Treantmonk's Guide to Wizards: 4th level spells (5e)
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 ส.ค. 2024
- 00:00 - Intro
Abjuration:
2:14 Banishment (green)
3:52 Mordenkainen’s Private Sanctum (orange)
4:47 Stoneskin (orange)
Conjuration:
5:44 Dimension Door (green)
6:41 Watery Sphere (green)
12:56 Summon Greater Demon (green)
18:51 Evard’s Black Tentacles (green)
21:26 Conjure Minor Elementals (orange)
22:48 Mordenkainen’s Faithful Hound
23:46 Leomund’s Secret Chest
Divination:
24:47 Arcane Eye (green)
26:44 Locate Creature (orange)
Enchantment:
27:35 Charm Monster (orange)
29:01 Confusion (red)
Evocation:
30:46 Otiluke’s Resilient Sphere (green)
32:57 Fire Shield (green)
34:57 Wall of Fire (purple)
35:49 Storm Sphere (purple)
37:35 Sickening Radiance (orange)
39:30 Vitriolic Sphere (orange)
41:06 Ice Storm (red)
Illusion:
41:49 Greater Invisibility (green)
43:04 Hallucinatory Terrain (orange)
44:10 Phantasmal Killer (red)
Necromancy:
45:32 Blight (red)
Transmutation:
47:29 Polymorph (blue)
50:02 Stone Shape (orange)
50:33 Control Water (orange)
52:43 Fabricate (orange)
53:04 Elemental Bane (red)
54:05 Conclusion - เกม
Any spell: exists
Treantmonk: this just isn’t the kind of damage we’re looking for.
It's almost as if spellcasters are generally bad at doing efficient damage. Except for summon spells for some inexplicable reason.
@@eshansingh1 ikr conjure animals is legitimately broken
@@MsDestroyer900 So is Animate Objects. Js.
The stars for the rankings is just perfect! I'm not even colourblind, i'm just forgetful haha!
Hey Chris, thanks for adding the star system! It’s lovely to see someone respond so quickly and empathetically to feedback!
Thanks, was easy to implement, I'm glad it's helping some of my viewers out.
D&D is for everyone, it's your catch phrase after all 😊
Thumbs up for the addition of the star ranking system!
Happy to.
@@TreantmonksTemple Yes, thank you so much. It really made a difference!
One thing about greater invisibility is that creatures can't counter spell you if they can't see you, making it nice vs casters. Our CoB bard uses this a lot, allowing him to attack with adv or cast spells without fear of getting countered .
You eliminate many of the best spell options by concentration on the invisible though
Also, when you are invisible, enemy casters can't cast any spells on you that require them to see the target they are casting it on.
@@TreantmonksTemple that is true, but as someone who just experienced the harrowing "counterspelled my counterspell experience", if you're facing a wizard and counterspell them, they can't stop you when you have greater invisibility on!
For my sorlock, I just picked up Greater Invisibility and I have Agonizing Blast.
So I'll be Eldritch Blasting with advantage, and each of the 3 bolts will be increased damage from my charisma, and I can Quicken spell for extra spell slinging per turn.
And as the squishiest member of my party, I like the idea of being really hard to hit while I'm blasting.
instant like for the changes to colour coding. very considerate of you
I’ve recently gained access to and used storm sphere on my war wizard. Setting up is nice and becomes a decent bonus action use while concentrating.
I also noticed that the spheres center can be ”a point in space” so if you are fighting big creatures then you can put the storm 25 ft over the party. This is because it’s not required to be placed at ground level like some other spells. Medium creatures are safe on the ground but large or bigger creatures have to take the secondary damage and deal with difficult terrain.
Something I wanted to mention about Mordenkainen's Private Sanctum: There's another condition to it that could potentially make it viable for the campaigns in which you are being spied upon and especially those that are in the long term. If you cast it in the same spot for a year, then the effect becomes permanent to that area. It's one of those spells you would likely be casting in between adventures.
20 mins in and I felt the need to post this. After seeing enough of your content, I'm really looking forward to the build idea videos now. It will be nice to have a resource to help players with a class I don't know much about. Kudos to you.
Your spellguides are just the best. You really helped me with my current character. Thanks.
M
One significant point about Web vs. Black Tentacles is that Web only allows strength checks after the initial saving throw is failed, while Black Tentacles allows strength OR dexterity checks. That opens up a whole new category of creatures against which Web is better and Black Tentacles is worse.
To me, that is a massive difference, and enough that after playing several Wizards, I feel that Web is the best battlefield control spell at its level in the game. I can't imagine playing a Wizard without Web again. Therefore, I would rate Web as blue and Black Tentacles as orange.
Thanks for your wonderful guides and videos.
@@sharkforce8147 You're right, and I should have mentioned that more specifically. Perhaps a slightly better wording would be: Despite the fact that the initial save still targets Dex, the checks afterward are a significant difference, and given all the small but significant tradeoffs that a 2nd-level spell has over a 4th-level version, it adds up to a massively better spell. There's no way I'd prepare both, and there's no way I would fail to prepare such a useful and effective form of battlefield control. Web wins!
Again I always love learning through your videos! It really helps that you put up graphics and the rating systems for us.
And driving home the volume was great! Thanks for fantastic content!
I am starting to run two campaigns a week and I sent your videos as reference to those who want to do spellcasting
omg you have no idea how much this helps as a colorblind player. Thank you
Commenting just to thank you for your continued amazing content, Treantmonk.
"The damage isn't terrible" is a funny way of saying that wall of fire has the highest per-instance damage of any AoE concentration spell cast at 4th level or higher, with the conditional exceptions of cloud of daggers and incendiary cloud.
Wall of fire also does an automatic 5d8 whenever a creature enters the wall itself. Combined with the automatic damage for a creature ending its turn within ten feet of the hot side, that gives the spell the potential to deal 10d8 in one turn, with no save allowed. This is especially achievable in difficult terrain and narrow hallways.
CONFUSION
[Caveat - i mainly run Sorcerers with Careful Meta and tend to upcast for Area]
I think you are missing some of the upside of Confusion. Its an Un-typed effect, its not a charm or illusion, hence it works vs Undead, Low-Int monsters, etc.
People poo-poo the lost effect of enemies attacking other enemies, but thats the wrong way to look at it.
It is more a way to disrupt enemy Action Economy and movement.
Gains more value if your DM uses minions. as do most AoE spells.
80% chance to keep the following from happening:
Casters cant cast or MUST use melee only. If no one is in range, they do nothing
Ranged attackers, same as above
Same for Spell-like effects
Like Slow, it has more value vs enemies with Multiple Attacks
Getting flanked? Buy some time.
USE OUT OF COMBAT - for those Subtle Sorcerers
Disrupt a crowd
Remove some guards
(Dis)Order in the Court!
Disrupt some business dealings/gambling
Distractions
...etc.
Now, im no Wizard expert, but im sure some of those effects add more value.
In your watery sphere on a roof example, regarding the huge creature occupying a large space, I'd argue that the "squeezing into a smaller space" rules _should_ apply since that's basically what it's doing.
For reference: "Squeezing into a Smaller Space: A creature can squeeze through a space that is large enough for a creature one size smaller than it. Thus, a Large creature can squeeze through a passage that's only 5 feet wide. While squeezing through a space, a creature must spend 1 extra foot for every foot it moves there, and it has disadvantage on attack rolls and Dexterity saving throws. Attack rolls against the creature have advantage while it’s in the smaller space." Overall, it's a pretty great effect to put on a boss.
Makes sense to me, and definitely a good use of the sphere then... that's nasty with no save
@@TreantmonksTemple this could work even in walled rooms if you plan the spacing well to get the squeezing them against a wall.
thank you for making your channel accessible for all!!
Thank you so much for making the rankings distinguishable by something other than colour! I really appreciated your deep discussions of spells, but I definitely had to re-listen to some spells in the past to tell if you'd rated them as purple or blue. As always, great video.
Hey man I want to thank you for this series. I just started D&D and chose wizard for my first char. Didnt realize how complicated it was, but youre videos helped me digest the info easily. Keep up the good work, it is appreciated.
Web says, in part, " On a failed save, the creature is Restrained as long as it remains in the webs or until it breaks free." I would interpret that as saying once it's restrained it does not get dex saving throws at the beginning of its turn to escape and must instead use its action.
I personally like Sickening Radiance. Especially when my fellow party members are helping keep those within its radius within or pushing creatures into it.
More than once has my Evocation wizard put it up on herself as a defense versus a bosses minions while blastign away with various wands or spells.
Summon Greater Demon, Sickening Radiance, Banishment, Dimension Door, Otiluke’s Resilient Sphere all make great traps if combined with Glyph of Warding. Especially for a DM. Throw Hallucinatory Terrain over them and the party has to Investigate before they can find the actual glyphs, maybe triggering them before actually finding them.
If you have time at the start of a long rest, setting up a Glyph of Warding with either Stone Skin or Polymorph can be useful; you get the spell slots back after the rest.
All circumstantials but useful uses. :)
TLDR: The evocation wizard can't put the Sickening Raciance on herself without making the saving throw.
I know I'm 3 years late, and that you probably won't see this. There is also a high probability that you know this already, as well as having ended the campaing. I also don't know if they've changed the rules, BUT FUCK IT: "Sculpt spells" don't let the caster succeed automatically.
Sculpt spells: "When you cast an Evocation spell that affects OTHER creatures that you can see, you can choose a number of THEM equal to 1 + the spell’s level." I.e. other than the caster.
I'm playing an Evocation Wizard myself, and use the Sickening Radiance to great effect and only wished I could "plonck" it on top of myself and my party like an overpowered paladin aura but sadly I cant :/
As a tactical note on Greater Invisibility; it is a generally POOR idea to cast on a PC like a GWF Fighter or Paladin with GWM. Yes, it really helps them get their damage in, however is removes a tank type PC and reduces the visible targets for the enemies, so they will then just target everyone else. Its fair for the DM to do this and ignore the invisible PC.
On the other hand, your rogue will need to wear his white pants, if you cast it on him.
Hmm. I think an invisible threat would be my main focus.
@@wassentme1891 considering that fighter would be much stronger than usual and that somewhere in the battle sits a wizard with concentration spell buffing said fighter, i think its likely creatures can switch their focus simply because fighter is too tough for them at the moment.
Enjoying your video while walking the dog (sunny day in Denmark). I really appreciate the examples and clarifications, volume is perfect now. Thank you - look forward to the next video
Thank you for adding the star rating! I’m partially color blind myself and the star rating makes it so much clearer!!
When your talking about Summon Greater Demon or summoning spells in general in the future putting their names with their picture or in the description would be really helpful i think.
Love this series! Keep up the good work!
Keep'em coming, Chris. Looking forward to a what spells to take as magical secrets and a what spells to cast through wish on downtime/in combat vid as well.
A magical secrets vid? I love that. You may see that very soon!
Leomund's secret chest can be summoned, dispelled and recast before the 60 days are over, meaning the danger is gone and you can safely keep your valuables there forever (no extra cost because the components aren't consumed).
Worth noting that one of the components of Summon Greater Demon is the blood of (specifically) a humanoid killed in the last 24 hours. I have no idea how this works with foci, but if it works like costly components, its something that won't always be available
It's a non-consumed component so you can use a focus to replace it.
Note: if you use the part of the spell that allows you to draw a circle to protect you from the summoned demon, then the blood *is* consumed and must be supplied.
I believe the Clarification from JC is that you can cast with an Arcane Focus, but the blood is needed for the Circle, which you should be fine without.
Time to befriend a vampire!
very cool watching the development of the modern Treantmonk format over the course of this series
Abjuration (@2:14)
Conjuration (@5:43)
- least favorite (@22:48)
Divination (@24:46)
Enchantment (@27:34)
- least favorite (@29:01)
Evocation (@30:46)
- least favorite (@41:05)
Illusion (@41:49)
- least favorite (@44:09)
Necromancy (@45:31) [1 spell]
Transmutation (@47:28)
- least favorite (@53:03)
Here's the rankings in text format for quick reference.
Red (*) - Not Recommended
Orange (**) - Too Circumstantial to warrant preparation
Purple (***) - Ok Spells
Green (****) - Good Spells
Blue (*****) - Must Have Spells
Ab - Abjuration
Conj - Conjuration
Enc - Enchantment
Evo - Evocation
Ill - Illusion
Necr - Necromancy
Tran - Transmutation
Conc - Concentration
Arcane Eye (Div, Conc) (****) or (*****) for Diviner (24:52)
Banishment (Abj, Conc) (****) (02:17)
Blight (Necr) (*) (45:37)
Charm Monster (Enc) (**) or (***) for Enchanters (27:40)
Confusion (Enc, Conc) (*) (29:05)
Conjure Minor Elementals (Conj, Conc) (**) (21:27)
Control Water (Tran, Conc) (**) (50:35)
Dimension Door (Conj) (****) Redundancy with Thunder Step (05:48)
Elemental Bane (Tran, Conc) (*) - Joint worst 4th Level Spell in Treantmonk,s opinion (53:14)
Evard's Black Tentacles (Conj, Conc) (***) (18:53)
Fabricate (Tran) (**) (52:45)
Fire Shield (Evo) (****) (32:58)
Greater Invisibility (Ill, Conc) (****) (41:53)
Hallucinatory Terrain (Ill) (**) (43:06)
Ice Storm (Evo) (*) (41:08)
Leomund's Secret Chest (Conj) (*) (23:48)
Locate Creature (Div, Conc) (**) (26:46)
Mordenkainen's Faithful Hound (Conj) (*) (22:50)
Mordenkainen's Private Sanctum (Abj) (**) (03:54)
Otiluke's Resilient Sphere (Evo, Conc) (****) (30:50)
Phantasmal Killer (Ill, Conc) (*) - Worst 4th Level Spell in Treantmonk's opinion (44:18)
Polymorph (Tran, Conc) (*****) Doesn't scale well, loses potency at 10th/11th level (47:32)
Sickening Radiance (Evo, Conc) (**) (37:37)
Stone Shape (Tran) (**) (50:04)
Stoneskin (Abj, Conc) (**) Costly components (04:50)
Storm Sphere (Evo, Conc) (***) (35:51)
Summoner Greater Demon (Conj, Conc) (****) (12:58)
Vitriolic Sphere (Evo) (**) (39:32)
Wall of Fire (Evo, Conc) (***) (34:58)
Watery Sphere (Conj, Conc) (****) - Not great at high levels (06:42)
Thank you for colorblind friendliness.
I definitely can't wait to see your take on 5th level spells like bigby's (I'm guessing it'll be green while animate objects is blue) and much moreso afterwards once you're on wizard subclass builds, especially since I'll be a bit into my bladesinger, I'd really like to see how your guide differs from my character
I haven't done the vid yet, but your ratings predictions are likely on point.
About the volume : your videos are still on the lower side, but it's nothing dramatics, and unless I'm imagining thing you've synced the intro volume with the rest of the video, which was the biggest issue. So great!And good idea about the star system. It's nice that you're thinking of erveryone.
So, thanks for your videos! I look forward to them and you're awesome.
Am finding your spell discussions really useful for selecting spells for a tenth-level sorcerer that I'm bringing into the game in a few sessions, adjusting for metamagic and the specific theme I'm going for. Would be cool to see some more sorcerer-centric videos discussing metamagic and subclass bonuses and how those change things up in your opinion.
@@sharkforce8147 Divine Soul though. Feels like a different class often
48:09 - for some people, turning into a giant ape is not fun at all. I know, right?
I've had a rogue party member who refused to be polymorphed. He hasn't explained why very well, but seems to me he hated the idea of needing some external effect to be effective in combat.
Excellent video, good volume now - just great work overall.
Great Video, as always.
For Arcane Eye, either arrange with your DM to turn up early or run the spell before the session.
Sickening Radiance is fantastic even by itself for just flushing enemies from cover. It's basically your gas grenade. Just toss it in a room and mass panic ensues, especially if you can block off the exits.
Control Water has fantastic potential for naval battles. Part Water - boom, a 100x100x100 hole below the enemy ship, down it goes. Following round you throw a wave in while they are slowly coming back up over the course of the next round. Repeat. Unless it's a massive boat, it will likely be wrecked quite fast, and a lot of the crew will be thrown out, take constant "fall" damage being thrown around, or even drown. It has a good 300 ft range so with some prep you can be pretty well protected as well. Just try not to leave any survivors or the next time you might be facing some counter measures like Dispel Magic or their own Control Water :) Surprise factor can do a lot here.
Tasha's Mind Lash used on something in this effect (or web, or anything like it) will lock something down. Because they only get an action, move or bonus action.. So if they use an action to break free, they can't move out, and will have to save or be restrained again. Quite a nasty new combo with the release of Tasha's.
It is worth mentioning that the first level of exhaustion from Sickening Radiance gives disadvantage on ability checks like Athletics. This makes them vulnerable to Grabs which can quite easily be used to put them back into the spell's area of effect.
once again, love the vid and it did make me rethink a few spells
though I have to correct you on Leomund's Secret Chest. The chest required to cast the spell is not consumed. Hence you can simply Dispel the effect before the 60 days are up and cast the spell on the same chest again, thus basically maintain it forever with that one-time investment without ever getting into that area where you might lose the chest and its content permanently. That should at least make it Circumstantial (Orange**) if not outright OK (Purple***) ...
Elemental Bane has a very nice synergy with multi-hit spells like Scorching Ray or Storm Sphere since it's extra damage is added to every single time those spells hit the subject. That is a rather specific setup & build though and of cause works best if there are multiple sources of elemental damage of the same type in the party. All in all I'd consider it a Circumstantial spell (Orange**), not a Bad (Red*) one though.
In the case of Charm Monster, it's a not concentration spell. I have used it very effectively with my bard. The key is to talk the charmed creature into help you, with the advantage in charisma checks isn't that hard. Of course it's much better for the bard because the common persuasion/deception expertise bonus, plus is a spell benefited from the instrument of the bards. For a wizard I find it decent.
39:20 My party’s warlock cast sickening radiance and since the BBEG was already in it, I was able to cast Dissonant Whispers to move BBEG away from the edge. He stayed in there at least another round.
One argument in favor of Conjure Minor Elementals: At level 14, Conjurers add 30 temp hp to every conjured creature. So you can litter the battlefield with a fairly reasonable amount of meat with mephits or other small elementals. Is that worth a fourth level slot? I think that's going to depend a lot on whether your enemies have big AOE attacks. But you can really gum up the works for enemies with more traditional attacks.
Just a Note on Sickening Radiance, Skeletons animated from Animate Undead are immune to Exhaustion but here’s the better thing. Both Zombies and Skeletons are expendable and if you’re an Evocation wizard you can summon those and have them grapple your target, whilst using Sculpt Spells to stop 5 of them from being targeted.
Just a Pro-Tip for those of you who want to kill creatures in 6 rounds that aren’t immune to exhaustion and can’t fly or teleport away.
Nice combo!
I think RAI, Sculpt Spells only applies to the first save.
Or is that just for Careful Spell?
Samuel Pierce probably but it’s doesn’t say that RAW and on Treantmonk Temple’s channel I only worry about RAW. RAI is for DM’s, RAW if for Optimancers.
And verbatim it says “The chosen creatures automatically succeed on their Saving Throws against the Spell...” The at the casting of the spell is only for the creatures you choose, so even within the text it is suggestive of Continuos Spells.
Keegan MBG after reading the text again, it does suggest that it works against ongoing effects. It’s worded differently than Careful Spell.
Thanks for braking down summon greater demon. Was curious how good it was
I'm not colorblind myself, but I super respect the choice to add stars to make your videos more accessible
My best use of Fire Shield was actually on a Fiend Pact warlock with heavy armor proficiency from Fighter. He was a front line fighter that took lots of hits and used the fiend pact's temporary hit points to mitigate it, so Fire Shield output a LOT of damage without risking being dropped due to concentration. And of course, it doubled if energy resistance if needed.
Whoa it’s been a year.
Well. Still my pedantic self has a need to say that temp HP doesn’t protect you from concentration saves.
@@Vernoan3 Fire Shield isn't a concentration spell.
Sickening Radiance plus Careful Spell is good in melee. Faithful Hound is also useful if you are in a small dungeon because no concentration, I use it more often then Fire Shield. Both of these negate invisible creatures also.
Vitriolic sphere plays very nicely with web. Though spending one of your four 4th level wizard spells for it seems like a stretch, given how many nice options a wizard has access to.
Polymorph is control too: take a dangerous foe, change to a giant shark or whale. They can't move, might crush others, and may block a tunnel. Keep concentration up while you go elsewhere.
Wall pf Fire has been used on Critical Role very effectively a couple times. The ability to block line of sight makes this helpful against ranged attacks and many spells, in addition to melee. It is definitely a divide and conquer type spell that can help restrict the number of enemies you fight at one time.
It also can be used to slow an enemy pursuing you while you run away unseen
Tucker Collins you can also always toss an enemy or push them into it. Shield Master feat is extra helpful on that part.
Keegan MBG
Sure, sure.
You get to decide which of the sides is hot and deals damage so it can be used offensively or defensively.
@@44tuck3r there another really low level spells which block line of sight. This spell is simply expensive.
Mann Sama it is a 60 ft long and 20 ft high, and deals damage. Sure, a fog cloud can block line of sight, but it can also be disrupted by a gust of wind, and has much less versatility for placement
Rather than block a tunnel, cast it lengthwise down the tunnel. Anything choosing to chase rather than wait will be hurting when they reach you.
Knowing the spell source and page number is helpful too :)
Mordekainen faithful hound has some quarks to it that make it a little better than first glance.
It’s invisible to all creatures except you, which gives it advantage when it uses its attack.
While it is required to be in an unoccupied space, that space is not required to actually be on the ground. It can be placed directly over you in thin air.
It lasts for 8 hours, it’s a decent defense while resting. It’s an offensive alarm spell.
If you are surprised, the hound can still attack even if you cant. The barking would be enough to wake you and your party, but you still unprepared if sleeping.
Leomunds hut and alarm are better for being rituals, but perhaps your DM doesn’t appreciate the effectiveness of these spells and sends casters to dispel them.
And while wizards typically want to be mobile and move to mitigate potential damage, any wizard that has gotten armor proficiency and can stay in the same place for a while gets access to 4d8+int with advantage as basically a free action at the beginning of their turns. It’s better damage at that slot level than spiritual weapon. It doesn’t cost actions of any kind after casting. Non concentration.
War wizard hobgoblin with medium armor feat would do well I think.
if there is a choke point, put it above the big stupid fighter to help out with operation meat shield.
And per sage advice, it doesn’t occupy its space. For better or worse.
Another extremely niche quirk about it is that it works during Time Stop if you cast it first.
And while you're at it dealing damage during Time Stop pick up the Scourge Aasimar too for +9-10 damage to everyone nearby at the end of each turn and make your hound's attacks deal +17-20 damage.
for phantasmal killer:
I have house ruled it so the psychic damage happens when you cast (save for half), and at the start of each turn, they can make a save at the end of the turn. So the minimum becomes 6d10.
YES, new video. Like first, then watch
I'm just really glad I decided to play a wizard just before you come in with these spell guides, super useful stuff, the most I ever disagreed with you is back on your bladesinger guide, and it's not even a disagreement per sey, more just wishing you mentioned why multiclassing them for melee damage is a little of a trap, but you also still linked another guide you read and liked and it did go over why not to multiclass, so my disagreement was a neutral point that you linked what I did agree with anyhow.
The Bladesinger was one of those Subclasses I needed some time to figure out.
@@TreantmonksTemple Yeah, that's very fair, you have specifically said it's the most differen't wizard from the standard, which is true, it took me a bit just to understand never to focus on a wizard's melee much, and they are quite weird (Though their weird is fun, and thanks to your other video for setting my mindset about flavor, I've got a real fun character out of it, I do appreciate that optimizing a concept video though, super helpful into opening my eyes to it and having more fun
Your description of a barbarian using fire shield reminded me of a build I've been meaning to try. Bear Barbarian3 Hexblade Warlock 9+. Basically you use Armor of Agathys before raging to get twice the effectiveness out of the spell. reckless attacks plus hexblades curse gives you a fairly good chance to crit, which lets you use your remaining spell slots for high damage eldritch smites. Also using a polearm would give you three attacks per round all benefiting from rage bonus, hexblade curse bonus and later on life drinker damage
Cool concept but at those levels the temp HP won’t last very long. You would probably get a lot more value with that 5th level slot casting something other than Armor of Agathys.
@@M0ebius You're right about the temp HP not lasting very long. However, I disagree that any other spell would provide this character with better value. You're preventing 50 points of damage and dealing potentially 50-100 damage back to enemies. A 6th lvl heal spell heals for 70. A 6th level disintegrate deals 75 damage. With a 5th level spell slot I am getting close to the effect of those two 6th level spells combined. I can't think of any other spell that would be more powerful to pre-cast for a melee character that is raging (can't cast or concentrate on spells).
Marco Alagna Good points. I had not considered no concentration while raging. Still not sure that it’d be worth building around though. At my table I’ve only seen Armor of Agathys in tier 3 play on a Sorhexadin - excellent against mooks, but somewhat circumstantial otherwise since the tempHP doesn’t last long and it’s very easy for the DM to play around the effect.
Addendum to Conjure Minor Elementals: Chwingas exist, and if you choose CR 0 and a 5'x5' space, these are the only option in published material (Tomb of Annihilation, Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden, and Candlekeep Mysteries) that fits the CR and space parameters, as they're Tiny. Eight of these is a FANTASTIC choice.
As the DM i used ice storm to good effect against the party once. The party was fighting two hobgoblin wizards and a healthy compliment of cr 1/2 hobgoblins. The party knew hobgoblins would be attacking the village and had time to prepare trenches and somewhat fortify the place. The archer and sorcerer camped on the roof of a building with cover that they would drop prone behind every round, and the thief decided it was a good idea to stockpile barrels of oil to drop into the trench, anticipating a zerg rush. I had one of the hobgoblins cast fireball, hitting them and igniting the wooden house they were on, and damaging the roof. Then the other hobgoblin wizard cast ice storm, doing enough bludgeoning damage to finish destroying the roof, hurting the party more, and trapping them due to difficult terrain in the burning building for an extra round.
Wow. First!
Love the Watery Sphere tutorial. I had considered it far less useful than you describe.
You should also consider the Chasme for summon greater demon for same cr as the Vrock. Chasme only has one attack per round with kind of low to hit bonus, but it hits really hard, which makes it pretty good against enemies with low ac and lots of hitpoints. Also if you upcast it to cr 8 demons, you can get the Shoosuva which is pretty solid also.
To upcast this you need to use 7th level slot. It is a slot waste, and on 13 level this creature will rather suck (it may be a decent tank because of resistances, but still not worth it). On the 7th level you have Arcane Mirage, Forcecage, Teleport or 10-day Mass Suggestion
Wall of force plus mordenkins faithful hou. Is an amazing combo if you have a 2 fighter dip for action surge
Control water could be useful for fighting a vampire if you want tocreate running water to make sure they don't turn to mist. Obviously this is terrain dependent, so still circumstantial, but if you have a magic source of water, like a decanter of endless water, it could work.
In an underwater dungeon, control water is king.
3:21 Plane Shift at will isn't going to help them very much, as the spell doesn't allow you to specify an exact destination. It might even take them *longer* to get back.
Thank you.
There's a player in my current campaign who is in love with all of the spells that are named after people, and he recently found an excellent use for Mordenkainen's Faithful Hound. We were spending the entire day in a coliseum where we had to do ten rounds of combat with no long rests. He cast the hound round 1 of the first battle, and it just sat there doing some damage, every round, all day. It's normally a pretty terrible spell, but the eight hours non-concentration duration makes it a cool source of damage in that circumstance.
My sorlock picked up Greater Invisibility at my recent level up. Character 11, 3 of which are warlock and the rest are sorcerer.
I have Agonizing Blast with a 22 Charisma stat. Advantage on 3 Eldritch Blasts bolts per casting (6 if I Quicken spell) seems like it should stack up some solid damage while helping me stay alive.
I think some of the orange spells you will likely want to spend your gold on when you find a spell book or an opportunity to copy one or something like that. I can see how they can be made to save the day, occasionally. Ps great video.
In addition to Secret Chest being niche, the cost of the material component represents an opportunity cost compared to just buying more scrolls or making your own collection of scrolls, especially since if there isn't already a chest ready to go off the shelf, the default crafting rules mean it takes something like 1000 days to make the 5000 gp chest and the xanathar's rules of 50 gp per week still takes 100 weeks. 5000 gp can become an entire campaign's worth of scrolls of 1st to 3rd level, especially if you can work together with other party members to make scrolls of non-Wizard spells. Of course it does require proficiency in Arcana, but you're a Wizard and only benefit from taking it if you get any Downtime.
spell scroll from divination wizard with high potent hands flame shield to barbarian.
Sickening Radiance + Evocation Wizards Sickening Radiance lets you throw it out in a room, and thanks to the huge area it covers the entire room. Thanks to Sculpt spell and that Sickening Radiance is an Evocation spell, you can let your allies automatically succeed on their saving throws, which means only enemies get afflicted by it. Say the fight lasts... 4 rounds, that can easily stack up to about 12d10 damage to each enemy creature in a huge area, which is nothing to scoff at, especially with the secondary effects. And the longer the fight goes on, the better it gets as Exhaustion stacks up.
Conjure minor elementals has a combo with a crapton of steam mephits that all use breath and then explode (1d8 each, DC10 is low but half of that is still ok). If you put together all the d8s, even half of the damage these mephits will deal is pretty damn great on average. But, of course, try to get the freakin mephits in the first place :P
Secret Chest is great if you think your GM is going to throw you into a jail cell with anything that's obviously useful to you taken away. Then of course you have to break out, starting with nothing but your wizard robes.
Chris.... Point of order about Vitriolic Sphere... yes it does a bit more damage than an upcasted fb... BUT... there would be 2 saves vs concentration. This has come up in my game and was a real pain on enemy casters.
Great job again on Wizard stuff. Would love to see you focus on strictly which spells are good for pumping up. I don’t think enough people talk about how situational that can be.
Ie. if you have the perfect moment. Like your enemies are all lined up. Is that not the perfect time to max out Aga Scorcher or lightning bolt?
The other day I used shadow blade at level 3 and it seemed great. Although it was only an extra d8 per round at least I got 3 or 4 rounds of extra damage for only one slot at one level higher
Hey Treantmonk, great video as always! I was gonna say you forgot to include the book that each spell is in and what page-I don't personally use that feature but I thought you might want to know for general improvements.
Thanks for the reminder, I will get them back on there for lvl5
Keep in mind that if you banish something.. planeshift does NOT send them back exactly where they want.. and they will effectively be out of this combat completely unless you loose concentration.. Very important.
volume is great!
While I like Banishment, it has a couple of issues to take note of.
1) You don't control the endpoint if the target isn't native to your current plane. So while you can use this to get your party out of Avernus (gradually), there's no telling where on the Prime Material they'll end up. Reuniting might become an adventure all on its own...
2) If you banish a non-native big bad, you've technically won, but there's probably no loot left behind.
I do agree on a red rating for your standard dungeon encounter where enemies pop out, you gotta deal with them ASAP before immediately moving on to the next encounter.
But....I can think of a circumstance where Phantasmal Killer is a spell I'd want. Lot of hate for PK, but it's very good in assassination/espionage games when you have plenty of time to stalk/harass a single target. Nobody saw or heard anything. No attackers. No wounds, no poisons, no flashy spells. The guy just started running and screaming for 6-12 seconds then just dropped dead.
When I ran a combat against an aboleth and a pair of chuuls, the druid dropped control water on the aboleth's location. I think that the players would've lost the fight without it!
Hi Chris, I would argue that black tentacles should be ranked higher than purple. The main argument for its ranking is that it is very similar, from a certain perspective even weaker, than web. While this is true, and the additional damage is not that relevant in itself, there are a couple of things that I think makes it better. First, the damage entails a conc check dc 10 for affected spellcasters, every round: not amazing but still nice. Second, and more important, this spell isn’t useless against all enemies capable of dealing fire damage. With my level 10 wizard I would be tempted to prepare both spell to save a higher slot when not necessary, but the increased reliability of black tentacles makes it the one that I want to prepare every day and makes me think it deserves a green ranking.
Just my 2cp, love your work, have fun 👍
The only thing I can feasibly see Mordenkainen's Faithful Hound being used for is a microwave - cast a Wall of Force, then cast Faithful Hound and the hound will slowly and eventually kill the creature inside.
Sickening Radiance as a nasty trap room spell vs PCs?
I only think fabricate is good because it can create wealth. At least situationally. You grab jeweler's tools proficiency, now you can double the worth of raw gems, and increase the value of gems somewhat by setting them in some gold. Gems and jewelry count currency of their worth. Start a line of credit and get as many hirelings as you want... until you break the economy... which is a potential plan for a villainous npc.
Does anyone has already used polymorph on his familiar ? It seems it could be really interesting, because it should be possible to combine both effects for greater use ! For exemple, you can still speak with it while transformed, and see throught its eyes. You can put it into the dimension space, and then make it get out later (as long as the hour is not finished), to use it several times, though you casted the spell only once... and during the pause time, you don't have to maintain concentration. So you are free to do anything ! It could be usefull to use Polymorph in different places, make it appear behind a door, go throught little corridors between 2 big rooms with your hidden giant ape...
My idea cannot work well. Because the level of the creature choosen made thanks to Polymorph spell depends on the level of the initial creature. And a familiar is too feable (level 0), so using Polymorph on it will only allow you to get another animal of the same level, such as a weasel or a badger... Pointless !
Well, it's a 2 year old video, so someone has to have pointed it out already, but with summon greater demon, if combat has ended and the demon is still under control, you don't have to issue a command to "try to get it out of your way". You can simply drop concentration and the demon will instantly vanish
The demon only sticks around after you drop concentration if it's uncontrolled
What do you think of Sickening Radiance combined with Tidal Wave, for a no-concentration way of keeping enemies down (literally, ha) inside the zone? Two not-so-great spells by themselves, but I was thinking about taking that combo when I get there with my Shadow Sorcerer. The hound and our Open Hand Monk would help keep them in there too. Am I trying to hard to make lemonade out of lemons here?
Played an evil Abjurer in a one shot recently, and it came down to a free for all over who would be the new king of hell.
Ended up capturing both the other living party members in a force cage, and then dropped a sickening radience on top of them.
Doesn't matter how tanky you are when you need to make 95/100 con saves or you straight up die. Plus having an Abjurer sitting there with counterspell ready means they don't have a lot of options.
The Rogue almost made it out by shoving a haversack into a bag of holding, but he failed the save and got KO'd
I heard Phantasmal Killer wss errata’d to taking damage at the beginning of turn and saving at the end. I’ll have to look it up.
To be fair to the "Summon Bad Shit" spells (Lesser Demon, Greater Demon, Infernal Calling), they are excellent "over there problem" spells where you stealthily open the door, summon whatever horrid abomination you desire into the room, then quickly lock the door and let the problem solve itself
I noticed that Polymorph is the only 4th level spell rated blue (5 stars). I thought that was kindof unusual compared to other levels.
I’d love to see these lists for cleric spells.
> Dimension Door I've talked a lot about so I don't want to keep repeating myself.
*However* this is the first place viewers will come to for specific Wizard spells. The whole point of making a level-by-level spell guide is one-stop viewing utility for, say, new viewers who haven't watched every build video and won't know which one(s) to pour through just to find your tips on a spell, such as Dimension Door.
Good point
Was my comment here deleted? I see a reply to it in my notifications but I don't see it or the reply now.
To the reply: I was referring to Treantmonk's videos of spells in general, not this series of spells for Wizards
But it gets tiresome if you've watched several of his videos to hear the same thing. The past videos are still available.
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I'd really like if you would talk about the Eldritch Knight, cause the same spells work differently than with the wizard.