***NOTES*** * Divine Favor is 1 minute, not 10. Reading is hard. The spell is still amazing. * Chromatic Orb is also probably at least B, maybe even A. I think I let the weird bouncing rules influence me more than I realized.
And I’m very happy to see the Divine Smite doesn’t need to be the core pick every time now. It’s still good, just not something you feel like you always need to use which I like a lot!
Would love to see some discussion on chromatic orb alone. I think it was one of the most interesting changes of all spells because of how the jumping mechanic improves as you upcast.
Yeah that one hurts, if clerics were supposed to be universally bad at attack spells maybe. but guiding bolt one of their spells does more damage, comes with a rider, is a attack vs a save and is ranged, so better in every single aspect. Hopefully someone at wizards is willing to admit they screwed up and fix it.
I love Chromatic Orb. It gets better as you up cast it. By using a 6th level spell slot it’s near impossible to not have it jump every time and it deals 8d8 damage of a type you choose. That’s awesome.
It does get better as you upcast. I'm thinking of playing a sorcerer at some point and taking this as my only damage spell. Other higher level spells like fireball or cone of cold probably out do it. But it doesn't have friendly fire issues, has the potential to cover a much larger area with more spread out enemies, and only taking one damage spell opens up more spells for utility and control. And its fun.
Tenser's Floating Disk not having concentration allowed our Artificer to become our own personal all-terrain steam-train while he concentrated on Haste. lol
@@InsightCheck Party basically squeezed onto a *definitely* non-osha standard Tenser's Disk while he Dashed across the Country Side with Haste. We covered a LOT of land that way. lol
Dissonant Whisper should be in S "stealing" a legendary reaction could be broken on its own, but getting opportunity attacks can shift a battel with 1 use. -> many options work with reaction Attacks: some Battelmaster manouvers, Warcaster, Weapon masterys,....
I think that dissonant whispers is candidate for one of the best spells in the game. Casting it next to allies makes it one of the highest damaging lvl1 (heck lvl DW beats most if not all lvl2 spells). It breaks the action economy and deals decent damage on its own. Considering command is in S rank while the target takes the action on their turn and dissonant whispers deals damage and does it NOW... It's weird to be lower.
@@mpetrov2402He discussed the reasons why Command was so high. Not only does it have a combat effect that nearly as strong as Dissonant Whispers, it can be extremely useful in non-combat situations, especially with something like Subtle Spell. That being said, I think they’re both S-tier.
@@jamiedorsey4167 2014: You whisper a discordant melody that only one creature of your choice within range can hear, wracking it with terrible pain. The target must make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, it takes 3d6 psychic damage and must immediately use its reaction, if available, to move as far as its speed allows away from you. The creature doesn’t move into obviously dangerous ground, such as a fire or a pit. On a successful save, the target takes half as much damage and doesn’t have to move away. A deafened creature automatically succeeds on the save. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 2nd level or higher, the damage increases by 1d6 for each slot level above 1st. 2024: One creature of your choice that you can see within range hears a discordant melody in its mind. The target makes a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, it takes 3d6 Psychic damage and must immediately use its Reaction, if available, to move as far away from you as it can, using the safest route. On a successful save, the target takes half as much damage only. The damage increases by 1d6 for each spell slot level above 1. --------------- I think both doesn`t require to understand. 2024 is immun to the deafened protection from 2014 (text says "in its mind") BUT 2024 doesn`t have a save stop from danger if the only max range is in dangerous ground the "dosen`t move into" part is missing. The "available" part would mean in a closed space with out max range option, with my understanding -> no prevention from going on unsave ground.
Dropping Polymorph *absolutely* also gets rid of the temp HP. Any effects of a spell go away when the spell ends (via concentration ending or time running out). Temp HP is an effect of the spell, so it goes away when the spell ends. This is a more specific ruling than the general rule for Temp HP, which (if not attached to an ongoing effect) go away after a long rest. It will interact with AoA while it's up, though.
This is true about Polymorph concentration being lost ends the effect of the spell. But I would argue that since Temporary HP do not stack, the Temp HP from Armor of Agathys are lost when Polymorph is cast on the character. Thus, ending the Armor of Agathys spell.
Really don't understand how Charm Person is S-Tier? For me this line "When the spell ends, the target knows it was Charmed by you" drops it down to at least B Tier maybe even C. If you cast it on a NPC the next time you see them their not going to be very friendly... I guess it's useful if your never going to see them again... If I remember correctly in older editions it was basically mind control. It's no longer this. I've personally never seen this used and end up being helpful.
Charm Person lasts for a full hour, can be cast at range, is available to 5 classes by default and makes the creature friendly to you, on top of giving it the charmed condition. The amount of potential uses for this effect is through the roof. Sure, you’re not going to cast it on someone that you’re going to frequently interact with, but there’s countless other situations where you would and they can significantly alter a campaign. Charm Person is definitely S tier.
@@InsightCheck Personally I say it's too campaign and DM specific to be anywhere near S tier. S-tier should ALWAYS be useful. I'd give it C tier for that very reason. In some of the groups I've played with I rarely see it used and when it is it's usually not very effective. Not every DM interprets "friendly" the same way. Also it says "to you" not "to your group". It's like illusion spells. With some DMs they're all but useless. With others they're amazing.
@@InsightCheck I'd love to see a video on this spell to learn your perspective more. Maybe I'm missing something but I'm thoroughly confused how a spell that inflicts the Charmed condition which simply prevents creatures (in this case only humanoids) from attacking you specifically and not your entire party and gives you and only you advantage on CHA checks is S-Tier? Especially for the 2 Non-Charisma casters Wizards and Druids who likely have at best a 10 CHA. Maybe people think Friendly equals mind control? Friendly actually adds nothing as it just gives you the advantage on CHA checks which Charmed already gives you. Maybe DMs are letting players get away with too much on Persuasion/Deception checks? Honestly, don't get it. I respect, but don't understand, you position. Please do a video on it one day. I'd love to see why I'm wrong.
Its objectively C tier at best. The condition is hot garbage, verbal and somatic, short range, social spell that fucks social when its done and its not suggestion. Been playing 5e since release, never once proved useful with at least 30 different DMs.
The “Destroys Fog in a 30 ft Cube” is the most interesting part of Create and Destroy Water I think. Cloud Kill, for example, creates a “poisonous yellow green fog” and being able to counter effects like that can be pretty cool. I also think creating water, especially if you have the ability to freeze it has some very interesting creative uses as well.
Considering a failed save against Dissonant Whispers can provoke attacks of opportunity I think there is an argument for S. The damage potential of this spell is very high, and it continues to scale into the late game without even up scaling because your allies opportunity attacks are becoming more powerful as well.
While true, late game reactions are stronger. I've seen it go from my groups favourite spell to "Hell nah if i attack i loose my reroll/bonus to saves/bonus to ac/blast/reposition/teleport/counterspell/sentinel (this one was kinda funny lol)/damage reduction. If I'm being honest I still prefer the simplicity of the Opportunity attack and just letting everything else play without strong interruptions, but thats just me.
There are a lot of players that really like Faerie Fire, but the AOE is too small for it to be very effective whenever I try to cast it. I feel like there are usually about 3 medium-sized or smaller creatures that it can catch, one or two of which make the save, and the affected one or two are killed pretty quickly, effectively ending the spell. Invisible creatures aren't common at all, and boss monsters are usually making that save. Using my action and concentration rarely seems worth it. Are people really having a lot more luck than that?
The Artificer in the Princes of the Apocalypse campaign I just finished playing used it quite often and most of the time it worked nicely but on a few occasions everyone succeeded or just 1 or 2 failed. It's a pretty decent spell but like all save or suck spells it doesn't always work.
Chromatic Orb: getting that feeling someone just winging it rather than performing mathematical analysis. Don't just dismiss a spell by "dream not realistic". Did you calculate how often you roll a double? Take a 60ish percentage attack probability and work out the DPR? And why even assume you'd ever cast it unless there's other monsters for it to bounce to? That's not an unknown variable - you can ASSUME the spell is only ever cast when monsters clump together.
If the use case for a spell is based on the assumption that there has to be another variable that is out of your control to be true, then that immediately reduces the general applicability of the spell. It doesn’t require much math to piece that together. In any case, as per the pinned comment, I’ve already agreed it deserves better :) Also, no… I didn’t do any mathematical analysis, but I also never said I did and even explicitly said it was all just my opinion. The amount of assumptions required for most of these given the significant variance makes just about any attempt at mathematical arrangement nearly as subjective as one based on experience and understanding. Given how few large discrepancies people have had so far, doesn’t seem like I did that bad. I’ll take an L on the 2 or 3 out of 64 lol
@@InsightCheck LEt's not forget that 3d8 is also actually pretty decent damage for a 1st level spell on its own, especially since you get to choose its damage type. The pinball is just an added bonus that also makes it upcast exceptionally well.
You've already ranked Magic Missile as S Rank, but I feel it's worth pointing its value in disrupting enemy concentration. At minimum it triggers three concentration saves, which makes it very likely to break concentration with just a level 1 spell slot
@@FayeRantTheStrong Or let him use Shield to avoid the concentration checks, but now his Reaction is gone & he can't Counterspell for the rest of the round.
@@raptorbrain5275 ooo I did math on this! So yeah Searing Smite is best smite using a 2nd or higher level slot, UNLESS it’s on a critical hit, in which case Divine Smite at an equal level does more damage until you use 7th level slots (which, I mean, enjoy). Those calculations did assume the target either succeeds on their save against searing smite on their next turn or dies before the damage can go off again, so sometimes in long fights against low-con enemies searing smite will do even more damage. Last thing on searing smite, it pairs very will with the Celestial Warlock’s 6th level feature Radiant Soul.
Ray of Sickness has a very effective combo that can make it encounter ending, if you combine it with the Summon Undead spell, which automatically paralyzes any poisoned target it hits, neither effect offers a saving throw so even legendary resistance doesn't help the target.
So how exactly does guiding bolt get into A tier while chromatic orb is relegated to C tier?. The damage is roughly equivalent, both require a to hit roll, chromatic orb can bounce and gets unbelievably powerful when upcast, guiding bolt grants advantage on the next attack against the creature and scales poorly when upcast. Chromatic Orb is A tier.
I’m not sure it’s A tier but you’re right, it’s probably better than I gave it credit for. I think I let the very situational bounce impact my rating more than I realized. I do think Guiding Bolt is better. Radiant tends to be very good and it does have a longer range. The ability to choose a damage type is very good though. It should probably have been at least in B. Fair point.
@@InsightCheck You're right that Radiant is a very good damage type, but Chromatic Orb can choose Thunder which is *nearly* as good, or one of the 5 other damage type options. It's going to be very rare for a monster to resist Chromatic Orb unless you really don't know anything about them. I also think the difference between 90ft and 120ft range isn't all that much, both are likely to be more than you need.
False life, through the fiendish vigor eldritch invocation allows warlocks starting at level 2 to cast false life at will and always get the max hp, with no spell slot consumed. So id say warlocks use this spell the best
Heroism suppresses ongoing fear effects. If you are immune to fear you are IMMUNE to fear AKA no longer frightened. At least as long as the spell is active.
I'm a big Feather Fall fan. Besides Shield, Absorb Elements, and Detect Magic, Feather Fall is one of the few first level spells I'm using at high levels. What else are you going to use your large number of low level spell slots on?
I can’t believe you put Chromatic Orb in C while putting Guiding Bolt in A and Magic Missile in S, you just have to consider the context of these spells. Guiding Bolt on a cleric is their only single target blast for many levels, so okay for them it’s an A, but it scales poorly and you have better things to do imo than GB. Magic Missile is for Wizards and Sorcerers, and ok sure guaranteed damage, but it’s so little damage and there’s so little external synergy that you can’t really build around it. Chromatic orb is a Sorcerer spell (also wizard, but SORC). With Sorcery Incarnate, you’re highly incentivized to use attack roll spells, and CO is the best one you have. The chance to bounce and the number of bounces both increase as you go up in slot levels. On top of that, you can make build decisions that further improve the spell, like Elven Accuracy or being a Goliath or taking Draconic Sorcery to 6 and adding Cha to the damage. Game Easy Roll Good made a video about chromatic orb I highly recommend.
Chromatic Orb is better than I gave it credit for, I already acknowledged this in the pinned comment. Guiding Bolt while lacking the flexibility of choosing a damage type still provides an excellent one, with good damage and a better range. It’s a great spell. As for Magic Missile, it only deals marginally less average damage than CO or GB but is guaranteed and at that same 120 foot range as GB and is also a great damage type. CO is better than I gave it credit for, but I stand by the other ones.
Great video overall, but I disagree on your interpretation of condition immunity. According to PHB24 rules glossary (print version p. 369, I don't know if DNDBeyond already has an errata for this, though) immunity: "If you have Immunity to a damage type or a condition, it doesn't affect you in any way." My understanding is that the condition basically stops affecting you for the duration of the spell. I even get how someone could read this as Heroism ending the Frigthened condition per se, but I don't see how you take it as Heroism doing nothing for a Frightened target. The second sentence of Aura of Courage covers someone entering an area of effect. Including a sentence like this in a non AoE spell's description wouldn't make a whole lot of sense.
I think you misunderstood Heroism. Until the end of the spell you're immune to the Frightened condition. If you were already under this condition it wouldn't go away but you'd be immune to it's effects until the spell ends. Nothing in the wording implies otherwise. The Aura of Courage has different language because it only works while you're in the Aura it doesn't have a duration, so if you leave the Aura it will return. That said, it's still not a great spell. Think of it this way. If the spell said it made you immune to fire damage and you cast it on a burning creature would you make the same argument? I'm betting no.
So this is complicated. I’ll start off by saying that yes, I believe I was incorrect after consulting the rules glossary where it defines immunity has something have no effect on you at all. However, the wording is still unclear. Aura of Courage, Aura of Devotion and Mindless Rage all include the additional qualifier that the condition is suspended if you already had it. Heroism is the only one that doesn’t. So yeah, I’ll take the L on that one but I also think it’s not just a me thing, there is a clarity problem here too.
Chromatic orb actually has some interesting interactions. Tempest domain will require a DM ruling but they may let it have one guaranteed bounce- which is nice. When you upcast it the chance to bounce is higher so it DOES upcast pretty well. Also a DM ruling from elemental adept if that 1 being considered a 2 counts for the bounce, making it just ever so slightly likely more to bounce (and ignores resistance so good if you want to be a pyromania character) Honestly it's a lot better than people give it credit for. I'd genuinely put it B+ because while not a must, it's useful for everything and some builds (like sorcerer, tempest cleric, or anything that can benefit off a specific elemental damage type) can make it absolutely SHINE. Also.. When you choose thunder, you can flavor it as pinball noises for the funny whenever it bounces.
I feel like Sanctuary gets slept on quite a bit. It's excellent for non combat creatures, for example a cleric that picks up the Find Familiar spell can cast it on the Familiar and now they have an AC equal to your spell mod and can go around helping cast Cure Wounds. Or cast it on a mount and you don't have to worry about someone killing it out from under you. Or why not that Mastiff pet 😉
Notably, Animal Friendship doesn’t give advantage to the target if you’re fighting it, unlike Charm Person. So IF you’re fighting one big beast and want to diffuse the situation by charming it, it’s a lot easier than doing so with a humanoid. Still niche tho lol
Heroism, especially when upcasted, is TOTALLY not a F-tier. Temp hp each round is great, and immunity to fear yes is niche (there be DRAGONS) … but def not a F tier
@@InsightCheck Sure, but I think you are not giving the 5 temp hit points at the start of each of your turns thing much weight. its not like false life where its one burst of temp hit points and the spell is done, it refreshes every round. Put it on your raging barbarian for even greater effect, he gets hit every round for 10 hit points, end of the fight he is still full health from one spell. If it was a 4 round fight he would normally be down 20. At lower levels when facing things like goblins it will likely absorb all the damage a player would normally take in a round even if they are not a barbarian who is raging. It is not the best spell or anything, and I wish it had been a bonus action instead of an action but its nowhere near F tier.
@Ahglock to each their own I suppose. 5 temporary hit points for a concentration spell is not a trade I would make. Even if they refresh. There are so many more impactful spells that you can opt to cast instead that will likely result in a combat ending sooner and, therefore, consume fewer hit points.
@@Ahglock yeah, even at level 1.. Barbarian +3~ temp HP and rage is super useful!!! @InsightCheck I must have missed that video about Dragon Fear not being in 5.5. Still, the fear aspect of Heroism is the rider, not the primary use.
Note on thunderwave: You CAN get the prone condition from it if they fail the save - just hit them UP as a direction away from you, so they fall, taking 1d6 damage and falling prone. Not that many dm’s allow it but RAW, thats how it would work.
I'm really looking forward to chromatic orb. I'm going to make it work lol. It's best up cast to level 3 or 4, which I know is a hard sell. But at level 5, I can fireball, but I cannot sculpt it. I think the utility in picking damage type is big though, as it's always going to be at least not resisted.
Pretty good list! I think I'd probably put Faerie Fire in S and Create Water in C or B, but everything else seemed to make sense by your descriptions and the text of the spells. Faerie Fire is a good opener and pretty versatile, especially to support martial classes, with a decent area of effect, single save to resist, the ability to light an area (dimly), and to catch invisible targets (or definitively say where they aren't).
I literally forgot that, in the rules, you can just identify items without any spells over a long rest, because of how early my group decided that the rule didn't make sense and felt like it was added just to make players feel like they never lack anything for picking different classes or spells. Which, despite liking some of the new changes, I still often feel about many other changes (especially a lot of downsides of the different species getting removed).
I'm going to write a quick comment before doing some shopping, and it will be self-centered as I explain what approach I would take to make a tiered list, so I'll be able to make one of my own to compare results later (not because I think mine would be better or more accurate, I'd just be interested in seeing how much overlap there is!) - S: Spells that are extremely useful in a wide variety of circumstances/to most builds. There is a lot of overlap between these two categories, which probably means these spells are OP. These are your Find familiar, your Shield, your Wish. - A: Spells that are very useful in a wide variety of circumstances or that are extremely useful in their niche. Eldritch Blast, Fire Bolt, and Shillelagh belong here, as probably does the new True Strike if it's not S-tier. Healing Word and Goodberry probably belong here as well. - B: Spells that are both somewhat useful in many circumstances and very useful in a specific niche. - C: Spells that are either somewhat useful in many circumstances or very useful in their niche. - D: Spells that are situational or somewhat useful in a specific niche. - F: Situational spells that perform poorly even in their particular niche (e.g. Find Traps).
Chromatic orb is complicated. Its a great upcast IMO, but I dont like the wonkiness of the jumping to other targets. I'm with you on that. That being said... Choosing damage type, good range and solid damage would make it at least low B tier for me.
On Chromatic Orb, I believe that upcasting this spell and Sorcerer specifically makes this way better. At a certain point in upcasting, the likelihood of doubles is drastically boosted if not guaranteed from upcasting a few levels. Also, with Sorcerer’s new Sorcery Incarnate feature, you’ll be getting advantage on every single spell attack, meaning your chance of chaining this decent damage spell to multiple targets is extremely high. I think it can work well enough mathematically to the point where it’s a very strong as the upcasts from 1st level give you more dice to consistently get bounces, reliably keep the chain going, and have a longer chain since the upcast lets you chain it more as well. For me, Chromatic Orb is at least B tier.
Unless it gets errata'd (and I hope it doesn't) Armor of Agathys currently remains active as long as you have Temp HP. And while THP does not stack, you could replace it by casting a spell that gives you more THP than you currently have. The big one is at higher levels when one of your party members can caste Power Word Fortify on you.
Comparing thunderwave unfavorably to a single-target spell available to one half-caster, dealing less damage, and requiring a successful melee attack is weird to me.
I mean it was hardly a comparison. More just noting that one thunder themed effect that dealt damage and knocked prone is different from another thunder effect that pushed and didn’t knock prone. It really about saying that would rather a condition than marginally more damage.
The “glitch” you mentioned with Polymorph isn’t a thing. Spell effects end when the spell duration expires. Temporary hit points are not an exception. If the rule about losing temps is tripping you up, think about the end of the spell as “depleting” its provided temps.
I never said it tripped me up, just mentioning a common discussion point right now :). However, as per the rules right now, temporary hit points very much seem to be an exception, as written at least. 2024: Duration. Temporary hit points last until they’re depleted or you finish a long rest. 2014: Unless a feature that grants you temporary hit points has a duration, they last until they’re depleted or you finish a long rest. The only reason they would have removed the portion relating to duration for 2024 is if they intended them to last beyond the duration of an effect that granted them. Now, for me? I would still end the effect when the spell ends but it is worth noting that a strict reading of the rules disagrees with that. Caveat: I can definitely see this changing with an errata at some point.
Thank you for this video, I really needed it today! I love tier lists, and some of the spell changes are truly baffling. I'll post my own tier list and see how much overlap there is! I'll be mentioning "circumstances" a lot, and those also include things like specific builds (e.g. Shillelagh ranger or wizards not preparing rituals), being a ritual, only being good at certain levels, or the component being too costly for the spell's effect/level (e.g. Chromatic Orb, Identify). S (extremely useful in many/most circumstances, arguably OP): - Find Familiar, Goodberry (rest-casting), Shield A (very useful in many circumstances OR irreplaceable in its niche) - Armor of Agathys, Bless, Comprehend Languages, Detect Magic, Detect Poison and Disease, Disguise Self, Dissonant Whispers, Healing Word, Mage Armor, Magic Missile, Silent Image (cooperative DM), Sleep B (somewhat useful in many circumstances AND great in its niche) - Charm Person, Command, Divine Smite, Entangle, Fog Cloud, Hex, Hunter's Mark, Jump, Tasha's Hideous Laughter, Thunderous Smite, Witch Bolt C (somewhat useful in many circumstances OR great in its niche) - Alarm, Arms of Hadar, Bane, Cure Wounds, Create or Destroy Water, Divine Favor, Ensnaring Strike, Faerie Fire, Feather Fall, Grease, Guiding Bolt, Longstrider, Protection from Evil and Good, Purify Food and Drink, Ray of Sickness, Sanctuary, Searing Smite, Shield of Faith, Speak with Animals, Thunderwave, Unseen Servant, Wrathful Smite D (circumstantial) - Animal Friendship, Burning Hands, Chromatic Orb, Color Spray, Expeditious Retreat, False Life, Hail of Thorns, Hellish Rebuke, Identify, Illusory Script F (very circumstantial AND bad in its own niche) - Compelled Duel, Detect Evil and Good, Heroism, Ice Knife, Inflict Wounds, Tenser's Floating Disk
That's a total od 26/64 spells that we rated in the same tier! Again, though, I'm using different parameters than you are, so it's really not surprising. And just like in the first one I hated not being able to give Chill Touch an F ranking, placing Detect Poison and Disease in the same tier as Mage Armor feels weird, though it is *technically* accurate.
*I don't know how charm person is S tier* when the downside is bad enough that I have never cast it as a player nor have I ever seen it cast as a DM lol. This to me is the definition of D tier, very good in exceptionally few mostly imagined scenarios . Like when are you ever going to want to charm a person while you're also in a situation that it doesn't matter if the person knows that you cast a spell on them and manipulated them? In scenarios where there's no consequences if the person likes you or not then there are many other ways of getting what you want from that person that D&D parties are more than happy to engage with lol
I think lot of the reason is that many people seem to think Charm Person is mind control. Which it isn't, all it does is give you advantage on persuasion checks against the target, and they can't attack you (however they can still attack all your party members just fine)
I wish sanctuary made it clear if creatures know you're warded and how it is interpreted. Like is a bear less likely to attack someone warded in this way or does it think you're a regular target and just also has a harder time hitting?
I am trying to see about Divine Smite critically hitting. 1) Smite is a Bonus action that is used immediately after a successful hit. not part of the attack action so If the Weapon (or Unarmed) attack hits. does the weapon AND the Smite damage both Crit. The Smite is a separate source (That does not have a to Hit) BUT is does say it is EXTRA DAMAGE.
I am not a huge fan of the compelled duel tank style of play but the whole target cannot move more than 30 feet away from you. One wisdom save to prevent an enemy from fleeing is definately strong in some situations, i would think that would be at least D tier.
You are absolutely not taking any heat for compelled duel. In fact, it got even worse now because its a paladin exclusive spell that competes with their BA which is in very high demand for them with the new changes. It serves ZERO purpose and its honestly sad that they made no changes to it because it has a lot of potential to be something fun/unique.
Try to make sense they fact that guiding Bolt is A tier bot chromatic orb is C tier, whe one is just better damage dealing than the other (chromatic orb) and for that they exist.
I think one of the D&D Beyond videos about the 2024 PHB, said they changed Hex to affect Saves now as everyone thought previously in 5.14 rules, but it sounds like the text reads as it always has & affects only ability scores. (If a warlock got that off before combat & impacted DEX ability checks, would that impact initiative for the hexed target? Additionally, if you twin spell on Hex could you then put disadvantage on 2 target's initiative?) }|{ }|{ }|{ I also noticed that you stated Armor of Agathys was a "B" rating, but on the screen it shows up in "A" rating, though I'm only a little past half-way through so maybe you mention that change at the end of the video.
For AoA I flashed text on the screen. I misspoke during the recording. A was the intent. And ok for Hex I am SO happy you mentioned this because I thought I was going insane. I would have SWORN they had said it affected Saves and I was ready to give it an S rating and when I read that it didn’t I felt like I was going insane lol but then I couldn’t find the clip where they said it. At least I’m not alone.
Tensor's Floating Disc is only helpful to those who cast it as a ritual without having it prepared, so in a wizard's spellbook or if you are allowing the 5.14 Eldritch Invocation "The Book of Ancient Secrets" or the feat Ritual Caster (wizard) it is good then, which makes it niche.
@@InsightCheck Found it, it is a special feature of the Great Olde One Patron, not all warlocks get it. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-v6lncsjhYRI.htmlsi=m3WZx4zwPdxpYbaS&t=1727
Divine Favor is so over-rated, yes it's not concentration anymore, but it still adds really neglible amount of damage, meaning that the combat would have to take quite awhile before it would be worth using instead of a smite spell.
Mage Armor i don`t know to be honest after thinking more and more it gets harder. Mage Armor AC = 13+Dex vs 10+Dex with out MA ( 8 hours is not a day,..) -> 3 AC with out Concentration is still very good,.. But Level 1 Sorcerer (2 Spells known + 2 Spell Slots) UFF Is Shield to be counted better? +5 you only use if you need? Level 2 Sorcerer can go up from 3 to 4Level 1 Slots (Sorcery Points) 4 Spells known Would still be hard to take Shield + Mage Armor Maybe level 1-2 we should take: False Life and change Spells later? Why? False Life 2d4+ 4 -> ~9HP Sorcerer Level 1 with 14Con => 8HP A Kobold/Bandit/Goblin,.. should Hit for ~4-5 Dam Would mean 2 extra hits to go down. A Kobold/Bandit/Goblin,.. with a +4 to Hit would only need to rolle a 16! to hit a Sorcerer or Wizard (14Dex) with Mage Armor AND Shield activ! 13MA + 2Dex + 5S -> 20 A Crit? -> you could go down with 1 hit (5% chance or ~9,5% if the monster has advantage) (thinking about a Adventur with Advantage Attacks *no spoilers* that would increase the odds to get hit very high ) Temp HP work with saves, fall damage,..... Just becouse nobody thinks maybe about it: False Life Temp HP ->Duration Instantaneous Even after a 1000years it stays until you take damage. First day in the tavern Cast -> next day, week, year,.. It is from this point one of the best pre buffs -> no concentration, no time limit --------------- Level 2 Sorcer Human Luck Feat, Magic Initiat Cleric (Sanctuary) + Mage Armor + Blade Ward + Shield + False Life Ok try to kill it! 😆 ~23HP with False Life Luck -> 2 Attacks with Disadvantage 15AC -1d4 to Attack rolles from Blade Ward (~2,5AC) + Shield to get a min of 21AC to 24AC max. + Sanctuary Wis save or no attack/damaging Spell
You are really undervaluing Searing Smite, it is the highest damage smite when cast at any level other than 1st, even if the target makes their first save. Since they take the damage twice already before they get a chance to make a save.
I'd probably note, that despite Paladin's Smite offering a free-Divine Smite use, it still would prevent you from casting a spell that turn, because in order to use Divine Smite, you need to hit the target with an attack (Attack Action) and then use your Bonus action cast it. While that wouldn't restrict you from casting a spell for that turn, you don't have action economy to accommodate any spell (disclaimer: outside taking 2 levels of fighter to waste an action surge, lol). Paladin's Smite Divine Smite, along with the rest of the smite spells, will always eat a Paladin's entire turn on use (which is partly why they're all bad, lol). Paladin is probably the most restrictive caster in the game atm, given none of their features interact with their spellcasting to adjust at any tier of play how they spellcast.
Ok, admittedly I was absolutely not considering this when I wrote that part of the script but there is verrrrryyy technically a way to attack, cast an action spell and still Divine Smite lol. But I’m gonna be real, it’s literally never going to happen but is *technically* possible lol. Hear me out. You’re a Paladin. It’s your turn in combat. You used your action to cast some spell. Doesn’t matter what, as long ad it is an action spell. Then, an enemy, conveniently within 5 feet of you, had readied that they would move away if you cast a spell. You now get to make an Opportunity Attack against them which does proc Divine Smite since it doesn’t require an attack action, it just requires hitting with a melee weapon or unarmed strike and you having a Bonus Action available. So there is very technically a situation where they could but it’ll literally never happen hahahaha. All that to say, you got me :P
@@InsightCheck The only other way that came to mind after I wrote my comment was being Hasted somehow, but yeah, this one that works in a cool way too (I never would have thought of it lol). Concentration really limited 2014 smite spells in use, but I'd be lying if I didn't miss the concept of Bonus Action - cast Reaction - Opportunity attack - Hit - roll weapon damage + apply smite spell - for some effect. Now its your turn or bust for smite effects (unless you're a Blade-lock, knock them prone Warlock kings and queens).
I am not saying tensers floating disk is the greatest spell ever. but 500 pounds is a lot of loot, and its a ritual. If 46 years of gaming I don't think a single campaign has gone by without someone using in our games for its intended purpose of carrying heavy things, with some creative uses thrown in. Eventually when everyone has a bag of holding it gets less use, but even then we have used it a lot.
Honestly gotta disagree about mage armor. It eats a spell slot and never scales. The lightly armored feat gives you get +1 to Str or Dex which helps AC and Initiative and you gain proficiency in light armor and shields. This can increase your AC by 4-5 and you can now use magic shields and light armor. Mage armor by comparison AC by 3 and that’s it. It’s still okay, and maybe is A tier at low levels but drops off as you level up.
Witch bolt is now just UNLIMITED POWER and maybe deserves S tier for being potentially the most damaging level 1 spell now. On subsequent turns it's just free attack that automatically hits. Just target the strongest enemy and KILL HIM ANAKIN.
I think divine favour is also great bonus action filler when You want to use Your turn for something other than attacking. Because of the new spellcasting rules, You could just stock up on divine favour scrolls (50gp in the PHB) and cast it whenever You bless/bane/abjure foes/nature’s wrath and so forth (the last two aren’t spells but it still applies) and make up for some of the damage You’ve lost by not attacking.
Can't stress enough that THP **aren't** kept when the concentration ends. That's not even a hard rule to figure out. So* please, don't spread this idiotic interpretation. I always put so much credit on your videos, don't make me regret it.
So, for what it’s worth, I agree that it *should* end when the spell or effect does. But, it is absolutely worth noting that in 2024, it’s not actually that clear. I mentioned this in another comment so I’ll paste it here. As per the rules right now, temporary hit points very much seem to be an exception, as written at least. 2024: Duration. Temporary hit points last until they’re depleted or you finish a long rest. 2014: Unless a feature that grants you temporary hit points has a duration, they last until they’re depleted or you finish a long rest. The only reason they would have removed the portion relating to duration for 2024 is if they intended them to last beyond the duration of an effect that granted them. Now, for me? I would still end the effect when the spell ends but it is worth noting that a strict reading of the rules disagrees with that. Caveat: I can definitely see this changing with an errata at some point.
@@InsightCheck I understand that sometimes clarification is needed. But it looks like people are really trying to go for misinterpretation on this specific ruling. Here's one example. If there was a spell (concentration for a minute) that had the following description: “The target gains a number of Temporary Hit Points equal to X. The spell ends early on the target if it has no Temporary Hit Points left.” - would you think the spell would maintain its effect after the concentration ends just because it isn't written word by word ?
@UltimosGabriel so again, I agree with you and would end it when the spell ends. But, I also don’t think anyone not doing that is necessarily doing it “wrong”. As written it seems pretty clear that you gain those temporary hit points and do not only have them while an effect persists. This is also highlighted by the fact that they very intentionally removed the qualifier from how temporary hit points work which states that they end when the duration of the effect ends. So it’s not really relevant what another spell might say about another effect. We have the ruling for this scenario and, even if neither of us like or agree with it, as it currently stands at least the temporary HP would stay. I sincerely hope this gets an errata in the future.
