Druid spell analysis: 4th level spells D&D

[@zeedar412]

Although Watery Sphere doesn't mention protecting the creature inside of it from fire damage, the general rules do. When a creature is fully immersed in water, they have resistance to fire damage.

[@thunderdragonish]

Glad I wasn’t the only one who caught this, came to the comments to say the same thing.

[@samuelpierce639]

Yeah. I was trying to reconcile the water rules with this spell providing advantage on attacks against the restrained creature. If you shoot arrows or swing a sword at the creature, does the fact that the weapon passes through water negate the advantage? Does the attacker have to be underwater for that to apply? is there some aspect of general vs specific rules that I’m missing? I’m probably overthinking this….

[@binolombardi]

@@samuelpierce639 the way that my table plays regarding the underwater combat rules is that it is only in effect if a creature is submerged in water. Attacking into water using reach doesn’t impose disadvantage for us. But, if we are just under the water surface attacking outward, the underwater combat rules would apply. For ranged weapons we apply the range limitation from shooting outside water into water, but do not apply the disadvantage if the ranged weapon is not of the listed types.

[@samuelpierce639]

@@binolombardi cool deal. That certainly seems within the spirit of the rules.

[@Domkhxiii]

You could run it as the fire heating the water and so the fire damage is more like heat damage 🤷🏼‍♀️

[@voicetest6019]

1) Casts Polymorph on ally to turn them into a rare beast(i.e. Trex) that they haven't actually seen. 2) Druid has now seen the creature 3) Druid wildshapes into rare creature.

[@FluffyAkuma]

Has to be within maximum wildshape cr, but shapechange you could, but at that point dragon is always the answer

[@voicetest6019]

I took at look at Beast CRs to see what is possible. My bad that trex should be out as its CR8. To fill out my (bad) concept, I guess the best you could do for exotic animals is: Looks like with non-Moon druids, the best you can get is CR1, so Dire Wolf/Giant Vulture/Deinonychus? For Moon Druids, You get some better options, but you're still locked to somewhere between CR2(8), to CR5(15+), so I guess the best you can hope for is somewhere between an Allosaurus, Giant Scorpion or Giant Croc?

[@keonilewis6482]

So funny, I was thinking the same thing looking at Polymorph hahahaha

[@WexMajor82]

So, there were some pirates we were hunting. They were hidden into a big cavern, with their ship. Our druid prepared water breathing and control water that morning; we went in by walking on the sea floor and then she rose the water height, up to filling the cavern. No combat, and a nicely angry/happy DM.

[@LordDany]

Smart move

[@saltypork101]

Witness the awesome power of the Prepared Casters!

[@marcos2492]

For charm monster, "friendly" is actually a mechanical term DMG 244: "A friendly creature wants to help the adventurers and wishes for them to succeed. For tasks or actions that require no particular risk, effort, or cost, friendly creatures usually help without question. If an element of personal risk is involved, a successful Charisma check might be required to convince a friendly creature to take the risk"

[@FormerRuling]

To his point though, the mechanical definition still relies heavily on the DM deciding. What sorts of requests involve "no effort", what is "an element of personal risk", and when does it go too far because someone that just regards you on friendly terms isn't going to take a bullet for you usually. These are all things the DM has to decide on the fly. While mind you many players cast it under the presumption it was essentially a cheaper Dominate Monster so expectations are going to be shattered either way.

[@DonFranke]

54:40 "There is nothing protecting these creatures from fire damage for example mentioned in this spell" I'm gonna play devil's advocate here and say there is. The creature(s) that are completely engulfed by water automatically gain resistance to fire damage thanks to the last sentence in the Underwater Combat section in the PHB which reads: "Creatures and objects that are fully immersed in water have resistance to fire damage" (p. 198)

[@roberttschaefer]

One good way to help people visualize the Wall of Fire: it’s a thin wall of flame that also radiates heat outward to 10’ in one direction only… you get to pick which side the heat radiates (then explain the rest about ending the turn, entering the thin wall itself). It’s semantics for sure, but sometimes things like this help people to conceptualize what’s happening.

[@optimus2200]

fire shield ... love that spell so I casted it taken warm shield and then turned into fire elemental moved around the battle field setting everyone in fire provoking attacks of oppertonity removing the enemey reactions and dealt 100+ damage just by being hit

[@alfredobelloni3258]

This... i need to do this...

[@KaitlynBurnellMath]

We're finally getting into the levels where I think I'll really learn something. (Up to third level I felt pretty familiar with the spells. Conjure Animals, Summon Fey, Plant Growth, Pass Without Trace, Goodberry, Web, Entangle, Spike Groth, Summon Beast, yep, I know all those spells are good. 4th level...I know polymorph...and conjure woodland beings from back when people thought it could give you 8 castings of polymorph, but don't really have a feel for the rest of the 4th level spells).

[@probablythedm1669]

In regards to Charm Monster, provided you can communicate with it, this is what the DMG tell you are the rules (that everyone forgets or haven't read?) on social interaction with a friendly creature: "A friendly creature wants to help the adventurers and wishes for them to succeed. For tasks or actions that require no particular risk, effort, or cost, friendly creatures usually help without question. If an element of personal risk is involved, a successful Charisma check might be required to convince a friendly creature to take that risk." DC 0: The creature does as asked without taking risks or making sacrifices. DC 10: The creature accepts a minor risk or sacrifice to do as asked. DC 20: The creature accepts a significant risk or sacrifice to do as asked. It seems like nearly every DM never even read the rules on social interaction... I did though. They make running social encounters very easy, because I already know what a creature is willing to do and how far they'll go help or hinder a player based on their rolls. It's not actually DM judgement call, it's clearly written in the rules what a Friendly creature will do for you. That said... 99 % of DMs seem to not have read the rules on social interaction and instead go with the tried and trusted "gut feeling" or "I'll just make shit up". :D That really messes with social interaction spells though, since they suddenly vary vastly in power based on the DM's mood and personal feelings.

[@dandanner3111]

Casting Conjure Woodland Beings tells you a lot about your DM by the way they react.

[@mikebieser4175]

I like Grasping Vine a bit more than it seems you do. Yes, the concentration makes it very difficult to use offensively, but as a defense option it is pretty good. You can pull allies out of Lingering AOEs, out of difficult terrain, out of the jaws of monsters that do bite(grapple) and swallow combos, get your casters away from the frontline without provoking opportunity attacks, etc. High cost to doing so, but Dimension Door is also a 4th level spell that can be used to rescue an ally in a precarious situation. I’d rate it as a reasonably high orange. Circumstantial, but a lifesaver in those circumstances. Should have been a lower level spell or concentration-free though.

[@bee-bee8768]

Dimension Door is not concentration

[@mikebieser4175]

@@bee-bee8768 I’m aware of that. But it is the best option for that type of effect that the Druid gets. Kind of like how Confusion is better for druids than it is for wizards because wizards get better mass debuffs, this is the best option for druids who want to be able to rescue allies. It doesn’t let you teleport, it doesn’t have the range, it requires concentration - all of these are bad and makes Grasping Vine worse than Dimension Door. But when your party member is restrained in the jaws of a T-Rex, you’ll be very glad to have the spell. Hence, a circumstantial rating is justified.

[@timeforsuchaword]

Your ally still has to fail their dex saving throw to pull them though so it's not particularly good at saving allies.

[@mikebieser4175]

@@timeforsuchaword it’s a little better than it seems - restrained allies will have disadvantage on the save, and paralyzed ones automatically fail it - so when you most need to rescue someone, they’re relatively likely to successfully fail the save. I do think it is a little silly that the spell doesn’t include a clause for choosing to fail the save, but unfortunately the RAW doesn’t allow it.

[@zacharybrown3010]

@@mikebieser4175 This is strictly a house rule, and therefore not relevant to Treantmonk's evaluation of the spell (or any spell), but at my table I've allowed characters to intentionally fail any and all saving throws / contested ability checks, such as for the purposes of getting shoved by allies or allowing movement from spells for years now. In the case of Grasping Vine to rescue a comrade from a grapple - perhaps the grappling creature should make a Strength check against the caster's spell DC? Seems like it could be worth the bonus action! Again, not trying to comment on the functionality of the spell RAW; just some DM musing...

[@randomfeller]

Bearbarian (3 lvl dip for Bear Totem Warrior + 7 Moon Druid) allows you to rage, resisting all but psychic dmg, with Fire Shield active, allowing you to run around as a bear or rhino picking up Opportunity Attacks. Lots of extra damage in big groups!

[@michaelioannou7568]

I'm starting a new campaign next month and for the first time in my life I found a DM that lets me be druid, I'm stoked to try it out and your videos helping me out so much, thank you for the uploads, looking forward for the LVL 5 spells etc. ❣️

[@theeye8276]

What you summon from these conjure X spells is not supposed to be random, the dm is supposed to pick. So I suggest dms telling their players what's balanced for them to pick and letting the player choose what is summoned from the list the dm approves. This greatly speeds up game playe as the player should be very familiar with the summoned creatures abilities and let's the dm avoid doing the work of picking creatures/providing stats all the time. If you don't want the player picking the same thing each time just tell them they have to cycle through all their options once before picking the same creature again. I've tried this in practice with one of my dms and my turns are the fastest at the table.

[@theeye8276]

@@rbrtwhill Ya the spell doesn't actually say who picks at all which is confusing. Designer intent is supposedly that the dm picks though

[@theuncalledfor]

@@theeye8276 Polymorph doesn't say who picks. Do creatures affected by Polymorph get, in-universe, randomly transformed into _any_ Beast regardless of what the caster wants? Does the DM get to pick? Does that make any sense whatsoever? Yet Conjure Animals (or Elementals) uses the same wording and the DM is meant to pick? Does that make sense? (The answer is no, it does not make sense.)

[@theeye8276]

@@theuncalledfor 100% agree. The dm picks is supposedly the RAI according to the designers but is not RAW. These are amazing and are only brought down by potential house ruling and homebrewing by dms.

[@comfortablegrey]

I only have to say that polymorph is one of the best 4th level spells. The rest are circumstantial which in the case of summoning, shape stone, control water, and the rare druid illusion "hallucinatory terrain" can act as a force multiplier. It does take about 467533 gallons of water to fill the whirlpool aspect of control water, in case anyone wants to try and create it all.

[@The_mekboy_you_deserve]

9:31 for the elementals of cr 1/4 or lower there are just mephits practically, and mephit have the variant rule, which says that mephits have a 25% chance to Spawn 1d4 more mephits of the same type (who do not have this feature) my DM, pray for his soul, made that the creatures made with conjuring spells and the CR is chosen by the roll of a d4, have the same initiative, so he had to calculate way less and I just had to roll a bunch of d20 for hits. I started an encounter with 14 mephits once, they killed practically everyone, just by punching them.

[@Zswasd]

FINALLY i can have lunch... I was famished >: | great video!!

[@Godzillawolf1]

So in our current Rime of the Frostmaiden Campaign, I found a really cool use for Stoneshape: Ythryn, the final dungeon of the game, is composed entirely of magical stone. Stoneshape does not specify nonmagical stone and can be used to make weapons. So, for our party members who didn't have magical weapons yet, I'm using Stoneshape to make them stone weapons from that magical stone. My DM not only approved, but even made it an actual magical weapon (a Dagger of Corpse Slaying) rather than a dagger that can bypass immunity and resistance to nonmagical damage as I was expecting. Granted, that was DM dependant, but if magical stone is available, it could be a good way to make magical weapons for party member lacking them.

[@johnmichaelarnaud]

"The GM has the statistics" aspect of these summoning spells makes them borderline not worth taking. I'm not risking wasting an entire spell on the capricious whims of my DM.

[@mixplit74]

I've said it before & it's usually true. If you come fully prepped with minis, stat blocks and tracking sheets for all the abilities of the creatures you want & nothing for the ones you don't, most DMs will use your prep rather than slow the game down to do it themselves. Although you may burn that bridge if you try having your Pixies turn your whole party into flying T-Rexes, so proceed with caution on that one.

[@johnmichaelarnaud]

@@mixplit74 I agree. If I were a DM, that's how I would run it as well. But if you don't know your DM will run things that way, it's a big risk. I'd just as soon skip it if I weren't in a game run by someone I know very well.

[@toshibaDVDplayer]

If you're not discussing these spells, and the concerns about these spells with your DMs ahead of time. You're gonna have a bad time. No matter what your intentions are.

[@DaDunge]

@@johnmichaelarnaud Prepared spellcaster so it's not really much of a risk. If your DM is a AH about it just don't prepare it again.

[@DaDunge]

@@rbrtwhill Seems you and your DM should have been communicating more.

[@veras7927]

Situational, but some parties may find use out of locate creature in finding new wild shapes. Some dms are sticklers about transforming only into a beast you've seen, and won't accept polymorphed party members as a replacement

[@WolfHreda]

I was *just* about to check your channel.

[@DaDunge]

36:00 Yes it can be cast in the air, all it says it's a cylinder centered on a point within range, says nothing about it being a point on the ground. RAW it should only extend 20ft up when used on the ground since it's a cylinder centered on spot and the centre of a cylinder is not at the bottom of the cylinder but halfway up into it. As such 20ft of the cylinder when used on the ground would be extending into the ground.

[@tarrickmerdev2324]

Blight dealing _maximum_ damage against plant creatures with disadvantage on saves is really really good. Extremely circumstantial, yes, but isn't that what orange rating is for?

[@TreantmonksTemple]

I mean, plant creatures are sooooo rare

[@tarrickmerdev2324]

@@TreantmonksTemple True, fair enough. My party just got ambushed by a few in a swamp in our last session so they're fresh on my mind :)

[@brettmajeske3525]

Blight really needs a secondary effect. Maybe the poisoned condition or perhaps a level of exhastion, something more than just damage.

[@FluffyAkuma]

My DM allowed "prepared spell" casters to just cast everything available. Can't wait till his plant monsters basically don't exist xD

[@theuncalledfor]

Blight has better DPR than was implied in the video. Taking into account half-on-save, crits, and plausible stats, you need seriously low AC on an enemy before Scorching Ray starts to out-damage Blight. Damage type is important, too, some enemies are resistant or immune to either necrotic or fire. If you need a single-target blasting spell, Blight can be worth it. (The video is about Druids, but if you play a Necromancer Wizard, it also helps that you regain 12 hp whenever you kill something with Blight.)

[@dylanba5251]

Druids have 1 Blue and 2 Green Spells vs Wizards 1 Blue and 8 Green (Fire Shield was Green here though, so call it 7) So we are definitely seeing the difference between these classes here in versatility.

[@coltonhorton4225]

While that's true, I also feel like it should be emphasized that druids have quite a few orange rated spells. And while that may not be as great on a wizard, druids are prepared casters who can swap out their entire spell list daily. With a little bit of forethought and anticipation of what you might face on any given day, this actually makes orange rated spells much more useful for druids than the ratings would otherwise suggest. For instance, in my current campaign, we are doing a forest treck where there have been reports of strange plant life in the area. Because of this I have prepared both speak with plants and blight. Neither are spells that are too useful everyday, but since we have a higher likelihood of facing plant creatures, this makes them potentially much more useful in this circumstance.

[@FluffyAkuma]

Guardian of Nature is great for Moon Druids, but thats it of course(barring odd builds). Extra damage, advantage on all attacks, vision for non vision having beasts, usually great con saves anyhow. It's like druid hunters mark+. That said there's other choices for concentration but there's an argument for it and even tree form to control movement while you frontline

[@on_certainty]

I love conjure woodland beings. I've usually seen DMs be pretty lenient on summoning to get the pixies, aka the legendary resistance blender. I'm okay with summoning choices personally, my combats are already super hard!

[@tiradentes4525]

Great video! I personally wouldn't prepare C.Elementals. I really dislike spells that are for combat and can't be cast during combat. The rest of the list I get you points! Btw: There are some good 'tips' I'll use... Thanks haha

[@WolfHreda]

And, to quote Davvy Chappy: 🎶Don't conjure Elementals, You'll lose control and they'll hit you🎶

[@kyuzo3567]

I have a Druid/Fighter multiclass that fights using Brass Knuckles my DM custom-made. Guardian of nature is my go-to combat BA for attacking, I love that spell even if I constantly forget I attack with advantage

[@engilaru]

Elemental Bane really needs to just auto succeed. Its like Hunters Mark or Hex, it doesn't do anything on its own and unlike like those spells require a savingthrow. Its also an action... and a 4th level slot. I really hope Black Flag or OneDnD removes that savingthrow clause, and maybe even make it a bonus action cause its an interesting effect depending on your party composition or class. Wildfire druid for example can trigger it twice since their spirit has their own turn after yours.

[@keirador]

It seems like a big oversight not to mention that Conjure Woodland Beings has a casting time of 1 action, compared to Conjure Minor Elementals' one minute.

[@toshibaDVDplayer]

I am probably in the wrong here, but the rules reading for Freedom of Movement escaping a grapple using 5 feet of your movement working off your ungrappled movement. Is the same reading I'd give to the Monk for using their action to end a charmed or fear effect, that would normally not allow you to use your action.

[@ryaneye6347]

I love all the druid content. Cheers and good time to upload mate get some rest.

[@SuperSorcerer]

ב"ה guardian of nature is really decent on moon druids. It should be at least purple.

[@victoralexandrino220]

Guardian of Nature its actually op , including the great tree feature . Because when you are a starry Druid you have acess to Guiding Bolt , and also a light arrow that does 1d8 + wis , having advantage on those attacks its pretty awesome to me , doing 6d6 plus 1d8 in just one turn , if you use guiding bolt as a 3rd level spell , i would say its a pretty consistent damage... , awesome video , my friend.

[@corylohanlon]

Elemental Bane: it's for a thematic caster. If you've got a character that only does one type of damage because you wanted that kind of character... and you come up against something with resistance to that... this makes you not completely worthless. It's still bad and deserves a red, but on the right build it becomes orange. A circumstantial spell nested in a circumstantial build.

[@NotRealAkira]

That caster should just take elemental adept instead tbh

[@Thamer4life]

If you get an Azer (or two if upcast) with Conjure Minor Elementals, you may not get great combat value, but you get some of the greatest smiths in all planes of existence. Great for when you or a party member is endeavoring to create, repair, or modify weapons or armor. Many quests involve finding an incomplete piece of some legendary blade and you'd have to work hard to reassemble it. You will want an Azer on your side.

[@maltheopia]

Charm Monster is better than Charm Person and not just because of typing; it's just easier to get something with animal intelligence or simple motivations to do what you want than an INT 10+ sapient. When I've seen Charm Monster used on non-civilized monsters, the DM generally just lets them join as a combat companion for an hour.

[@AmorphousUrsine]

Ah yes, Grasping Vine, I remember the maniacal excitement that ran through my mind when I first read it, immediately envisioning a plant-blender of nightmares. I was a bit crushed when I realized it required concentration, lol.

[@Karina-Loves-Andreas]

Hi Chris! The Druid proficiency and ownership of an Herbalism Kit is GROSSLY UNDERATED and overlooked. I can make a healing potion with it on every "down" day. I DON'T think I should have to pay for it, since I have the knowledge and ingredients. I DO think I should be able to charge 25gp for a healing potion I make if I want to. I also think if I make it OBVIOUSLY CLEAR that I'm taking plant samples as we walk between encounters, I'm keeping my kit stocked, and generally always have mistletoe for my goodberries (maybe not if we travel through desert or arctic environments for an extended period). My Druid herbalism kit gives me understanding and proficiency with medicinal herbs & plants. I'm playing with an adversarial DM. I THINK I SHOULD HAVE PROFICIENCY with Plant Based Poisons because of my Herbalism Kit. I also think that as I level up to level 2, and learn Sylvan which lets me speak with animals, I should be able to coax poisonous snakes & frogs into giving me venom, perhaps in exchange for crickets & mice...thoughts?

[@phillipheaton9832]

Conjure Minor Elementals. I have found only 9 elementals that qualify: CR ¼ Steam Mephit. CR ½ Dust Mephit, Firenewt Warrior, Ice Mephit, Magma Mephit, Magmin. CR 1 Firenewt Warlock of Imix. CR 2 Azer, Gargoyle. That means that if you request a CR 1/4 or CR 1 elemental, the DM has only one choice. An interesting use for Polymorph. Snails can survive a huge amount of G force. You could polymorph a powerful monster and catapult it into an enemy castle. It will survive the launch and it will become the monster after it hits the ground or a building. If the snail doesn't die, you can just quit concentrating on the spell.

[@AnekinRed]

I personally haven’t cast any spells above 2 level without scrolls. So I’m personally looking forward to the eventual conjure 8 pixies, polymorth party into giant apes, cast fly on apes, DK crew goes bonkers.

[@havasimark]

Grasping wine! You did not disappoint, sir.

[@williamturner6192]

Conjur woodland beings really can shine with 5th level spell planar binding. Getting to keep an ability is nice but then it really only will do the trick with a higher level spell slot.

[@stevesmith4600]

I don't think this changes anything regarding Hallucinatory Terrain, but I'm not sure that your reference to "dungeon terrain" is a thing. Natural terrain would imply natural versus unnatural; terrain created by nature versus terrain created by magical or man-made means. What's dungeon terrain? I would suspect that terrain found in some dungeons is natural, while others are man-made (creature-made) or magically made.

[@madocmayhem]

Thank you for all the hard work you are putting in xD.

[@Spiceodog]

Charm monster is great because you can get magical monsters with spellcasting to cast utility spells for you

[@jinxtheunluckypony]

Locate Creature’s 1000 foot range is a pretty big handicap all things considered. If a monster is trying to get away from the party they won’t be eager to stay within a block of them.

[@AncientManBeast]

Polymorph really shouldn't be considered a good buff imo, i know a lot of people play it that way but i thought the overall consensus was that because it replaces the target mental ability scores [often tanking int to 3 or lower], the polymorphed pc doesn't function as a full thinking and reasoning character anymore. I have been at a lot of tables where the gm just fully takes over. Even though it still considers the other party members as 'allies', an animal/predator like a t rex wouldn't fight to the death, choose strategic targets, use problem-solving or critical thinking to overcome obstacles etc....

[@ComstarAgent]

Dogs have 3 int and there are multiple examples of dogs dying trying to save their own. Ravens have 2 int and can solve puzzles. Wolves have 3 int and work together as a team to hunt. A DM taking control away from a player for having 3 int doesn’t make sense to me

[@ComstarAgent]

A 3 int creature may not be able to do arithmetic, but they can still overcome obstacles, coordinate with other creatures, and put themselves in deadly danger

[@theuncalledfor]

Protip: Stop playing with those DM's, they do not want you to have fun.

[@HeyMyNameIsTony]

I only wish the timestamps were sorted by the spell rank instead of the time. Sounds weird but it would give a quick reference on the best spells at each level!

[@nikgervae]

Or, you know, having all this summary info in a text article you could search. Or a spreadsheet.

[@johngleeman8347]

I'm still mad you can't cast fire shield on someone else. What a good buff spell it would be.

[@johngleeman8347]

Tyrannical Rules Lawyer!

[@MarcWagner75]

I’ve been playing a Druid recently. I was wondering if you could consider doing a series of class by class videos on the best spells to upcast for each class?

[@CGillSP]

Circle of the Moon Druids are so different from the rest, there should be separate scores for some of these spells. Giant Scorpion w/ Guardian of Nature? I rarely use spells when my Druid Wild Shapes, so having a list of Wild Shape spells would make my Druid much better.

[@philosopherhobbs]

So 6 red spells, 4 orange, 10 purple, 2 green, and 1 blue. I basically never take orange spells and rarely take purple ones. I just don't like D&D spell design. There's so many problems with making so many situational spells, but the thing I hate the most is that when there are so few good spells I feel like choices have been made for me if I want to be effective.

[@Mando0Melkor]

Dominate beast is an npc spell, the kind that is used to spy on the party. The BBEG dont count 7th level spells to do it, the PCs does.

[@a99barnsey]

I was really surprised conjure elemental was higher rated than giant insect. I'm a fan of GI. The poison damage can melt foes and siders can restrain with their webs. Wasps get that flying speed and great damage. The only downside of the spell is poison resistance and immunity hurts it. Other than that, it's a better version of conjure animals. The casting time of conjure elemental is a killer.

[@AccursedGnome]

Just wanted to say that the DM doesn't pick for ANY of the conjure spells. Keep up the good work!

[@rylandrc]

I wonder if you can use giant insect on dead insects. That way you dont need to carry around alive wasps. I dont think it specifies that they need to be alive.

[@alfredobelloni3258]

I was really waiting for this! I trying to come up with a Monk/druid build using guardian of nature. Lets see what you think about it. Edit: Well, maybe its good for what i want to do with it. Tree form with elven accuracy, double advantage on attacks and flurry of blows. Could work nicely.

[@JanellePhalen]

I use Blight all the time and it works well. For a Druid it has decent damage for the level.

[@theuncalledfor]

It generally has better DPR than upcast Scorching Ray, though it's dependent heavily on enemy AC. Low AC creatures take more damage from Scorching Ray on average. Half-on-save damage is that good.

[@sofademon5758]

OMG Pixies. 4 t-rexes. 4 Fly spells. Go go dinobot airforce. This is incredibly funny once. After that the DM will introduce a fey plague and every one of the last little buggerr will kick a tiny bucket, as the dm paces in the other room and mutters "never again.".

[@antongrigoryev6381]

After that DM will probably read the rules and finds out that he is the one who is supposed to control what creatures a summoned.

[@Bam31415]

While I haven't been using it myself, I think you're being a bit harsh on Blight. For sure it's an underwhelming damage spell, and terribly inefficient, but as a druid I am very efficient when it comes to spell slot usage to begin with. I have been in combat situations where I know this is the last fight of the day and have more than enough spellslots remaining. At the time burning resources for a quick, inefficient damage boost has seemed like a decent option. My suggestion/question is if Blight is not a worthwhile spell when you want to trade resources for quick damage?

[@dominicl5862]

Nah dude I agree here, sometimes damage is the answer, and the spellcaster has extra slots. especially the later the game goes. To me its the equivalent of a half-caster doing a smite. 4th lvl smite = 5d8, 4th lvl blight smite = 8d8 (4d8)

[@dcyphermanplays8233]

I've seen someone use Control Water in a sewer tunnel to raise the water 20ft with the flood option and a water breathing ritual it's a Killer imo

[@shanelilly9673]

Ice Storm would be cool to cast in a gaggle of skeletons.

[@jiiaga5017]

For Divination... you only get the 2nd response if your DM is a dick, or if you abuse it profusely. A response should give at least 1 morsel of unknown knowledge. If that single bit of information ruins the entire dungeon, you have a bad DM and need to find another group.

[@Chris3s]

I like your videos, they are very informative BUT it's very hard to read your thumbnails and the text in general. Would be nice to change it to a sans serif font so everything is easier to read

[@SB-yp8vp]

If someone casts divination and asks me if they will win the upcoming fight with the giants, my answer would be somewhere along the line of… of course you will win and I’m sure most of you will live. After all, unless you have a TPK, that answer is correct 99% of the time.

[@kwaksea]

While Stone Skin is too expensive for what it does, I still believe that it is still usable during fight against Big Badasses. Big Badassses might have magical means of attack but their minions propably wouldnt have one.

[@maltheopia]

Stone Skin is much better on a Sorceradin than a druid.

[@ParaisoFlower]

The downside in that scenario is the concentration. Probably have more impactful things to do with it.

[@morganpetros9635]

I really wish the Magic Fang spell was still a thing. That'd make Polymorph a decent buff right up 'til 20th level. After all, who DOESN'T want 154 extra hit points and to still be able to do full damage to fiends?

[@Spendleton]

confusion + spiked growth = win

[@alfredobelloni3258]

They both have concentration, but you can always combo with your wizard ;)

[@nuclearbirds]

Guardian of nature for a bard magical secrets feature - thoughts?

[@stanbunn1329]

Ice storm is useful if you have flying enemies in the cylinder.

[@ashlynx1]

As a sorcadin, with 16 cha, should I take fire shield or watery Sphere

[@mewmewsasfirebell]

Does control water work on mud?

[@gavinerickson9392]

I think the "if it ends its turn in x" clause is pretty universally terrible in terms of design.

[@theeye8276]

You forgot to mention the most powerful summon minor elemental option: the cr 0 chwinga

[@TreantmonksTemple]

True

[@backcountry164]

Terminal velocity should be a thing. Dropping a polymorphed snail hundreds of feet shouldn't do handfuls of die of damage.

[@ethanjohnson2849]

Treantmonk can you look into a variant human Barbarian taking GWF vs variant human Barbarian taking Fighting Initiate (Two-Weapon Fighting Style) I think I am doing the math incorrectly because I keep getting results where Two-Weapon Fighting wins out against the GWM.

[@ndstumme]

Don't forget Reckless Attack to give advantage on the first strike. For the TWF, that's advantage on less of the total damage.

[@ADarkassassin]

GWM gives you +10 each attack so benefited more from more attacks, before extra attack its w.e. But after two weapon fighting loses big time, especially when the user takes polearm master for a third attack or just gets a bonus action attack from GWM itself

[@ADarkassassin]

@@ndstumme reckless attack gives adv on all attack rolls, you just need to decide if you're using it on the first attack.

[@antongrigoryev6381]

Yup. GWM alone is pretty overrated in my opinion. It's just a good option for heavy weapon users, nothing more. People always see +10 damage but forget about -5 to hit. However, when it really becomes OP, is in combination with Polearm master, as you get the benefits of both GWM and free bonus action attack, and 10 ft reach in addition. *Then* it overshadows Two-Weapon fighting in basically every way. Removing bonus action attacks from Polearm master would make a lot for the health of this game I think.

[@johneubank8543]

If you polymorph an enemy into a snail and if this enemy has somewhat clever allies on the battlefield, watch out. A sharp DM will have its ally hit it with an attack. One pt of damage will revert the snail back into its monster form, and some damage will carry over - but so what - your control spell was just ruined. To prevent this, make sure you or a friend picks up the snail and pockets it before its allies can mess with you. They can't target it if it's in your pocket, at least w/ most DMs - or put it in a bag of holding - or have a familiar fly far away with it. The point is you can take steps to prevent allies from restoring your victim.

[@maltheopia]

You can also turn the enemy into a whale or something. Something with too many hit points to easily chew through but not a battlefield threat.

[@kendrajade6688]

Or just turn them into an Orca. Can't move, lots of hp.

[@lucasrogers1842]

Would guardian of nature be decent on a moon Druid ?

[@andrecosta8680]

Wall of Fire is SO CONFUSING

[@burningwp]

Freedom of movement just annoys me. It doesn't work on a lot of physical things that you would think it should work on, such as being swallowed.

[@roberttschaefer]

Are you saying that polymorph is *not* battlefield control? At 55:10 you state “our best spell isn’t a summon or battlefield control.” I would say the majority of times I cast polymorph (the only blue spell in this list), it is precisely for battlefield control (changing a dangerous enemy into a turtle, snail, etc,) I rarely find the cheesy giant ape or trex to be as effective.

[@williamturner6192]

Hallucinatory terrain. Just cast plant growth. It doesn't fade and the pursuers could be injured. Niche use I assume but wow. Often worse than a lower level spell.

[@PowderKeg3838]

I find 4th and 8th level spells underwhelming on every full casters list.

[@crunchevo8974]

And if you can you'll take polymorph lol

[@PowderKeg3838]

@@crunchevo8974 and Dimension Door after that ugh!

[@theuncalledfor]

Cannot agree with your assessment of Blight. Target needs to have seriously low AC before upcast Scorching Ray starts to overtake Blight DPR.

[@theuncalledfor]

Stoneskin would be a good spell if it dropped the material component AND included magical damage in the resistance.

[@commanderroddi7742]

Only one druid class has scorching ray and since this list compares to DRUID spell, I think you should rank it thhat way, but you keep mentioning other class! Spell youre comparing the spell with. Blight would be an awful Wizzzard spell. It is one of the better non concentration druid spell as far as damage.

[@PoshSlothOG]

I enjoy you and your content a lot, but I got to tell you something. I've been cheating on you with Pack Tactics, and I like his interpretation of how the mass summoning spells work as far as what the Dm has controlled over... It definitely needs to be discussed before game play. But a dm who doesn't let you control what you summon, is showing signs about their personality, I find uncomfortable to play under. kzbin.info/www/bejne/fHzGgoKiis6gf7s This is his video for context. Love your channel. Looking forward to your updates on the playable races video from yesterday 😀

[@r.downgrade5836]

Comment.

[@druidspell]

Oi replace the s that's my Roblox user name

[@ABaumers6]

Lol what a weird hate on Blight. It packs a fucking punch. These are some real trash rankings, yikes.

[@The_mekboy_you_deserve]

For watery sphere, I think it has some more uses, within those same rules. First you engulf a creature in water, does that creature have space to breath in the sphere or not? I think not, as it was never said that it was hollow. Second if a creature can't get out of the sphere because it's caged or what else, does it automatically fail the save? Third if you push the sphere over a cliff and interrupt concentration... Does the sphere break dropping off all creatures inside of it or it lands and then break apart?