D&D 5e players explain how to balance OP 1st level spell

Dungeons & Dragons 5e players have come up with potential solutions to help balance the oft-banned first-level spell Silvery Barbs.

Dungeons & Dragons players have shared their ideas on how to improve and balance a first-level spell many have dubbed OP or just plain frustrating to play with: Silvery Barbs.

Since it was introduced in the 5e sourcebook Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos, Silvery Barbs has been a point of contention for many tables. It allows the user to force another creature to reroll a successful attack roll, ability check, or saving throw and take the lower result by “magically” distracting them. The user can then pick another creature (including themself) and give them advantage on their next roll within one minute.

Silvery Barbs’ reputation among 5e players is so mixed that one Dungeon Master said a player joining their campaign was “very surprised I allowed Silvery Barbs in a game. He said that it was banned in every other game he has been a part of.”

The fact that Silvery Barbs forces rerolls is a point of frustration for DMs and players who find themselves the target of the spell. As one Reddit user who calls the spell “annoying not broken” explains, “it’s a reaction that forces additional dice rolls and can drastically change the outcome of the original rolls. Then whoever gets advantage has to remember to use it. I could see as a dm not wanting to deal with it for an entire campaign.”

Silvery Barb’s accessibility adds to its game-breaking reputation. The spell gives both a debuff and a buff for the cost of a single first-level spell slot, which spellcasters will have plenty of access to at any level. This sets it apart from other popular reaction spells like Shield and Counterspell; the former is more limited in its effect, while the latter is a third-level spell.

All that has some tables outright banning Silvery Barbs, though fortunately, some have come up with other ways to balance the spell. A couple of commenters recommend bumping it up to a second or even third-level spell to limit how often players can use it and better reflect its power.

Another recommended limiting the spell, which is an option for Bards, Sorcerers and Wizards, to just the Bard class since “their whole schtick is control magic.”

At the end of the day, the decision to allow or ban Silvery Barbs is going to depend on the DM and their players. As one DM who banned the spell explains, “I am playing with min-maxers … we came to an agreement that neither side uses it. Cause they don’t want me to use it either.”

Perhaps the best advice, though, comes from the poster, who told their surprised player, “he could pick anything that he wanted, and IF it became a problem, we could discuss options.”