Petrification Abuse in D&D 

The problem with this combo is assuming your dm will allow you to run silvery barbs

Shadow sorcerer: I have a dog now you have disadvantage

On RAW, silvery barbs enter in action AFTER the first dice is chosen, so if you roll at advantage, you pick the highest, THEN roll 1 more dice and compare THAT one with the already chosen from the advantage roll, is not like the Lucky feat which enter in action with all dices at once, so is not a triple disadvantage, is just A disadvantage on top of any roll If a second caster also cast silvery barbs, it will be compared with the already final dice with the new one, not all dices together at once

Enemy: "I succeeded on my saving..." The Divination Wizard: "No you didn't"

DM: "oh well I hope I don't fail this last save, oh wait it has legendary resistance, guess you wasted all your spells for nothing" Player: "but, hydras don't have legend-" DM: "the hydra uses power word kill!"

Triple disadvantage, Triple the dissatisfaction.

Yet another instance where Bane is slept on

You really just needed to send home a message to that particular guy.

RAW you are definitely correct. RAI I'd argue for resolving the advantage (2D20, pick the highest) and then rolling an additional D20 to pick the lowest between this and the higher one of the previous two. I will die on this hill - anyone who runs silvery barbs (or luck feat for that matter) lile suggested here is a wiener 😂

The alternate way to do it, while not as reliable, is with Bestow Curse (as highlighted in the video) plus Bane. All too often do we as players miss by just 1 or 2, and forget we have casters who could cast Bless, and even more often forget we have access to Bane when enemies barely succeed

STOP. MAKING. UP. RULES! The spell DOES NOT say that you turn advantage into disadvantage and take the lowers of all rolls. It says you reroll and take the lower die. Not lowEST, lowER. For Tiamat's sake, we have ENOUGH problems with dnd players not reading their spells and the rules without youtubers making up BS for content...

I'm literally got petrified right before this video got dropped 😢.

If one caster is a level 6 shadow sorcerer, their shadow puppy (bonus action) will give disadvantage on saves from spells cast by the shadow sorcerer... bane and mind sliver both give -1d4 each... so now your target is at disadvantage with a -2d4 to their roll. Enjoy.

Nice clip of XPtoLevel3

Aaaaaaaand that’s why silvery barbs is banned at my table

Then use shape stone spell to alter them then dispel magic

Then you cast stone shape on the statue 😂😂😂

3 divination wizards also works

Uhhh, just be an Eloquence Bard? Bonus Action: Unsettling Words Action: Flesh to Stone If they pass, Reaction: Silvery Barbs, the Unsettling Words still applies. Silvery Barbs is on average a -2.5 to roll. Unsettling Words is on average a -3.5 at level 5. Take a 2 level fighter dip for Action Surge. Round 1: Mind Sliver for -1d4 (2.5) on next Save, bonus action UW (-3.5), then action surge Flesh to Stone, then Silvery Barbs (-2.5). On subsequent rounds attack with Mind Sliver and Unsettling Words again with Silvery Barbs as a back up.

Bestow Curse won't help here combined with Flesh to Stone. They're both Concentration spells, so Bestow Curse will fall off the moment you start casting Flesh to Stone.

at first i thought it was a guide for DMs and I was shocked lmao

2 of my players have Silvery Barbs, the bard and the Sorcerer. The Artificer was also going to take it, but found something that fit their character better.

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We just recently in my group were trying to charm a commoner who was the front desk of an asylum we needed to break someone out of. Our Paladin casts it, DC 17 Wis check. They pass. Our first wizard SB it, still a pass. Our other wizard SB it, still a pass. That random receptionist had the hottest rolls all night.

Those Steinhardt's Guide books look awfully attractive on the shelf. My shelf looks so naked and ugly... 😉😉😅

you dont reroll the save, you reroll the D20.. so even with advantage / disadvantage it would still be 2 d20 and no tripple disadvantage... eg. rolling with disadvantage: 19 & 17, so 17 saves, S.B. rerolling the 17, new roll 18 so still 17, and so on... it dose not reroll the whole save with advantage or disadvantage..

Everyone else: Man Silvery Barbs is the worst! Me: What on earth is that petrification clip from? ... and also silvery barbs IS the worst!

Silvery barbs is not one that stacks in this way. They roll at advantage let’s say 16 and 4. The 16 would succeed then the caster could cast SB so they would role again let’s say 14, you’d take the lowest out of the 16 and the 14. So there roll would now be 14. This works a bit differently with lucky or elven accuracy.

Me as a DM the first time my players would do that to my BBEG The Petrification begins subtly, with a peculiar, faint tingling sensation in the toes. As the process progresses, you can see how the skin starts to lose its suppleness, becoming increasingly rigid. This rigidity seeps deeper, transforming muscles, tendons, and even the bones into a dense, stone-like substance. As the transformation advances, the flesh of the foot gradually hardens. The texture shifts from the pliable, warm consistency of living tissue to a cold, unyielding mass. The tingling sensation intensifies, evolving into a dull ache that radiates upward. Within minutes, the hardening effect reaches the ankles. The skin around this joint becomes marble-like, smooth yet unyielding. Each step becomes a struggle, the ability to move slowly fading as the joints lose their flexibility and solidify. The transformation continues inexorably, creeping up towards the calves. Muscle fibers in the lower leg, once responsive and vibrant, become static and stony. Blood vessels calcify, their once rhythmic pulse silenced. The petrification process then engulfs the knees, locking them in place as the joints turn to stone, leaving the legs entirely immobilized. The petrified legs bear the appearance of statues, a perfect replica of their former living form but now cold, heavy, and devoid of life. Upon realizing the petrification creeping up his legs, the BBEG frantically decides to take drastic action to save himself. His eyes widen in panic as he assesses the extent of the transformation, which has already reached his knees. Knowing he has little time, he swiftly draws his weapon-a sharp, gleaming blade that he keeps for emergencies. With a grimace of determination, he positions the blade just above the hardened line where flesh meets stone, at his thighs. Gritting his teeth, he prepares for the excruciating task ahead. He raises the blade and, with a powerful swing, begins to cut through the flesh of his thighs. The blade slices through the soft tissue with relative ease, but as it reaches the petrified part, it clangs against the stone-like surface. He adjusts his angle and strikes again, using all his strength to chip away at the hardened material. Blood pours from the fresh wounds, and pain shoots through his body, but he doesn't waver. Each strike is accompanied by a grimace of agony, but also a fierce determination to survive. The process is gruesome and slow. Each cut through the remaining flesh and bone requires immense effort. He focuses on one leg first, severing it complety from the knee down. The now fully petrified limb falls away with a heavy thud, resembling a stone pillar more than a leg. Breathing heavily, he turns his attention to the other leg, repeating the brutal procedure. Blood loss and pain threaten to overwhelm him, but he pushes through, knowing it's his only chance to halt the petrification's advance. Finally, with a final, desperate strike, the second leg is severed. The BBEG collapses back, gasping for breath, his legs now severed. Blood pools around him, and his lower limbs lay discarded frozen in stone. Though maimed and in excruciating pain, he has stopped the petrification's process. His Survival, for now, is assured, albeit it at a terrebil cost. Me as a DM the second time they try to pull this off. As you cast the petrification spell you can notice a faint shimmer in one of his rings. It seems as if the flow of Magic that sustains your Petrification spell is being disrupted and absorbed.

Or just be a DM. No, actually. I somehow turned my player’s _Paladin_ to stone with a beholder. _Paladin!_ I felt so bad, but hey, at least it got fixed shortly afterwards?

Petrification works great for infiltration missions. Petrify the party, except the cleric/wizard. Have them sneak/walk in, with the party in a bag of holding or other extra dimensional space. Get past check point, dump bag, remove curse. And yes, there are a lot of easier ways than to do this.

The bit about turning advantage to super disadvantage is wrong you're borrowing a ruling from lucky but they are worded differently. If you role a 1 and a 20 at advantage and someone silvery barbs you, and you roll an 18 the choice is between the 20 and the 18 the 1 isn't a factor because silvery barbs doesn't have the additional d20 language lucky does.

Is there a sage advice or something that says silvery barbs works this way? I know there's one for the lucky feat that says it works like this, but silvery barbs is phrased differently. Silvery barbs doesn't trigger until the creature succeeds, and then it says they "reroll the d20 and use the lower roll." The way I read that, the whole spell is taking place after advantage/disadvantage have been resolved on the initial roll. Also, has no one argued that you can't have two casters both use silvery barbs on the same d20 roll, because effects from two castings of the same spell can't stack?

At my tabe what we see is Sorcerer: BA) quicken mind sliver, A) highten the spell she's casting, R) if they fail silvery barbs Raw you'd have to drop the mind sliver but honestly she doesn't use it unless something is super important because that's alot of resources to spend in one turn

Petrification is OP if anithing...proved by the fact that is something only a handful of monsters have access to, and is not something player should have easily. All this serves is just to say silvery barbs is OP (fix it by make it lv 2)

If something is unconscious doesn’t it automatically fail saving throws? Cuz if so then you could knock it unconscious and then petrify it for free but I can’t remember if it’s every saving throw or only specific ones

As someone who has played since the 80s, and DMed since the late 90s, I’ve seen more PCs and “big threat” monsters go out to Petrification than anything else.

Okay, assuming your DM allows silvery barbs, and that the creature can mathematically fail the Con save, this still only works on creatures without legendary resistances. A skilled DM will let you cast all the silvery barbs you want, and then automatically succeed a failed save after your reactions are expended.

That isn't true about silvery bards. They roll the 2 for, let's say advantage, and get a 2 and 19. They keep the 19 but the silvery bards rerolls and they roll a 15. They got a 15 not a 2.

If you cast silvery barbs twice it should give you double-triple-disadvantage (you roll three dice and take the lowest three times and then take the lowest of those 3)

Problem 1. Silvery Barbs is a permabanned spell for exactly this reason.

Since you're been a DM for a while. Would you let a collage of creations bard animate a petrified person?

A wizard team which makes incredibly realistic, expensive yet luxurious marble statues for the rich out of real monsters

Well it isn't petrification being good it's silvery barbs being op. You can get a similar effect with banishment or polymorph and you don't need as much preparation

One of the casters should be divination wizard. With low portent rolls you can make opponent autofail 2 saves

Silvery barbs is a plain unbalanced spell. If it had only one of the advantages it would be more balanced but you get an advantage and the opponent a disadvantage it's just to much imo. Portent would be another way to pull this off with a higher succes rate given the fact you have low digit Portent dice. Other additions could be mind sliver or a casting of bane.

Chances of silvery barbs making it into 2024 edition are lower than my chances of getting laid any time soon.

Extra step, get your sorcerer to quicken spell mind sliver to give a d4 penalty if they fail and INT save

Thanks to a terrible DM I had I legit HATED silvery barbs with a burning raging passion and have vowed to never use the spell either as a player or a DM. This spell was the final straw for me rhat made me rage quit a game.

It only takes one advantage to nullify all disadvantage, Players Handbook Fifth Edition

Don't look at the stone Cockatace... It retains it's petrifying gaze even after it turns to stone. Makes a good guard dog though.

You dont need the creature to fail multiple constitution saves in a row. They just need 3 fails before 3 successes. Which isnt actually that unlikely if you think about it. Just takes more time.

My char died from it 😢 yeah, very unlucky, con was my second good stat. (Forge Cleric)

It's also worth noting that the Petrified condition doesn't impose the Unconscious condition.

I hate Silvery Barbs. It's absolutely busted, and for a Level 1 spell, it's utterly insane

Divination Wizard: is this some lucky people shit I am too predestined to understand?

5E has a lot of player coddling. Petrification is one of those. It should be a save once, fail, your a statue.

Waiiit... That was the wizard from xptolvl3

You can only be silvery barbs'd once per spell. It counts as a named active spell effect during the dice roll. If there's a 2nd save the same turn then someone else can cast it, but for one roll only one instance of a spell can be active. The only exception is counterspelling a counterspell, because each subsequent counterspell targets the latest counterspell rather than a single spell or dice roll

Or you could just cast fireball and vaporize your enemies.

Well it's still difficult to pull off because of DM's normal behaviour

Me, who doesnt play 5e: hm, dang, that sounds rough guys. Anyway,

best part about this: The party used all these resources, and you can look at them after failing and say "it uses its legendary resistance to succeed on the save."

You can also use Bane and Mind Sliver to stack a negative 2d4 to whatever they roll.

Instructions unclear, i have petrifyed my entire party

My most recent character was petrified into a chocolate statue last session. It was amazing

Chron wizard level 14 feature let's you choose whether or not a creature succeeds a save 6 times per day

It does matter if the monster has advantage: if the lowest roll isn't on the silvery barbs roll, it doesn't count. So it's the worst between the best of the first two rolls and the third.

I actually reversed a petrification on a basalisk and stoll its egg

Wonderful except theres legendary resistance

you have to make him lose the 1st one save. keep in mind while he lost his first save he is also restrained,making unable to move and disadvantage on many things like on the dex save of your fireball

Divination Wizard, and terrible luck my friend

I prefer being a divination or chronurgy wizard and deciding that they aren't going to succeed any of the saves

Having portent would also be beneficial

Module, odyssey of the dragonlords, lets you play as a medusa. Ill just leave this here.

Another way to add more power in this estrategy is with one adivination wizard and his ability changing the succeds in the dice rolls

Felsh to stone does not require the failed save to ve consecutive. It simply requires three fails total

I love the xp to lvl 3 silvery barbs part P.S. I love your content

Basically useless. Makes one you lose a character until you can get the depetrification potion or spend alot of money on a greater restoration

This is why you dont allow reactions after reactions

This is a silvery barbs hype video no lt a petrifaction video lol

If you get the bestow curse off for con saves, they are already basically dead lmao

The real problem with this combo is the video creator read barbs wrong

SB only triggers after a roll has succeed, so you only roll one new die and use it if it was lower than the final result.

Silvery barbs can only be cast if they pass the save. Its a specific reaction casting time

Triple disadvantage means triple width on an evil grin.

Not fail multiple saves? Sir I am amazing at failing my rolls

When you portent wizard 3 nat 1s...

Ah, my DM is going to hate me now

Bro forgot divination wizard exists

Why is silvery barbs so ridiculously broken?

One spell caster coould aplay mind sliver too

Me and my group run silvery barbs as a second level spell.

Landing bestow curse is going to be the hard part

Nice try, I still won't unban SB at my table

In what world is silvery barbs not banned?

Also pick up lucky on both casters

we did it guys, we broke silvery barbs

we did it guys, we broke silvery barbs

People let that terrible spell in their games?