10 Powerful D&D Spells & How a Dungeon Master Can Deal with Them

[@theDMLair]

Which OP spell didn't I mention, and how do you deal with it? Back my Kickstarter, Into the Fey ▶▶ www.kickstarter.com/projects/thedmlair/into-the-fey Become a Patron ▶▶ www.patreon.com/thedmlair The DM Lair on Twitch ▶▶ www.twitch.tv/thedmlair Free D&D Adventures and DM Resources ▶▶ www.thedmlair.com/ Join my Newsletter for free D&D adventures and resources ▶▶ thedmlair.getresponsepages.com/

[@kkTeaz]

No

[@kkTeaz]

You're a pineapple

[@supersmily5811]

Never nerf. Nerfing a spell a player is already using (Especially a Wizard, who can't replace their free spell choices EVER) screws them over, it invalidates their choice. Some spells are better than others. The DM should have to deal with that. Of course, using complex tactics in encounters (Not changing the spell terms directly) isn't nerfing the spell, it's challenging the players. That's part of the game. Also also, you clearly have had a very different experience with D&D than me. Save or die spells are not even that powerful, because spell save DC is calculated 8+stuff instead of 10+stuff (Like everything else in the game is). Most important enemies will save against the spell almost every time, and particularly powerful enemies have Legendary Resistance and guarantee success on at least a few save or die spells. Banishment might take a powerful devil out of the fight, but it has to WORK first. Also also also, Enhance Ability. Advantage on any kind of ability check for an hour AT WILL. That includes skill checks associated with that ability score chosen. This is superior to invisibility. It's slightly less effective for sneaking and combat, but it makes up for that by having so much other utility. See also, Pass Without Trace. Sneak better for the WHOLE PARTY as a level 2 spell.

[@bellamaxwell9696]

LIke your last video blindness is such annoying when they can then just hammer down on your BBEG

[@sdown098]

Dispel magic is OP. And it's great also to use against the party. All those concentration spells and buffs you can end with a lower level slot is great.

[@shanemacmillan5732]

"Since most summoning spells last for an hour, this pain and suffering can go on for quite some time." Laughs in necromancer.

[@Echiewel]

Another problem with summoning spells is that the replacement "Summon [X]" spells from (mostly) Xanathar and Tasha are overnerfed. They only allow one creature, which is more than fair. That one creature isn't weak per se but certainly doesn't have a lot of hitpoints, which I guess is fine, if the players play smart usually the spell won't be undone in less than a single action. The spell loses the part where you get to search for the perfect statblock, which some people will find a big plus, but for me removes some of the fun of the spell. But the worst part is that these spells are pretty expensive to cast. The second level Summon Beasts already costs 200 gold in components. That's for a 30hp beast that can be undone as part of an area of effect attack the bad guy was going to target on the PCs anyway or by breaking concentration. I've been thinking lately that summoning spells could actually work like Cure Wounds does. Let's call these spells "Call [X]" to prevent confusion with the current spells. Each one would be a first level spell that can be upcast. At level one you get a CR 1/2 creature, at 2 CR 1, at 3 CR 2, at 4 CR 3 and so on, maybe with some extra skips towards the high end of the scale. It would even still be fine with CR 1/4 at level 1 , 1/2 at 2, 1 at 3, just moving everything up a level. Plus the spells would be split up thematically, Call Animal, Call Fey, Call Fiend, Call Celestial, Call Elemental, Call Undead, Call Dinosaur, they're all different spells, so while the spells are very flexible and provide a lot of options, they don't literally provide all the options, and they can be assigned to different spell lists. Rangers get animals, maybe fey, plus dinosaurs (including "dinosaurs" like say pterosaurs) if the setting has them, clerics get different ones depending on their domain etc. Although I haven't seen the new PHB yet, so maybe they already did exactly that.

[@scottclowe]

2:39 Wall of Force 4:01 Leomund's Tiny Hut 5:54 Hypnotic Pattern 8:01 Animate Objects & other summoning spells 9:33 Polymorph 11:19 Arcane Eye 13:03 Banishment 14:44 Heat Metal 16:02 Silence

[@holycheeseburger2981]

#10: Counterspell Solution: the enemy also has Counterspell

[@erc1971erc1971]

I prefer Mana Drain :P

[@subduedpotato7216]

so......you counterspelled the counterspell that counterspelled the other counterspell? Is that even a thing?

[@meris8486]

@@subduedpotato7216 Yes if you cast fireball and the enemy uses their reaction to cast counterspell then you can also use your reaction to use counterspell. So the fireball would go off but the DM would hopefully describe some Harry Potter shit. The way to beat this is having two enemies with counterspell since the player has only one reaction.

[@meris8486]

@@erc1971erc1971 what's mana drain?

[@erc1971erc1971]

@@meris8486 It was a Magic: The Gathering joke. Counterspell and Mana Drain are both cards in that game.

[@jamesvaughn2462]

I know this makes me a terrible person but I used this video to pick my spells for my new wizard

[@fanana6193]

LMAO that is both genius and awful

[@ggogaming7441]

no that good , as a DM i want my players to be op So i can use my OP monsters without the fear of a total party kill

[@leandrochavez6480]

And my lore bard

[@shock_n_Aweful]

some of the spells are not nearly as good as he makes them out. Silence is extremely shit and I wouldn't even bother with it. First you usually wont know who to cast it on until they already cast a spell. So they are going to get at least one off, then you cast it and he just walks 20 step out of it and casts his spell. Well done wasting 2nd lev spell. Hypnotic Pattern is insanely good if the DM isn't a metagaming asshole. Wall of force is great unless the target is a caster in which case you just helped him, but its also a 5th level spell so it should be good. Polymorph is ok for saving a dying a groupmate but most of them don't want to be a T-Rex or Giant Ape, they wanna be their own character. Tiny hut is nice but it can be dispelled. Banishment is a gamble that doesn't always pay off and when it does it usually trivializes that fight so I am not a fan.

[@hambonejones7231]

Same. Lol

[@a.b.8080]

I've had the T-Rex/ceiling moment too. "You transform, but the ceiling isn't nearly as high as a T-Rex" .. "But how deep is the floor?"

[@beancounter2185]

The thing about that is, that a character can't polymorph into a creature they've never seen before. So if they've never seen one, you can disallow it. Sure, the player knows about T Rex, but their character doesn't necessarily, and you can rule it as metagaming.

[@a.b.8080]

@@beancounter2185 I think we've had that sensible thought but no, that only applies to the druid's wildshape. Polymorph is only limited by that the CRs and/or level must match. It's a popular houserule though, for balance sake, and so that players have to prepare their own statblocks. And who would allow a T-Rex if those simply don't exist in their world. I mean in this instance and campaign I allowed it, because a barbarian riding a house sized wizard lizard is amazing, and honestly the T-Rex has caused more problems than it solved. Rule of cool here.

[@meris8486]

@@beancounter2185 Or have them make a Knowledge Nature check

[@adamkaris]

Bean Counter Polymorph is a magical transformation "I turn you into a giant monster with lots of teeth" that just so happens to have the T. rex stat block

[@davidholmes3728]

Love tiny hut tbh

[@kyleward3914]

My party's wizard polymorphed an admittedly-broken homebrew monster of mine into a Yorkshire terrier. However, said monster had been summoned by a deity who proceeded to turn it instead into a gargantuan, fire-breathing Yorkshire terrier.

[@meris8486]

That sounds amazing

[@kevincutler5326]

Ah the deity switcheroo is an AMAZING idea

[@grumpygrognard7292]

"What did you do Ray?" "It's the Stay-Puft Marshmallow man."

[@TheSarcasticModerate]

I don’t know what your homebrew monster originally was, but this is undoubtedly even better.

[@kyleward3914]

@@TheSarcasticModerate The homebrew monster is basically a star. Passive radiant damage, too bright to look at directly, gravitational pull, etc.

[@jgr7487]

"that's a lot of Tarrasques!" wait, a lot of *what*?!

[@shadowscall7758]

That's what I said. I was like "Tarrasques?! As in plural?!"

[@theDMLair]

How many is too many?

[@jgr7487]

@@theDMLair 1 pre-5E

[@subduedpotato7216]

@@theDMLair 1 is too many. I also thought that the lore specifically stated that there is always only 1 Tarrasque....hmmmm......maybe I'm wrong, or, maybe you live in a different world. Either way works, I suppose

[@davidholmes3728]

Yes lore says 1 my peeve was the effect he showed was fire

[@nucleargandhi2709]

I think the lesson here is that very few spells are actually OP, and DMs should pay more attention to spell descriptions, use a bit of common sense, and pay attention to concentration so that spells don't become artificially OP. I'm really glad you didn't actually encourage much nerfing, and focused on playing smarter.

[@shadowscall7758]

The only one I would say is OP is Heat Metal. The no saving throw part is stupid.

[@MonkeyJedi99]

@@shadowscall7758 I would allow the saving throw either on casting (if the metal is worn by a creature) or as Luke described.

[@colocado6685]

@@shadowscall7758 just send someone to hit the player and break his concentration, it's not ad hard as it seems. Any martial clads can easily do that, or you can send someone immune to fire, someone with no armour, armour without metal (bone, leather, linen, ironwood, dragonscales) etc, it is not that hard

[@shadowscall7758]

@@colocado6685 It is when the cleric using it is a forge cleric with 23 AC. I would love for you to show me guards that are immune to fire or not wearing metal armor that are going to be able to reliably hit a 23 AC guy.....

[@nathand6467]

@@shadowscall7758 I mean its a single target. You can have 8 Guards, some in leather armor, my guards often have polearms, wood shafts. The player using a spell to stop an enemy (maybe). Is not a problem, thats how things are suppose to work. Its ok that the players can actually do things, and play and get past challenges.

[@malekoberto3832]

As a wizard main player and a spellcaster abuser DM I found that having a soft hand is just not the solution: use your best spell, make the fight unfair, and have no problem if the enemy does the same... It just make everything so much more tactical and complex.

[@alphathewolf583]

Pretty much. My players don't have counterspell and are high enough level that they can fight 20th level casters and it gets pretty darn crazy. "Round one of combat the enemy caster creates a black hole at the top of this 60 foot tall room." Well, i guess that encounter disintegrated a player, but the druid has reincarnate so it was fine(though now she is out of reincarnate components).

[@zweieck3623]

Except in a chase. My players chased a girl with invisibility and fly when they couldn't counter it. I really messed up in that characters design gameplay wise cause I knew they were most likely going for a chase.

[@fhuber7507]

I love when they cast the hut... I surround the hut with an army.

[@fhuber7507]

Polymorph... . Has the PC actually heard of the T-rex when the DM's game world has never had a Dinosaur in it? Nope. There are no T-rex in my campaign, the PC can't poly into a T-rex.

[@Spiceodog]

or do that thing that the orcs did in the hobbit, and start a fire under it

[@Nubbletech]

@@Spiceodog Or both

[@sdown098]

If that army has a spell caster with dispel magic the hut can go away at any moment. And if that caster can drop the silence spell on top of the hut 1st even better.

[@a.b.8080]

@@fhuber7507 it goes without saying you can't turn someone into a creature your PC can't have knowledge of. It's rude. Hell a lot of people think it has the same limitation as wild shape. RAW it isn't there and one could transform into a T-Rex. RAI, definitely not.

[@JadeyCatgirl99]

8:03 I was playing a prehistoric style game, and the players where transporting a mysterious egg back to their tribe. I sent a Giant Eagle at them to shake things up. The Druid responded by summoning two Giants Eagle to take it down. It was the biggest "no you" I've ever seen as a DM, and I loved it. What could be worse than a giant paint bubble?

[@Bluepuertorican5]

Some of these are options and counters to the spells, not really nerfing the spell. And even then, why nerf the spell, isn’t the creative and challenging part for the DM is to have a good counter to the players and to see the players challenge you? In my opinion, the spells dont need nerfing, they just need creative ways for DMs to counter what the players throw at us the same way they would counter what DMs throw

[@deathfury4039]

Preeeeaaach!!!!

[@Raszul]

i fully agree.

[@wraithreaper22]

Exactly. Nerfing is not a good way to go about this.

[@johnathansanford8206]

I would agree, the players need to feel powerfull and accomplished as they increase in level. Ripping that away with nerfs just sucks the fun away, leaving players with a sense of why are they here anyways.

[@timothyhurley8711]

Thus why the video is titled, "How a Dungeon Master Can Deal with Them" and not, "How to Nerf Them."

[@DaDunge]

3:35 I don't see a problem here, this is the caster using magic strategically to make the fight easier for the entire party. It's a perfect example of what magic should be. The enemies can counterspell it, or kill the caster or get him to break his concentration. In fact you can use the fact that half the enemies are out of combat to your advantage, have them send one of their number back to headquarters to tell the rest of their friends about this tactic, boom you now have an in narrative reason for there to be a caster with counterspell in every group of enemies. There's no reason the walled of enemies needs to just stand around waiting to be killed. Heck have them fall back and unite with the next group of enemies. 4:30 Again it's the caster using his magic to make everyone better, I don't see a problem. But if you want to avoid it becoming a staple, make their missions time sensitive. Yes they can rest all they want but if they do they'll find a manifested Orcus waiting for them at the bottom of the dungeon, two days late to stop the ritual. 10:30 Don't allow polymorphing into creatures they haven't seen. I don't really see silence as a problem either, it is the caster using their precious concetration slot to make the entire party better off. None of your "problem spells" is the real problem with casters, that is those encounters where they upcast an AOE and kill essentially the entire encounter in a single round of combat. The fact that they are better at dealing single target and multi target damage than martial characters and are almost as tanky because aside from their primary casting ability score they will only ever need constitution for keeping concentration.

[@VoidplayLP]

Wall of force can encircle enemies. You cant have them run back when theres a Wall behind them

[@Raszul]

@@VoidplayLP ... but you can have them dig or break the ceiling and help each other out that way. and if they are encircled ... well... either their friends arent and can delay until the spell ends (or they manage to break the wizards concentration, ideal with some non-damaging distractions that don't go against that concentration advantage from warcaster) or just retreat a bit (but not so far they couldn't help their friends if the wall drops) then send of them off to get backup ... or if they are all encircled ... well... then the party basically only bought the time the spell lasts but haven't changed any dynamics of the battle itself (and the enemies might use the time to set up some make-shift fortifications or other advantages for themselves in the meanwhile).

[@DaDunge]

@@VoidplayLP If you make a circle around one group of enemy it means the other group is not encircled and can fall back.

[@nathand6467]

100% on hut, players can only long rest once every 24hrs anyway, the caster has to "save" a spell slot for it,.. this should really not be seen as a big deal.

[@VoidplayLP]

@@nathand6467 its a ritual tho, they dont need to save a slot

[@Troommate]

Gary's got the elder Wand he will do fine XD

[@patrick-west]

Unless he's fighting someone who's mum loved him apparently

[@jaceross7648]

You obviously haven't read or watched the last Harry Potter book/movie

[@douglasphillips5870]

One of the best tricks a DM used against me was to deoptimize the dungeon for my spells. Fire spells in a wooden house have side effects. AOE spells in crampt spaces can hit your team mates. A character can only have so many spells memorized ,so if you mix up the kinds of encounters so the character can't count on their favorite spells all the time. Sometimes the encounter will match the spell selection and it will kill that encounter, but sometimes it will go the other way.

[@Comicsluvr]

Add this to a buy guy/guys that are optimized for the same space. Wooden stuff = party can't safely throw Fireball but BBEG can throw Cone of Cold. Shatter would bring down the room on the players but the space is small enough that Create Water actually slows the PCs down etc.

[@CL30]

Dispel magic is a great way to counter things like Wall of Force, Polymorph, or Leomund's Tiny Hut. The key is to not overuse it so players will be creative with their tactics.

[@theDMLair]

Yeah i underuse dispel magic myself. Great spell.

[@joei8978]

It states explicitly you can't dispel Wall of Force, unfortunately. The only way to pop that bubble is breaking concentration or the Disintegration spell.

[@mechanussunrise]

At the same time, how many monsters have dispel magic or counterspell? Maybe someone could produce an alternate monster manual with versions of the monsters with these spells?

[@garyvincent7397]

@@mechanussunrise they have scrolls

[@mechanussunrise]

@@garyvincent7397 rules as written the spell has to be on your class spell list in order to cast it. Its a house rule if you let most monsters use spell scrolls. If you have to house rule to deal with a basic issue then its a problem with the ruleset. And what DM is going to give the 95+% of monsters in the MM or any other book all spell scrolls in most encounters in their game?

[@TreantmonksTemple]

In regards to the discussion on the difficulty in dropping PC concentration, just a reminder that if the enemy has spellcasters, concentration can be dropped far more easily. An optimized wizard has warcaster which gives advantage on concentration saves after taking damage - but the humble Tasha's Hideous Laughter applies the incapacitated condition which automatically breaks concentration and warcaster does not apply to the wisdom saving throw. Also, these days a lot of wizards dip artificer at level 1 to get constitution save proficiency, leaving their wisdom saves unproficient (on an ability score they often dump).

[@taustyz5875]

I may use that now. But not a lot of my players play wizards

[@blturn]

Excerpt from Tiny Hut: "...A 10-foot radius immobile dome of force springs into existence *around and above* you and remains stationary..." Says nothing about 'below' you. Let's hope nothing with burrowing speed comes by.

[@meris8486]

In before the giant worm opens it's lunch box

[@adamkaris]

Yup. Or even some determined kobolds with shovels

[@chrishoppe2503]

Or a nice simple "dispel" spell. While everyone is asleep. Disadvantage for everyone!.

"Evil" Druid Giant Badger summons and Wildshape moment!

[@shadowscall7758]

In Sage Advice, he says it does have a floor as well, so a lot of players treat that as RAW.

[@cp1cupcake]

I was in a game yesterday where the caster didn't take any real AoE (we were level 5). There were 19 enemies and the DM put in the wrong enemies. CR 1 instead of CR 2. Went from 'this is great for the wizard to shine' to 'oh god oh god we are all going to die.'

[@shanetaylor5403]

My DM: out of the murky, magical shadows steps a short, thin man in long flowing robes. He draws a ring from his pocket which starts to glow with magical power. Everybody make a dexterity saving throw as a ball of fire rushes towards you. All four spellcasters in the party: I cast counterspell DM: allowed. Us, realising he just made all four of us burn a 3rd level spell slot before an intense combat: .... Touché

[@AKJRees]

Still, according to MM you can't counterspell an item activation. You have to see a spell being cast.

[@SecurityCamera112]

8:02 So for the argument on Summons I have a great story. My party and I are currently running Undermountain and we opened a door to a room with 2 Fire Giants and 6 Hobgoblins. My Char (the Paladin tank) mounted on my summoned gryphon was not being stealthy and was attacked when the door was opened (ready from the entire room). Luckily, I went first in init and my party broke out the mass combat tactic that we have prepped. I pull out “one” of our horns of Valhalla and use it summoning 11 berserkers and I place them so at least each enemy has one adjacent and as many of them are blocking the enemy’s routs of retreat. The Light domain cleric then casts “Dawn” XGtE. The Summons and I keep the enemies boxed in and the Cleric keeps the DoT up, and the rest of the party snipe. The Best part was what happened after that fight, 2 Berserkers died from Dawn and all of the rest were injured but none were injured by more then 27 hp. We then heard more enemies in the distance and I ordered the remaining Berserkers to “go hunt them down and kill them.” So, they ran off in that direction. When I caught up to the group, they were in another room with more Hobgoblins as I was about to enter the room and help the GM had the Berserker’s and Hobgoblin’s closed the door to have a “private fight” and I could not get in.

[@SharkaOfSea]

"Heat metal is OP..." Flashbacks to that one campaign, where my bard had this spell and the only NPC we fought, that had metal armor on, was a FIRE GIANT!

[@LazyVideosGAME]

Funny Story about Leomunds tiny Hut: My players were in a Dungeon that was volcano themed, and one of the rooms would fill up with Lava overnight for some of the forges above the room (hard to explain, but imagine an enormous room filled with forges and in the middle a 50 by 50 by 50 hole, and that cube was the room the players were in). They put their Tiny Hut right on the Drain and overnight the room filled with Lava. They didn't keep watch, because they had the hut. So when they awoke, they awoke surrounded by the eerie glow of half cooled magma around them with no way of escape, and then the Hut collapsed. TPK. Rather anticlimactic unfortunately, but there was no fudging die rolls for me.

[@ratman505]

Countering banishment works roughly like this: When the dungeon was built, the extraplanars (preferably demons) have to have come from somewhere. The PCs banish 4 or 5 of them during the course of the dungeon. When they enter the final chamber, they encounter not a coven of hags, not an army of ratfolk underlings but both of them as well as the demons that re-emerged from the hellgate in that exact room

[@lotfj]

upcasted spiritual weapon + upcasted spirit guardians on a forge cleric

[@samgiblett3671]

As one of these in my campaign, the solution is fireball....

[@birthdayzrock1426]

@@samgiblett3671 Fireball on who?

[@samgiblett3671]

@@birthdayzrock1426 The cleric... Other AOE dex based effects apply. That or just don't get enemies close

[@crris1313]

@@samgiblett3671 Laughs in Fire resistance and eventually immunity

[@samgiblett3671]

@@crris1313 true but it hurts even with resistance.... Lightning bolt then or pretty much anything dex based damage

[@41Zephyr]

As far as summon spells bogging down combat, one thing that helped our group was allowing (and encouraging) the summoner player to control all his minions as one unit. Rather than "the first wolf moves and attacks, the second wolf moves and attacks, etc." just move all of them, roll all the attacks at once, and roll all the damage at once. Kinda like what you'd do in a wargame. Now the Druid and his eight wolves are essentially taking two turns rather than nine. May not work for every table, but something to consider. Worked like a dream for us.

[@catlova567]

Animate objects is my casters prefered combat weapon, she has a bunch of bladed adamantium coins that can be animated 10 at a time. The way werun them in combat is 1) treat them like a swarm and 2) I roll all 10 attacks at once with a macro, them the dm tells me how many hit. Its still OP but higher AC on the enemy takes it from 10d4+40 max damage to only as many as can make the AC with a +8 to hit. Also I love using them in creative ways like dropping a net on a dragon or messing up the sails of a pirate ship persuing us.

[@SomaliSmuli]

17:35 Yes! People do throw candy. It's a yearly tradition called "penkkarit" in Finland where upper secondary school students visit primary school students and throw candy at them while wearing costumes from the top of a decorated truck. This happens before their final exams and graduation to release studying stress. The younger kids get free candy, it's a pleasant time for all.

[@keeganowens8949]

Also, in America, sometimes local politicians in parades will throw candy from trucks as well.

[@KlaverKatten]

We do spmething similar in Denmark, SomaliSmuli. :)

[@MonkeyJedi99]

@@keeganowens8949 In New England, in local parades firefighters on their trucks, club members on floats, and some walking groups will throw candy. The firefighters will make kids EARN the candy by also spraying them with water from brush-fire packs (water hand-pumped for long range with safe pressures). The Shriners rarely throw candy, but their tiny cars are fun to watch.

[@keeganowens8949]

@@MonkeyJedi99 Yep, I'm in Maine.

[@shdwmage24]

Parades!

[@Christopher_Gibbons]

Universal counter to all op spells: if players can run away and come back with a solution, so can the enemies.

[@ScottishRebel]

I mean a lot of dm's already do that oh no the boss is losing time for them to run away....Literally a trope at this point

[@cthulhufhtagn2483]

Luke: Leomund's Tiny Hut Me: *Vietnam Flashbacks*

[@jameshadden1798]

I found that the best way to deal with banishment is located in a charming level 1 spell called Sleep. Spellcasters by nature don’t usually have many hit points and an upcast sleep spell will typically force them to drop concentration after they’ve taken some punishment. In every major boss encounter for players with Banishment, I always have this on standby in case they try it. Be it a lair effect or one of the minions casting it. Might get a bit predictable, but so is them casting banishment.

[@pshah4317]

"He should have cast Fireball instead" You mean the spell that the designers have gone on record saying is high-powered for its level?

[@PsychicSoldierPro]

Funny for you to say that, person in fireball distance

[@a.b.8080]

I like that sweet spot when they just reached lvl 5 and can finally cast Fireball. It's the trump card that can get them out of any dire situation, or so they think. My group mainly just.. blows up the rogue or monk. Dodging is likely, not guaranteed.

[@vickieden1973]

Recently I ran a one-shot where one player's badly-injured wizard fireballed... an imp. One imp. The imp was immune to fire. The eldritch machine they were solving was not. Short version, what everyone else saw was the wizard launch a fireball and set off a chain reaction, resulting in his own incandescent annihilation. The imp was still there afterwards, looking surprised.

[@glenmurie]

I'm actually working on a script for a video that says the opposite, or rather that fireball isn't as great as people think it is. It has several problems. Immunity to Fire is very common, and even Elemental Adept wont get past that. Equally common is magic resistance, and at half damage it does on average fifteen points of damage which the average CR5 monster can laugh off. It's not explicitly stated, but DMs should rule that fireball is LOUD, so will attract the attention of everything around. Most of all, it damages everything in the radius and sets it on fire. Don't use fireball in your gender reveal party is what I'm saying. Finally, many encounters take place in small rooms, smaller than the radius of the blast, so the other players might not thank you. Worst of all, if you keep single handedly winning encounters with fireball the other players will get frustrated and quit the game. As a weapon of war for blasting large numbers of weaker enemies all at once it's top notch, but a clever GM can make sure it's not the solution to all problems.

[@theDMLair]

Yes fireball is very powerful.

[@plewelly]

I've had a problem with polymorph, but it was kinda the other way around. They polymorphed my beholder boss into a crab and then submerged it in lava with mage hand. Didn't die instantly, but being shoved fast under the lava meant that when it reverted it took a lot of damage. Boss fight ended in basically 1 round. Also had a problem with silence where players snuck into enemy sleeping chambers at night through a window, and through repeated uses of silence were able to walk about slitting throats and avoiding combat.

[@emy6732]

For 10: my DM just discovered the power of 'Synaptic static' on a 40ft diameter room filled with guards, it's an INT save based spell, and gives a D6 amount of disaventage on all saving and attack rolls in the next minute (in this case I happened to make 33 damage x 12 guards, more than 350 damage total, we had a laughing fit over the amount ^^ )

[@verouni2326]

Powerful spells, according to The DM Lair: Wall of Force (Leomund's) Tiny Hut Hypnotic Pattern Animate Objects All summoning spells (e.g. Conjure Animals, Animate Dead, etc.) Polymorph Arcane Eye Banishment Heat Metal Silence Some that I consider powerful: Counterspell, counterspell, counterspell! Detect Traps Detect Magic Dispel Magic Did I say counterspell yet? (Also here's a hot take: I also honestly think that both Identify and Comprehend Languages are very powerful, considering they're both 1st level AND can be done as rituals; pretty much any adventure centered around figuring out the alphabetical key in a script of dead language, or learning how to activate and use a literal key can both be pretty much be defeated (in purpose) by a 1st level wizard.)

[@Sagnak91]

for real though, summoning 8 wolves as a circle of the shepherd druid with the bear totem and more than doubling their health is a little wild. over 200 hp worth of wolves

[@maneatinplantguy]

For Polymorph I do that you can only transform a creature into something they have seen before, this makes the wizard look for books on monsters, it makes the Bard hear tales of beasts and look forward to new tales and new creatures, makes the druid want to go out in the wilderness and see what is available in the surrounding areas and what forms they and others can take. It limits the spell a lot but if they turn into a T-rex that means you gave them that and its on you as a DM.

[@jkwolf2]

I love intelligent enemies! This opens the combat up to several more options and challenges! Sometimes combat has been turned around and we were offered allies (thankfully... BBEG would have wiped the floor with us had we not convinced her sorcerer to join us!) Point is, intelligent enemies create a more dynamic game play and offer players more than "bash" through enemies.

[@clockup5878]

Spells are limited daily resources. I would love if Dungeon Masters stopped freaking out everytime a spell is cast and started putting out a healthy amount of encounters and varied challenges in front of the players each adventuring day.

[@TreantmonksTemple]

The best solution for the issue of ultra powerful spellcasters is more encounters per long rest. Short rests really only help a wizard once, and only by a small amount. Warlocks are another matter, but honestly, I don't find Warlocks an issue.

[@mechanussunrise]

It's hard for the DM to increase encounters per long rest when player's have Leomund's tiny hut or in many common adventuring settings and modules.

[@Lersa25]

@@mechanussunrise The long rest can be used only once in 24 hours. They can go to sleep after every encounter, but they will not get their resources back, they will just give the enemies 8 hours to rest and prepare.

[@mechanussunrise]

@@Lersa25 they can still stay in Leomunds hut for another 24 period

[@florianherzog4294]

Number 10: Disguise Self. Especially when paired with the actor feat. Imagine that pretty much any level-1 spellcaster could pretend to be whoever they like. Believe me, the ability to change your appearance really enables you to break the game completely if you're creative. I played a changeling for like 4 sessions until the DM asked me to retire him because things got out of control.

[@Ephsy]

Alter Self doesn't even requires a feat.

[@Bcupzz]

Having a DM force you to change races is a red flag in my book. If they didnt want the race in the beginning they should have nixed it while you were making it. Otherwise, a good DM would roll with the punches. I do appreciate they ASKED you to retire him though

[@Eladelia]

Good for your DM if it was on its way to ruining the game, though it's sad you had to retire your character. I was joking with someone recently about stacking a couple abilities and then disguising a player as Strahd during a Curse of Strahd campaign, and while something like that *could* be interesting I can absolutely see how someone could create a significant mess by going down that road. (Some DMs might have great fun with that, some -- especially less experienced ones -- might get really overwhelmed trying to figure out what the consequences of the things you could do ought to be, so it's just like any other aspect of the game: It's best to make decisions with the fun of the entire table in mind.)

[@Middleman_93]

My DM started giving most enemies technological true-sight (his world has "20th-century" technology, from what he says) to see through my Changeling's shifting. I'd rather he just hadn't allowed me to pick the race. True-sight is supposed to be a rather rare ability. But nah. Anything that doesn't have it natively likely has it added through tech. Not even taking a spell slot or an action to get running. My Changeling illusionist rogue is unhappy.

[@Raszul]

Banishment. some ideas a) adjust the spell so it only works vs enemies not permanently on the plane (e.g. forcing hostiles to open permanent portals that need to be destroyed before anything that got through said portal can be banished) b) planar binding summoned entities counts as them being non-extraplanar for the purpose of banishing them while the binding lasts. c) have the banished entity thank the players, call their army and their court wizard, then open a portal back to whence they were just banished from and invade the plane they are now familiar with ... after all, whatever pact that they had to follow might now be broken (if there was one) and they can now access all their resources from "back home" again (e.g. call their boss or allies if they don't have many options of their own) Arcane Eye. some ideas. a) Detect Magic is a ritual. No reason why higher-level BBEGs can't have a couple guards maintain detect magic via ritually casting it as they stand guard, thus becoming able to simply see said arcane eye plainly ... and magically invisible creatures or gaseous forms as well ... c) curtains on doorways. even very thin trancelucent ones. the arcane eye cant push through them and any "invisible" creature trying to do so becomes fairly obvious too ... (especially if you add some chimes or bells) d) Amulet of Proof against Detection and Location. have your BBEG and their guards wear it - and most rulers and other people in power too. Wall fo Force. a) have those not caught retreat and fight a delaying action (while also trying to break the wizards concentration) b) digg underneath or through walls next to it c) ... throw a wasp nest or urn filled with ants or heck, simply a net and some itching powder at the wizard. non-damaging effects, e.g. environmental ones, don't get that advantage on saving throws from Warcaster. d) single-use or charge based magic item for misty step or dimension door. wall of Force isn't a 1st level spell, hence some arcane consumables or supplies should not be too unusual for whatever the players are facing and most importantly? if they can use it, so can their enemies. and a BBEG that keeps an eye on the party for days, learns everything they can about them, maybe even setting up a couple different encounters to gauge how they react to them while he watches, then uses all that info to plot the perfect way to get rid of the players (e.g. by posing as a good guy, disguise self and alter self with an added guidance ftw, then sending them against his rival or the actual good guy while leaving them with the firm believe that they are doing the right thing and hunting unspeakable evils that cant be trusted no matter what they say or how convincing they are ...), such a BBEG ... well... i wouldn't want to face such an actually competent BBEG (and if the BBEG themselves cant cast the spell? let em hire a merc mage... or commission a magic item...) just a couple thoughts regarding the spells you seemed to struggle with the most.

[@MonkeyJedi99]

Banishment: Do not nerf it. The spell is fine as is, have minions try to disrupt the caster, or take your lumps and move on. Arcane Eye: I like the chimed curtain idea! Wall of Force: No need to change it. The best way to "deal with" a party using spells well is to of course let smart enemies learn those tactics. It also lets the game adjust the game difficulty to better match the wits of the players controlling the characters. If your players are not super imaginative, maybe show them some tricks and tips via encounters with "smart" enemies?

[@Raszul]

@@MonkeyJedi99 regarding banishment. I should clarify. Banishment shield always work normally as it does against creatures native to that plane. When I said "only works against..." Then I meant the part of it that permanently banishes entities but native to the plane if the concentration is maintained. The rest do the spell should work as normal.

[@MonkeyJedi99]

@@Raszul I am not conversant enough in the 5E rules yet to monkey with much of the rules. I went from AD&D about 30+ years ago to 5E about 9 months ago. Between was Rolemaster/Spacemaster

[@Raszul]

@@MonkeyJedi99 simplified banishment is a two-step process. step 1 - CHA save or banished for 1 minute step 2 - if the target is not native to the plane they were banished from, then maintaining banishment for the full duration permanently sends them back to their plane of origin. my suggestion was to maintain step 1, but make step 2 a bit more limited aka offer some means of countering step 2.

[@apparition668]

Anti-magic shell is a serious contender. Yes, it's 8th level, but a smart wizard could pop that into effect, have the blood sponges wall up in front, and simply march up to the big bad magical baddie and slice it into ribbons. Yes, the warrior's sword is now non-magical, but the baddie doesn't have any magical protection anymore. The first time my players used this, it turned a 1-hour combat into a 15-minute combat, and they strolled out basically unscathed. There are several solutions- spread the baddies out so that the mage can only get to one at a time. Make sure you've got some blood sponges of your own- anyone standing in that field also has no magical protection, and the mage become real squishy real quick. It also worked into one of the funniest moments we had. Part of the campaign saw the party looking to stop three baddies- the one afore mentioned that they slaughtered with glee, and two others. The second baddie was extra-planar, as was his castle, which sat on the top of spire in the middle of the ocean. Well, as specified in the spell- summoned things are suppressed while within the area of the field. So... the mage pops the spell, which causes the floor under him to wink out existence momentarily. He falls through the floor (and all floors below) into the ocean below. The floors, now being out of the area of the field, wink back in to existence, preventing the rest of the party from coming to his rescue, and leaving them to deal with the baddie and his minions without mage support.

[@calunsagrenejr]

I don't find these spells problematic. Spells with saving throws are especially vulnerable to high saving throw modifiers, magic resistance, and legendary saves. Spells can be counterspelled or dispelled. And spells with no saves generally need high level spell slots, which means they're investing in that one moment and moving forward without that resource anymore.

[@shadowscall7758]

The only one I find problematic is conjuring 8 pixies, having them all cast polymorph and turn your entire party into T-Rexes and then hiding, and of course, Heat Metal

[@thedude0000]

@@shadowscall7758 simple fix on the pixie issue. I've actually seen it done too!! DM said no on allowing the pixies to cast polymorph. The player whined for 10 seconds and the game went on.

[@chrisvelo2595]

@@shadowscall7758 also that is one of the spells in which the dm chooses the creature so in general let your dm know which you would like to bring. Typically something that fits with the surroundings and let them say no or yes to it

[@shadowscall7758]

@@thedude0000 The problem is, I am in a West Marches style game, so we have several different DMs and so we can't really do rulings on our own that are different from the other DMs since we want to keep things consistent.

[@shadowscall7758]

@@chrisvelo2595 The DM doesn't choose the creatures that get summoned. The player does. "You summon fey creatures that appear in unoccupied spaces that you can see within range. Choose one of the following options for what appears. • One fey creature of Challenge rating 2 or lower • Two fey creatures of Challenge rating 1 or lower • Four fey creatures of Challenge rating 1/2 or lower • Eight fey creatures of Challenge rating 1/4 or lower A summoned creature disappears when it drops to 0 Hit Points or when the spell ends. The summoned creatures are friendly to you and your companions. Roll Initiative for the summoned creatures as a group, which have their own turns. They obey any verbal commands that you issue to them (no action required by you). If you don't issue any commands to them, they defend themselves from Hostile creatures, but otherwise take no Actions. The DM has the creatures' Statistics."

[@cervie77]

Tiny hut as a bunker, set it up, caster stays inside, but everyone else gets to step out, hit, step back in. You thought it was rediculous before? Now it's really broken! You're welcome.

[@RIVERSRPGChannel]

“Haha, I’m evil” I like your ideas

[@Jessicat300]

Ok so this might be a bit situational but Web has been the bane of my DM for several sessions. Just pop that spell up in a doorway/entryway of any kind and have the rest of the party pick off whichever creatures happen to make it through their DEX check, and then later their STR one.

[@goliathcleric]

For arcane eye, the enemies don't have to stay in the same place doing nothing. Move some of the enemies to a different spot, a couple groups meet up, if the arcane eye is seen new traps get set up, etc.

[@theDMLair]

Yeah that's true. So...more work for the DM. 😂

[@thedude0000]

@@theDMLair Well, as you admitted....if you had done just *a little more work initially* (i.e. insert a couple doors), then you wouldn't have to do more work later. Work smarter....not harder.

[@chrisvelo2595]

Yeah the bad thing about arcane eye is that it can squeeze through relatively small areas. I think the best solution is to give your players the layout of the dungeon and say most of the enemies are walking around doing patrols or gathering things. The BBEG is in this room when you last saw him. That way you don't have to redo your prep and they have an advantage that a lvl 4 spell provides

[@mechanussunrise]

@@theDMLair Players prefer solutions that create more work for the DM I have noticed!

[@jamesutterback6702]

Okay, okay, I have two monsters that are CR 0 and CR 1/4 that basically eliminate the main advantage of arcane eye and they *never* get talked about, despite the fact that they are easy to add and basically *eliminate* the spell entirely... ... Oh, did you want me to tell you what they are? Hmmm... let me think about that... ... Oh, okay I will. Bats and Giant centipedes... I mean the Giant centipedes also eliminate the threat of other 'invaders' entering, since the residents of the dungeon just have to occasionally feed them and one of the best ways to do this, since they are poisonous creatures is to use a piece of meat on a string, which oddly enough looks kinda like a small floating orb... So go ahead ask me 'why would the giant centipede eliminate the spell' now... Really, go ahead I dare you... My point is, giant centipedes make great 'watchdog' creatures and should appear in more dungeons... EOT

[@Michael-tc5ff]

Spirit Guardians! ;) This spell takes down armies, with Radiant damage an unresisted element, at only level 3, scales too well, centered on the caster, and slows and damages anything that would approach. Not to mention the positional player. It also leaves the caster with all of its actions, to cast, Sanctuary, take the Dodge action, or cast Fireball!

[@mechanussunrise]

I also find spirit guardians way too powerful and it lasts 10 minutes! I might be OK with it if it lasted 1 minute. Or if the damage die was reduced by even just 1 die. Or if it required a bonus action every turn to maintain. Or any other significant limitation!

[@fly1ing891]

Adding my 2 cents here as I'm playing a cleric who is also the frontline for my party of 3. After doing the math, spirit guardians is disgusting. If you're hitting 2 targets the spell alone deals as much damage as my party's rogue would, assuming one attack with advantage per turn. And as for concentration, *laughs in War Caster and Resilient(Con) existing*

[@Jessthree]

The best way around Leomund’s Tiny Hut I’ve ever seen was when my party attempted to use it in a mansion. On the second floor. That was the day we learned that a “dome” is not a “sphere”

[@mechanussunrise]

what happened?

[@Jessthree]

@@mechanussunrise we had to make a dex save at disadvantage (because we were all asleep). The BBEG’s minions saw the hut, new what it was, and just went to the first floor to pull out the floorboards from underneath us. They got a surprise round, we got fall damage...

[@mechanussunrise]

@@Jessthree that's awesome!

[@needmorecowbell6895]

Polymorph-Bring back System Shock. The chance of losing the use of your right arm slows down Polymorph. It also slows down boomeranging or yo-yoing. Dispel Magic and Counterspell are your friends. Every boss should have one on a scroll or have a minion with a spell scroll.

[@Psychomaniac14]

not a DM but I got 2: Banishing Smite - Banishment but they don't have to concentrate as long once the enemy is banished if they cast it before the battle starts Forcecage - Charisma saving throw to TELEPORT OUT (edit: also not weak to disintegrate)

[@chrisvelo2595]

Banishing smite though is a pretty high level mainly because the paladins won't get till later and the warlocks are probably going to use other spells. Force cage is great too just also a lvl 7 spell so by that time hopefully you found ways to counter it. I actually think both of these spells are better to use against the party with a bbeg

[@samgiblett3671]

Forcecage is great if the bbeg has set up an escape from the pcs.

[@Psychomaniac14]

@@chrisvelo2595 bard

[@chrisvelo2595]

@@Psychomaniac14 honestly though the bard still has to be around 10th level to get this spell and even then they have to go into melee to hit. I get that some bards like the sword or valor can hit with melee weapons but the spell isn't that great

[@Drakoni23]

The cool thing is, all these spells can also be used by the DM against the players. If the players have never seen a wall of force, how are they supposed to know they can dispel/disintegrate it? Or they might not even have a caster with either option. Splitting the party or blocking them off while the enemy calls for backup. For polymorph it has aleady been mentioned that, just like beast shape specifically mentions and even has a chart for it in Xanathar's guide, you can use what you know. Also if you feel it is too broken, let the intelligence of the creature have a bigger influence in how they can act.

[@NevarKanzaki]

The spell that I had to mod actually wasn't abused by my players at the time. I run a campaign where the assumption is that there's a lot of people who understand how things work and will tend to use them to their fullest. Due to this, I had to edit the zone of truth spell because an authoritarian government using the zone of truth spell basically gets to quash any kind of rebellion before it gets going. The save doesn't matter when the caster can ask the same question repeatedly and asking them to repeat their previous answer. Do this a bunch of times and zone of truth becomes an authoritarian state's best friend and there's no realistic ways around it. If they're a lv 17 mastermind, sure. Even if they're casting glibness, zone of truth alone is good enough to beat it because you just detain them till any would be cast of glibness wears off. So for the benefit of my players not getting done in my a tyrannical government should they get anywhere near the country, I nerfed zone of truth.

[@Bcupzz]

The person in under no compulsion to speak. They just cant lie when they do. Those willing to die for the cause would, and those who wouldnt would probably be given very limited information.

[@NevarKanzaki]

@@Bcupzz They aren't compelled by the spell to speak. However, in the hands of an intelligent totalitarian government, this is different as the questioner can compel them to speak or die. A totalitarian government can put you under zone of truth and tell the suspect "You will say X. You will say it immediately", x being a very specific exonerating statement. If the person refuses or cannot, they are presumed guilty. If they say anything similar but not exactly what they were told to say but to the letter, they are presumed guilty. If the person passes the check, the government has them repeat it over and over in the exact same wording. They will fail the check sometime. If they fail to say it at any point or pause at any point, guilty. This can be repeated for various questions. Sure it will cost a bunch of spell slots but to an organization making sure to stamp out all dissenters, this is a powerful tool. By this, you can beat any tricky wording or unwillingness to speak. That leaves only Glibness which is defeated with time or detecting magic, lv 17 mastermind, or magic items which are also generally defeated by detect magic. I explained this scenario to my players and suggested nerfing this spell due to the fact that in the setting, they'd have ended up on the potential receiving end of it and that use of it in that fashion would effectively seal off certain types of plots. The players unanimously agreed that this would be an undesirable thing to have and that it should be edited. So we did.

[@dacrambo1]

OMG! Thank you for this! Leomund’s Tiny Hut was a HUUUUUUGE problem for me. Having an ambush waiting for them will limit how often they use that spell!

[@christophermarsh1580]

Also, burrowing monsters. The hut doesn't extend below the ground, so you can just have something pop up in their camp at night. Surprise!

[@WolfmanXD]

"in 5th edition, concentration is hard to break." Something one of my players did to one of my spell casters, and I turned it back on them a couple weeks ago. Magic missile. Each missile is a separate concentration check. Number 10- personal experience only, spirit guardians. That'll definitely take care of weaker enemies, like your little waves. I've had it used against me as a dungeon master and I've used it to spectacular effect as a pc in curse of strahd. And after the first turn you use it, it doesn't even require any action or bonus action. Just go for a stroll and everything dies.

[@TreantmonksTemple]

Tasha's Hideous Laughter breaks concentration as well. Warcaster doesn't apply to the save either.

[@mechanussunrise]

Magic missile is a great idea for DMs! I feel someone should make a tactics for DM's video with this kind of advanced info! I know I have seen a few but they are very basic.

[@mechanussunrise]

A few other options I just thought of: casting prestidigitation to make little illusory fireworks in front a caster (any distraction could result in concentration checks but people usually only focus on damage). Using thaumaturgy to increase the volume of your voice and yelling in the caster's ear. The magic missile solution is probably statistically the most effective though.

[@WolfmanXD]

@@mechanussunrise I will say though, you have to be very careful with magic missile in some very specific circumstances, as I found out this week in my game. My groups warlock was polymorophed into a giant ape, and my lbeg was trying to get away, but he was having none of it. So the enemy mages decided to both cast 5th level magic missiles at him. Except I didn't realize, he was at 8 hp when he polymorophed, and the whole point of magic missile being all individual attacks ended up killing the warlock due to failed death saves. I felt SUPER terrible for about 3 or 4 minutes until the cleric remembered he had revivify prepared.

[@mechanussunrise]

@@WolfmanXD i hadn't thought magic missile being a reliable finisher to a downed character before

[@MonkeyJedi99]

Leomund's tiny hut? Enemies pile boulders on it, or build a bonfire around and over it, or just slater the perimeter with bait for the monsters from the bottom of the dungeon. Now the caster ending the spell is the first attack against the party! This is a trick I learned long ago in a LARP that had both wall of force and a spell called Ward that would make an entire room or medium-sized building impervious to everything. In fact, because of my ingenuity, they had to rule that it blocked the heat of fire. smoke, and somehow always made sure there was breathable air inside. - #10: Convincing a new player that True Strike is the best cantrip! Worked on me! - #10 (for real):Wall of Fire in a hallway. You don't cast it to block the hallway, you cast it against one wall of the hall and put your 60' down the length. We used that two weeks ago to wipe out around 600 diseased rats that the four of us would never have been able to survive.

[@cthulhufhtagn2483]

You better darn well believe Heat Metal makes my OP game-breaking spell list! Ongoing fire damage, with no save and no way to avoid it...it's nuts.

[@Keyce0013]

Zee Bashaw's Cook and Book? Don't give your enemies metal armour!

[@liamgray3335]

if your big bad gets heat metal cast on them have them grapple the party and share the pain :)

[@AKJRees]

Oops it's magical armor...

[@benjin3993]

For animate object, it should make sense as a concentration spell that a modifier number should be the limit of their summoning, either wisdom or intelligence. Or to to be real evil about it such a long strain of animating multiple objects could be constitution.

[@cp1cupcake]

I learned an easy solution so summon spells a long time ago (especially if they are ranged, like skeletons). Get lots of sets of dice and roll them together. Also, roll before your turn.

[@adamkaris]

Another useful one is (as the caster) see if anyone else at the table wants to help you do the rolling

[@TheNerdling]

I mainly play online, so I'll roll every attack at the same time and just work my way up (does 14 hit? 16? 18?) and once I know what hits, count every one that is that number or higher, and roll that many damage rolls at once. My necromancer wizard with animate objects took less time than the UA Beastmaster Ranger in our group (to be fair, he was the kind that would spend 3 minutes to decide what to do eaaaaasily).

[@charlesfarnsworth3712]

I made the mistake of allowing an all Bard party. Hypnotic Pattern was a bad one but before that they hit me with Tasha’s Hideous Laughter. While not really OP was one that did frustrate me, especially when hit with it four times.

[@Lcirex]

It's a shame if only someone was releasing a module or adventure with fresh and different Fey that we could use for our summon Fey spell since we need some more Fey to use in Simmons or as monsters.

[@EsMontero97]

The solutions you present are good! They keep the game going smoothly. However you also present DnD as a game where it is DM vs. Players. You show a very confrontational point of view, I hope people reading this will also note that we play dnd for fun (players and dm) all together, not to screw the plans or ideas of the other but to build a narrative together and overcome obstacles that may arise :D

[@mechanussunrise]

These countertactics make the game more interesting rather than trivially easy for the players. If players can use the same spell for most fights, then it gets repetitive for everyone involved and the player's of other characters who don't have that spell may be particularly bored and feel overshadowed.

[@sanguineaurora8765]

Not as early. Buuuut. I've got a number 10 for you... Galder's Speedy Courier.. GOD FOKIN DAMN that 4th level spell can even be used for cross-continental travel. Just polymorph you and/or your friends into snails and send yourselves to someone. Boom, you have unlimited ranged teleportation for only 25 gp. THAT SPELL DOES SOOO MUCH. Also for polymorph, Simple ruling; you cannot polymorph into something you haven't seen. East solution. When does anybody ever see a t-rex? Or an actual giant ape? Or even an elephant. A druid maybe. And even then, it is highly unlikely that any of the PC's could have ever seen such an exotic animal. Edit: Identify tho.. As a gm, you try to create a mysterious aura and throw in some "mysterious magical auras for your players to solve through adventures and advance the plotline." I cast identify. Gg wp. Next campaign please.

[@VoidplayLP]

You could just limit identify to certain rarities of items...

[@Raszul]

I only have identify work on spells (and effects of similar nature) that are of a lower level than the spell slot identify was cast with. casting identify as a ritual makes it count as being cast 1 level higher (without using a higher slot in the process) curses and other means meant to obfuscate information count as 1 level higher for this purpose. then optionally use rules similar to counterspelling a higher spell to learn any info about things that exceed the effective identify spell level. hence minor curses and magic items or other mysteries can be identified fairly easily by an experienced wizard, but greater ones? not so easy.

[@silkaverage]

My DM hates the cleric spell spirit guardians(lvl3), I made a fighter/cleric with a splash of tank and war caster feat and heavy armour master for the DR, not only am I tough to kill, he finds it near impossible to disrupt my concentration, so I wade into combat with the guardians swirling around me doing dot damage effectively while I pound them to dust with my warhammer

[@mechanussunrise]

I DMed for two clerics that had this exact build. It was absurd. Finding ways of challenging them would require rewriting all the encounters in the modules and doing a lot of extra work as a DM. It would also require very metagaming tactics. And this is why I think the best solution is probably weakening spirit guardians and it would probably by my choice for #10.

[@silkaverage]

@@mechanussunrise my dm is also pulling his hair out on how to combat this "broken" build, in the end he asked for my character sheet, saw my dex was only 9 and then decided to use spells that required a dex save :)

[@silkaverage]

think is, spirit guardians can pump out so much damage per monster per turn, it's f'ing ridiculous for a lvl 3 spell

[@mechanussunrise]

@@silkaverage what do you think would be better? reducing the damage by a die, reducing the duration from 10 minutes to 1 minute, or something else?

[@silkaverage]

@@mechanussunrise give me a day or two to think that question over, cos that requires some thought, I'll get back to you

[@BlackRainRising]

Wall of Force, what a beast, used it to stop some charging Minotaurs in a tunnel, put another behind them then cast Wall of Water in the middle and drown them Another incident with Wall of Force, cast 2 of them flanking a group of enemies that were back and forth talking/taunting with the rest of the party and the bad guys never saw me doing it, then cast Wall of Ice horizontal across the 2 walls of force, the Cleric cast Shatter on the wall of ice and it started raining huge chunks of heavy sharp shards of ice onto the baddies, it was an encounter wipe

[@madmakoe101]

Every time I hear heat metal I think of one time my warforged Bard threw his detached arm at a white dragon wyrmling, the dragon caught and swallowed it, and I cast heat metal on it

[@theDMLair]

You cast heat metal after it had swallowed it?

[@ofirpupko1179]

I once threw my dagger into a gelatinous cube and cast heat metal on it afterwards

[@kraeutrpolizei]

@@ofirpupko1179 at least you could still see it probably

[@adamlavelle1379]

One of the most OP spells I have ever seen is Forcecage. No save, no concentration, 20ft cube with only 1/2 inch spaces between invisible bars, and a perfect opportunity to lock in all the melee combatants or the BBG inside a cloudkill. Did I mention it lasts for an entire hour?

[@primeemperor9196]

Well, much like how Wall of Force can be disintegrated using the Disintegrate spell, I would argue the same for a Forcecage. Get a caster to simply melt the bars so your BBEG can get out.

[@adamlavelle1379]

@@primeemperor9196 That's assuming disintegrate is always available. In reality, a majority of monsters, even BBEGs or players that are more melee combatants, wont have access to that spell, or even teleportation, which still might not work on a failed charisma save.

[@loganfrandrup6590]

#10 you could say that your lying is becoming a HYPNOTIC Pattern :D Also, I might be knew to this, but I would also group Darkness with Silence. Because a lot of spells need you to be able to see in order to cast it. And it can also effect ranged creatures as well. Also also, what if they turned a creature into something small rather then large? :\

[@DmDango]

I always found banishment a non-issue as I enforce it's material component cost, something distasteful to the target. So for demons, this could be any holy item however this gets more complicated for things like the mortal races which most likely would vary from person to person.

[@mechanussunrise]

but since its not expended and has no monetary cost wouldn't most spellcasters not need the material component? which suggests a house rule to require it anyway

[@allanh7874]

DM: You decide what number 10 is BWAHAHA!!!! 😈 Me: Counterspell.... DM:....K

[@xxTricky]

yea, i JUST ran my last session on monday where a team of mercenaries took on my party, 4 members dedicated to separating the wizard from the party and making sure he couldnt counterspell the other mercenaries lol fuckers has a +13 to arcana, id have to have a spellcaster that can cast 9th level spells and even then my wiz player would have to roll below a 6 to fail

[@RonDPrelate]

@@xxTricky Normally it would be a check where you can only add your spellcasting modifier (no proficiency) (so a maximum of +5). Arcana has nothing to do with Counterspell. Unless you homebrewed it to do that.

[@matheusfiorelli8829]

i houseruled that for Counterspell, depending on the situation, requires a perception check (couldnt use passive perception cause all the players have really high perception xD)

[@TheInsider15]

I don't agree that nerfing spells are the way to go because you can easily be called out for it, I mean if players thwart your plans for a big fight then it's because they know they may not easily win or need a more advantageous way of pushing the odds in their favour, something that looks gigantic and can easily TPK...polymorph it into something that they can take on instead for a fighting chance because we're not playing a video game that has balance updates we're playing Dungeons and Dragons a fun immersive TTRPG, that spurs the imagination wild

[@mineflameblade8788]

UHHHHH You do realize that dm's can sorta choose what monsters a summoner can get right?

[@Mr_Maiq_The_Liar]

Some spells specifically says the player picks.

[@mineflameblade8788]

@@Mr_Maiq_The_Liar Summon demon isn't one of them. Or summon fae.

[@Battleguild]

Or Conjure Animals. Find Familiar and other spells that have specific summons were made for a reason. Summoning 8 Stirges is great for quickly draining creatures with lots of hp.

[@mineflameblade8788]

@@Battleguild The fucks a stirge?

[@Battleguild]

@@mineflameblade8788 It's a CR 1/8 tiny flying beast. The best way to describe it would be, if you combined a mosquitoe with a vampire bat, that's a stirge. It's in the Monster Manuel, right before the Succubi.

[@alexandermcarthur7047]

I know its a 9th level spell but Invenrable. Immune to all damage for 10 minutes, its also concentration but because you are not taking damage you only break concentration when you want to

[@theodorehunter4765]

I was about to say that Heat Metal has a range of 60 feet, so you could easily run out of range or beat the caster until he loses concentration, but apparently Concentration rules are just FUBAR. Let me get this straight, WotC, I have to be within 60 feet for my character's magical energies to effect my target, and I have to maintain my concentration on that spell to maintain it's magical energies, but I can teleport to Pluto once I have cast the spell and it's magical energies still stay in effect? This doesn't may any sense. Either the spell shouldn't be concentration, or you should have to stay in range.

[@chrisvelo2595]

True but could you imagine how much more broken this would be if it wasn't concentration. And if they have to stay in range for most spells it would suck to keep track of all of them constantly, especially if you have some cool terrain effects happening at the same time

[@akashambatwamiller6924]

Heat Metal has been the bane of my DM Existence since 2nd edition. in fact one of my Best friends makes a point of using it against my big bad at least once per campaign. I got mine though a few years ago when I as a player used it on his big bad. He was at once angry proud and amazed. giving me the"you got me nod" All was good.

[@nlmrpolo]

Shape water: a cantrip that makes unbreakable ice

[@BrennanFensling]

please expand on this, I need to know

[@Amaraxis]

The ice is not unbreakable - it is normal ice. It only states that it unfreeze in an hour. Technically, you could shape the water with first casting, freeze it with second, and the ln make opaque with third. Since ice doesn't change shape, you can make a 5 foot thick section if ice you can't see through...so no spells through...at 3 hp per inch...each section has 180 hp

[@KadajCz]

In spell description is no writing about ice unbreakability.

[@OvAppolyon]

First time I ever used this spell, I made the whole table cringe. We were trying to get information out of someone, so I walked up, placed my hand on his stomach, and subsequently turned the urine in his bladder to ice. Didn't cause damage, but holy hell it would have hurt.

[@theDMLair]

Doesn't the water have to be line of sight for the spell to be cast on it?

[@WiIICheck]

Great list and solutions as always, Luke! One spell I RP around is Detect Good and Evil. Everyone being morally “gray” is my solution haha.

[@leorblumenthal5239]

The spell that annoys me the most is Spirit Guardians. There are two Clerics capable of casting Spirit Guardians in my Tomb of Annihilation game. One of them likes to cast Spirit Guardians and just take the Dodge action so enemies will have disadvantage to hit him. Spirit Guardians annoys me for two reasons: one, the save against damage occurs on the enemy creature's turn, which means I need to be reminded all the time to roll the saving throws, and two it slows combat down. One way of dealing with Spirit Guardians is that there is only a single damage roll for all the enemies each round. This keeps the spell from bogging the game down so much.

[@shaclown7721]

You're DM'ing the Tomb of Annihilation, bro. You don't get to bitch about annoying spells in your players' arsenal, when your entire dungeon is the most annoying piece of shit ever created..

[@faceless6709]

Also 15:00 Another way to counter this would be metal constructs not being affected by this disadvantage and effectively gaining the heat body trait, or generally the spell gives the target the heat body trait extra to the debuffs meaning it comes at the cost of giving up on your own melae, these are two possible ways to solve/nerf this.

[@baobhan9094]

You didn't mention the oven tactic with wall of force :/ Dropping it on a high value enemy with another caster with a spell like wall of fire or spirit guardians which deals damage over time. So not only is he shut out of the fight, he's taking something like 6d8 damage every round because they can't escape it. Grrrr Also, yeah, Polymorph, best healing spell in the game. Also, my suggestion, either Holy Aura, or Spirit Guardians.

[@elnekosauce]

I feel like I get what you're saying, but Spirit Guardians only works when you first enter the aura.

[@RedshiftButterfly]

Or the "In this space, no one can hear you scream" tactic. Spell can be used to completely shut down even powerful caster npcs. You just combine it with the silence spell. All they can do is sit and watch as you kill all their allies. Counterspell MIGHT work... but we all know the players will counterspell that too.

[@baobhan9094]

@@elnekosauce "An affected creature’s speed is halved in the area, and when the creature enters the area for the first time on a turn OR STARTS ITS TURN THERE." It actually double taps a creature if an ally pushes them in then they start their turn there. And yeah i agree, i think part of the real power of wall of force isn't just the fact its a trap, its the fact that you can trap them in WITH something.

[@samgiblett3671]

@@baobhan9094 you can have a player pull them out and push them in again too. Or the cleric walks away and then they get pushed in. Spirit guardians is great.... On the flip side there are lots of things that want its concentration

[@baobhan9094]

@@samgiblett3671 yeah. But for a spell with damage like it has. Quite a large area it stacks with difficult terrain as well as it lasting ten minutes. It beats most of them.

[@Tytotius]

See. A smooth small brain caster with polymorph turns themself into a t-rex to smash enemies. A wrinkly galaxy brain caster with polymorph turns the enemy into a snail and then calmly walks over and puts the snail in the bag of holding. (Granted said player only did this trick once because the point of dnd is to have fun and that most certainly crushed the DM's dreams and also probably wouldn't have worked a second time.)

[@PizzaMineKing]

The magic berry spell that basically gives endless food - nerf by making the material component consumed. This limits the uses and makes it impossible to replace with a focus. Helps with a lot of spells which don't consume their component.

[@Spiceodog]

it's only OP in certain types of campaighns though

[@mechanussunrise]

Unfortunately this and a few other spells make certain kinds of challenge so easily solved as to make the game less interesting. It's a sign that combat is still the main focus for D&D that there is no spell called, "Win Combat" that automatically wins combat but there is a spell that automatically solves hunger, another one for disease and other spells that make investigation very easy.

[@Killstone12]

I had a party member who went away of the Shadow Monk and took the Sentinel Feat. Let’s just say that absolutely kills any and all spell-casters (except for sorcerers), especially with the bonus action dash and increased base speed.

[@joem1480]

In all seriousness even besides the ceiling there is a much easier way to prevent abuse of the polymprph spell. Limit what's a player to transform something into to only those creatures character is aware of. Most characters are not aware of the existence of a T-Rex and it would require a very high Casino small for a character that has never seen a T-rex or even T-Rex bones to know anything about a T-Rex a call especially enough to be able to duplicate 1. Players using polymorph do cats pee racks for other things and their characters couldn't know about is the ultimate in metagaming

[@eablount0]

If a character ever casted a spell like polymorph, T-rex example. I usually have them do a high dc nature check to see if they ever heard of them or even more know about them. That is notmally how i handle out of place creatures.

[@a.b.8080]

I like to do that and then throw a few animals at them that could be decent polymorph candidates. Players like unlocking stuff.

[@buttmunchmcnugget328]

I agree with this except for the one aspect that it can become nearly useless when you cut what is already a short list of options to turn into per CR, into a much shorter list. Also Polymorph needing to maintain concentration keeps it from being anywhwere near as difficult to deal with as say.... a druid lol. Turn your enemies into a small thing and you now cant hit them for fear of undoing it, Turn yourself into a trex and wade into combat only to be turned back after your first bit of damamge drops your form. I 100% get not letting them use forms they havent seen, but it is a bit of a doyble edged sword

[@exqueue3813]

There's no reason for dinosaurs to actually exist in your world. If you don't want players polymorphing into a T Rex, then T Rex's don't exist.

[@exqueue3813]

Andrew you generally don't polymorph yourself. You polymorph another party member for a free 150HP heal. Then you stay back and let the dino run amok.

[@independentconfederate6604]

For heat metal I feel you overlooked how the damage is the issue. Especially when the caster is mounted. Once cast you can move out of the range of the spell and continuously refresh the spell which means a caster with heat metal can continue to do damage for as long as the opponent is wearing their armor. Ignoring how they receive disadvantage in attack rolls they can drop their weapon which obviously withers their damage. As long as the opponent wears metal armor and wields metal weapons heat metal will reck them with little to no repercussions and if the opponent(s) remove their armor then they don’t have their protection and are even more vulnerable. Zee bashew made a great video on the topic in his animated spell book.

[@palikia3233]

Cook and book

[@DragonGunzDorian]

For telling so many lies luke, now I've gotta steal your dice AND your pizza.

[@theDMLair]

No, you wouldn't dare! 😯

[@DragonGunzDorian]

@@theDMLair oh, but I would luke. Mwhaha! lol good video as per usual man. Look forward to every tuesday.

[@xanxangel8640]

#10 Charm Monster. I usually wait for the DM to use heat metal or conjure animals then I cast Charm Monster on them. Yes advantage on the save is a long shot but when it works IT WORKS. Also when you surprise a group of enemies, Charm Monster or even Crown of Madness is a lot of fun. In Forge of Fury we used Crown of Madness on a boss orc and used him to wipe the room of his buddies. The damage he took made finishing him off too easy. As players we were too busy laughing to care we were not all fighting till the end.

[@mr.vercotti9509]

Your party’s storyline is getting a little inconsistent, Luke.

[@anthonynorman7545]

Aren't there multiple?

[@xanxangel8640]

Bob the Balrog gets banished... Bob's underling back in Bob's lair "Hey boss what are you doing back here? Didn't you have a plan for the next 200 years to corrupt that whole city?" Bob sighs "I've been banished you idiot, go get the elite forces and ooen a gate to the basement and flank the heroes. Oh and focus on the pointy hat guy with the stick."

[@thegolddragon5014]

This is very helpful lol this would make some players mad

[@Zulk_RS]

Give your monsters player levels people. You would not believe how much a combat can get spiced up even when spells are not involved if an enemy can Rage like the barbarian or Flurry like the monk or sneak attack like the rogue. Even Action Surge is a very interesting ability to give to monsters. DISCLAIMER: Be sure to consult with the players first if they want that or not. Some of my own players got disappointed when the dual wielding bandit happened to be a level 2 rogue and sneak attacked them to hell and back when they ignored him to focus on the meatier HP filled red-herring bandit leader.

[@SammieyVids]

How about COUNTER SPELL?! In a campaign I was playing in, where four of the five of us are all spellcasters, The DM decided it would be a good idea to have the enemy composition be of clerics and people who multiclassed who all had access to counter spell. Keep in mind, none of our characters had counter spell... But every attack with a spell went nowhere. It was the worst 3 hours of my life.

[@mechanussunrise]

As a DM, it's usually the players who have 3 or 4 spellcasters with counterspell and the DM only controlling one spellcaster who has all their spells countered in my experience. Turn about is fair play!

[@gamepsychnunya273]

I played a Shepherd druid in a Curse of Strahd game that frequently summoned packs of creatures. The difference was, instead of taking all of the creatures for myself, I asked the DM to divvy them up to the other players. Instead of them all having their own initiative and bogging down combat, all the players had "battle buddies" that meant everyone had something they could do on their turns. It did skew action economy a bit, but it made for fun and interesting strategies for the players.

[@ViveMeorLeti]

Currently trying to figure out how to nerf Spirit Guardians for a vampire-hunting one-shot in a Victorian low-magic setting. The issue isn't so much that they're going to be able to kill off my vampires too quickly (I'll probably have to nerf the vampire too, as it's CR 13 and the party is level 5), but the cleric already has a huge advantage in an adventure centred around fighting undead, and I don't want her to be OP compared to the other players and ruin the fun for them.

[@AEB1066]

A trick I used against a cleric who always popped spirit guardian. The party was attacked by assassins at night in a back alley in the kingdom's main city. Cleric pops spirit guardian and moves along with the party wrecking any assassin who got into melee. Next morning the party is rounded up by the royal guard and the court wizard. The alley was only 5' wide, so the spirit guardians where going through the surrounding walls - the spell description does not say that the spell is blocked by objects - and had slaughtered many unlucky citizens in their beds. The party faced a massive fine that took most of their magic items and the cleric - who was NG - had to do special penance to regain the ability to cast divine spells as punishment from their Deity. Harsh, but totally in keeping with the spell's description.

[@ViveMeorLeti]

@@AEB1066 Interesting! Unfortunately, as this story is grounded in reality and set in a Victorian girls' boarding school, the accidental death of any NPC is going to be a really big deal, and it's not the direction I want to take things. Accidentally injuring an ally she didn't know was there is definitely an option, though! I also decided to make it a rule that undead cannot be omitted from Spirit Guardians, because that means it will also hurt the cleric's beloved brother, an NPC party member who has been partially infected with vampirism. It doesn't nerf the spell too badly, because she can still use it, but only if she is willing to endanger her brother and their Lingering Soul ally unless she can keep them outside the radius of the spell.

[@Nexzore]

How do I handle my rouge with sharp shooter and wizard with spellsniper when I still want to have an interesting fight for them in the wide open? *sweat I already had fast tanks to run forward them and flying dinos ambushing them from up in the air. Worked perfectly but I need sth. else now.

[@randydoffing3204]

"Dawn". One of my players, a wizard, had just reached level 10 and picked this spell. We're playing PotA and they reached Aerisi, the prophet of the air cult, in the element node by the portal to the Plane of Elemental Air. So, this is her lair -- she gets legendary and lair actions. I added a couple of minions, Air Myrmidon and Invisible Stalker, to bump up the challenge and even adjusted it downward when I had a player that couldn't make it at the last minute (I wanted to avoid a TPK but still keep it challenging). The wizard rolls high on initiative and casts Dawn and then (if you know the layout of the Howling Caves boss fight area) runs back into the passageway around a corner out of sight. The rest of the party blocks the passageway to prevent any of the minions from getting to him. The spell has a 30' radius; none of the bads have resistance/immunity to radiant damage; they are in a dead-end cavern; and they take damage every time they end their turn in the 30' radius ... which covers the whole cavern! So, yeah, the Dawn Spell would be on my list. :-)

[@Thisone109]

Give the lower (cr) summons the same initiative and one general attack role. The six flying snakes rolled 18 and 5 damage to hit this turn who are they hitting is what you decide

[@bluelionsage99]

The last time my players used Banishment it was actually my plan as DM. They would sneak in close to the bard that was really a demon, try to banish it, then hold off his minions for a minute until the spell was "complete".

[@MadstoneAdventures]

I can't tell you how many times as a GM that sleep has messed up what was supposed to be a more interesting battle. This is probably more due to my bad RNG with the dice, but sleep ruined 2 big encounters in Mine of Phandelver as Glassstaff and the dragon were both put down with sleep.

[@mineflameblade8788]

Btw. If you want op spells. Guidance! A 1d4 buff to ability scores and with little drawback. You just gotta touch someone. Two of my dm's have complained about it.

[@Raszul]

its not a reaction though. hence doesnt work on saves (unless you know about them coming up ahead of time) and outside of saves it isn't really all that much of an issue imo, just raise the DC by 2-3 pts for thigns that shoudl stay hard and your fine as a dm.