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5e Spells

Knock 5e

June 29, 2022

Knock is a skeleton key for specifically any one lock at a time. That just doesn’t have a home in a game flush with better exploration tools and ways to circumnavigate the locks mundanely, not to mention groups actually engaged and excited to track down the real key the DM hid somewhere nearby. 

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Levitate 5e

June 29, 2022

The poor man’s version of Fly, Levitate can let you or someone else you choose take to the air like a balloon.

Use it to access higher levels of tall buildings or to reach something on a high shelf.

It could be used as an alternative to Feather Fall if you get pushed off a cliff, or if you simply jump off as a means of escape.

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Locate Object 5e

June 29, 2022

Mundane investigation is going to probably be a way better option than ever spending spell slots on Locate Object. The risk of casting a spell that does nothing is too high, and the number of scenarios you’d actually benefit from the cast are probably capped out at once or twice a campaign, if that.

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Magic Mouth 5e

June 29, 2022

Magic Mouth is often forgotten about. The gold cost does leave it feeling like a series of buildable magic items more than a real spell, but the ritual tag makes it incredibly easy for wizards to pick up and mess around with. If you like overly complicated plans involving two dozen interlocking pieces lining up perfectly, Magic Mouth is an amazing addition to your toolbox.

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Banishment 5e

June 29, 2022

Banishment has the potential to warp all future encounters around it. Temporarily halving the quantity of enemies your group faces will give you an enormous resource advantage that can easily trivialize encounters built around a handful of moderately threatening enemies.

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Prayer of Healing 5e

June 29, 2022

If you need those hit points in addition to Prayer of Healing, then this spell is decent, but I have to wonder if casting another proactive 2nd level spell like Spiritual Weapon instead may have mitigated a bunch of the incoming damage while ending the damaging encounter faster. 

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Sending 5e

June 29, 2022

If you’re getting access to Sending, it's probably through Sending Stones, and that’s more as a convenience to mitigate metagaming than a particularly powerful magic item. Most tables just won’t want to spend a 3rd level spell slot on this, especially when the distance isn’t typically a major element you’re worried about in most games.

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Daylight 5e

June 29, 2022

Daylight has an incredible look. You conjure a brilliant blast of light, a radiant explosion that rebukes all darkness. The problem is that’s kind of all Daylight does; it's a big, hour-long spotlight that acts as a super torch. And that’s rarely going to be worth a 3rd level spell slot. 

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Magic Weapon 5e

June 29, 2022

Magic Weapon is a terrible spell that exists for an unfun, poorly designed mechanic that has no place in modern gaming.

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Mirror Image 5e

June 29, 2022

Mirror Image is an old classic I’ve relied on in multiple editions of D&D. It’s fun to watch your enemies get frustrated by wasting a great attack roll just to knock out one of your illusions.

The lengthy spell description covers all the bases pretty well. If you’re forced to participate in combat, Mirror Image is a good way to keep yourself alive a few extra rounds.

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Misty Step 5e

June 29, 2022

Misty Step gets you past traps, over moats, and into houses. It excels in combat, in exploration, and in role playing and infiltration moments. Hop onto the chandelier to bring it down, or onto the back of the red dragon mid flight! Get yourself onto the back of the horse fleeing with the kidnapper before they can get too far away! Put yourself in the ideal seat on the wagon without needing to call shotgun!

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Dominate Beast 5e

June 29, 2022

Dominate Beast is outclassed by summoning magic and hits a creature type games tend to pull away from in the tier you get it.

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Ray of Enfeeblement 5e

June 29, 2022

Ray of Enfeeblement isn’t something I’d recommend picking up and using regularly at 3rd or 4th level, but something to consider past 7th level when you’re starting to bank a lot of higher level spell slots and have some room to switch out lesser used lower level options.

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Rope Trick 5e

June 29, 2022

Rope Trick isn’t going to be a wizard’s most cast spell, but as a cheap 2nd level tool, it's a blast to play with that will affect the game from the moment you get it until it ends. Clever players can juice this for all it’s worth, and even in its average use case, your DM is going to have to consider how they deal with it.

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See Invisibility 5e

June 28, 2022

See Invisibility does less than it says rules as written, which is crazy to me. You spend a 2nd level spell slot to see invisible and ethereal creatures for an hour- to me, it's implied this removes the benefits of them being invisible or ethereal, but thanks to good old fashioned wonky rules interactions, it does no such thing!

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Spider Climb 5e

June 28, 2022

Spider Climb is a 3rd level way to start engaging with the three dimensional fantasy world in ways you couldn’t prior. It fulfills part of the Spiderman fantasy where you’re sticking to ceilings and sneaking over arrow traps laid out on the floor. It gives you a tool for scaling shear surfaces in a new way, for a long time.

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Suggestion 5e

June 28, 2022

Suggestion is a spell with one of the most powerful potentials in the game for its level. Clever words paired with misleading circumstances can lead NPCs to perform in ways that radically shape the outcomes of the story. With a duration of eight hours, at minimum, Suggestion can act as a save or die to remove foes from a fight that they feel isn’t entirely necessary.

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Web 5e

June 26, 2022

Web is an iconic classic spell. This is something straight out of 2nd edition, a spell to gunk up a dungeon corridor to light on fire with your torch. Its 5th edition translation leaves it feeling almost like it's out of place; the rules around it are complex, requiring a very specific environment to work at all, but in exchange, gives you a fairly powerful effect to play around with.

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Enhance Ability 5e

June 25, 2022

Enhance Ability is something you prepare for a single low tier encounter involving seducing a nobleman and then never again. It's an unremarkable spell with underwhelming text that doesn’t play well in a system that gives out advantage like candy on Halloween. You probably don’t ever want to spend spell slots on this.

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Dispel Magic 5e

June 25, 2022

Taking Dispel Magic at 5th level is a bit overkill, but finding room for it in the next few levels I’d recommend to most anyone. Dispel Magic is reliable, useful, and a way to engage with a kind of play otherwise challenging to interface with.

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