Absorb Elements: Suck It Up

Usable By: Artificer, Druid, Ranger, Sorcerer, Wizard

Spell Level: 1

School: Abjuration

Casting Time: 1 reaction

Range: Self

Duration: 1 round

Components: S

The spell captures some of the incoming energy, lessening its effect on you and storing it for your next melee attack. You have resistance to the triggering damage type until the start of your next turn. Also, the first time you hit with a melee attack on your next turn, the target takes an extra 1d6 damage of the triggering type, and the spell ends.

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 2nd level or higher, the extra damage increases by 1d6 for each slot level above 1st.

Review by Sam West, Twitter: @CrierKobold

Reactions are an element of 5th edition that feel overlooked. There are only a handful I can think of off the top of my head, and the vast majority of characters will only ever end up getting attacks of opportunity or readied actions. For a game designed to highlight dynamic fights with ebb and flow, a lack of reactions majorly detracts from players ability to think on their feet. Enter Absorb Elements: a reaction spell that I’d argue competes with Shield and Find Familiar and other heavy hitters as possibly the best 1st level spell in the game depending on your table.

A spell’s power is majorly tied to three elements: how often you are able to cast it, how large of an impact it has on the game, and how steep of a cost the cast is. Absorb Elements can have a monumental impact on fights at all stages of the game, has an extremely low cost to use, but doesn’t necessarily have constant moments where it’s usable. At tables where you’re facing off against hordes of undead, mundane humanoid armies, massive golems, or other creatures whose main means of killing is with tools, Absorb Elements will feel near uncastable. Fortunately, most of the time people play with high magic at their tables, and like to introduce enemies with varied damage types and tools to attack the party with a suite of different effects. At minimum, most tables will include varied enemy spellcasters. That gives you numerous opportunities to get value out of Absorb Elements without ever needing to proactively spend time or effort thinking about it.

It being a 1st level spell means you’re happy to throw it out at higher levels to mitigate even small amounts of damage for what feels like free, and it can still be at the ready to halve the over a hundred points of fire damage coming from an ancient red’s breath. Early on, halving damage from a wyrmling or burning hands can save your character's life. Even halving the damage of a Firebolt and getting a free 1d6 extra fire damage on a weapon attack can make your 1d8+1 quarterstaff actually hit pretty hard.

My favorite element of the spell is the melee encouragement it offers. While you’ll nearly never want to up-cast this on your average wizard, building a melee focused abjurer or war mage whose goal is to soak damage can weaponize the weaker part of the spell throughout the game. Absorb Elements is great on nearly anyone who can cast it, but will be even better on characters whose goal is to get hit, then hit back.

If your aim is to empower your character to do more in any given round, an angle to come from is getting more out of each action you have. Absorb Elements gives you that. You can cast any spell you’d like on your turn, and when the elemental damage comes at you, get an extra action to cast a powerful effect that can save your life and give you a bit of extra punch. All of this comes with such a tiny cost it's something I find myself slotting onto more and more character sheets. Absorb Elements is a sweet spell. You absolutely should consider using it.

5e Spells

Absorb Elements: Suck It Up