack deals extra radiant damage with you reach level 5 (1d6), 11 (2d6), and 17 (3d6).”
I noticed this when I initially looked at the Unearthed arcana for one D&D. Thats interesting because its kind of like an entirely new spell lol
I think another cool way to fix some of the cantrips is to have them increase in power as a character levels up. Like how, for example, Firebolt increases in damage at 5th level, 11th level, and 17th level, you could have the other cantrips also increase in power. True Strike can become a bonus action use at higher levels and same with Blade Ward. Friends could even increase the length of time that the cantrip is able to be used, and then at the pinnacle, it could even cause the creature to not become hostile to you, but rather not be able to be charmed by you in this way for the next 24 hours or something like that.
I love that idea! I can't remember what it was called but there is some book or PDF someone made about this exact concept called "Scaling Cantrips". If you like that idea you should 100% look that up!
@@ThisCrits Oh awesome. Someone already did the work then that makes my job easier haha
Mordenkainen's Sword is also CONCENTRATION. Unlike Spiritual weapon, which is not. Multiattack is a good start, but how about a reaction action attack? Yes, MS can make opportunity attacks, albeit with your reaction.
I don't see why that wouldnt be a fair change? As long as it consumes your reaction I think thats not a bad change!
Ive thought about True Strike being a 1st level spell and have it work a lot like booming blade or green flame blade where the spell is part of the melee attack and drop the concentration
Or make it a reaction for whenever you take the attack action so it still uses a spell slot and let's bladesingers or Eldritch knights use their extra attacks
Great video, Lee! Mordy’s Swordy is so disappointing, but I love your ideas to improve it!
This is my first time I have heard it referred to as mordys swordy and I now shall only refer to it as such hahaha
@@ThisCrits 😂😂😂😂
1. Making True Strike a 1st level spell, even if it didn't require concentration and was a bonus action, would still be an awful spell that no one would take. That's just too much cost for advantage on one attack. Instead, remove the concentration, keep it an action cantrip, but make it give you advantage on all attacks until the end of your next turn.
2. Wisdom save for friends is a good suggestion although it would probably be too risky still unless using it on a commoner.
3. I think that Witch Bolt would worse than Guiding Bolt with 3d6 and 60 foot range. I honestly think that you can also remove the whole "it breaks if they move away" mechanic and it would be fine.
4. Blade Ward is actually not that bad of a spell. At higher levels, it can be better than using the Dodge action since attack bonuses scale way faster than AC bonuses. I think that making it a 1st level bonus action spell would actually make it worse.
5. 6d10 per bonus action for a 5th level spell might be a little overtuned. I think it's probably better to keep it 7th level but make it 4d10, a bonus action to cast, and extended speed. Maybe some other property like an AC boost if its floating around you.
Thanks for the suggestions! I'm just gonna respond with the numbers to make it easier to organize!
1. That's why I gave 2 suggested fixes. I think you misunderstood my suggestion when increasing it to 1st level. To clarify, that suggestion was not advantage, its an automatic hit on your next attack that misses which consumes your "true strike".
2. I agree itts risky, but it is a cantrip so it really shouldn't be too powerful and making it more powerful would definitley overstep into other charm effects.
3. It is 100% worse than guiding bolt in terms of damage, but consistent damage is hard to come by which is why I like the bonus action potential for it. I kept the range in there because every other spell similar to it also has a range and removing it (as ridiculous as this sounds) would allow you to travel miles away still damage an enemy.
4. Rewatching the video I actually forgot the 4th change I made to blade ward being able to cast it on other people.
5. Your not considering the fact that this is 2 attacks to deal damage meaning its not gaurenteed 6d10 damage, its a chance of 6d10 damage. I agree it might be high damage, but realistically when compared to Bigby's hand with its much more versatile uses I think its not too far out of reality. But I just flat out disagree with keeping it a 7th level for 4d10 damage. Even as a bonus action and 4d10 damage, Crown of stars (another 7th level spell) absolutley stomps it into the dirt with 4d12 damage and a 120ft range. I agree my suggested damage output might be a tad skwered in the overpowered direction but giving it a single d10 bonus and maintaining it as 7th level is (in my opinion) much more skewed in the underpowered direction.
They are all just suggestions though so take what you like and throw out the rest! That's why I love D&D hahaha
Okay, like the witch bolt idea, but I can't help but wonder if increasing the range to 120 feet and costing a *move* action instead would add an interesting mechanic where the caster has to stand still to keep casting. The enemy could try to close distance or try to go out of range but if positioned properly would be difficult to do in only one turn. Since it takes a spell slot to use there's still room to punish a player for positioning it poorly or playing it badly.
I actually kind of vibe with that idea. It forces the player to think strategically about their positioning.
My suggestion for mak8ng True Strike better is this. Make it a bonus action, KEEP it a concentration spell, but have it last 3 rounds and it gives you a +5 to attack rolls for the next 3 rounds. I like the friends cantrip as is, but I do also like the Wisdom save to see if it could tell it was charmed. I like it as is because it can be used to get someone else to instigate a fight against you.
I really debated about making a similar change to true strike with a bonus to hit or something like that. The reason I didntwas because 5e tried to simplify combat with less bonuses by subbing them out with advantage and disadvantage. Conceptually I prefer the bonus style to rolls however I tried to keep it within the rules of 5e to make them consistent.
I also like the idea of instigating a fight with someone hahah
@@ThisCrits that makes sense
For, true strike , I'd keep it as a bonus action, make it work for this turn and make it so you can only use finesse weapons and that you can't cast anything but a cantrip the next turn.
For witch bolt make it a bonus action to cast use your action still for subsequent turns , but make the target bonded so, there is no range and doesn't suffer penalties for cover or invisibility. For blade ward keep it action and a cantrip but give a bonus action weapon attack and you are correct to drop the weapon restriction for the resistance.
For morikanis sword, double the damage 🎲 and what it hits goes prone, no save, and if it hits a creature that is prone it auto crits and gives you that hp
The same here that I’ve been saying is the casting time someone’s played DND on and off for several years I’m 51 so I played a lot. And I have done a little bit of DM my saw is this do a way with the idea of casting time altogether I’ve always thought and I always look at it from the perspective that everything that is going on is going on at the instant, I mean, combat several rounds, it’s more like two or three minutes of actual combat. I’ve always stopped it sorcerers and wizards and magic users in general. We basically handicapped because of the whole action thing which means you’re stuck doing that one thing at that one time when you can be doing several things so, just taking action out of the equation in general helps fix a lot of the problems with spells. I also don’t like the idea spell slots components I think they just take up too much time slots. You should all wizards should be able to drag their magic out of the ether not depending on specific components so doing all of that really makes the game move in my opinion quicker and it makes combat more economic instead of taking an entire session to do just do combat you can whittle it down to two or three minutes and get on the game, a lot of combat some people don’t like a lot of combat. I’m in the middle but like I said, I think the idea of taking action or unless you’re doing something dramatically spectacular to be your shield while you’re doing meaning it’s one of those save the worlds or in the world.spells unless it’s something very large and dramatic like I don’t know dragging the moon into the end of the into the plane plane of existence or opening up to a black hole. I don’t think that you should have to worry about casting.time
That all sounds conceptually sound. My biggest hessitancy there would be that this is effectivly not 5e anymore. I like the idea conceptually but I set out to fix the spells within the confines of the 5e rules. I'd be curious to see you concept in actual play!
HOLY CRAP!!!!! TRUESTRIKE IS CONCENTRATION!?!?!?!????? Another way to make it better is be able to cast on other party members
1) While Chromatic Orb (3d8) has a big instant punch, Witch Bolt can potentially do (10d12) for that same spell slot. It's still doing damage when the other guy has burned through all his spell slots. Witch Bolt is a Single Target, Damage Over Time.
2) Heat Metal is a 2nd-level spell not 1st like Witch Bolt. You should expect higher level spells to do more damage. Are we going to say Chromatic Orb and Heat Metal suck because Fireball starts with 8d6 and an AoE?
Consider your typical 2nd level Wizard casting Chromatic Orb (3d8) is done for the day after three castings. That's 3-24 damage (13.5 avg) per cast. And he's NOT casting Heat Metal because that's a 2nd level spell. While you don't get the big instant punch from Witch Bolt the second round has brought your single spell to 2-24 damage (13 avg) which is almost identical to Chromatic Orb but spread over two rounds. It can also run up to 10-120 (65 avg) and still only expend a single spell slot.
Witch Bolt is not a Noob spell, it's an experienced caster spell. It does far more damage to a single target for fewer spell slots being expended at the cost of being situational. You prep it for a dungeon crawl or a building and not for a wilderness trip. You save it for bigger mobs and shoot Fire Bolt at the toddlers. And you prep other 1st level spells for other situations. Experienced casters pick a variety of spells for different situations and uses. No spell is One-Size-Does-It-All. It's also not for a campaign where you get a long rest after every fight.
And BTW, Spell Sniper is great with this - 240ft Fire Bolt, 60ft Witch bolt, 180ft Chromatic Orb.
Only use for true strike as is I can think of is a rouge can use it to get advantage for sneak attack
Agreed, but theres so many other ways to get advantage it just feels so bad to use.
Made blade ward a reaction that subtracts 3 damage from a physical hit.
Id be hesitant to keep it a cantrip with the effect. it would be free and just be 3 less damage taken every round which is massive in the early levels when casters dont have other reactions.
@@ThisCrits You mean besides shield the best reaction spell in the game? Plenty of critters at low level also deal poison or fire damage. And if I'm super concerned I'll just have one of the goblins pick up a torch and start trying to set them on fire. Baldurs Gate also does a decent job fixing blade ward by extending the time on it by one one round. But your caution while a touch too abundant in this case is generally the right approach. It's a buff for sure, but cantrips I feel are still pretty weak other then a few standouts, They aren't completely worthless like in days of yesteryear 3rd edition, and whatnot. But they still don't feel that great for how scarce they are. You have to multiclass to get a bunch of them. This way clerics and bards can get in on the fun of low tier defensive magic that doesn't suck.
AIn the game I play in uses the one DnD playtest version of true strike, blade ward, guidance and resistance and friends, and there pretty good true strike is my go-to atk cantrip on melee or ranged weapons on my artificer.
I honestly forgot that they changed true strike in UA hahah
The video is great, I love it but the music is a bit loud. Keep doing it!
Thank you! I really appreciate you telling me that. Sometimes in making videos I get numb to things so hearing feedback like this helps me keep quality up! I will fix it in the future! 😀
Bigby is simply a much better Wizard then Mordenkainen. Who is just a dude with a much nicer house then bigby.
Where is our Bigbys Big Bounce House??? Justice for Bigby!
The lack of lightning spells in general makes witch bolt EVEN WORSE. Is there another 1st or 2nd level lightning spell? No. There are two multi-elemental spells like chromatic orb and dragon breath, but no dedicated lightning spells until the 3rd level lightning bolt and call lightning. Compare this with fire (burning hands, scorching rays, flaming sphere, aganazzar's scorcher) and ice (two ranged cantrips, ice knife, time's binding ice, snilloc's snowball swarm). Lightning just gets witchbolt. When you consider there are two dedicated subclasses devoted to lightning and thunder, this lack of spell options is terrible. And Tempest Cleric is a trap subclass.
I didn't even consider that!!! Wow, I never realized how bad that actually is hahaha