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The wizard's sickly looking servant suddenly snaps to attention, his focus on you and begins waving his hands in a near mimicry of you as the particles of magic begin to abruptly explode in the air between you. Suddenly, you feel the presence of your magic fade.
Your eyes slowly adjust to the darkness as the sounds of moaning specters and the smell of damp air fill your nostrils. It is readily apparent, you've found yourself somewhere quite different than you last remember. Now, in your own language, yet heavily raspy and accented, you can just make out someone shouting "2 gold pieces to traverse the river or be damned forever!".
I love that, itd be a sick cult encounter. Depends on what the word is. I looked it up, there doesn't seem to be an official one?
I now imagine it'd be something hard to cast as a ritual, not just for balance, but for comedic effect, like it's a tongue twister or requires the target to have some kind of un-safe word which the spell allows the caster to learn and then say for that particular person.
I'm not thinking about this too much.
Official ruling is that NPCs can do whatever they want (whatever the DM wants). But giving players access to a ritual version of Power Word: Kill (maybe they recover the baddiesâ spellbook after?) doesnât seem overpowered. After all, when would they ever get a chance to use that!?! (*laughs nervously*)
I nearly got power word killed as a level 8 wizard but I managed to counter spell it with a roll of 18. Then I almost immediately got turned into an undead by finger of death doing 70ish damage
Had a DM disintegrate my character after I decimated his encounter. 10d6+40 force damage at lvl 5 or 6. Felt I was done dirty.
The explanation: I had split the party due to alignment choice (lawful good cleric) to protect the town we were based out of. We knew the group was coming and could prep, but the chaotic other players decided that we could finish the revival of the god without the final pieces we needed (the DM told us right before we made our decisions to save the city). I took out all 50 soldiers except the wizard BBEG.
As a DM I hate Power word kill. Either I have to waste an enemies turn casting it knowing full well it will fail or I meta game and everybody knows it by using it on a character I know is low enough. I would prefer it if there was a save to give the players some agency on the spell. The only time I have ever actually used the spell is when I cast it on other NPCs.
I ran an end game encounter with Orcus once who has PWK as a lair action. Because he doesnât need vision on a character I chose to make it more interesting by having the Balors that serve him call out sufficiently damage characters during the fight, allowing those players to use any tools they have to get above 100HP in preparation. Was kinda cool I think
Only time to use this? Scare your players~ did so once when my guys reached a big bad they were in no place to fight whatsoever. So the bbeg went up to an Npc they were talking to said the party âaw you ruined my fun, why donât you just go and DIEâ and the npc dropped all of them were frozen. Bbeg laughs like a psycho tells them to leave the rest of his toys alone and to vacate town. They hella did
Yup PWK is a bullshit spell. I once got PWK by my DM when we were level 9. I got one turn in combat and on the big bads turn he turned and PWK me. I tried to counter but didnât succeed. I proceeded to spend the remaining 3 hours of the session dead and unable to do anything. I was basically stuck to watch my friends battle as they were killed 1 by 1 as well.
I always design my encounters in one of two ways. But thereâs always the discussion at session 0 the type of difficulty my players want. I had a group who was more casual and RP driven so I dialed back mechanics that can be seen as frustrating. But when I have a group that wants a gritty difficult game I always deliver. It requires a massive amount of trust among the players and I.
I always reiterate I am NOT trying to beat them or win. I help drive this point by doing a few things in high stakes battles. First, I tend to make my rolls open so everyone can see them, reinforcing Iâm not fudging any rolls. Second, when putting the encounter together I often write down certain ways the boss/encounter will react to things. For example, In a lich fight I ran I wrote down that if any player did 80 or more damage in one turn the lich would attempt to banish that player. This really helps to enforce Iâm not targeting anyone and itâs based on some preset tendencies from the Boss.
My players really enjoy this and it makes the wins feel all the more satisfying. Iâve played in many games where the DM will go hard at the start of a fight and will very noticeably let off the gas half way through once the fight looks bad. For me personally, and many of my friends, this is obvious and feels like âyour older sibling letting you winâ. The DM already gets to dictate whatever they want. So Iâd rather have a somewhat set in stone encounter and leave it up to the players to find a win condition. Not give it to them once things look ugly.
As a DM I hate Polymorph Other because if I fail the save, that encounter is over. There's a transmuter in my Sunday game that uses it every day. It just makes for about a 60% chance that my time prepping that encounter was wasted. I hate it when it works, he hates it when it fails.
As a player I want to cast Divination or Augury all the time but then the DM has to give me a cryptic warning about something that will happen in the next hour or two and there's just no easy way they can predict that, let alone freestyle a good answer that doesn't give too much away. There are several 2e spells that are like this. Idea and Genius both give up answers from the past about an area, and it seems like it would be a chore as a DM to answer them.
But isn't it like Wild Shape where if the creature has the polymorph healthbar ontop of it's normal one and if that creature drops to 0 it just reverts to it's old form with the health it had?
In 2e when you cast Polymorph Other it's permanent. The subject gets a saving throw to avoid it, and must roll system shock (like a con save) to survive the change. During the next days and weeks they roll intelligence checks or else they start to believe they're actually the thing they've been polymorphed into. Only the original caster can dispel it. When they die they change back to their true form.
It's an awesome spell really, but if all the creatures he encounters can suddenly shapeshift out of it that would be metagaming and I don't want to cheat him like that. Still, his reputation as a polymorpher is starting to get around so the smartest enemies will be ready for it, either with spell turning or form-retention magic. Maybe I'll create a rival transmuter that goes around changing everything back with his own polymorph magic.
This.
It reminds me of a time my Transmuter got into a fight with a fighter.
He was such a dick (we were teens) that I cast polymorph other on him & turned him into a squirrel. My character picked him up and threw him into a cage and started running âmagical experimentsâ on him.
He kept his reasoning and knew he was a human trapped in a squirrelâs body.
Talk about messed up.
Lol!
I have a Magic-User in and AD&D game that has made frequent use of this spell because frankly, itâs one of the few spells that I can use offensively. I know it frustrates the DM, but thatâs how it goes. I typically turn monsters into snails or goldfish and if they survive System Shock, I will keep them around as pets. We plan on dropping these polymorphed creatures into the local orc fortress, casting dispel magic and watching the carnage unfold from afar. Creatures include a Chimera, a hippogriff, a black pudding and a Minotaur.
My player has the exact same plan. He has a giant constrictor snake, a 20 foot ankheg, a wyvern and priest of Talos, each in the form of a hen. The local goblin tribe wont know what hit em.
You could pull that player aside and tell him that his spamming of it is disruptive and causing issues with prep. I had a player like that, and he complained when the big bad had counter play to the constantly exploited ability.
You could always pull the conjure woodland beings card on them and summon 8 pixies and turn all your bandits into T-Rexs.
And that is the one spell, I won't use.
We were in a session in a bar where the (I think they were a warlock?) got absolutely shitfaced. I, being sober, tried to calm everyone down, and they banished me.
The entire table was quiet for a few seconds and then we pissed ourselves laughing.
I returned when it ended and found they had been put in a drunk tank for the night.
Dont the creatures banished return After a minute?
Once we were in a doungeon and our dm had us roll d% to see how hard the encounters would be
One of the rolls was a 99...
It was two Fire giants at level 8 i think, the Cleric banishing One of the Giants literally saved our lives
Banishment is a great spell and used strategically can really turn the tide. Itâs one of my favorite spells. If you have banishment, I feel like you should use it. Iâve never played at a table where banishment didnât make the encounter more fun, either because the creature made the save, or because it created an âOH SHIT, WE MIGHT GET OUT OF THIS ALIVE!â Moment
If you're of a level where you have Banishment as an option and have it prepared you better be throwing down with it! It's for a serious problem, and if I remember correctly there is a saving throw too.
True true, but just think of someone throwing that spell at the final boss battle and fail the save, that's kinda a not so climax ending. But I do see your point in it would be good to have in a deadly fight
That's why bosses have legendary resistances. Plus if he's not from another plane he'll be back in a minute. Your just buying time to get in position/set up some traps.
That's exactly my characters and I make sure to use a lot of spells with different saves to find their weaknesses and force them into using up those resistances. Bonus points for successfully giving them disadvantage on saving throws to cancel out their advantage vs Magic.
Good sources of forcing extra saves are persistent spells like Moonbeam and Cloud Kill that require a save when it first hits them and again at the beginning of their turn.
After completing Tyranny of Dragons as a player, it would have been simultaneously anticlimactic and EPIC to just banish Tiamat back to Avernus, instead of having to fight her.
Trust me, I kind of tried to. If I'd have rolled a lot lower or we'd have been 20th level when facing her, Divine Intervention could have worked.
---------------------
Divine Intervention:
Beginning at 10th level, you can call on your deity to intervene on your behalf when your need is great.
Imploring your deityâs aid requires you to use your action. Describe the assistance you seek, and roll percentile dice. If you roll a number equal to or lower than your cleric level, your deity intervenes. The DM chooses the nature of the intervention; the effect of any cleric spell or cleric domain spell would be appropriate.
If your deity intervenes, you canât use this feature again for 7 days. Otherwise, you can use it again after you finish a long rest.
At 20th level, your call for intervention succeeds automatically, no roll required.
-----------------
Unbeknownst to the rest of the party ( the players and their characters ), my character was a War Priest Cleric of Tiamat.
I tried to warn my Queen that the time isn't right and that it's too dangerous to enter this world.
She failed to listen...
... Two rounds later she was âdeadâ from this plane, and back in Avernus.
BTW, these same characters'll be the ones heading to Avernus later, so that we can play it at higher levels, instead of having to hide from everyone. Gonna get some Mad Max fun traveling in Hell on Infernal Machines.
We even ended the campaign at a banquet held in our honor, as defenders of the Realms, in the Holy City of Elturel, so we'll be conveniently skipping the Baldurs Gate portion of the adventure, dealing with the Vamhampurs (?) and Thavius Krieg, who attended the banquet, having miscalculated what day the city was to be claimed.
Leap years are a bish, and depending on what year the deal was struck with the Archduke (presumably Zariel, but possibly Ba'al, depending on who was in charge 50 years ago in my timeline), there are roughly a dozen leap days to account for during those 50 years. đ
I want banished our parties barbarian at the start of a fight, and made the enemy paranoid, thinking that he had gone invisible⊠We faked the retreat, and I dropped concentration after he was behind them⊠Or would come back behind them
Iâm a DM.
I refuse to use PWK.
Itâs a meta-heavy spell that just isnât interesting, especially at 9th level.
Meteor Swarm is a FAR better option.
I used it once. A wizard counterspelled a big necromancer's Feeblemind to one of the other players, who had personal story issues with, and then he PWK the wizard. The wizard player even said "that's fair, no regrets".
The whole "Power Word Kill does nothing if the target has more than 100 HP" thing is just garbage. Like, what would that even mean in-game to the player character?
"You are struck by the foul necrotic energy and feel your heart skip a beat, but you are otherwise unaffected."
Then based on what character was hit and what they would know about magic, I'll let them know if they realize what spell was just cast.
when I DM, silvery barbs. I'd rather remove it than use it. When I'm a player, mass summon spells like conjure animals. They just take so much time they're not worth it, just a couple bigger summons can be good, but a bunch of small ones are so annoying to keep track of and roll for
Having a player who can quickly run large numbers of critters is eye-opening. One of my homies was running a druid with a swarm of 30+ Awakened critters and plants and his turn often took less time than the Fighter's.
Heat metal can really piss of a DM or make your player look like a complete and total monster if you're not careful how you cast it. That damage can really wrack up and be quite a nuisance if cast at a high level on a set of armor which takes a few minutes to put on/take off.
Had many a boss battle where the target was glowing like a brake pad and gunning for my ass to try and break the concentration. Not to be used for pranks. Great way to be vilified by a town.
Good times đ
I remember we took down a dragon at a fairly low level once by crafting a collar and bracelets with hidden release clasps (and magically size changing to fit the wearer) and convincing the dragon we were paying tribute to pass through his territory. Got good persuasive rolls and he put them on right away, and multiple hidden players casting heat metal while my character (the smooth talker) just ran for his life.
Thunderwave after that one time we were fixing a magic bridge that fixed itself when broken but it was ruined so we had to finish breaking it so it heals and I used thunderwave because I'm a bard and it was my only damaging spell that isn't psychic.
I ended up breaking all windows in a 300 feet radius, just like the spell implies.
The spell does not imply that. The spell can be heard from 300 feet away, that would "imply" at 301 feet the sound can't be heard, so at 300 foot it would be a faint whisper. You can here someone talking at 300 feet if they raise their voice a little.
Or, it's magic and doesn't function how sound normally does. Full volume out to 300ft, nothing at 301ft.
But it says nothing about breaking windows at any distance, regardless of volume
I've always used the sound to mean anything out to 300 ft just heard it, so enemies come investigate, some might run, whichever, you give away your parties location. You might get swarmed with enemies or they might grab their valubles and run taking that prized item you and your party was sent to find.
It doesn't need to be a weapon? Just pulled up Bone Devil as an example:Â
>Damage Resistances Cold; Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing from Nonmagical Attacks that aren't Silvered Â
Nothing about silvered weapons. Animated silver coins are in fact performing silvered attacks, so they bypass.
Werewolf says the same, no mention of needing to be weapons
Silvered and silver are not the same. Silvered specifically refers to a process of alchemy to apply silver and other things to a weapon. Raw silver doesn't do it
Silvering weapons has nothing to do with alchemy, nor does it include "other things," per the rulebooks.
You may be thinking of different editions, but what you're saying has nothing to do with 5e
The last time I cast create or destroy water was to prank my wild magic sorcerer friend. He panicked and tried to cast shield, triggering a wild magic surge that resulted in him fireballing himself...and everyone else in the shop.
Hypnotic Pattern.
I've only used it on my Arcane Trixter with Magical Ambush. It killed encounters. I only broke it out for those times it was looking like a TPK.
COS Spoiler >!Sending: my wizard has just deduced that Strahd is intercepting her messages and sending his own replies. She absolutely terrified to send them now!<
One of my players has (in game) PTSD over using the spell Shatter. Twice when she cast it she alerted the enemy camp to their presence and got swarmed nearly causing a TPK. The final straw was when she used it on a snowy mountain pass and caused an avalanche, killing one of the other players. Upon next level up she replaced that spell with something else.
Counterspell.
I really HATE counterspell.
I donât use it as a player (unless itâs to counterspell a counterspell) and it is the only spell I donât allow in my home game when I DM.
Itâs is a no-fun spell. A players waits 30-60 min for their turn to come so they can cast their big spell and then i just say no and itâs the next players turn. Seems super d**k-isk and Not Fun at all.
Especially when casters tend to have a more difficult choice than just going "I bonk", so trying to strategize and then having your turn get erased feels ridiculous.
I love Counterspell. As D&D progresses spellcasting just become more and more dominant and flexible. Given the sheer volume of "fuck you" spells available, I love the idea that there is a one-size-fits-all "no, Fuck \*you\*" spell
3.5e Mage's disjunction.
I know its Lv9 so unlikely but as soon as I read it I knew I would ban it.
The amount of rolls, reading and ajdustments you would have to make for every PC or NPC is insane.
Yeah, I actually had to really adjust how the spell functioned to not nerf it into uselessness while still including it as a 5e adapted spell. It is now more elegant and of about equal power and in every way the same. That said, I had to think about that shit for like 2 weeks or a few months or something. That's too much work tbh.
I will use Dusjunction on a party that has 20 magical items per PC just to get them back to where they can appreciate the reward of a magical item again. Nowadays I don't let it get that far but last time I did it even the greedy rogue was like "we needed that".
Tiny hut annoyed me at first as a DM but honestly I don't do enough with resting encounters for it to matter. I just made an agreement with the player that it was to be used for long rests only, not mid-dungeon.
Dispel magic would absolutely work on it, assuming you have reason for a caster with that specific spell to be in the area and working against the party. In my 1-6 campaign the bard gained access to this spell at level 5 and at that point there were no reasonable enemies to do this with - mostly kobolds, orcs, and other "dungeon" type monsters. If I had used dispel magic, it would have felt very metagame-y to me and not fun for the party. At higher levels and in different situations though, 100% would use it.
Yeah, and that's my thought too. I was actually mildly annoyed when my GM didn't have an ancient dragon dispel mine (I have that spell book that lets you cast one spell from it as a bonus action once per day, so can be mildly broken with LTH). An ancient dragon would absolutely be able to dispel that, but his choice, so whatever. But most common enemies wouldn't have a way to dispel it.
Conjure Animals, I don't use this spell for two reasons:
- I don't want to swamp my DM with more creatures in the Initiative.
- I have wrecked enough monsters with eight elks/giant owls.
1st edition fireball. If you're not excellent at figuring out volume off the top of your head, don't attempt a sixth level fireball in a tight dungeon area.
There is a cantrip, that does a like 1d8 thunder damage to everyone within 100ft of the caster if they fail a save. I understand there are situations where it might be quite decent, but I feel like you'll just end up doing more damage to your party on average unless you're fighting a rather large group of enemies.
5e. I looked it up, it's thunderclap and wow... I just realised I completely misread it. It says the spell can heard from 100ft away, but there is a second part of it that says creatures within 5ft take the damage. I've avoided it for so long on a false assumption, whoops.
Geas. I have the spell and have tried to use it on a number of occasions but do to fail rate, I donât use it at any moment anymore. It caused more problems than good for the party when I tried and failed to use it.
it's true. My players all got excited when they got tricked by a talking ring that told them it would grant wish in order to get out of the dungeon. It was just supposed to just be a false flag in order to release an imprisoned spirit, but they decided on what they were gonna wish for and I decided it was just way too damn good of a monkey's paw to pass up. actually wound up making a whole side quest tied up in making it happen.
never felt so appreciated and hated simultaneously as when they got to the twist. đ
My character and another used wall of fire and wall of force to burn some werewolves alive. They turned back into humans mid-way to medium rare clawing against the forcefield and traumatized my character. He gets some PTSD triggers at large flames and burns now.
Above-game we refer to it as the Dutch oven, 'cause we're fucked like that.
3.5 Mass hide from Dragons. Each dragon gets a save for each person and a magic resistance against the spell in general. The DM has to track which dragons can see which individual players. Itâs a mess!
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The fuckin die immediately spell where it just kills you immediately. Hate that spell.
"The rune-clad wizard begins reciting an incantation. Player, how much HP do you have?" Player: đ§
Counterspell
The wizard's sickly looking servant suddenly snaps to attention, his focus on you and begins waving his hands in a near mimicry of you as the particles of magic begin to abruptly explode in the air between you. Suddenly, you feel the presence of your magic fade. Your eyes slowly adjust to the darkness as the sounds of moaning specters and the smell of damp air fill your nostrils. It is readily apparent, you've found yourself somewhere quite different than you last remember. Now, in your own language, yet heavily raspy and accented, you can just make out someone shouting "2 gold pieces to traverse the river or be damned forever!".
Thats it, next time I use power word kill on a player, they're waking up on the cart after trying to cross the border.
Very well-written! But I have to admit to the sinking feeling of disappointment when the quote wasn't, "BEEN A BIT CARELESS, HAVEN'T WE?"
I counterspell your counter spell have at theee
What incantation, it's just one word.
Power Paragraph: Kill Slightly less time efficient, but good for ambience and suspense!
Thatâs like casting Power Word: Kill as a ritual, right? I feel like this is perfectly suited to the BBEG.
I love that, itd be a sick cult encounter. Depends on what the word is. I looked it up, there doesn't seem to be an official one? I now imagine it'd be something hard to cast as a ritual, not just for balance, but for comedic effect, like it's a tongue twister or requires the target to have some kind of un-safe word which the spell allows the caster to learn and then say for that particular person. I'm not thinking about this too much.
Official ruling is that NPCs can do whatever they want (whatever the DM wants). But giving players access to a ritual version of Power Word: Kill (maybe they recover the baddiesâ spellbook after?) doesnât seem overpowered. After all, when would they ever get a chance to use that!?! (*laughs nervously*)
Power Concert in the Public Square: Kill
Thatâs why they call it a *Power Ballad*.
I nearly got power word killed as a level 8 wizard but I managed to counter spell it with a roll of 18. Then I almost immediately got turned into an undead by finger of death doing 70ish damage
How does a lvl 8 wizard survive 70-ish damage?
Perhaps resistance to necrotic damage through a magic item or something?
I think they meant they got turned into an undead, almost immediately - not that they almost got turned into an undead.
Had a DM disintegrate my character after I decimated his encounter. 10d6+40 force damage at lvl 5 or 6. Felt I was done dirty. The explanation: I had split the party due to alignment choice (lawful good cleric) to protect the town we were based out of. We knew the group was coming and could prep, but the chaotic other players decided that we could finish the revival of the god without the final pieces we needed (the DM told us right before we made our decisions to save the city). I took out all 50 soldiers except the wizard BBEG.
That does sound like a "rock falls everyone dies" encounter
Power word kill is a doozy. I also donât like finger of death, not because of the damage, but because of the inevitable fingering jokes that follow.
I can't put my finger on why that would bother you.
"rocks fall everyone dies" the spell but fuck you in particular
As a DM I hate Power word kill. Either I have to waste an enemies turn casting it knowing full well it will fail or I meta game and everybody knows it by using it on a character I know is low enough. I would prefer it if there was a save to give the players some agency on the spell. The only time I have ever actually used the spell is when I cast it on other NPCs.
Just don't open with it
I ran an end game encounter with Orcus once who has PWK as a lair action. Because he doesnât need vision on a character I chose to make it more interesting by having the Balors that serve him call out sufficiently damage characters during the fight, allowing those players to use any tools they have to get above 100HP in preparation. Was kinda cool I think
Only time to use this? Scare your players~ did so once when my guys reached a big bad they were in no place to fight whatsoever. So the bbeg went up to an Npc they were talking to said the party âaw you ruined my fun, why donât you just go and DIEâ and the npc dropped all of them were frozen. Bbeg laughs like a psycho tells them to leave the rest of his toys alone and to vacate town. They hella did
Yup PWK is a bullshit spell. I once got PWK by my DM when we were level 9. I got one turn in combat and on the big bads turn he turned and PWK me. I tried to counter but didnât succeed. I proceeded to spend the remaining 3 hours of the session dead and unable to do anything. I was basically stuck to watch my friends battle as they were killed 1 by 1 as well. I always design my encounters in one of two ways. But thereâs always the discussion at session 0 the type of difficulty my players want. I had a group who was more casual and RP driven so I dialed back mechanics that can be seen as frustrating. But when I have a group that wants a gritty difficult game I always deliver. It requires a massive amount of trust among the players and I. I always reiterate I am NOT trying to beat them or win. I help drive this point by doing a few things in high stakes battles. First, I tend to make my rolls open so everyone can see them, reinforcing Iâm not fudging any rolls. Second, when putting the encounter together I often write down certain ways the boss/encounter will react to things. For example, In a lich fight I ran I wrote down that if any player did 80 or more damage in one turn the lich would attempt to banish that player. This really helps to enforce Iâm not targeting anyone and itâs based on some preset tendencies from the Boss. My players really enjoy this and it makes the wins feel all the more satisfying. Iâve played in many games where the DM will go hard at the start of a fight and will very noticeably let off the gas half way through once the fight looks bad. For me personally, and many of my friends, this is obvious and feels like âyour older sibling letting you winâ. The DM already gets to dictate whatever they want. So Iâd rather have a somewhat set in stone encounter and leave it up to the players to find a win condition. Not give it to them once things look ugly.
True strike. Tis too strong
Coward! I true strike every turn. I never actually attack, just continuously cast true strike as my action.
As a DM I hate Polymorph Other because if I fail the save, that encounter is over. There's a transmuter in my Sunday game that uses it every day. It just makes for about a 60% chance that my time prepping that encounter was wasted. I hate it when it works, he hates it when it fails. As a player I want to cast Divination or Augury all the time but then the DM has to give me a cryptic warning about something that will happen in the next hour or two and there's just no easy way they can predict that, let alone freestyle a good answer that doesn't give too much away. There are several 2e spells that are like this. Idea and Genius both give up answers from the past about an area, and it seems like it would be a chore as a DM to answer them.
But isn't it like Wild Shape where if the creature has the polymorph healthbar ontop of it's normal one and if that creature drops to 0 it just reverts to it's old form with the health it had?
In 2e when you cast Polymorph Other it's permanent. The subject gets a saving throw to avoid it, and must roll system shock (like a con save) to survive the change. During the next days and weeks they roll intelligence checks or else they start to believe they're actually the thing they've been polymorphed into. Only the original caster can dispel it. When they die they change back to their true form. It's an awesome spell really, but if all the creatures he encounters can suddenly shapeshift out of it that would be metagaming and I don't want to cheat him like that. Still, his reputation as a polymorpher is starting to get around so the smartest enemies will be ready for it, either with spell turning or form-retention magic. Maybe I'll create a rival transmuter that goes around changing everything back with his own polymorph magic.
This. It reminds me of a time my Transmuter got into a fight with a fighter. He was such a dick (we were teens) that I cast polymorph other on him & turned him into a squirrel. My character picked him up and threw him into a cage and started running âmagical experimentsâ on him. He kept his reasoning and knew he was a human trapped in a squirrelâs body. Talk about messed up. Lol!
Couldnt you just make them fight more enemies at the same time? Then his polymorph has an impact and you dont lose the entire encounter
Yeah. The rest of the players are gonna shit when there are four wyverns instead of one lol.
I have a Magic-User in and AD&D game that has made frequent use of this spell because frankly, itâs one of the few spells that I can use offensively. I know it frustrates the DM, but thatâs how it goes. I typically turn monsters into snails or goldfish and if they survive System Shock, I will keep them around as pets. We plan on dropping these polymorphed creatures into the local orc fortress, casting dispel magic and watching the carnage unfold from afar. Creatures include a Chimera, a hippogriff, a black pudding and a Minotaur.
My player has the exact same plan. He has a giant constrictor snake, a 20 foot ankheg, a wyvern and priest of Talos, each in the form of a hen. The local goblin tribe wont know what hit em.
You could pull that player aside and tell him that his spamming of it is disruptive and causing issues with prep. I had a player like that, and he complained when the big bad had counter play to the constantly exploited ability.
You could always pull the conjure woodland beings card on them and summon 8 pixies and turn all your bandits into T-Rexs. And that is the one spell, I won't use.
Probably banishment bcus it's just a nope card to an encounter the dm made and is just not fun for the most part.
We were in a session in a bar where the (I think they were a warlock?) got absolutely shitfaced. I, being sober, tried to calm everyone down, and they banished me. The entire table was quiet for a few seconds and then we pissed ourselves laughing. I returned when it ended and found they had been put in a drunk tank for the night.
Dont the creatures banished return After a minute? Once we were in a doungeon and our dm had us roll d% to see how hard the encounters would be One of the rolls was a 99... It was two Fire giants at level 8 i think, the Cleric banishing One of the Giants literally saved our lives
If you are not native to the plane, you never return from the Banishment
Yes, only if the caster can hold concentration for the full minute.
Non-Native Creatures only stay gone if the caster can last 1 minute without breaking Concentration
Banishment is a great spell and used strategically can really turn the tide. Itâs one of my favorite spells. If you have banishment, I feel like you should use it. Iâve never played at a table where banishment didnât make the encounter more fun, either because the creature made the save, or because it created an âOH SHIT, WE MIGHT GET OUT OF THIS ALIVE!â Moment
Offensive plane shift is even worse.
If you're of a level where you have Banishment as an option and have it prepared you better be throwing down with it! It's for a serious problem, and if I remember correctly there is a saving throw too.
True true, but just think of someone throwing that spell at the final boss battle and fail the save, that's kinda a not so climax ending. But I do see your point in it would be good to have in a deadly fight
That's why bosses have legendary resistances. Plus if he's not from another plane he'll be back in a minute. Your just buying time to get in position/set up some traps.
That's exactly my characters and I make sure to use a lot of spells with different saves to find their weaknesses and force them into using up those resistances. Bonus points for successfully giving them disadvantage on saving throws to cancel out their advantage vs Magic. Good sources of forcing extra saves are persistent spells like Moonbeam and Cloud Kill that require a save when it first hits them and again at the beginning of their turn. After completing Tyranny of Dragons as a player, it would have been simultaneously anticlimactic and EPIC to just banish Tiamat back to Avernus, instead of having to fight her. Trust me, I kind of tried to. If I'd have rolled a lot lower or we'd have been 20th level when facing her, Divine Intervention could have worked. --------------------- Divine Intervention: Beginning at 10th level, you can call on your deity to intervene on your behalf when your need is great. Imploring your deityâs aid requires you to use your action. Describe the assistance you seek, and roll percentile dice. If you roll a number equal to or lower than your cleric level, your deity intervenes. The DM chooses the nature of the intervention; the effect of any cleric spell or cleric domain spell would be appropriate. If your deity intervenes, you canât use this feature again for 7 days. Otherwise, you can use it again after you finish a long rest. At 20th level, your call for intervention succeeds automatically, no roll required. ----------------- Unbeknownst to the rest of the party ( the players and their characters ), my character was a War Priest Cleric of Tiamat. I tried to warn my Queen that the time isn't right and that it's too dangerous to enter this world. She failed to listen... ... Two rounds later she was âdeadâ from this plane, and back in Avernus. BTW, these same characters'll be the ones heading to Avernus later, so that we can play it at higher levels, instead of having to hide from everyone. Gonna get some Mad Max fun traveling in Hell on Infernal Machines. We even ended the campaign at a banquet held in our honor, as defenders of the Realms, in the Holy City of Elturel, so we'll be conveniently skipping the Baldurs Gate portion of the adventure, dealing with the Vamhampurs (?) and Thavius Krieg, who attended the banquet, having miscalculated what day the city was to be claimed. Leap years are a bish, and depending on what year the deal was struck with the Archduke (presumably Zariel, but possibly Ba'al, depending on who was in charge 50 years ago in my timeline), there are roughly a dozen leap days to account for during those 50 years. đ
I want banished our parties barbarian at the start of a fight, and made the enemy paranoid, thinking that he had gone invisible⊠We faked the retreat, and I dropped concentration after he was behind them⊠Or would come back behind them
It can be really good if there is someone to save or on specific enemy that needs dealing with
Knock. Sure its useful but use it in the wrong place and the whole castle is gonna be gunning for your ass
Iâm a DM. I refuse to use PWK. Itâs a meta-heavy spell that just isnât interesting, especially at 9th level. Meteor Swarm is a FAR better option.
I used it once. A wizard counterspelled a big necromancer's Feeblemind to one of the other players, who had personal story issues with, and then he PWK the wizard. The wizard player even said "that's fair, no regrets".
The whole "Power Word Kill does nothing if the target has more than 100 HP" thing is just garbage. Like, what would that even mean in-game to the player character?
"You are struck by the foul necrotic energy and feel your heart skip a beat, but you are otherwise unaffected." Then based on what character was hit and what they would know about magic, I'll let them know if they realize what spell was just cast.
when I DM, silvery barbs. I'd rather remove it than use it. When I'm a player, mass summon spells like conjure animals. They just take so much time they're not worth it, just a couple bigger summons can be good, but a bunch of small ones are so annoying to keep track of and roll for
Having a player who can quickly run large numbers of critters is eye-opening. One of my homies was running a druid with a swarm of 30+ Awakened critters and plants and his turn often took less time than the Fighter's.
Heat metal can really piss of a DM or make your player look like a complete and total monster if you're not careful how you cast it. That damage can really wrack up and be quite a nuisance if cast at a high level on a set of armor which takes a few minutes to put on/take off. Had many a boss battle where the target was glowing like a brake pad and gunning for my ass to try and break the concentration. Not to be used for pranks. Great way to be vilified by a town. Good times đ
I remember we took down a dragon at a fairly low level once by crafting a collar and bracelets with hidden release clasps (and magically size changing to fit the wearer) and convincing the dragon we were paying tribute to pass through his territory. Got good persuasive rolls and he put them on right away, and multiple hidden players casting heat metal while my character (the smooth talker) just ran for his life.
"ITS JUST A PRANK BRO!" - while running for your life
Magic jar.
Thunderwave after that one time we were fixing a magic bridge that fixed itself when broken but it was ruined so we had to finish breaking it so it heals and I used thunderwave because I'm a bard and it was my only damaging spell that isn't psychic. I ended up breaking all windows in a 300 feet radius, just like the spell implies.
The spell does not imply that. The spell can be heard from 300 feet away, that would "imply" at 301 feet the sound can't be heard, so at 300 foot it would be a faint whisper. You can here someone talking at 300 feet if they raise their voice a little.
Or, it's magic and doesn't function how sound normally does. Full volume out to 300ft, nothing at 301ft. But it says nothing about breaking windows at any distance, regardless of volume
I've always used the sound to mean anything out to 300 ft just heard it, so enemies come investigate, some might run, whichever, you give away your parties location. You might get swarmed with enemies or they might grab their valubles and run taking that prized item you and your party was sent to find.
Animate objects on coins. I think getting a bunch of animated shrapnel doing so many attacks per round unbalances things, so it's not done.
The balance cone in at high level play were most monsters have resistance to nonmagical weapons. Still works well on soft fleshy bits.
Silver coins will sometimes get around that resistance, depending on the monster
No it will not. That's not a silvered weapon
It doesn't need to be a weapon? Just pulled up Bone Devil as an example: >Damage Resistances Cold; Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing from Nonmagical Attacks that aren't Silvered  Nothing about silvered weapons. Animated silver coins are in fact performing silvered attacks, so they bypass. Werewolf says the same, no mention of needing to be weapons
Silvered and silver are not the same. Silvered specifically refers to a process of alchemy to apply silver and other things to a weapon. Raw silver doesn't do it
Silvering weapons has nothing to do with alchemy, nor does it include "other things," per the rulebooks. You may be thinking of different editions, but what you're saying has nothing to do with 5e
Why not treat all coins as a single or few entities like a swarm? Keep it small and proportionate?
Because then then that option sucks and you just pick a different one
The last time I cast create or destroy water was to prank my wild magic sorcerer friend. He panicked and tried to cast shield, triggering a wild magic surge that resulted in him fireballing himself...and everyone else in the shop.
last rays of the dying sun
Hypnotic Pattern. I've only used it on my Arcane Trixter with Magical Ambush. It killed encounters. I only broke it out for those times it was looking like a TPK.
COS Spoiler >!Sending: my wizard has just deduced that Strahd is intercepting her messages and sending his own replies. She absolutely terrified to send them now!<
Silvery barbs coz its cringe
One of my players has (in game) PTSD over using the spell Shatter. Twice when she cast it she alerted the enemy camp to their presence and got swarmed nearly causing a TPK. The final straw was when she used it on a snowy mountain pass and caused an avalanche, killing one of the other players. Upon next level up she replaced that spell with something else.
Counterspell. I really HATE counterspell. I donât use it as a player (unless itâs to counterspell a counterspell) and it is the only spell I donât allow in my home game when I DM. Itâs is a no-fun spell. A players waits 30-60 min for their turn to come so they can cast their big spell and then i just say no and itâs the next players turn. Seems super d**k-isk and Not Fun at all.
Especially when casters tend to have a more difficult choice than just going "I bonk", so trying to strategize and then having your turn get erased feels ridiculous.
I love Counterspell. As D&D progresses spellcasting just become more and more dominant and flexible. Given the sheer volume of "fuck you" spells available, I love the idea that there is a one-size-fits-all "no, Fuck \*you\*" spell
3.5e Mage's disjunction. I know its Lv9 so unlikely but as soon as I read it I knew I would ban it. The amount of rolls, reading and ajdustments you would have to make for every PC or NPC is insane.
Yeah, I actually had to really adjust how the spell functioned to not nerf it into uselessness while still including it as a 5e adapted spell. It is now more elegant and of about equal power and in every way the same. That said, I had to think about that shit for like 2 weeks or a few months or something. That's too much work tbh.
I will use Dusjunction on a party that has 20 magical items per PC just to get them back to where they can appreciate the reward of a magical item again. Nowadays I don't let it get that far but last time I did it even the greedy rogue was like "we needed that".
Oh no. That'll go badly. Best of luck!
Tiny Hut Now this is specifically because I made a bargain with my DM to get galder's Tower to be a ritual in exchange for giving up tiny Hut
Tiny hut annoyed me at first as a DM but honestly I don't do enough with resting encounters for it to matter. I just made an agreement with the player that it was to be used for long rests only, not mid-dungeon.
I mean, is there any reason dispell magic won't work on it?
Dispel magic would absolutely work on it, assuming you have reason for a caster with that specific spell to be in the area and working against the party. In my 1-6 campaign the bard gained access to this spell at level 5 and at that point there were no reasonable enemies to do this with - mostly kobolds, orcs, and other "dungeon" type monsters. If I had used dispel magic, it would have felt very metagame-y to me and not fun for the party. At higher levels and in different situations though, 100% would use it.
Yeah, and that's my thought too. I was actually mildly annoyed when my GM didn't have an ancient dragon dispel mine (I have that spell book that lets you cast one spell from it as a bonus action once per day, so can be mildly broken with LTH). An ancient dragon would absolutely be able to dispel that, but his choice, so whatever. But most common enemies wouldn't have a way to dispel it.
A homebrew spell my DM made: Power word piss.
Conjure Animals, I don't use this spell for two reasons: - I don't want to swamp my DM with more creatures in the Initiative. - I have wrecked enough monsters with eight elks/giant owls.
1st edition fireball. If you're not excellent at figuring out volume off the top of your head, don't attempt a sixth level fireball in a tight dungeon area.
Color spr...spra...damn you Sam...
The 4th wall breaking STONE DM. Turns your DM to stone, unable to narrate or guide the story from henceforth.
There is a cantrip, that does a like 1d8 thunder damage to everyone within 100ft of the caster if they fail a save. I understand there are situations where it might be quite decent, but I feel like you'll just end up doing more damage to your party on average unless you're fighting a rather large group of enemies.
In what fucking edition?!
5e. I looked it up, it's thunderclap and wow... I just realised I completely misread it. It says the spell can heard from 100ft away, but there is a second part of it that says creatures within 5ft take the damage. I've avoided it for so long on a false assumption, whoops.
Geas. I have the spell and have tried to use it on a number of occasions but do to fail rate, I donât use it at any moment anymore. It caused more problems than good for the party when I tried and failed to use it.
cacophonic burst in a crystal room (or room with very breakable items) bad idea.. may or may not (but probably will)start the apocalypse đđ€«
I somehow read this as "What is a spell you dare not use on any woman?"... And now I'm kind of disappointed.
Force cage
WISH. Any DM worth his salt will have way too much fun with that shit.
it's true. My players all got excited when they got tricked by a talking ring that told them it would grant wish in order to get out of the dungeon. It was just supposed to just be a false flag in order to release an imprisoned spirit, but they decided on what they were gonna wish for and I decided it was just way too damn good of a monkey's paw to pass up. actually wound up making a whole side quest tied up in making it happen. never felt so appreciated and hated simultaneously as when they got to the twist. đ
Fireball. Kaboom
My character and another used wall of fire and wall of force to burn some werewolves alive. They turned back into humans mid-way to medium rare clawing against the forcefield and traumatized my character. He gets some PTSD triggers at large flames and burns now. Above-game we refer to it as the Dutch oven, 'cause we're fucked like that.
3.5 Mass hide from Dragons. Each dragon gets a save for each person and a magic resistance against the spell in general. The DM has to track which dragons can see which individual players. Itâs a mess!
Greater Swamp Ass
Ahahahhahahahaha IRL