The Five Worst Spells in Dungeons and Dragons 5e

MONSTERS OF DRAKKENHEIM is 300+ pages of eldritch horror inspired monsters for 5e by the Dungeon Dudes! Coming to Kickstarter March 26th, 2024: www.kickstarter.com/projects/... In Dungeons and Dragons 5e, full spellcasters must choose a relatively small arsenal from amongst several hundred spells. Unfortunately, with so many spells in the game, there are still a few that really don’t measure up. These are the worst spells in Dungeons and Dragons 5e:
2:53 True Strike
5:34 Witch Bolt
7:58 Find Traps
10:55 Crown of Madness
14:06 Mordenkainen's Sword
16:44 Honorable Mentions
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[@DungeonDudes]

A huge thank you to everyone who participated in our community discussion! Your comments, suggestions, and insights were invaluable in creating this video. If you feel that any of these spells are actually pretty good, tell us why! However, when sharing anecdotes describing how one of these spells performed admirably, please consider how another spell available to your character might have done a better job in the same situation!

[@Je_suis_Jefe]

Dungeon Dudes Flame Strike is a very useless lvl5 spell. Same dmg and area of effect as fireball a lvl3 spell.

[@RadioCharlotte]

The way that I've always used crown of Madness is on a caster to force them to melee attack and Ally humanoids maybe terrible at melee but they're pretty good at magic

[@dm-entores3119]

I understand all the other spells, but i dont see why flame blade reach the honorable mentions.

[@jamesking4736]

You guys are super uncreative, crown of madness if awesome and funny if you just get a little creative! If you have a rogue or a bard that can use it, they can sit back and make the target burn spell slots and fight each other, got a warlock or someone who can hex/bestow curse, curse there wisdom saves! It's great for keeping your caster in the fight and out of harm's way! Or if your a DM you can have a ass hole NPC do it to a player and then drink a potion of invisibility, or have a friend turn them invisible! Then you get to watch your players fight and its suddenly unwanted PvP and drama! Also witchbolt is not the greatest but once again you guys are uncreative! Hey your group is a low level with no silver weapons? NO WORRYS! Someone hold it down while I show this guy the true power of the dark side! It's a good way to conserve spell slots and deal solid damage at low levels! Or if your a sorcerer you can twin it and deal 2d12 every turn!

[@nolanpudoff7577]

Thank you guys for your insight, I almost chose Witch Bolt but you guys saved me. Thanks again, happy dungeoning!

[@ymmijx6061]

the most effective spell to find traps is cure wounds. thanks barbarian!

[@researchinbreeder]

@@SwedishNeo yeah but heres the thing. Detect Magic will find most of those, and good players find the rest if the GM isn't chaotic evil. And early game? Cure Wounds plus Tank will find more traps than Find Traps ever will.

[@Kernelhazzard1]

Don't get surprised, get angry!

[@williamwontiam3166]

@@researchinbreeder especially if they use the exact words and achohol.

[@pattyofurniture694]

Lolllllll

[@timob1681]

i was thinking find traps might be useful as a confirmation that "no, there aren't any traps here," but then i read that you have to have line of sight. imagine using this spell and being told "there are no traps," then getting dropped into a fire pit because "the trap was under the floor." fuck that

[@bigburkhart2293]

I will say that if I'm DMing and the first time a Warlock shouts "UNLIMITED POWER" as they're casting Witch Bolt, I'm giving them bonus damage. I will continue to do so until I stop finding it funny.

[@Jelutro]

im playing a wild magic sorcerer being enticed by his claim to power and just gave him witch bolt. I had the exact same plan in mind. I see him eventually betraying the party but trying to win over his one closest friend to help him claiming he can save his family that was killed hahaha.

[@Silvershield88]

thats funny, my solution to witch bolt is to change the continuous damage to a bonus action instead of a full action like a weaker version of call lightning

[@ferociousmaliciousghost]

Warlock: I use my *UNLIMITED POWER TO STRIKE MY FOE!* This attack will cause even the heavens to weep! *_I CAST MY STRONGEST SPELL, WITCH BOLT!_*

[@override367]

weve been running witch bolt with doing the full damage but even the dumbest of creatures realizing instinctively that they can break it by moving away or charging the caster and trying to attack them - and its worked out very well. The worry about it being overpowered has proven unfounded, most of the time it just means the caster of it is zoning the creature out of an area, exposing it to attacks of opportunity, which makes it good value for spell slots

[@williamwontiam3166]

This is why I make it just concentration rather than an action.

[@WolfHreda]

I like to think that Find Trap was the only spell crafted by a Wizard forgotten to time. He cast it in a controlled environment, thought he had all the details nailed down, took it into a real dungeon, and immediately died due to how bad his spell actually was. Hang on, I'm going to write that down for a story beat for my players. 🤣

[@aaronvoxous7806]

And I’m going to steal it and use it for my players too. Thank you 😊

[@jamesnewstead7099]

That screams warhammer fantasy all over

[@assfuckingshit]

Newb: "I cast Find Traps!" Me: "I cast Rogue!"

[@GhimyDaCheese]

I cast investigation check!

[@samsonallen5001]

Thanks assfuckingshit

[@dahobdahob]

The proper second level spell to cast to find traps is Enhance Ability on the Rogue

[@sandropazdg8106]

@@GhimyDaCheese I see you spelled Perception wrong

[@lagg1e]

@@sandropazdg8106 In 5e the skill to check for traps is actually investigation, not perception.

[@gregoryfloriolli9031]

Tenser’s Transformation grants you heavy armor proficiency. The spell has a duration of 10 minutes. It takes 10 minutes to put on heavy armor. Not that a Wizard would ever want to put the heavy armor on anyway since if you failed your concentration you’d lose that armor proficiency and be stuck in armor and unable to cast spells. How did this get passed play testing?

[@nyanbrox5418]

there needs to be a requip spell, that lets you switch out armor or stuff instantly and as a bonus action and ritual, that would be good

[@Archimonde259]

That's kind of strange, but overall, Tenser's Transformation sounds like it might be pretty good for a gish build, especially if you play a Bladesinger wizard. The extra hitpoints are a nice boost, advantage on attacks and 2d12 bonus damage on every attack is quite a bit. Proficiency in Constitution saving throws is useful to avoid losing concentration, unless you took your first level in Fighter instead of Wizard. Admittedly, Extra Attack is lost because as a Bladesinger you already get one, and so is the weapons and armor proficiency because you already have proficiency in the stuff you need. It still sounds like a pretty good deal to me, though maybe they should have given it more features to boost gishes in particular rather than trying to make *any* wizard into a competent melee fighter (which most wizards will never be or want to be anyways).

[@Naivedo]

It would need to be in combo with Warcaster, or already being able to use heavy armor so you can still cast spells when it drops.

[@dungeonmasteromega]

Power Ranger Armor solves that problem. When in doubt, homebrew!

[@cyrilmartin5613]

Tenser's transformation is exactly what Ainz use in the anime Overlord to pass himself for a great warrior. As you can't use spell anymore, except for RP or if magic is impossible in a specific area, it's better playing an eldritch knight or a paladin

[@dadadajasper]

"I'm really worried there's traps in here." "There are." "Oh no..." Cracked me up xD

[@stephenalley5177]

"Something bad might happen today!" -weapon of warning "Yeah, what?" "Mmm, who knows!"

[@dadadajasper]

@@jamesmayle4712 I believe in Tiamat. Is that ok?

[@TakunaNuva]

I can see the case to be made for Crown of Madness to be an awesome spell as a DM to throw at your PCs, especially if they're new and don't know what it is. Mind control spells are usually kind of a dick move as a DM, but this one's not *that* much of a threat, and still leaves some control to the player, and dealing with it is more like a puzzle/tactical element to the fight.

[@TheGameVerse]

Mind control is a dick move? My players love it when they get controlled, I just tell them that the other PC's are their enemies and off they go LOL. I'm being sarcastic about love but it's still pretty fun for the player who got controlled lol. The others are usually the unhappy ones :P

[@aegisScale]

While suboptimal the Crown proved an effective disruption technique when used by a player's sorcer-rouge, basically turning a slot into a nuisance to a group of enemies (by taking over a tactical NPC) while the rest of the party just kills things.

[@ValekHalfHeart]

Yep, this is another one that has "DM spell" written all over it. Though I'm not sure if the designers intended it that way since it does appear in the added spell lists for some PC subclasses (not counting the Oathbreaker Paladin which is intended for NPC villains).

[@cilbenpender1762]

if my dm decides to mind control me to attack my party it would be devastating. i usually burst down the spellcasting backliner first. i feel like it would garner some respect from my party though.

[@santosic]

don't tell this to my current DM. Guy has been trying to find ways to deal with our highly powered team. If he found a way to use this spell properly on the big hitter, that would cause issues. The good, fun kind, probably, but still

[@joshuasavan4386]

One cool thing to do with crown of madness is if you know a big villain is a spellcaster and you keep your barbarian next to him, you can force the spellcaster to attack with melee, making them basically skip their turn as they get wailed on

[@coombscharlie]

Agreed! Also, you could force a martial who normally makes multiple melee attacks to make just one. 'The charmed target must use its action before moving on each of its turns to make a melee attack [singular!] against a creature other than itself that you mentally choose.' So instead of multiple melee attacks on your tank, it can only make one attack. That could reduce its damage by a lot.

[@murphieslaw6932]

Yeah, good idea. Just screwing over casters and ranged attackers in general and/or using it as a MMO-style Taunt might make it quite worthwhile.

[@Beanz-on-Toast]

Came to say exactly this, its what came to my mind when they were describing it

[@rayquaza5059]

That’s actually a great idea

[@bassett_green]

Lol my dumbass looked at the time stamps in the description and skipped ahead because I couldn’t remember a spell called “Honorable Mention” and was curious if it was home brew or something

[@littleratfella6857]

Bruh I can't believe Honorable Mention is a fucking FIFTH LEVEL spell like deadass only Warlocks can use them and it doesn't scale in higher slots. What the hell, Gygax?

[@Spiceodog]

4th level spell, you can make an honorable mention of someone besides yourself and that character will have charisma advantage on anyone who heard your mention

[@aguynamelex3146]

@@Spiceodog that does sound like a good spell

[@davidstratton696]

A Guy name Lex But u can just cast enhance ability and get advantage on charisma that way, it’s also a 2nd Level spell, doesn’t just work on people who “heard your mention”, and u can use it on more then just charisma. I don’t even like Enhance ability at all lol

[@encyclochemeleon276]

Honorable Mention, 3rd level enchantment, Bards, Paladins, Clerics. the caster uses divine energies and speaks the names of up to 3 targets. for the next 2d4 days, those targets are immune to harmful enchantments if the caster is within 30 feet.

[@jay2thedub]

I like "Crown of Madness" for making distractions. You get one guard to punch another guard and and just slip on by as all of the near by guards try to stop the fight.

[@DungeonDudes]

This is a cool and clever use of the spell, actually.

[@PopeCocksmoker]

@@DungeonDudes *If* you're a sorcerer with the Subtle Spell metamagic. Otherwise, you just said magic words and made magic gestures before a magic crown manifested on a guard, who suddenly acted weird. The guards are going to put 2+2 together and get "stab the wizard!" They're not great at math, y'know? *Invisibility* is also 2nd level.

[@4NSW3RM3]

@@PopeCocksmokerfrom 120 feet away, you can see them, but they may not see you. Invisibility is still better.

[@HeavyTopspin]

Used by Fjord in this way in C2 E11 of Critical Role.

[@XthegreatwhyX]

Nothing that a simple Charm can't do better.

[@jonavoll4651]

Btw, a bard that wants to have a flying sword can actually just use magical secrets to gain Access to spiritual weapon...

[@Kolonite_]

Sorcerer : "You guys are getting more than a dozen spells?"

[@kylestillwell7031]

Oh gosh... Find Traps is only available to high wisdom characters anyway, so they also have the perception to find traps in their own.

[@theredrighthandproductions]

Witch Bolt would be so much better if it took a bonus action to maintain it instead of an action.

[@MadSwedishGamer]

Or if the continued damage scaled with spell levels. Dealing 3d12 every turn and still being able to cast as a bonus action is not too bad.

[@DungeonDudes]

@@MadSwedishGamer I would love to see a beefed-up version of the spell that did some damage, and had a chance to incapacitate, force-lightning style.

[@InquisitorThomas]

Or if they gave it a decent range so the enemy can't just run away or get into melee range in one turn.

[@KevlarIlluminati]

@@DungeonDudes Witch Bolt quickly becomes the best spell if your are a sorcerer with the spellsniper feat and use the ranged bump metamagic or twin spell metamagics. UNLIMITED POOOOWER!

[@DungeonDudes]

​@@KevlarIlluminati Explain that one a little more for us? I feel like I must be missing something, Witch Bolt deals less damage than a Fireball until you start using 6th level spell slots (at which point a quickened Sunbeam is the way to go) I'm not sure I'd want to twin Witch Bolt over say, Haste, Polymorph, and a lot of other spells, but I'd love to see the breakdown.

[@Torthrodhel]

This entire list is very useful for my INT 1 character to be able to effectively role-play being INT 1 as pertains to her choosing spells.

[@joncliffmckinley5868]

RAI, an entity with 1 intelligence probably wouldn't be able to cast spells. At 1 intelligence you have less reasoning capacity than a dog or fish

[@Torthrodhel]

@@joncliffmckinley5868 that doesn't mean you can't be magical. It's not all wizardry. There's wild burst-from-within type sorcery as well, that's not supposed to have come from any book or knowledge. That's how I see it.

[@joncliffmckinley5868]

@@Torthrodhel good luck with verbal components

[@joncliffmckinley5868]

Lol, slobbermancy, let's go!

[@Torthrodhel]

@@joncliffmckinley5868 there could sometimes be the occasional delay. Hehehe. But you don't play any really-low score without planning your character specifically around that. Not to mention gestures and objects could also be a challenge. I'm not in any game with this character btw, expecting it to take a long time to find the right fit, GM discretion permitting and all such. It's one of several (actually, over a hundred) planned characters. Yeah I'm one of those types. "Can you make up a character for this campaign?" "Yes, here are several mock-up pictures of a dozen-or-so I've been thinking of playing that might work here..."

[@DonYagamoth]

I was surprised to see "Find Traps" on the list. Then... It turns out my DM just naturally adjusted the "Find Traps" spell when it was last used by our Druid, and he specifically outlined the locations and mentioned the nature of the traps. So... It was actually useful at the time to simply circumvent it

[@murphieslaw6932]

One more spell saved by home brew ! ...or by accident as your DM might not have actually known what it does. My Paladin once cast Detect Good and Evil and I forgot what it ACTUALLY does - it does NOT allow to detect an alignment in any way, just find fiends, demons, angelic creatures, undead etc. I didn´t know either so... we just went with that +facepalm+ At least now we know it doesn´t even do that at all, heh. But you guys should keep that house rule, save that spell !

[@withraas4264]

Mordenkainen's sword is so bad that Bigby's hand can top it in every way possible

[@williamwontiam3166]

Well, except for being a sword.

[@kaiyamazaki1684]

Another funny part is that if you up cast Spiritual Weapon to 6th level, because of adition of your spellcasting modifier, it'll do around the same or more damage, meaning Mordenkainen's Sword is literally worse in every way to to a 2nd level spell XD

[@jordantiburcio4541]

Bigbys takes your action, but yeah the effect is a pretty stark comparison

[@ModernRebelFilms]

@@jordantiburcio4541 Bigby's takes an action to cast but only uses your bonus action on subsequent rounds to move and perform one of the effects plus it can move up to 60 feet as opposed to only 20 feet for the sword.

[@ViccVegaa023]

It's funny ,because the spell was severely nerfed from earlier editions where: it was equivalent to a +2 weapon to hit, it hit ethereal and out of phase creatures, was treated as a +3 magic weapon when considering what it could hit AND wasn't a concentration spell (in 3.5 only). Adding back any one of these features makes it at least worthwhile to take, and adding any two features justify it being a 7th level spell.

[@leovaeg]

also, you can cast Spiritual Weapon with a higher-level slot, so you can get 2d8 at 4th, 3d8 at 6th, etc, making it MUCH more flexible

[@danboud8135]

And to add insult to injury, Mord's Sword requires a 250gp material component whereas Spiritual weapons requires nothing.

[@Dezbood]

Crown of madness* just straight up doesn’t need to exist. Enemies Abound is exactly what it’s supposed to be, and that spell is badass

[@sashasscribbles]

Cooler name though imo sksks

[@Rabijeel]

CoM is one Level lower, and it is not for "making Enemies attack each other", it is to prevent them from getting Flanking bonuses or such. To force it away from each other. If you do not get the Point, think of 2 Chars, both Fighter2/Rogue3 fighting together one Foe with all Bonuses or, when ganging up, loosinf that advantage and turning on each other. It is a defensive Spell used against offensive Enemies, not an offensive Spell used against defensive Enemies.

[@RubberKid100]

I like Witch bolt's essence. At my table I rule it to deal the upcast damage each round after the first instead of just 1d12.

[@Vidar93]

I have tried running it two different ways and both made it much more viable. The first was that you get to add your spellcasting stats mod to the inital and subsequent turns (just the stat bonus not prof). The second was leaving it essentially the way it is except it is just a bonus action to reactivate it on your turn. The later option was the one I ended up kind of liking more because it still provides that leashing damage that kind of requires you to stay close but allows you to attack or cast a spell or cantrip while maintaining it.

[@cueball6969]

Yea, I really like Witch Bolt too If I had to rework it I'd give it 2d12 initial followed by 1d12 automatic damage, with the scaling of 1d12 per level for the initial damage and 1d12 automatic damage every other level Also, at the start of it's turn the target makes a strength check; if they fail they take a 20ft penalty to their movement, making the short range less of an issue

[@SmolAnarchy]

I thought of something myself. Each turn it amps its damage, 1d12 when cast, then 2d12, then 3d12, 4d12, 5d12, etc. This makes it so the enemy you cast this spell to have to focus on you, but your frontline is stopping them from getting to you.

[@WolfHreda]

The other thing you can do to greatly improve it is to double its range to 60 ft. It's so easy to end Witch Bolt simply by walking away.

[@murphieslaw6932]

I´m with Jon Arnzen here, his solution seems to be the best house rule for saving this otherwise cool spell. Vote for changing it to a bonus action - all of a sudden it is viable without being overpowered.

[@mikoditeyvette8929]

Witchbolt is only really useful in the early levels, as it does the equivalent of a greataxe in lightning damage and autohits in turns after the first one (its why anyone would even think about putting it in their spellbook). In later levels, it doesn't scale well at all. Witchbolt would be more useful if the autohit damage scaled, otherwise you have better options against the big bags of HP that witchbolt was designed for. I think this is why some classes allow you to switch out your spells at level up.

[@BarokaiRein]

It doesn't deal as much damage as a greataxe though since you can't add your modifier to the damage roll.

[@halfjack2758]

@@BarokaiRein "Lamannian oak wand intensifies"

[@FuelDropforthewin]

1d12 damage is not reliable. Can do 12, can do 1. or you just flat out miss your attack roll. You know what doesn't miss and reliably does damage? MAGIC MISSILE BITCHES!!! *fires off magic missiles into the air*

[@sashasscribbles]

@@FuelDropforthewin Magic missle isn't a lightning bolt you can pretend to fire like a kamehameha tho 😔

[@evilsquirrel0573]

@@sashasscribbles you can pretend like you’re firing off a bunch of little ki blasts like vegeta often does though

[@corinbryant]

One of the Dislikes was Mordenkainen himself

[@SpectralKnight]

Well he should have reworked the spell till it was better then instead of being an lazy Archmage ;)

[@milkoflegends]

And his 250 children XD

[@nat1baby]

Or anyone creative that sees this video for the waste of space it is...? They basically just read out the book... then nit pick over things which page 1 says “everything is adaptable”... these guys either don’t understand how to make tutorial/discussion videos or don’t understand what creativity is...

[@VinceValentine]

@@nat1baby They criticize the rules as written. Of course the DM can change anything they like, but that's not the point here. There are spells which are well written and others which are really bad in RAW.

[@envoy2500]

"Just send the barbarian." There's more than one kind of trap finder lol

As a Sorcerer I thought Witch bolt was OK in my early levels with Twinned Spell, since I could never afford to buy a 50 GP diamond and use Chromatic Orb instead.

[@petrus9067]

Chromatic Orb doesn't consume the diamond so you can use a arcane focus (staff, wand, orb etc) instead of the component. Also you can say you just have a pouch with components and when you get one diamond it lasts forever :)

[@extralongbaguette8880]

@@petrus9067 If it has a specified cost, it is required. Arcane focuses don’t work.

[@petrus9067]

@@extralongbaguette8880 still doesnt consume the diamond at least. Also components imo are just one of those things unnecessarily complicated you can easily try houserule options. Something so simple and not special like chromatic orb i see no reason to not let an arcane focus work

[@hellterminator]

@@petrus9067 Chromatic Orb is by far the most powerful and versatile 1st level single target damage spell. If there's no obstacle to taking it, no one will take anything else.

[@brianj.841]

Question regarding Witch-bolt: Low-level spell-casters have a very limited number of spell-slots; this does damage over several turns. Is it a viable choice?

[@gayrights8315]

I recently killed my party's Warlock using True Strike the reason is bcause I'm a wild magic sorcerer, and thanks to my wild magic surge we had an area where all spells (and cantrips) rolled another random spell out of every spell that exists. The warlock rolled disintegrate, and obliterated a wooden crate, then I casted True Strike, and got fireball. the Fireball killed the warlock outright, and was 2 damage away from killing me outright as well. It was fun, and the only time True Strike will ever kill anyone, when True Stike is Fireball

[@kyowey4847]

There's no way for True Strike to activate Wild Magic Surge. It can only be activated when you roll a 1 on a d20 roll prompted by the DM, or, when you have used Tides of Chaos, and cast a 1st level or higher spell. It says nothing about cantrips. The roll that the DM can prompt is also only after you cast a 1st level or higher spell. Assuming of course you're using the standard PHB rules.

[@gayrights8315]

@@kyowey4847 True Strike didn't cause the wild magic surge, Burning Hands did earlier in the encounter. True Strike only activated an effect of a previous wild magic surge, which specifically mentioned "Any spell or cantrip used in [radius I don't remember off the top of my head] for the next 30 minutes activates a random, different spell or cantrip". Sorry for the lack of clarity! We also don't use the standard wild magic table, instead we use a d10000 table with fewer instant death effects, because we decided it would be more fun if it activated after every spell (but still not cantrips, like you said). This change has had two affects: The game has definitely been more fun for everyone (which is the objective on D&D imo, to have fun) and Tides of Chaos has been stupid useful since it comes back after any spell I cast (though I've forgotten to use it or not had a chance to a fair number of times) my favourite example of my wild magic surge causing something that made an encounter more fun for everyone was the very first enounter after that character joined (since my first character was a bard who died on her very last saving throw before everyone would be able to get to me with a nat 1

[@tharrock337]

@@gayrights8315 fewer instant death effects than 5e WM? is that even possible? We got Fireball with a 2% chance that can certainly kill a low lvl PC outright, ther are a bunch of summons that, depending on the DM and alignment of you PC may just kill you although I wouldn't call that instand seeing how there have to be additional actions taken and other that that there isn't anything that I could possibly see as dealing any form of direct dmg to you. Certainly being polymorphed into a sheep or a potted plant can turn the tide of battle as well as voulnrability to all types of demage but none of these can reasonably be called "insta death" right? Soooo is 2% a lot? I don't think so, certainly not compared to earlier editions of D&D.

[@PopeCocksmoker]

@@tharrock337 Quite. The problem with 5e Wild Magic isn't that it kills you, the problem is that it mostly doesn't do jack. Even if you convince your GM to roll for a surge every time you cast a spell (which they don't have to, at all) it's still only a 5% chance of anything happening, which means you can easily blow every spell slot you have and still not see it. When it does come up, there's about a 16% chance it still does nothing of consequence.. I'm being generous and counting all the summons as potentially interesting, and "you can see invisible creatures" as a useful effect. I was promised some wildly unpredictable magical chaos, where's my chaos?!

[@tharrock337]

@@PopeCocksmoker agreed. I share that frustration. Played with a wildmagic sorcerer for 5 levels. the chart triggered once and he grew a feathary beared that exploded in a sneeze 5 seconds later. I won't deny that it was quite funny but... where's the wild? I made a custom setting where sorcerers are outlawed because in the history of my setting there was a great battle in wich they turned three days journeys worth of land into barren wasteland and a nearby forests trees into poisonous mushrooms. If I don't create a new version of the wild magic table, meeting the sorcerers in their secret hideout in the desert will be quite the disappointment.

[@classkid321]

Magic aura is totally a player spell. It has made my character a very rich conman.

[@markgrant4954]

Crown of Madness is definitely not worth it for players, but I love using it as a DM spell, especially if the players don't instantly clue in to what's going on. Narrating a spooky crown, flavour-appropriate for the villain using it, appearing and the victim having to lash out at her party is a great way to up the stakes of an encounter. Also, it creates an interesting way to break up clumped parties, by encouraging them to spread out and use more of the terrain to avoid their afflicted ally.

[@dubuissonldv9610]

I really wanted shield as a non illusion / enchantment spell for my arcane trickster, so I picked true strike as a cantrip. The combination of the two with cunning action often proved a good way to land sneak attacks and interacted well with the magic item my DM gave me...

[@DeaconCobbanBossaru9000]

i once had a DM who changed true strike to make it more appealing to players. He made it where in addition to getting advantage on your first attack of your next turn against the target, you learn any of its resistances, vulnerabilities, and immunities. Since then my friends have decided to assimilate that, now in almost every campaign people are using true strike since that change makes it actually worth a damn.

[@ThieftheFlygon]

The issue with giving True Strike the ability to learn a creatures resistances, vulnerabilities, and immunities is that you undermine class features like the Monster Slayer Ranger's Hunter's Sense ability (though, I don't know if there are other class features that do this).

[@DeaconCobbanBossaru9000]

@@ThieftheFlygon this was before xanathar's came out, and you are right it does undermine that ability. (also that ranger ability is the only way in the entire game to learn a creatures resistance, immunity, and vulnerability. Nothing else can do it.) Most of the time no one in my group even touches the ranger class anyways, and we didn't even know about that rangers ability until about three days ago when i was actually reading through the ranger in xanathar's.

[@BarokaiRein]

Ok. So your DM simply homebrewed an useless spell into useful one. That's cool and all but you can just do that to any spell at all. Doesn't mean true strike isn't useless outside of your table

[@chesskinge4648]

I could see maybe a rogue assassin with haste cast on him and having the magic initiate feat to get first strike using it effectively but this is a lot of hoops to go through just to get advantage on your next strike.

[@Sentinel851]

I've seen someone just change it into a bonus action spell, and that's the only change. still the next turn's attack, so you need to anticipate who you're striking, but the bonus action and concentration are much less used in the lower levels, and if you don't have a concentration spell up, a bonus cantrip is just free advantage, and has the capability to scale into later game, because for most people, a bonus action for advantage on the next turn is probably worth it. rogues with magic initiate or arcane trickster in particular like that one, because it gives them another way to use their bonus action, but this one for advantage, and paladins and other melee casters like it too, because sometimes flanking for advantage just isn't possible, particularly for smaller groups, with 3 or 4 PC's

[@HarkerFerry]

My general solution is to review and houserule or tweak the spells for my tables. True Strike: Grants advantage on all attack rolls made _by_ target humanoid while you maintain concentration, up to one minute. Instead of targeting an opponent, you target an ally (or yourself). As a bonus action, you may change the recipient of this spell. Witch Bolt: Continuous damage is done as a bonus action, and increases by 1d6 for each level of spell slot used above 1st. Find Traps: You become aware of the presence of traps and hazards within 120 feet. You can identify the approximate nature of each trap -- damage, effect, or environment -- by spending one minute concentrating on the spell. Moving during the duration of this spell will not change the area in which you are aware of traps (the spell isn't anchored to you, but to where you cast it from), but will allow you to more precisely identify the location of triggers (setting the trap/hazard off) or release elements (where the threats of the trap come from) for each trap. Crown of Madness: If no target is specified, the subject will instead attack the nearest target, whether they would normally consider them a friend or foe. Mordenkainen's Sword: Haven't run a campaign that reached it yet, but I'd probably rule it down to a 5th level spell with 2d10 damage, +1d10 for each spell slot level above 5th, and the Sword may make one attack on your action, and it can either make one more attack as a bonus action, or defend you as a bonus action granting 25% concealment. These are all just attempts to make the spells fit a bit better into the player's arsenal without breaking them, or the game, completely

[@DungeonDudes]

These all seem like decent fixes, although the True Strike change might merit making it a levelled spell instead of a cantrip.

[@HarkerFerry]

@@DungeonDudes Possibly so. I wouldn't draw a line at that, if it needs to be a leveled spell to be useful, then maybe it should be?

[@magiv4205]

@@DungeonDudes I agree, that change is definitely cool but makes it more than OP for a cantrip in my opinion. Cast this version of TS on any advantage-built character like a rogue or on anyone pulling a maneuver making advantage important, and you get a one-minute nuke. Just imagine casting it on a barbarian using Great Weapon Master or a sniper using Sharpshooter, just as an example, and abilities like Reckless Attack become essentially useless, especially since RA makes you vulnerable to damage during the next round as a way to balance it out. Getting rid of that advantage against a party member and still ensuring a much higher damage output is pretty fucking powerful if you ask me.

[@SpiderCMB]

I make True Strike require a bonus action and only last your round. It burns up bonus actions and it's not a big deal, since there are a lot of other ways to get advantage.

[@kevinbarnard355]

True Strike has never been able to benefit anyone except the caster(familiar) in any edition it's appeared in. I'd be reluctant to change that. It was way too good in previous editions, so there may have been an overreaction in 5ed design. Even changing it to a bonus action as some have suggested is likely too good. You would end up with Advantage on one attack each round after the first, which is too much for a cantrip. It probably could interact with cover instead of or in addition to advantage. Allow the caster to ignore up to 3/4 cover. You attack into an arrow slit, and the spell guides your blade/arrow around the bend. Advantage by itself is less useful against the normally 16-20 AC foe if they also have +5 AC/Dex saves from cover.

[@alkemyst337]

Here's a thing I made. Feel free to use it! I think it really makes Mordenkainen's Sword into the epic 7th level spell it was always meant to be ♥ Mordenkainen’s Sword Evocation School Level: Bard/Wizard 7 Components: V,S,M (A miniature platinum sword with a grip and pommel of copper and zinc worth 250 gp) Casting Time: 1 action Range: 60 feet Duration: 1 minute You create a sword-shaped plane of force that hovers within range. It lasts for the duration. When the sword appears, you make a melee spell attack against a target of your choice within 5 feet of the sword. On a hit, the target takes 3d10 force damage. The summoned sword ruthlessly pursues the original target until the spell ends, moving up to 20 feet at the beginning of each of your turn to stay within range of the target, and making another attack against the designated target after its movement is complete. As a bonus action, you can designate a new target for the summoned sword to attack. If the target of the sword is killed or destroyed, the sword hover motionless until a new target is designated as bonus action. Multiple swords summoned in this way require multiple bonus actions to designate new targets. (Note: My reason for going this route is that the spell isn't terrible in raw numbers. In fact, an "upcasted" Spiritual Weapon (lv 6 spell slot) deals comparable max damage, which tells me that the damage is around what it's supposed to be - though I have some quibbles about the possible minimum damage, which actually brings the average damage of a 6th level Spiritual Weapon up past Mordy's Sword. So, instead of messing with the direct damage of the spell, I removed the Concentration tag (which alone makes it so much better), giving a strong caster the ability to summon more of the babies. AND to sweeten the deal, it acts semi-autonomously, making it just a freaking tempting option for any caster wanting to turn that baddie into a force-damaged shish kebab!)

[@crimfan]

That's really nicely done. It would be very thematic for a Swords bard or a Bladesinger wizard, too.

[@marpheus1]

Alternatively, keeping everything the same but taking out the concentration and lowering to level 4 or 5 would do nicely too.

[@joekj4726]

If you wanted a very specific scenario in which crown of madness is amazing, have the sorcerer cast it with subtle spell on the king's right hand man immediately after informing the king of an assassination plot against him

[@rogerexcell249]

The jagged crown of iron on his head kind of gives you away though...

[@kyubii972]

Good video as always guys. You never feel like you are talking down to anyone and you are always well-spoken.

[@DungeonDudes]

Thank you!

[@kyubii972]

np

[@TwinFlower90]

I just had a dim lightbulb about crown of thrones. You can use it to have the skinny enrmy wizard swing his staff at your fighter. Since it has to be melee attacks no scary spells.

[@witchBoi_Connor]

OH.

[@Jophfr]

I do use crown of madness as a DM, I love placing enchanted trap chests, and crown of madness making my players turn on eachother works way more often than it should because it's a ranged trap set off by proximity motion.

[@darkjurai2]

Interesting. I have to strongly disagree on Blight. It's a druid nuke spell at a 4th level spell slot that doesn't cost concentration. The second part is key. Having played my fair share of druids, there are SO MANY valuable concentration spells to maintain, so it's a given that you'll be maintaining concentration on something. A spell like Blight is a nice tool to have in the box while you're concentrating on an important spell and something needs to die faster. As a druid, you already know it. There's no spell choice opportunity cost. You just pick it at the start of the day when you know you're gonna have a big fight.

[@DungeonDudes]

I suppose for a Druid that isn’t using a wild shape form, needs to contribute some damage, and doesn’t mind using a 4th level slot to do it, blight fills a decent role. However, single target nuke spells are a very inefficient use of spell slots, so it’s important to use the spell wisely when you NEED to deal the damage to finish a fight.

[@ColinKillick]

@@DungeonDudes And while this is niche, the final battle of the first "season" of my campaign turned on its ability to do maximum damage to magical plants. It let us instantly destroy the villain's mind-controlling tree in the middle of a firefight, releasing the dragon who ultimately killed him.

[@liammitchell2225]

I still say if you have a war campaign you nuke the crops, and use the old starvation tactics. It has it's place, and it's definitely not the worst, just a little niche.

[@vampuricknight1]

@@liammitchell2225 starvation & disease are extremely powerful tools release a bunch of mice, locusts, pests, vermin, or goblins/kobolds to eat and crap in the towns/cities grain silo can be accomplished even at a relatively low level (with a mix of diplomacy and subterfuge) and absolutely crush said town/city in a few weeks. If your war campaign is running with a morale system just wait the few weeks and start a shock, awe, and terror campaign in the general area to topple all but the most stubborn of species from the inside out.

[@Ceadus34]

Think about using Blight as a blood mage sorcerer while Twinning the spell to hit 2 targets for the price of 4 sorc points only and adding on the Fel Spirit to gain necrotic damage dealt as temp hit points at a small sacrifice of your own hit points.... and doing that like 4 times in one combat. Insane... kinda OP. No, VERY OP. If the DM doesn't nerf you your sorc would be sitting at over 150 temp hp easy by the end of most any battle. This was play-tested by me at lvl 8. Before lvl 6 blood mage is weak sauce and will die pretty easily.

[@lilfox378]

I take this video as a challenge to use the spells in the most effective manner as possible building entire characters around a spell.

[@DungeonDudes]

Let us know how it goes... we think these spells might be beyond redemption, though. I'm really not sure how to make Witch Bolt worth casting at all.

[@kyubii972]

Lol that is funny that's the first spell I thought I would try to get working.

[@complectogram]

Dungeon Dudes Our DM says if our sorcerer uses it while cackling like Darth Sidious, she will make it a stun wisdom saving throw with a DC that levels with the player. Our sorcerer has been practicing a lot.

[@DungeonDudes]

@@complectogram Yeah, if Witch Bolt had some sort of stun or incapacitation effect, it would be MUCH better (and probably need to be much higher level, too)

[@complectogram]

Dungeon Dudes DM says it has to be a really good Star Wars impression, but that’s just table rules and a fairly low DC.

[@allmight415]

Extremely informative video. I started playing about 3 months ago and you've been a big help, thank you!

[@trevorplaysdnd]

One spell that I think kinda slips under the radar for this kind of thing is daylight, it’s basically a glorified light spell that uses a third level slot and doesn’t even create sunlight. The only benefit is getting rid of magical darkness

[@twicedeadmage]

Once I made our Cleric take it out of necesity, I was sending level 3 Warlocks with Devil sight and Darkness after the party as they explored a cult temple. It was the only time I've seen it used.

[@TwistedTentacleInn]

This was very well done. I really like that you guys provided an alternative to the chosen bad spell. Great work, guys! -Innkeeper Vase Odin

[@basiccatastrophe2863]

Crown of madness works really well if you are an enchantment wizard at 10th level, splitting the enchantment between two enemies that are next to each other and forcing them to fight to the death, only issue is, by the time you are tenth level you probably have more devastating spells, plus the instinctive charm reaction works so much better. So I defo agree with the choice of putting that spell here

[@Stuugie.]

Couldn't you do it as a sorcerer with twinned cast?

[@rich1202]

I love watching your videos they are very informative and fun to watch. They help me as a DM as well as info is always good to have in your back pocket. Thank you for all the help you guys give me and others DnD Games!!!

[@DungeonDudes]

Thank you!

[@mortalLP]

You had me at Theoretically Allude to Traps

[@MadSwedishGamer]

I'm just going to make a guess before watching: Witch Bolt, Crown of Madness, Find Traps, Mordenkainen's Sword, Power Word Kill.

[@DungeonDudes]

Nice guesses!

[@MadSwedishGamer]

Well, I was almost right. I didn't really consider cantrips, though I think I would still prefer True Strike over PWK.

[@nyanbrox5418]

@@MadSwedishGamer instant death is a really cool mechanic but i see what you mean, i would have it auto kill anything without legendary resistance, and even then it would apply like 100 points of damage, but i may give a player a penalty for using this extension power

[@MadSwedishGamer]

I mean yeah. Everything you'd actually want to kill that badly is going to have more than 100 HP, and at that point you might as well use something else like Disintegrate or Meteor Swarm since you're never going to know exactly how much health an enemy has.

[@marks2807]

I think the problem with PWK is that it is a 9th level spell slot. By that point things that have 100 hp are minor annoyances at most. If there is a way to gauge a enemies health this is a much more powerful spell.

[@anonymchen1598]

wow. Our group always misread Witchbolt... we always made that at higher level the ongoing damage also increases... :O

[@kyubii972]

Same for our group, that's also how I'm gonna keep it... yay being the dm :P

[@Ahrenji]

@@kyubii972 Seems fair considering the concentration and range. Most DMs would just be like "the enemy moves away" the turn after you cast it..

[@Bozemoto]

Think adding an extra target with each spell level is more interesting, plus you can get spell sniper to double the range. Then double it again with the sorcerer metamagic.

[@Jebu911]

@@Ahrenji What a dick GM. Those enemies should just power thru it while you make your best emperor Palpatine impression

[@noahcaelum6796]

@@Ahrenji I have the creature or whatever my PC is fighting roll a intelligence check against the casters spell DC to see if it would know to move away,

[@deaconwilliams118]

Keep on making these videos guys! I'm lovin it

[@deaconwilliams118]

Mcdungeondudes

[@Nicrobius]

I took true strike as a rog/fig with a RP role of duelist. Having advantage on my first attack saved me combat dice and still let me lay down my sneak attack damage. Being based in one on one combat made it useful for me.

[@rolhnschmidt8780]

I am just saying that Blight does not deserve to be in the honorable mentions because it is an actually useful spell. 8d8 points of damage on a failed save and 4d8 on a successful, both is still plenty of damage.

[@giordihero]

@@TheRodentMastermind besides it's usually taken by necromancers which have other ways of dealing with undeads. The spell is just so cool in my opinion.

[@Quandry1]

I can only imagine somebody either misunderstood it or doesnt like it. There are plenty of reasons its a go to spell for druids to some extent.

[@jt_manic]

I've always found Blight to be a good dmging spell. Idk why its on there either.

[@caleb7006]

It really doesn't stand up to spells like fireball well for being a higher level and single target and I used to think it was bad until we fought some ents. I no longer think it is bad.

[@Quandry1]

@@caleb7006 fireball is specifically being over powered for it's level. Blight however is in line with other single targets in that range with added kick under the right conditions. The only thing against it is it's single target nature because that is where the ale spells start to really appear so they have that fancy new coolness factor. Fireball in particular, that is of course forgetting that fire resistance is the most common. While necrotic is common it's still much more rare.

[@XanKreigor]

True Strike used to be a 1st level spell in 3.5. It didn't need a concentration check and gave +20 insight bonus which meant you were pretty much guaranteed to hit almost anything as long as you don't roll a 1 on the dice. And it had this nifty addition "Additionally, you are not affected by the miss chance that applies to attackers trying to strike a concealed target. " It wasn't super amazing, but when you REALLY needed to hit your target on the next turn Find Traps was also a better spell in older editions, giving a +10 perception check to finding traps and lets you detect traps as if you are a Rogue. Confuse, Lesser > Crown of Madness Works on any "living creature" as long as it isn't specifically said to be immune to confuse or mind-affecting abilities. " This spell causes a single creature to become confused for 1 round. See the confusion spell, above, to determine the exact effect on the subject. " Roll d100 for confuse effect before taking an action: 01-10 Attack caster with melee or ranged weapons (or close with caster if attack is not possible). 11-20 Act normally. 21-50 Do nothing but babble incoherently. 51-70 Flee away from caster at top possible speed. 71-100 Attack nearest creature (for this purpose, a familiar counts as part of the subject’s self). Basically these 3 "bad spells" are poorly copied over from 3.5 and aren't balanced properly in 5th edition.

[@JSHADOWM]

What do you mean "as long s you dont roll 1 on the dice" theres very little in LVL 1 that has an AC of 22...

[@XanKreigor]

@@JSHADOWM rolling a 1 on the dice for an Attack Roll is an instant miss regardless of +bonuses you have. Same as a 20 is a sure hit even if the enemy has 80 AC.

[@JSHADOWM]

@@XanKreigor You are correct on the 20, or crit, bit DnD doesnt have a critical miss mechanic. if it does now, show me where in the PHB/DMG it says that.

[@XanKreigor]

@@JSHADOWM from the 3.5 PHB, page 134 (on PDF format) "Automatic Misses and Hits: A natural 1 (the d20 comes up 1) on an attack roll is always a miss. A natural 20 (the d20 comes up 20) is always a hit. A natural 20 is also a threat-a possible critical hit (see the Critical Hits sidebar, page 140). " Same rule is on 5th edition too. Even if you use True Strike, rolling 1 on the d20 will still be a miss. As long as you roll a 2 or higher, you get +20 to your attack roll. Maybe you were thinking of Skill Checks? " Unlike with attack rolls and saving throws, a natural roll of 20 on the d20 is not an automatic success, and a natural roll of 1 is not an automatic failure. "

[@2GOD1]

I could see crown of madness being useful to keep having an enemy attack the team tank which should have high AC and high HP. The enemy might not even realize they are being manipulated.

[@ThunderhunterFTW]

but it still takes *your* action. you might as well just let the enemy decide to attack them anyways, and regardless, they could still just move towards you if they were going to change targets before you cast it. It’d be better to just do damage or give your tank haste or some other buff instead.

[@the_last_ballad]

​@@ThunderhunterFTW it doesn't matter if they move towards you, they are charmed. "A charmed creature can’t attack the charmer or target the charmer with harmful abilities or magical effects. The charmer has advantage on any ability check to interact socially with the creature." And considering that "a madness glows in the creatures eyes", it seems metagamey to have the creature move away from targets it can attack...

[@davyt0247]

A enemy sorcerer or warlock has to attack with melee, and a single attack, which can reduce their damage by a lot.

[@pitshants132]

Just got into this channel but it’s about all I watch now. Great content fellas!

[@richardfarrer5616]

Witchbolt - sounds like a great spell to recharge a phone, or power a torch. Just need a surge protector.

[@abadidea5984]

I'm surprised Poison Spray didn't even make the Honorable Mentions. Sure its 1d12 base damage might seem attractive since it's the highest damage dice out of all damaging cantrips, but it has a dangerous casting range of only 10 feet, hits only ONE enemy, targets Constitution (which the majority of monsters will have high bonuses for) and deals Poison damage, the most resisted damage type in the game. I would argue that Poison Spray is at least worse than Phantasmal Killer.

[@WillemUtUje]

I actually think it's one the better cantrips. Sure, they get a save, but you don't have to roll to hit, making it good vs opponents with high AC. Also, that 10ft range means you can walk up to it, cast Poison Spray and than walk away without an AoO.

[@abadidea5984]

@@WillemUtUje True, but at a range of 10 ft., someone surviving a Poison Spray is likely easily within range to retaliate with a much more devastating melee attack (or worse, they have Reach). Constitution is often the highest save for most monsters in the game, and most monsters are either resistant or downright immune to Poison damage. Even when using against humanoid characters, classes with High AC typically also have high Con Saves. Adversaries with Low Con Saves are typically other casters, who are likely 60+ feet away from you anyway, or Dex-based melee, in which case if a Rogue is within 10 feet of you, you've already been stabbed. Compare Poison Spray to Toll the Dead. TTD has a 60 ft. range and targets Wisdom Saves. It deals 1d8 necrotic initially, but deals 1d12 instead of the target is already hurt, which is a very easy threshold to pass. One could theoretically kite for 1d12 at a time FAR better with TTD than with Poison Spray. A friend playing an Eldritch Knight in our last game was attempting to make a build based around the use of Poison Spray to synergize with the EK's War Magic and Eldritch Strike abilities, but found that it never worked because literally everything resists or saves against Poison Spray.

[@WillemUtUje]

Well, if the opponent can just walk up to you, your frontline fighters aren't doing their job ;-). I would agree that Toll the Dead is better than Poison Spray (specially in combination with Death Domain), but my point was that Poison Spray is nevertheless still a good spell. Even with the high CON saves of many monsters and poison resistance/immunity being as abundant as it is. But obviously, I would build my character around it. @@abadidea5984

[@Quandry1]

Wish saves are actually fairly common. Specially at higher levels. Poison spray combines with certain powers like the invokers to ensure half damage taken even if they succeed. Making it one of a handful that can end up being guaranteed damage cantrips on a fair number of foes instead of all or nothing.

[@colinsmith1495]

Poison Spray definitely isn't much for your typical wizard or sorcerer, but I agree that it really has it's uses. While Con saves are typically pretty good for monsters, there are a decent number of enemies that aren't especially strong there. Early levels you have things like goblins and kobolds, common fodder enemies, and later on you get the nasty spellcasters, that usually don't have great Con modifiers or proficiency in them (though also likely have ways to avoid this). That being said, as a cantrip, the damage goes up as your level does, so an Eldritch Knight could use it to effectively get reach and a d12 damage, while still using a shield or the like, or a melee warlock can use it to deal really nice damage without a roll on your part. Basically, it's all about knowing your enemies and what to use when. I do think it would be better if it actually did something poison-y, but that seems pretty rare in 5E all around. Something like, they're also under the poisoned condition until the start of your next turn if they fail the save.

[@taborh2011]

I'm glad I watched this video. My druid just learned Confusion and I was thinking of some crazy fun ways to use it but now I'm starting to rethink its use.

[@ImANerdyMommy]

I like True strike for the pure fact that it lets you have a brief insight on the monster's weaknesses. Which my DM and I agree that means I get to know if it has resistances or weaknesses to better prepare my party for what we're facing. And the advantage on my next turn is a bonus. Then I use my bonus action to give bardic inspiration. I may only use the spell once per encounter but I think it helps, especially when I'm one of the first people in initiative order.

[@ilovethelegend]

1: Hm. I've never seen True Strike on a list like this before, but now that you mention it, the only class that would have access to this that would really want it would be rogue, to make sure they can get that sweet sneak attack bonus (Which would be more damage than poking it twice with your rapier), but even that's a super hard edge case. 2: I feel like people underestimate Witch Bolt because its damage is underwhelming, which is true, but think of it this way; You hit a monster with Witch Bolt, and now it MUST do something about it. Its choices are either move out of position to break range or LOS (Thus either sucking ops from your front line or burning their action to disengage), or move out of position to come up and try to hit you (Which also makes it work as a soft-taunt if you're tanky spellcaster, in addition to the conditions previously stated), or sit there and suck a d12 every round. So sure, it's damage is underwhelming, but it gives you battlefield control options. 3: I feel like Find Traps is a "YMMV" type spell depending on your DM. Like... I feel the cleric announcing "There is a poison dart trap in this room" Ought to give the rogue advantage to find it, or if the player is clever, let him puzzle it out himself and have him just auto-detect the trap if he guesses right. I feel like the Cleric announcing "There is a swinging axe trap in this room" would also give characters advantage on saves against the trap. Also, if I was DMing, I would rule any panels meant to obfuscate trap components, or trapped doors that the traps are technically on the other side of would count as part of the trap, and would thus ping the spell. It could also be helpful if you find something and you're not certain if it's meant to be a trap or not. 4: Again, you guys are underestimating the control that this spell gives you. First of all, the target is charmed by you; this means that they cannot attack you, and cannot include you in the AOEs of any harmful effects, no matter what. Secondly, if they move away from their allies so they don't hit them, that means either the rest of your team can gank them, or they're functionally removed from combat. Thirdly, if they're put in a situation where they *can't* move away from their allies (For example, if immobilized by an ally's spell, or caught in a choke point, although again, YMMV depending on DM), the spell shines. Finally, if the creature has 2, 3, or more attacks, the spell makes it so they burn their action to make *one attack*. In that case, even IF the only target available is an ally, you can still mitigate the damage by choosing them as a target. 5: *Squints*... Yeah, this is just spiritual weapon except worse in every way. That said, though, you guys are seeing it as "Just 3d10 every turn", but I'm seeing it as "An extra 3d10 every turn", since it doesn't eat your action to swing with it after turn 1, and it's not like you have a ton of BA options anyway. You can still cast Finger or Disintegrate, and then tag the thing with MK's Sword if it's still standing for some reason; Or bomb an area with fireball, and mop up any survivors with the sword. Sure, it might not be as good as spiritual weapon, but wizards also have fewer things they can do with their bonus actions that don't end with "And then I cast Firebolt".

[@DungeonDudes]

Thanks for the thoughtful comment! Worth noting on Crown of Madness, the "control" the spell offers is strictly worse than the control you have with Hold Person, which is straight up paralyzing them.

[@janingvetjaland3451]

Would also add, with CoM you can force a LR from a archmage or force him to hit with a 1d8 staff instead of alot more dmg with spells

[@Maxbeedo2]

I could see Crown of Madness being useful for a character doing a solo infiltration of some type, since the target being charmed means they can't attack the caster. Even if they run away and aren't near any allies to attack, they can't do anything harmful to the caster either. 120 ft. range is also quite high for an enchantment spell, meaning it's certainly possible to cast it without anyone hearing. If the target also happens to have a really low Wisdom, it can be used as a Charm Person that lasts up to a minute that doesn't have the downside Charm Person has of the target knowing you charmed them afterwards (though the crown/eyes are a giveaway if others watch your conversation). Confusion being on the Honorable Mentions is interesting. It's one of the few enchantment spells that works on creatures that are immune to being charmed. Some creatures are also immune to being paralyzed, stunned, frightened, etc., and Confusion gets around all of that with a non-condition way of winning the "action economy war". Sure, it's only a 60-80% chance of working in your favor, but its 90 ft. range and 10 ft. radius to affect several creatures balance that out to a degree. Any spell that can force a Demon Lord to use a Legendary Save immediately is worth a look.

[@QeepingItReal]

good points

[@walterbunn280]

Suggestions for fixing some of these spells, and just thoughts on the 5 specifically mentioned: - true strike needs to be a bonus action. It exists as it does to punish people coming off of pathfinder or a 3rd edition derivative. - Witch Bolt can be reworked into a gamblers dream, simply give the option to give a 1st spell slot back to the caster if they end the spell before the 10 combat rounds are up. -Find Traps is written the way it is for semi-historic reasons.... but just change the name. Call it Detect Traps instead of Find traps, and have it give a vague danger sense providing advantage to the player versus a non-magical trap. That way you don't lose the surprise element, but you also don't strip the value out of the spell. - Crown of madness seems like a stand in for an older spell that allowed a spellcaster to get allies to attack one another. This version one seems like it's been reworked several times explicitly to muck up action economy in 5e at 2nd level, and in so doing they made it unusable for everyone except DMs that want to set the players against one another. It needs to be a higher level spell, and it needs to not reveal that the target is charmed/compelled. If that happened it'd be worthwhile to stir the pot. - Mordenkainen's Sword is messed up because it's a historic hold over. It could easily be a lower level spell as written. The old form of Mordenkainen's sword had other effects, like the ability to swap places with the caster, the ability to dispel/disjunction certain magic effect, the ability to ignore mundane armor and exist in an antimagic field despite being an explicitly magical effect (it was kind of the signature thing about it too). As written, a druid upcasting call lightening using a 7th level slot deals 5d10 lightening damage a round for 10 rounds as an area of effect.

[@thraximundar2974]

I was once able to use crown of madness, i was playing a warlock and we were in the throne room of a good king who had been controlled by his adviser, i cast crown of madness on the adviser and had him attack the king with his dagger. the king (obviously) correctly assumed that the adviser wanted to kill him to take his throne, and as such had the evil adviser executed on the spot, this is the one and only time that this spell has ever been used by me or anyone at a table i am at. I would like to add the fact that we had spent several levels in this particular story arc and it was decided that this was the best way to get rid of the adviser and his influence on the good king.

[@batangbatugan]

If you're a sorcerer, a good alternative to Witch Bolt is Chaos Bolt (XGE) I feel like its a much improved version, with added random damage type and a chance to hit a second target. Plus with Empowered Spell metamagic you can increase the chances of hitting that 2nd target.

[@halfjack2758]

Over channel goes insane with over channel.

[@rodneyg9746]

I had a super-niche use for Witch Bolt with my tempest cleric/ storm sorcerer. I had wis 18 cha 18, had this spell , and cast it 9th level with my channel divinity. Max damage instead of rolling and I didn't bother concentrating on it, but I dealt out 108 dmg on one turn to finish off our big bad. If I has missed, I still could have gotten off with using my second use of CD and an 8th level slot for 96, but it was awesome.

[@funkydpalomares2238]

I also had a great experience with that spell. I was a 13th level wizard and usually combined it with crown of stars against the biggest enemies. So I had two opportunities to hit the 6th level witchbolt and as soon as I succeeded I could then just roll up to 10d12 damage each turn (assuming that my star also hit)

[@MrSteveK1138]

I'm glad Phantasm Killer and Weird got mentioned. Looking to improve upon them as there are a limited number of illusion spells.

[@ericmurotake5180]

I've seen Crown of Madness used to great effect if there's a compatriot to help manipulate the enemy and get them where they can do a lot of hurt. In one case there was a pair of characters that specialized in control effects (fear, CoM, pushes, etc), and they'd pull some wicked tricks by putting important targets in the middle of the enemy ranks, CoM on them, and watch the fireworks (they caused a full-out rout of an enemy army by doing that to the general once)

[@hieronymusnervig8712]

I just thoughtcrafted with Crown of Madness some more and I think it could actually be a really great spell for enemies. As I said it is basically weaker than Hold Person and then Fire Bolt each turn but the enemies don't necessarily know that, they might only learn this fact from years of combat experience. It's awesome visual effect lets the players know immediately what happened and they can also play around this, which can be a ton of fun. Getting Hold Person cast on you is the most boring thing that can happen "oh, I guess I'm not gonna do anything again this turn..." "Noo, don't come close to me! Get away! Nooo, you fool!!" *Bonk*

[@andrearosina6375]

If you'll ever consider to make an underrated spells video, I feel like Dream is one of them. For example, it's a great way to communicate over long distances. I mean, Sending is great, and at a lower level, but the 25 words limitations is no joke. What if you want to have a conversation with a high mage or a gold dragon you encountered before about the lore you just discovered? What if you want to make plans for an attack? And you can also trick someone into seeing a profetic dream! The other effect can be also useful against a humanoid recurring villain, maybe a drow or something like that!

[@DungeonDudes]

The villain in my campaign actively used Dream on a daily basis to weaken the party by denying specific characters a long rest.

[@andrearosina6375]

@@DungeonDudes so meeean 😈

[@browncoatkevin]

Sounds like the perfect basis for a series of creative spell uses videos.

[@andrearosina6375]

@@browncoatkevin Yes! Would be very useful and fun for everyone!

[@magiv4205]

@@DungeonDudes that's an amazing idea, don't mind if I steal it :D

[@luke.friesen]

Better True Strike Pick a target. On your next attack against the target, substitute their AC with their CR. If the target does not have a CR, use their Level instead. (No concentration required)

[@ryadinstormblessed8308]

Find Traps should conjure a magical orb that glows brighter the closer it gets to a trap (whether the trap is mechanical or magical in nature), and should be 1st level. At 1st level it would last for 1 minute, 2nd level for 10 minutes, 3rd level for 1 hour, 4th level for 8 hours (and stops requiring concentration at this level), 5th level for 24 hours. And Arcane Trixters should get a version of this that operates as an instant use cantrip.

[@CelestiasSorrow]

Fix for Crown of Madness; You can control the target to make an attack OR spend half their movement how you wish. You can also use your reaction to force the target to make an opportunity attack should they have the chance.

[@DungeonDudes]

Are these your house rules? How did they work out in play?

[@CelestiasSorrow]

@@DungeonDudes it has been successfully cast a total of 3 times. Used on just one of the mob in an encounter its usefulness was dubious. Used on one of the bigger threats of an encounter makes its usefulness as a CC ability apparent, though those individuals typically have decent saves so they make the save most of the time. id say 6 or 7 out of 10 times your still better off casting something else. However our groups 3 successes is not a good enough play test to get an accurate picture of how much this has truly improved the spell. On top of that i just realized we didnt put wording in to make them unable to make them just walk off a cliff, something to think about later.

[@HundredYearsBoar]

Thank you very much for posting this! At my family’s thanksgiving party and needed something to watch!!!

[@DungeonDudes]

Enjoy the food!

[@MrWeedy-hh4mg]

Was the food good

[@GodlikePoet]

So glad you guys mentioned find familiar as a GREAT SPELL. As an Arcane Trickster I am LOVING that spell for the "Help" action and for scouting with our Ranger. There's one thing I can't quite clear up with my DM though about how the "Help" action works. It says in the description "An ally." Now this could be taken to be any ally or a specific one. My DM is insisting that it's the next attack against the target which unless my familiar's Initiative is directly before mine gives an advantage to the party but not specifically to me (not that I'm necrssarily complaining.) I might argue that it could be interpreted either way, but that you would have to declare that upon using the action - "Is it either to give specifically you advantage or the next attack by any member of the party advantage?"

[@javierpatag3609]

You guys had fun making this video. :-D

[@glumshanks5252]

Thx this really helps with me being a DM

[@ComicSams48]

I have a sorcerer in the group I dm. Some of her favorite spells? Witch bolt and crown of madness

[@HamsterVormFenster]

Crown of Madness can have its use under certain circumstances. I can't give any examples of my own but on the DnD podcast 'The Adventure Zone' there was a sequence where they were on vehicles in a race and one of the other vehicles was this giant wheel with two humanoids in the middle that they couldn't possibly get to so the wizard cast crown of madness on one of them and had him attack the other one. The best part? He critted and the other one immediately died. The wheel fell over and even took out another one of the other vehicles in the process. It was pretty awesome.

[@halfjack2758]

Conjure celestial: 9th level spell slot to summon a unicorn.

[@pedrodarosamello64]

Lol, never noticed that, clerics have to spend a 7º level slot to summon a cr 4 creature and 9 for a level 5, while the druid can summon a cr 9 frost salamander with the same 9º level slot or a cr 7 elemental warrior with a 7º slot. Hell, with that 7º level slot a druid can even summon that super powerfull winter hag or a korred, wich can summn a earth elemental himself.

[@QeepingItReal]

worth it for a cleric in courtship. take damsels out on equestrian ventures to know if they are pure.

[@FrostyTheSnowPickle]

Witch Bolt is actually really good in smaller areas, especially since it’s a guaranteed hit on later turns. I was able to annihilate a basilisk with it, since it wasn’t really able to move around the cave and I got automatic hits every turn. I quite like the spell. You can’t convince me otherwise.

[@malliceuk]

I am glad you did this for Crown of Madness as I thought it allowed us to force a spellcaster to attack our big plate armour in melee and negate their spell casting

[@dsxnet5704]

i found that when combining Flame Blade and the War Caster feat, I was able to make a very versatile druid that could specialize in all areas

[@KainusGulch]

Crown of Madness is an ambush spell basically. You lie in wait for a group of enemies to come literally marching along, probably best in rank and file, down street or road or whatever. Then you pop the spell and begin sowing mayhem, especially if the element of surprise was ruined by some paladin's shiny armor sticking out of the bushes. This is alright if the wizard wants to role play a control freak getting her way and wants to maintain some distance from the actual scuffle every one else dives into for their part. Other wise, yeah, this spell is awful. Maybe a villain might use it if he is scrying the party or has caught them in a narrow corridor and wants to make them kill each other because villains. Also could be used if people are hanging out at one tavern table or in one wagon. Multiple wagons or tables would create distance that the person effected would not be able to attack at with melee options. It's a story spell. Other than that, yeah, pick some thing else.

[@MangoTurtlenova]

I've used crown of madness as a warlock 9 times It took hold twice It was useful once, but it changed a fight completely, still not worth all those wasted spell slots

[@fourthborne5905]

Good video my dudes! I agree on a lot of your points when it comes to those spells. This is why in my own session I altered a few things, such as most cantrips can be casted as a bonus action (which I know is ridiculous and can make the players feel a bit over powered. However enemies can do the same thing). Then I altered True Strike that it give advantage on the same turn rather then the next. This allows classes such as a melee warlock to use bonus action True Strike, get advantage on that first hit, then channel a high level smite into it.

[@codygunsalus919]

I got a lot of use of grasping vine with my first character, basically got to play baseball with the Paladin and Barbarian in the party as a bonus action pulling enemies past the two of them causing attacks of opportunity.

[@toccataandfugue]

Mordenkainen's Sword deals damage equivalent to the standard for its spell level a round faster than Spiritual Weapon does, then on round 3 and after it's basically a free 1st level Chromatic Orb (with slightly better damage) every round as a bonus action. In terms of damage per spell level it's strictly better than baseline Spiritual Weapon, and negates a lot of the disadvantage of concentration by double-stacking the damage on the first turn. Even casting Spiritual Weapon up to 7th level, where it does slightly more damage per turn (4d8 is 1.5 more than 3d10 on average), due to the double instance of damage in the first round, Spiritual Weapon wouldn't catch up on average damage output until after the duration runs out. If you compare ideal scenarios for the Sword and Finger of Death (at least 4 successful strikes with the sword out of up to eleven attacks, and a failed save for the finger), the Sword does more damage than most comparable spell on the Wizard list (both single-target damage dealers).

[@toccataandfugue]

Now, Bigby's Hand does dramatically more damage at 7th level than any of those, or even delayed blast fireball, making it a better choice for "hit every turn" spells. But that's more because Bigby's Hand is overpowered rather than the other spells being weak.

[@DungeonDudes]

Great comments, and I think this is a well balanced look at the numbers. Ultimately, our main gripe with the Sword isn't that the damage isn't respectable -- it's that it isn't enough to justify the concentration and the 7th level spell slot. A character only gets 1 seventh level slot per day until 20th level, so we expect a 7th level spell to be a gamechanger. Mordenkainen's Sword isn't (and neither is Finger of Death). this is unfortunate, since both are conceptually awesome spells.

[@InquisitorThomas]

Dungeon Dudes Hey a creature killed by a finger of death becomes a zombie that's permanently under your command, so if you're a necromancer and consistently killing humanoids then you can have a pretty decent mob of meat shields to clog up any enemies.

[@DungeonDudes]

@@InquisitorThomas Yeah, it seems like a nice way to build up a large army over time, since they do stick around and there's no limit. Just a slow one... after three years of daily murder a necromancer will have have quite the horde of zombies!

[@toccataandfugue]

I wonder how many days you'd have to pick off solitary enemies for the mob of zombies to be better than the four ghouls Create Undead at 7th level would get you... Let's find out! Consulting Kobold Fight Club--and assuming the adjusted XP equivalency for larger numbers of enemies, against 6 enemies--it looks like if you've got 11 castings to spare before throwing them into action the zombies are better. This feels like a basis for a good downtime activity for a villainous campaign, actually... Though as a GM, I'm not sure I'd be a huge fan of a player fielding a dozen extra characters, but then again at the levels where the spell comes into play it would really just be temporary area denial that forces the enemy caster to spend a spell clearing the field. So I think I'd allow it to get out of hand once or twice just to see if it's more fun than slog. (Also I've got a ton of zombie minis already so that's no issue)

[@randiona]

Dear Dungeon Dudes: Would you kindly consider making a video focused on illusion spells and the wizard illusionist subclass? Thank you!, Yours, a fledgeling Illusionist Wizard

[@boiledelephant]

We misread True Strike for a whole campaign and used it as an insight thing: you point at an enemy and literally learn about their resistances and vulnerabilities. "an insight into their defenses". It was super useful yet balanced.

[@Prof.CheeseDog]

Blight is good for sorcerers! Since it only targets one enemy you can use twinned spell on it, dealing 16d8 damage. That's an average of 72 damage. Fireball is still better in many cases where there are multiple enemies, especially due to it's range, but 16d8 can't be ignored.

[@nasiraliz]

I logged on to make this comment glad you beat me to it

[@ericpeterson8732]

Better for find traps, enhance ability to give you advantage on perception checks.

[@user-vm9xz4kv9z]

**investigation checks

[@PopeCocksmoker]

What, no Barkskin? Barkskin looks decent until you actually try to use it. The problem is that it's Concentration. and 16 AC isn't all that great anyway. If you're a druid, all of your best spells are Concentration. If you're a ranger, both Hunter's Mark and Swift Quiver are Concentration. The druid can get 16 AC or better with studded leather, a shield, and a +2 dex mod. The ranger gets there with a breastplate and a similar Dex, or studded leather and the Dex they should have by 4th level anyway. You *might* cast Barkskin and turn into a bear, if you're a Moon Druid, aren't using all your spell slots to heal, and had good reason to cast it before battle (to its credit, it lasts an hour) but once it's down you can't bring it back up, and you (a bear covered in tree bark chewing on the enemy's front line) are making quite a few Concentration checks.

[@CuiBap2]

Tell that to the spore druid

[@Nedoiko]

I tend to think the same about this spell, but it comes for free with Awaken when you find a Staff of the Woodlands, so my logical assumption was to animate a tree, and then cast it on said tree while it rampaged through a hag coven, I know Hags mostly use save magic, but the place was also filled with trolls, and the original plan was to constantly pump HP into the tree xD

[@PopeCocksmoker]

@@Nedoiko So you gave a tree skin as tough as tree bark, and that improved its AC? Interesting.

[@Nedoiko]

@@PopeCocksmoker I know its weird but for some reason awakened trees AC is 13, so Barkskin put it on a leveled field with the treants that appeared xD

[@PopeCocksmoker]

@@Nedoiko I'm going with "barkskin is magic" I mean, tree bark isn't that tough - you can just stab a tree with a reasonably sharp knife (if you hate knives even more than trees) and it'll sink in nicely. AC 16 is up there with steel armor, so we're looking at some seriously hardcore bark. You just used your leafy magic to temporarily enchant your new friend, bringing up to par with proper treants.

[@wineflayer]

During a pirate-themed campaign, one of my players destroyed a fight with Crown of Madness. He was able to charm a big hitter during a boarding action. Because the deck of the ship they were attacking was so cramped with so many enemies, there was no place where the charmed sailor could move that wasn’t near an ally. And none of his allies wanted to return fire against their officer. So in very crowded, small areas, Crown of Madness is actually really useful.

[@MsKeylas]

while I know that this video already exists,. still would be interesting to see 2 videos of 10 worsts spells . From Cantrip to level 9. And one video going through arcane spells and other through divine spells

[@GamerMastodon]

Monty turns into a pirate @15:13

[@Joshtube911]

Phantasmal Killer is one of my go to's for my illusion wizard :(

[@AndrusPr8]

I created a feat in order to make "True strike" useful, specially for weapon users since they usually pack different types of weapon damage with themselves: Striking truth - You learn the cantrip "True strike". When you cast it on a creature, you learn 1 damage vulnerability, 1 damage immunity or 1 damage resistance of your choice that the creature has. - Once casted on a target, you can use your Bonus Action to extend the duration of "True strike" for 1 additional round. - If you have advantage in an attack roll, you can instead roll 3 dice and keep the best result. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Proficiency bonus. Any expended uses are restored after a short or long rest.

[@simonmaleschitz2810]

My wizard was once challenged to a duel, where the challenged can decide on which weapob to use for both. Well I chose the only viable weapon was a sword, with my challenger knowing and joking I wasn't really skilled with it, but as I didn't specifically point out any other rules, I won using Mordekainen's sword in about two slashes.

[@RegalRegex]

Oh man these were very good. Crown of Madness is the only one I really have in-game experience with and....I mean just judging by how long we had to re-read the spell desc. over and over, I knew it had to be bad. Glad others agree! Ah well. So many other good options. Witch bolt is super disappointing though b/c I'm remembering your other video about spell damage types and witch bolt is one of the very very few lightning-damage type spells...so why does it have to suck? laaaame. Great video guys!

[@kyubii972]

Wow yeah. I never even thought about how few lightning spells there are and how cool I used to think which bolt is the illusion has been shattered my mind will never be the same..... Wait a second I'm the DM most of the time.... *Waves hand*. Tis fixed.

[@JC34258]

Lightning Lure is a pretty damned nice cantrip that does lightning damage and yanks a target 10' closer if they fail a strength save.

[@liamgray3335]

Yeh they have to be careful with lightning spells because of storm clerics channel devinity

[@JC34258]

@@liamgray3335 Which is just bad design really. "Oh, lets give this class an ability that looks amazing so new players take it, then we just won't make any good spells that can use it."

[@jackobanter4031]

@@JC34258 You know, unless your smart and take one level of sorcerer and take Chromatic orb, then you just deal some damage. As a Tempest Cleric/ Sea Sorcerer I put my official seal of approval on that ability that "looks amazing", because if you use it right it is amazing.

[@jordantiburcio4541]

I think confusion is good. AOE crowd control for 4th level can swing a fight easily

[@davyt0247]

Another huge advantage for Spiritual Weapon, it doesn’t require a material component. Mord’s Sword requires a 250GP material component, which you lose when you cast it.

[@Bbing888]

I feel like for crown of madness, it's important to recognize how the target's allies are going to react to being attacked by it. If a guard's boss attacks them, there's a decent chance they'll get pretty confused. If an orc attacks its friend, the friend will probably attack back. It might not work out initially numbers-wise, but can actually be pretty nice when used creatively.

[@KubinWielki]

One tip regarding Find Familiar and its Help action that far too many people misunderstand: Your familiar does NOT have to stay next to the target it's distracting with the Help action. If you have an Owl that has a "flyby" feature that allows it not to provoke attacks of opportunity with its movement is an excellent choice for that. You absolutely, positively CAN make your owl approach the enemy, use its Help action and fly away to safety, all while you still retain the benefit of the Help. Gotta remember that all turns in a round happen stimultaneously, and that initiative order and turns themselves are only there because you couldn't realistically and logically make everything stimultaneous in a tabletop (Greyhawk Initiative comes close, but it's still not "there").

[@JSHADOWM]

at that point its up to the enemies to determine if they should eat up an action and Hedwig the fuck out of your owl.