Love these spells as a DM. Hate them as a player.

[@leodouskyron5671]

This had to be one of your best videos. The idea of what the spells do vs the psychology of the players is truly excellent and I don’t think I have seen that really as clearly discussed around. Very lovely

[@TreantmonksTemple]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@indigoblacksteel1176]

I agree. I hadn't seen anything like this before and it gave me lots of great ideas as a DM.

[@MenschWerdeWesentlich]

Yep!

[@OlorinMayar]

Definitely agree. Loved it!

[@VALUST17]

Hear, hear!

[@Elkay_J]

Love hearing you talk about the feeling and flavor of the game! And how mechanics can contribute to that!

[@DrLongWang]

I love the idea of elemental bane. Seeing your tiefling fighter get ripped apart by the big bad guy with flame tongue and hellish rebuke is scary. Especially if the dm incorporate fire damage commonly and the character starts to build an identity around not being scared of fire. Then when you finally beat the big bad and your tiefling gets to field the firepower that wrecked it it feels all the better. Plus it makes the magic item look really strong when the enemy uses it while not being broken after the players get it, since it was only stronger because of a condition the players don’t want to replicate.

[@AgentForest]

I think Bane really shines in that it makes enemy saving throws worse. Bless is great, but few spells do this, which opens up great combos for your teammates. If you have a caster with save-based area concentration moves like Black Tentacles or even just a fighter with a weapon of Wounding, you could make it far easier to trap the enemy in that effect, or make it harder for them to shrug off the bleeding wounds.

[@hieronymusnervig8712]

I agree on all but one spell again. I love Dream. It doesn't fit every character, but there's so many uses for it if you're not playing a dungeon crawling campaign. Some of which include: pranking other players murderhoboing NPCs long distance communication (that requires a lot more than 25 words) Meanwhile as a DM I almost dislike it. When you use it once, there's always the feeling of "why not using it more?" And I've made really bad experiences with the Exhaustion caused from failing against the spell.

[@frankyquilavafireblast895]

Guiding Bolt is one of my favorites for both situations as a player or dungeon master. 4D6 radiant damage and the next attack are all made against them has advantage, you throw this on a heavily armored tank like a fighter or a barbarian or you throw this on another squishy caster and the big broot of the group just annihilates them

[@SeanSmith23]

“Don’t make it Disintegrate” had me literally spit my coffee laughing. Good advice, Chris.

[@caiusofglantri5513]

Unless they have Death Ward!

[@agilemind6241]

Simulacrum has to be my favourite DM spell. Allows recurring villains without deus ex-machina enabling the villain to escape at the last moment. It also allows tuning the power level of the villain to the party to a degree. I also liked Monty's use of Gate, very interesting and fun. Another interesting one is Find Familiar, creating paranoia that any hawk, rat, or frog could be the BBEG spying on them is very fun.

[@crimfan]

I agree it is a great villain spell. I generally dislike it as a PC spell. It makes a potent spell caster even more potent, potentially breaks the action economy, hogs spotlight time, etc.

[@bonzwah1]

this is so great. In one of my favorite campaigns ever, I used a lich as the primary antagonist, but I had him true polymorphing into regular mortal bodies and he was consistently at odds with the party and kept getting killed and returning. I've been looking for a way to get that "recurring villain" feeling again, but I didn't want to repeat the same exact gimmick. I never thought to use simulacrum for this purpose, but its perfect.

[@castingincommon1589]

Interesting take on True Strike. Up until now I've always black listed this cantrip but I guess their is a use for it in the right hands of a DM creating suspense or adding something diffferent to a combat round during the monsters turn.

[@ChaosRyzen]

I kinda disagree as it depends on the type of players you have. In the situation he used as an example the creature targeted can just use the dodge action kinda losing the sense of tension and danger. Great though like you said if you wanna give your enemies something else to do to make your players do something other than attack.

[@castingincommon1589]

Ahh, fair enough!

[@dewayner5388]

The only other idea I'd ever come up with was a Bladesinger/Rogue gestalt build: one attack advantage, one attack sneak attack. Rinse, repeat, make your dm bring nothing but tanks

[@37thgungrunts]

@@ChaosRyzen so that means the GM just ate the players action and gets a normal attack

[@ChaosRyzen]

@@37thgungrunts Yea though if you wanna put it that way it means the Giant also had its action eaten up meaning say the 3 other players in the party got a free turn to slap the giant or do something else. Thats why I put it that it at least makes your players do something other than attack in that situation when being targeted and preparing a move for survival. But to reiterate my only disagreement was the "tension" part of doing true strike.

[@krisdinkel8915]

Love Cloudkill as a DM. Its like darkness with a cherry on top. As a player: too many creatures are immune to poison. As a DM: these creatures are minions to the caster (undead, fiends, constructs) and can stay inside the cloud indefinitely. Players will no longer get advantage on attack since that is caneled out by the darkness (unseen attacker but also blind target) ans most spells require sight amd no longer work. It does not kill outright or take players out of the fight. Also: the spell is made for evil casters. It is literally called CloudKILL.

[@poilboiler]

Name could imply it's used to slay clouds.

[@archersfriend5900]

I use it and force cage to move the players about.

[@Treblaine]

Yeah. It's not CloudProportionateForceUsedInSelfDefence

[@DukeTrout]

Make the enemy caster a scribes wizard, and they can make Cloudkill do force, cold, psychic, or bludgeoning damage. It’s not Cloudkill, it’s Cloudpunch! Or using the psychic damage from Dream, it could by Cloudnightmare. So much fun to be had!

[@GLORPDORP]

I gotta give a shout out to the geas spell here, great way to punish players trying make false promises to powerful beings. I also rule that you auto fail the save if you agree with a handshake but that's just me.

[@cmckee42]

Yeah, but Geas doesn't require any agreement. If players get captured, they can get Geased against thier will, and it can be used as the worst form of railroading.

[@Angry-Steel]

@@cmckee42 A DM actually tried that on me when my character didn't like the main NPC, I just said I'd rather you kill the character... I didn't stay for long.

[@agilemind6241]

If imposed against your will, it can be simply Dispelled once you rejoin your party, so it's not really a big deal - most monsters with Charm abilities are way worse than Geas. Plus even if you do go against the Geas it is only 25 damage per day which really isn't a big deal.

[@cmckee42]

@@agilemind6241 it is a big deal to a tier 1 party with no access to dispel magic, and where the damage might drop them unconscious.

[@ZeroKitsune]

@@cmckee42 Your problem isn't the spell. Either it's a plot hook and you should try to find a way out of it while avoiding the damage (a lot of "bad DM" stories are actually bad "hyper entitled player" stories), or the DM actually IS just trying to use it to railroad the story in one direction and you should just stop playing with them.

[@rickfairfax9631]

I do think Bane is underrated. People discount it as “reverse Bless” because Bless always works while Bane allows a CHA save. But there’s more to it than that. Bless might make the different between a weapon hitting or not hitting. Bane can make the difference between being banished/charmed/incapacitated and not having any of those conditions. In other words, Bane’s debuff is far more dangerous to a target than the benefit an attacker gets from Bless when trying to hit that target.

[@joshuaellison6356]

Except that also Bless offers what you've just described for Bane but for your allies and it does it 100% of the time.

[@jugglejunk]

@@joshuaellison6356 There is 1 difference though (hopefully, depends on party), which is that the saving throw of players can often be better on average than that of monsters add to that potentially being proficient in the saving throw and the difference between saving or failing might be smaller compared to that of the average monster.

[@joshuaellison6356]

@@jugglejunk Fair point I hadn’t thought about the monsters chances relative to the players. Thank you for highlighting that.

[@defensivekobra3873]

Anything that debuffs saves is automatically the greatest thing since sliced bread

[@defensivekobra3873]

I want to planarly-bind a demon? I want to curse my enemy for the rest of eternity? I want to make sure contagion works? I want to maximize the odds of banishment/ imprisonment working? Just use bane people

[@TherinCreative]

Compare Mordenkainen's sword to crown of stars - same action economy, but crown of stars can be cast outside combat, takes no concentration, and has 6x range, and 4d12 > 3d10. Yeah, there are some odd balance choices by the D&D team.

[@MinariCapore]

Crown of Stars also lasts an hour, so it can potentially be used in multiple encounters.

[@crimfan]

Mordenkainen's Sword has always sucked in pretty much every edition. Spiritual Weapon is pretty much better in all ways in 5E.

[@AvangionQ]

Mordenkainen's Sword is terrible, needs a couple major buffs to be worthwhile. Remove the concentration and bonus action requirements, might be good enough.

[@Dinodudematt]

I think this spell is intentionally designed to be bad. The high cost for low reward makes me think this spell isn’t meant to be taken seriously.

[@anders630]

I think they weren't designed, more likely just moved over from prev editions without anyone even considering balance.

[@laurencebernstein1233]

I thought for sure you going to put Tenser’s Transformation on the list. BBEG: Now witness my final form!

[@Swimavidly]

This is the only in-combat use of true strike I have ever heard of that is actually good.

[@slydoorkeeper4783]

Right, it always seems like a prepare for combat. But outside of pre combat, it does nothing worthwhile in 98% of situations.

[@aeveon4474]

@@slydoorkeeper4783 but the issue is casting it will cause initiative to roll as your targetting them with a spell

[@8684LYFE]

Nystul's Magic Aura for mystery or subterfuge plots - very good way to turn some of the player's tools against them and throw a curveball. Delayed blast fireball in a hostage situation. Legend Lore (casted by NPCs) to build lore or set-up MacGuffins.

[@aperson9556]

My favourite part about this video was the DM role is described as setting a mood / tone using spells as a mechanic. Really cool perspective.

[@andreacristiano5452]

"The lunatic is me..." I laughed at this. I love you! Thanks for the different perspective on bad spells in this video. About to become a DM after 2 ys playing, and this will be very useful to me!

[@TreantmonksTemple]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@michaelhenman8683]

Bane is absolutely my favourite spell for monsters. I like that it is on the recommended spell list for red dragons in Fizban's.

[@geckothegreene]

Aside from comic relief, I like Mordenkainen's Sword as a good spell for BBEG or long-term mini-bosses to use against PCs in early campaign encounters, since it is a visually flashy spell that vets will clock as high-level but is unlikely to outright kill a character above 1st level (less you crti and roll high I guess, but that is true of a lot of things...). Tier I PCs might be random bystanders to a mysterious figure cutting their way into a museum and bisecting guards with a glowing blue blade of force to steal a McGuffin, and assuming the attacker doesn't drop concentration on Mr M's Mighty Sword unless things get dicey, the party would face a memorable encounter which would probably end in retreat, but could force the attacker to retreat with skilled play, and feel like facing a powerful opponent without feeling like the DM is trolling or stunting on the low level characters.

[@GuKingGu]

Speaking of spells that create a mood, nothing will evoke sheer terror from players faster than a spellcaster casting Disintegrate. Obviously it’s not a spell you cast often (unless you’re really sadistic), but for an end-of-tier boss fight, nothing will better communicate “these guys are really serious about killing you, and if you slip up it’s game over” (for the character of course).

[@Treblaine]

DM tip only, players don't read: I don't tell players what the spell is before it takes effect other than the level of the spell, this is ostensibly to stop them metagaming so they don't know when is the best time to use Counterspell (like when failed saves against good spells) but it also means if they save I describe a failed attack by the spell Disintegrate, but if they fail then I have them be targeted by Chain Lightning which is impressive sounding but no more effective than Fireball. As long as you hit them with Disintegrate on a failed dex save once or twice then the loss aversion bias in their brain will block them from noticing the trend.

[@MageLeaderInc]

@@Treblaine my only problem with that is spells have verbal and Symantec components. Another spell caster would know the spell based on those. So it's not necessarily meta gaming of they pick and choose when to counter spell. But if you do want to play it that way I hope you allow your players to just say what spell level they are casting and not tell you the spell till after you decide if you're reacting

[@Treblaine]

​@@MageLeaderInc That's very true but let us consult the holy texts, what does the PHB say on Verbal components. It doesn't actually say that each spell (that has verbal components) has unique verbal components for each distinctly recognisable spell, just that one requirement is "the chanting of mystic words". Harry Potter's universe may suggest that each spell has unique incantations but the D&D rules leave it open to interpretation. This is exactly the sort of thing a DM decides in session-zero. I'd have it be that verbal components you see are analogous to cheat software being run in an online computer game. But there's so many different ways you can write a program to have an aimbot or manipulate the RNG, but you can't tell just by looking at the code exactly what it's going to do until it's finished. Remember, spell slots and spell levels are an abstraction, they're a very "gamey" abstraction of codifying in a clear way how the magic is limited. They are like hit-points, they aren't what the characters experience in the world. So when I tell the players the level of the spell, that is metagaming as spells in the universe probably aren't by such strict levels. The importance is not the metagaming, it's a matter of balance and enjoyment. Counterspell is not only too powerful but boring when you can just shut down the most powerful spells with no risk of wasting it on a casting of Misty Step. It gets players to pay attention to the descriptions, whether I say they are using a spellcasting focus or not, whether they are targeting someone, whether there's verbal components, it's rough power (articulated as the spell slot being used).

[@rivenstone7035]

I love Bane as both a player and DM. Been playing in a group for several years where the bard has used this to fantastic effect. I'm playing a conquest paladin and when the Bane lands that almost always mean a frightened effect is landing next. Enemies rolling attacks at disadvantage and -1d4 practically ends encounters against a wide range of enemies. That party's abilities really ended up complementing each other well and it usually starts with the humble Bane.

[@ChocolateFishBrains]

Early on I houseruled True Strike to be a bonus action to cast and never looked back. It's an incredible Cantrip that way, but it has some trade offs. An Arcane Trickster can reliably get off a sneak attack but misses out on a potential off hand attack. A polearm master misses out on their bonus attack. It's not unbalanced.

[@rayzerot]

Automatic advantage every round seems a bit broken to me. Am I missing something?

[@ChocolateFishBrains]

@@rayzerot it's only ONE attack, and you could get a similar result from a Familiar using the help action. Choose an owl to do a flyby so they don't provoke opportunity attacks, get free advantage plus all the other utility that a Familiar provides. Since it's a bonus action you can't use it with two weapon fighting or with polearm master. A sorcerer can't quicken if they are using it. It's good, yes, but hardly broken.

[@Ahvrym]

Ooh, I like this as a start - I still like the impending doom feel of it though so I think I'll make it: bonus action cantrip, pick a target and next round you can have advantage on an attack against it. That way it's not just straight advantage on all your primary attacks and it requires some strategic thinking.

[@guilhermeruzene791]

I think it's a great houserule since it still requires concentration

[@cherry_buzzsaw]

did you houserulled one another thing (because it seems that you do) - True strike gives you advantage on one attack "on your next turn"? so even if character can cast it as a bonus action, he must concentrate till the next turn to get advantage. it looks like rogue's Steady aim optional feature, but caster spends concentration instead of movement. and I assume caster need to concentrate between turns. so for me True strike is still bad cantrip. but if True strike gives advantage on next attack while you concentrate, it can be interesting to combine with Boomingblade or something when combat is not worse to cast leveled spell with concentration..

[@CanaldoGreed]

Witch Bolt is also quite a good spell for a lower level spellcaster minion. I managed to grab the barbarian of my party with it, and it was hilarious to see him tanking the automatic damage while trying to get close to the spellcaster to end his concentration.

[@FlameUser64]

Good use for Witch Bolt: NPC vhuman guards with Sentinel, Polearm Master, and Witch Bolt. so like, they have 4 hit dice. The guards set Witch Bolt on a suspect and then hedge them out with polearms until Witch Bolt damage brings them down.

[@mattgopack7395]

Definitely one of my favorite videos of yours - lots of very useful tips/thoughts here! Interesting point on true strike - it's got a lot of mood for low levels, but could also potentially be fairly thematic/interesting at higher levels vs an enemy spellcaster (eg, the party knows they're high level, and True Strike -> [Insert attack roll spell that can deal a lot of damage] could be fairly threatening. Bane is another interesting one - for players, I've never been impressed by it (it's *fine*, but just never impressed me). But as a DM, it's true it's an excellent debuff that doesn't take player characters entirely out of a fight. I'll have to add it to my arsenal for sure! The others are all some I'll have to throw in sometime!

[@ovbrook3057]

That's about how I assumed you would use true strike. The enemy that spends turns charging up a powerful attack is a common trope in RPG boss fights. I'd probably homebrew an attack onto the hypothetical monster that can only be used while the monster has advantage, some sort of all out two handed strike similar in flavor to GWM

[@dadadajasper]

BBEG uses Legendary Action right before the start of the BBEG's turn Cast cantrip: True Strike

[@andrewgreeb916]

Gate is a good spell to use if you're not sure what to do for a player's divine intervention. Just gate in a celestial or Angel of reasonable power to assist them. Maybe even have a custom celestial character that gets gated in to assist them.

[@NeoSamurai13]

Wow, this video is an amazing resource for GMs! I would love more videos with these types of ideas, because they seem like they're great to have in your back pocket. Thanks for the video!

[@TreantmonksTemple]

Thank you! Will do!

[@tempestuous6724]

Slow is a good spell for a Player. But is really good for DM, not gonna lie.

[@TreantmonksTemple]

Yep, there are spells that didn't make this list because although I like them as a DM, I also like them as a player.

[@nburo]

This was a great video. I'd love a series about "DM stuff". More "DM spells", "DM monster abilities", "DM traps", etc.

[@carlcramer9269]

An anecdote on this theme: In PF1, I played a Banshee wrong. Insteadof having the death-scream require a full round to use, I treated it as a full-round casting spell. This the PCs knew that on the banshee's next turn, they would have to save or die. Such a scramble to get away! This was a lot more fun than the RAW version,where the PCs would have to save or die. As played, it affected the PCs actions but in the end no-one actually needed to save. Much more fun and scary.

[@philwalsworth4085]

Yay! Thanks for everything Chris! I still wouldn't understand the rules of spells if I hadnt found your channel! Years of content and I appreciate it a lot!

[@billturner5908]

Yeah, big kudos to @Treantmonk . It boggles my mind how this channel does not have 5 times the subscribers. There are many good D&D channels, but only a handful of great ones. This is one of the great ones. Keep it up, Chris. Thank you.

[@lankarddkl8722]

Another great list and awesome ideas as how to roleplay villains, thank you! Since it isn't mentioned (probably because it isn't so bad for players), I would like to suggest the spells "Summon Lesser/Greater Demon", and make the demon kill the summoner (reference is WoW kzbin.info/www/bejne/pXKyiKOHjdR9h5o )

[@andrewgreeb916]

I'm certain scrolls of those spells would definitely get the caster killed should they succeed. The first rule of necromancy is being strong enough to put down what you bring up. Same applies to summoning.

[@Cl0ne66]

Gaseous form; the BBEG goes through a keyhole to a door. The door is trapped and he’s there waiting with a Readied cantrip to cast at a different player that didn’t trigger the trapped door.

[@TreantmonksTemple]

Nice!

[@CraigAWSellars]

Although not a useless spell as a player, I think Sickening Radiance is a great DM spell at level 4 as well. Exhaustion accumulating on enemies that will die in that fight, meh. Accumulate a few levels on players though and that is a gift that keeps giving for storytelling.

[@johngleeman8347]

Mordenkainen's Sword; so bad it generates a surfeit of mirth when cast by the enemy! XD

[@theresnoracelikegnome]

SPOILERS IF YOU HAVEN’T WATCHED THE GAME CHRIS AND COLBY PLAYED WITH THE DUNGEON DUDES. Did you write this before or after Monty used Gate in your game?

[@TreantmonksTemple]

Before. I've actually been sitting on these two videos for over a month.

[@theresnoracelikegnome]

@@TreantmonksTemple that’s the impression I got. That’s hilarious that Monty used Gate in pretty much the exact way you described. Great minds, I guess. :P

[@mitchc6059]

Guards and wards leaps immediately to mind.

[@snazzyfeathers]

Because Bane targets charisma its worth it in my opinion. I'm more of a Bane person for my clerics.

[@Apocolyps6]

Love this video as GM advice. Both because people tend to evaluate spells once from the POV of a player and never re-evaluate, and because of the emphasis on the GM's goal being to create an experience rather than just to provide a suitable combat.

[@zhangbill1194]

I dont completely agree with your negative take on mind control spells. From my experience as a player, The fact that mind control effects completely changes the status quo of how certain party members behaves is really interesting and can be very fun. i still have very fond memories of a time where a NPC came on our ship, and charmed a majority of the party. He then went on to have a disagreement with one of the party members he couldn't charm, and every other party member was taking the NPCs side instead of our party members side because we were charmed. That was a very funny and memorable experience.

[@dcyphermanplays8233]

Hey nice video. I like the idea behind a lot of these and since I just saw GATE in the game you were playing in, I know exactly what you mean. Thanks

[@treboreroom124]

Hit 666 like very nice! Great work my man been leaning for a bet now I realy like how you did this vidoe nice work. Allso loved the druid spell lest great work.

[@daniellins4114]

As a player I never really picked up greater invisibility unless there was some kind of infiltration going on, never really thought to use it. As a DM? I TPKd my party with it simply because they couldn't hit the main boss

[@cfalkner1012]

Looks like my big bad’s spell portfolio just became more diversified.

[@CasaiAgicap]

This isn't a combat option, but for 7th level I'm a huge fan of Mirage Arcane. It's not something you can use often or your players will suspect something, but the idea of taking a landscape and making it look entirely different, potentially making it a trap without it even appearing to be one, is absolutely brilliant for setting the stage for some encounters. It's situational, but it's great.

[@gaelofariandel6747]

True Strike with Elven Accuracy makes it LESS trash.

[@tomgymer7719]

Bit of a repeat at one point, during crown of madness.

[@TreantmonksTemple]

I must have blanked while editing, sorry about that.

[@SofaKingDead]

Wow, dream is a back breaking spell. It made me cackle as a DM.

[@utkarshgaur1942]

I love the spell Bones of the Earth. It's good for players and great for DMs. It turns any boring open-field combat arena into a dynamic battlefield. When in an open field, I wouldn't hesitate to cast it on a party of any level - 1 to 20. Dream truly is great to inject some tension into the campaign. Used it my Dragon Heist game once my players were getting too comfortable. And now I'm excited to try Crown of Madness and all these other spells against my players!

[@shotgunridersweden]

Many of these spells are what id call plott driving spells.

[@TangooseCarmike8205]

Tiny Hut prevents magical effects from affecting a character inside it. Thats the most reliable way I can think of preventing Dream from affecting a PC.

[@ThomasPercy]

Best episode so far

[@Nikotheos]

Absolutely great set of videos! Love these!

[@TreantmonksTemple]

Thanks so much!

[@DaDunge]

Bane is great for prolonged combat against tanky enemies, epsecially if they have one big attack every turn.

[@markdewey6788]

The actual worst thing about mordekainen's sword is its 20 foot movement speed. It can't go faster than that. The slowest characters can just run away to defeat it.

[@TreantmonksTemple]

At worst the 20 ft movement speed is costing you 3d10 damage, a pretty small loss really.

[@Spyger9]

This is fantastic. I'll definitely be brewing up more spells for badies that change the rules of engagement in interesting ways, rather than do things that players tend to do: pure damage or hard CC

[@bringitonbatman]

Ooh I like this. I always love the idea of the video game boss charging their attack, especially when they're a huge creature with a ton of hit points and a heavy weapon. 10/10 will be using true strike as a DM

[@deathtoexistance]

This video was very interesting. A lot of these spells I've thought I'll just homebrew buff them to make them more on par for their level, but this did make me think twice. In the end I think I'd still buff them, as usually the ways they are made effective for a dm is circumstantial rather than mechanical, and for cases like mordenkainens sword I could always use the original version to show how bad the mage is. I also think the flavour of a spell can be kept while buffing it, I've thought of making true strike make the next attack guaranteed to hit, or maybe even crit, and that wouldn't change the usage here. I have recently used the dream spell as a basis for a plot point for a character, but word of warning my player was new and didn't understand the consequences of exhaustion and almost let the problem kill her character without informing her friends. That said I think for most groups it's perfectly good for a narrative reason, even if it isn't a spellcaster bad guy but a magical effect that they know how to stop. Great job thanks for the suggestions.

[@79AlienFinger79]

I actually just ran an encounter in a wrestling tournament where the two enemy luchadora each had a cantrip as a legendary action; one of them had Vicious Mockery, the other True Strike. It was classic WWE-esque shenanigans, and I couldn't recommend it more highly.

[@leahwilton785]

Spells like True Strike and Elemental Bane also make for good candidates of spells to put on magic items to give your players. Just altering them a lil can make some fun unique items. Make it limited use, but doesn't require concentration. What if True Strike is a bonus action instead?

[@tiradegrandmarshal]

Power Word: Kill should be on the list. Completely useless in players' hands, but a genuinely scary threat to the players in the hands of the DM.

[@cmckee42]

Useful in the hands of the DM, but not very fun for the PCs

[@daniellins4114]

This comment just reminded me of the penultimate combat in The Unsleeping City, with that Power Word Kill used for both drama, plot and character development

[@mezcla191]

OMG, I knew true strike was bad but I forgot that it's only against a target in the 30 ft range. So if your target dies or moves away so you can't attack it this spell did nothing.

[@thomasgeithus3996]

Dream can be really easy to deal with. Leomund's Tiny Hut. That's the whole counter. It states that "Spells and other magical effects can't extend through the dome or be cast through it" and Dream is a spell, so it can't pass.

[@ryadinstormblessed8308]

I still take and use Bane as a Player, and as a DM. Yeah, it doesn't always work, which it's why I don't use it as a Player unless there are 3 targets available and I have a decent Save DC, so that if 1 or even 2 targets save successfully, I'm likely to get at least 1 of them.

[@ryadinstormblessed8308]

30:16 I could see making Gate more interesting by making it a 9th Level _ritual_ that consumes the material spell component and takes 8 hours to cast. That way, as a Wizard at least, you can get this spell in your book without having to worry about missing out on other 9th level spells you could have learned instead, and can even cast it without expending a slot, but it still has drawbacks by consuming the material component and needing a safe place to concentrate and successfully carry out the ritual in order for it to work.

[@misterbxiv]

Something you missed on mordenkainens sword: it’s an action to cast it, and it does the attack when you cast the spel, then it’s a bonus action to do the attack on your turns. But it doesn’t say SUBSEQUENT or FUTURE turns. So, you cast the spell, make the attack, the bonus action to do it again. Turn 1 it’s 6d10 force, then 3d10 after.

[@BeastlyHaxorz]

Mordenkainen's Sword is cool conceptually- it's a lightsaber. Just an underpowered one.

[@FlameUser64]

Control Weather thought: you _can_ use it for more than creating a mood. Party is just enjoying their time in a big city, taking a bit of a break. The wind starts to pick up… agonizingly slowly, over the course of the next 40 to 160 minutes (so, 40 minutes to _2 hours_ and 40 minutes), the wind picks up…! A Survival or Nature check with an increasingly easy DC reveals the weather to be unnatural - there's no way a storm could build in place this fast! It must be a magical effect. The party has _some_ length of time - maybe 20 minutes, maybe an hour and a half - to find the caster and disrupt their concentration before the wind builds into a hurricane that tears buildings apart and visits death and destruction on the city.

[@tobiasholm2717]

Awesome video! This is off topic, but have I question regarding previous videos: Would you use both your Three House Rules AND the monk buffs? My impression from the house rules video that you would not, but I hope you can confirm it :)

[@ChristomirRackov]

Man, your videos are so informative and offer SUCH great analysis and advice for DnD players and DMs! I don't understand why you don't have way more views and subscribers o_O

[@jthompson7175]

Dream is one of those spells I don't think I'd ever prepare or learn, but I think I would grab a couple of spell scrolls for it. As mentioned, long range communication that can convey more than Sending. I think there are some creative applications, though. And the players can potentially use it if a BBEG or their heavy escapes after a large battle.

[@alanschaub147]

Trap Idea: • Players enter a space just large enough for two medium creatures • Bars drop on either side, trapping two players close together • A Glyph of Warding goes off with a Twinned Crown of Madness 👑 👑 • A Magic Mouth says: “Two men enter, one man leaves!” 👄 • The other party members have to figure out how to get the two players out before they kill each other • Mood set! 🗡 🩸

[@zoologybites6841]

Great video! I did find use for gaseous form as a player, but i totally get how situational it is. As a 500 pound 6’3 Tortle, the spell proved valuable for exploration challenges our DM would throw at us. (Such as crossing a frozen lake or stealth missions)

[@Zr0din]

LOL...sure Bane is great if you have Silvery Barbs!

[@37thgungrunts]

Or play a college of eloquence bard. Throw out a bardic inspiration as a debuff to the boss mob

[@Blck0Knght]

On Bane (versus Bless), I think there's a big difference depending on the party size. For a conventional party with around four members, Bless is probably better, since you can put it on all the allies who are likely to attack (and sometimes yourself or another spell caster, who may only need it for saves). But if the party is much bigger, you probably can't Bless everyone who you might wish to, and debuffs like Bane gets better in comparison. While theoretically the DM might be deploying proportionally larger groups of enemies, a lot of the time they'll just increase the power of a modest number of enemies, since running hordes is slow and fiddly. Even if there's a lot of minions or other "chaff" enemies supporting some bigger guys, there are probably few enough important targets so that you can bane them all (and then maybe ignore them for a turn or two while you mop up the chaff). Slow versus Haste has a similar balance situation. Slow is amazing in a big party. So much so that after I used it a whole bunch while playing a Wizard in a 6-player campaign, the DM banned it in the followup campaign (after we TPKed). I'm surprised that Summon Greater Demon didn't make it into the list. I think it is mostly intended for DMs. Other summoning spells are a lot more player-oriented, as they are a lot safer for the summoner. Having a NPC cultist summon a demon and then promptly lose control of could be great fun. The cult might not have been much of a match for the party of PCs, and a demon might be too hard for the PCs if it was exclusively focused on them. But if the demon is more interested in murdering the cultists (for their arrogance in summoning it), and the PCs are more interested in killing the demon (because maybe some of the cultists are sympathetic), then you can have a dynamic three-sided fight where everyone has different motivations.

[@crimfan]

D&D has always had a lot of spells that are fairly crummy for PCs but useful for foes. I think part of it is just due to the fact that D&D in Ye Olde Days assumed that the real goal of PCs was to build a stronghold and then engage in mass battles. (It's quite obvious in 1E.) A number of spells made way more context in that context, such as Hallucinatory Terrain or Guards and Wards. These are much more useful for foes. Others, such as Gate, have pretty well always been better for foes. A number of the kind of meh spells are also good when there are many lower level support casters who can fling spells at PCs.

[@justinschmelzel8806]

I wanted to say I LOVE that you brought up bane and talked about the tactical miss labelling of the spell. I have been using it and I absolutely love it specifically for its reduction in later saves. That combined with the reduction in attacks and another battle field controller makes for a powerful first level defensive spell. Yes it isn't likely to work on ALL of your opponents but just getting 1 or 2 is pretty huge. Just an example, 1 person fails it and then one of your other party members casts "blindness/deafness" and now that target is basically taken out of the fight swinging at -d4 and disadvantage. If you have something like vicious mockery it makes it easier to land the mockery and he gets disadvantage and -d4 to attack rolls, Frost bite does it too. There are so many ways to take the fact that he has a -d4 to his attack roll AND saves to just stack negatives on this guy. I hit the 3 guys with this 2 failed, one of which was the biggest most powerful dude in the group. Then the next player cast Mind Sliver on him stacking negative saves and then the next Save/or suck took him out of the fight completely with his -2d4 on save. The extra guy that was just swinging at -d4 later got save or damage spells levied against him. Bane is very under-rated. Also I do like Dream when I play as an elf player. Because while others need 8 hours I only need 4 so I can cast a couple dream spells on the recurring big bad and give him nightmares during our rest and do that day in and day out until he takes levels of exhaustion before we face him.

[@goose6752]

I saw this video, and its companion vid, back when they first came out, and have been repeatedly thinking about them since. I've figured out why. There's a fair small bit of DM advice videos out there, but there all general and minimal in topic and content (10 things good DM's do, and the like). What you've done here is really drill down on the topic and provide a lot of very specific and detailed examples. I really love these 2 vids of yours and hope to see more good DM Optimancy from you. 👍

[@PlanetOfTheApes999]

I love videos like these. They give people a brand new perspective.

[@SergioMongeBenito]

One question about elemental bane (not questioning your affirmation that it is a terrible spell for PC). It says that it only delivers damage per turn. Not per round. So technically, if you had a full party of people doing that type of damage… you perhaps could get… 8d6 per round? More. With pets or similar creatures.

[@adriangoetz5108]

I really like these videos where you emphasize the narrative effect it has beyond just talking about the mechanical effects. Don't get me wrong, even though I've read most of the published stuff and have access to it, watching your videos on mechanics always highlights something I misunderstood or didn't think of. But when you throw thematic elements into the mix it really makes it feel like an RPG and not just a video game. Side note: Dream states "the messenger can also shape the environment of the dream, creating landscapes, object, and other images." and "you can make the messenger appear monstrous". Do you think it's within the scope of the spell to have the messenger appear, sound like, and feel like (within the realm of the dream) a different non-monstrous person? Perhaps to pretend they're an ally?

[@alanschaub147]

• Action = Bane • Action Surge = Synaptic Static • Reaction = Silvery Barbs on biggest threat that makes its save 😈

[@Draakhart_961]

Gaseous Form and I have some fun history: I was once running a Ravnica Game where a train metro system had been put into place, so this individual used the spell. As the battlefield was what was moving, it triggered no opportunity attacks and the players could choose to either let go, or jump and risk taking damage. Was a damn good moment, and somewhat improvised too. Many divination or long time spells are pretty damn useful, even if it's just roleplay. A Bard villain, casting Plant Growth to feed the village his own forces raided? Is now heralded as their hero once the crops are about - and the players cannot quite just go burn the fields... if they care about their lives.

[@benH215]

Awesome video. Not something that other content creators have really done before either so very unique. Please do another one of these videos! I'd love to hear your insight on other spells from a DMs perspective.

[@secretlyditto7716]

You know what'd be mean... bane, causing worry in the players. They don't want to fail they're saves. They cast counter spell way more than they should., draining their resources and setting them up for capture. Escape from jail plots are hard to force because you never really know how things will pan out, but I do love a good heist.

[@braddalrymple8615]

This is such a great tips for DM kind of thing ! I love the idea of using true strike to arrive fear into a players heart and get the players moving! And yes whe you said -2xD4s to a saving throw I immediately thought "like disintegrate🤔" keep it up these are great. He first o was liw Subtle "how not to tick off your DM" but this one is full blown "here is a spell book to give your casters for maximum fun and entertainment "

[@secretlyditto7716]

Ahhh I'm running dnd for the first time. Things keep changing as the players level up and idk what I'm doing. Videos like these are helpful. :)

[@petergriffin9554]

I found myself in the curious situation of being up against a high AC enemy with the shield spell (more than 4 slots too) and solid saves against our groups cantrips as well as condition immunities that negated most of our spell options. I also happened to have spell scroll of True Strike I acquired as a joke, hoping to pull it out in a less stressful situation, use it and hopefully everyone laughs. Well since short of a nat20 there was no way for me to eldritch blast the enemy with shield up: I cast True Strike. Laughter ensued - I still missed. Excellent spell, just not for combat.

[@LordZeebee]

Gaseous Form would be really cinematic to use just as the players have cornered the bigbad against a door or cracked window of some kind! "The bigbad backs up, back against the locked iron door. But instead of dread you see a knowing smirk spread across their lips. With a subtle flick of their wand and a mumble under their breath their form seperates into a million tiny, dust-like specks as they seep away into the cracks of the door. What do you do?"

[@FlameUser64]

Honestly Gate seems like it would be really fun to use on the player's side as a DM, too! As the DM, you have the opportunity to give the _party_ powerful allies, or set them up to recruit those allies. Maybe you need to appeal to heavenly forces to gain the favour of a celestial army (or at least a celestial A-team) to assault the BBEG's stronghold. Or maybe a player character is eladrin nobility, and the party arranges to Gate in the armies of a fey court from the Feywild to aid in defeating the BBEG.

[@rustyshovel7179]

I disagree with the take on true strike. If i have a monster cast true strike, the players aren't going to start panicking or anything like that, and its not going to create suspense. They're going to breathe a sigh of relief or just laugh, because they know that true strike is terrible, and objectively a waste of an action. They're going to think "Oh, so now we only have to deal with one attack." Sure, something with high damage and low to hit seems like it would be scary here, but frankly that doesn't make much difference - its still the same as if it just attacked twice, and advantage only increases the odds - it doesn't garuntee a hit. While a lot of people have the psychology of "advantage means it should hit" that's not how chance works. Even if you have a 99.9% chance to hit, you can still miss. Furthermore, true strike is an ACTION that affects ONE attack. A lot of monsters have multiattack, so they're not just trading one roll for one roll, they're trading two, or three, or even four or five in some cases. Rather, what i do to create a feeling of suspense and reactivity in combat is simple - If a monster has a recharge ability, It rolls recharge at the END of its turns, rather than the start, and i give some sort of description indicating it has recharged - while still giving the party a round to prepare. If i say "The dragon's throat becomes illuminated with orange light and smoke begins fuming from its nose" at the end of a dragon's turn, the party are probably going to immediately think to spread out and get behind cover. Unlike with the true strike example, it's not wasting any action with this, and recharge abilities tend to be the single most powerful option a monster has - An attack roll can miss, but against a dragon's breath weapon you're still taking heavy damage even if you succeed the save.

[@Cynndora]

Disintegrate is always the spell that gets my attention when coming from NPCs. Had a moment in a campaign where the party was in a dream-like state and basically fighting every single BBEG we had fought up to that point all at the same time, and something "went wrong" and the BBEG we had yet to fight showed up and used Disintegrate, the party immediately stopped having fun and exited stage left. Not to say the DM was ruining our fun, more that he really got the message across that the next BBEG ain't playing around, so from that point onwards my druid would constantly take single strands of hair from the party to reincarnate them incase the rest of their body gets disintegrated. Edit: Fun fact, nothing about the Gaseous Form spell says your immune to the grappled condition, i don't know how but you can grapple that gas.

[@devin5201]

Oh c'mon Flesh to Stone isn't AWFUL, it's not great either but if the target fails that first save they're basically sitting ducks with little to do about it... I forget, is restrain one of the conditions that give advantage on spells? If so then it's like happy hour.

[@jimmybob7873]

Crown of Madness is a pretty janky debuff spell for players to use, but I've seen it shine on the battlefield. Once was during a siege that my party was defending against, when our sorceress cast it on a big goon (reskinned Gladiator) who was overwhelming our paladin and my monk with its three brutal melee attacks. From then on, we had the upper hand in the fight, as it could only make one attack on it turn.

[@maybevoldemort8995]

Love this video- I kind of have a view in some subclasses being a DM subclass. I wouldn’t advocate a player being an assassin, but an npc or a bbeg being one? Really coll

[@r.downgrade5836]

I like the idea of a giant pointing at you then casting 'True Strike'. That sounded immensely intimidating, but my first thought was of a chubby Hill Giant doing this with their baseball bat, errr, I mean club and then pointing at the horizon after.

[@jamesmangiameli8337]

My mind ran to warding/trapping spells like Glyph of Warding or Guards and Wards, unless that's already implied.

[@lord6617]

A DM using flesh-to-stone was an instance that made my Arcane Cleric feel pretty epic. I reached out, upcast Mass Cure Wounds, and smote flesh to stone and other bad effects off of my whole group in one fell swoop.