D&D 5E players slam the most “disappointing” spells in the game
Wizards of the CoastDungeons & Dragons 5E players are united in disliking some of the magical spells in the game due to them being underpowered or useless.
In D&D 5E, almost every class can access spells, with even the martial meat shields gaining a few Cantrips through their subclass selection. This means an entire party of adventurers can enter a dungeon with spell slots to burn.
This isn’t to say that all classes are created equally regarding spells, as some only have extremely limited access to magic, such as the Sorcerer and the Warlock. These classes must be extra careful about the spells they pick, as a poor selection can impact the party’s survivability.
The reason spell selection is so important is that some are just plain worse than others. D&D fans have quickly determined which spells are letting the side down and should be ignored as much as possible.
Wizards of the CoastD&D 5E players trash the most disappointing spells in the game
A user on the DnD Reddit created a thread asking which were the most disappointing spells in the game. It didn’t take long for users to rush into the thread, eager to condemn those they dislike.
“Friends” one user wrote, “No matter how charismatic you are. No matter how friendly the target might be. No matter what the circumstances are, casting Friends guarantees that you create an enemy.”
One surprising answer is the beloved Vicious Mockery spell. “I hate to say it but I’ve never had good results with vicious mockery. Every time I’ve used it it’s gone one of two ways: Target makes save, I’ve wasted an action and pissed off a bad guy, who attacks my squishy bard.”
“Target fails save, takes like 2 damage, has disadvantage on an attack roll but usually avoids this by getting pissed off and using some kind of horrific special ability on my squishy bard.”
It’s not just weak spells that took a hit, as the mighty Time Stop was also derided. “Timestop, no idea what to do with it (You’re welcome to tell me what to do),” one user wrote, and another responded, “Time Stop is the ultimate get out of jail free spell for a Big Bad.”
“Witch Bolt is the biggest early game trap spell I’ve seen”, one user said, “New players see it, think “wow big damage and I can keep doing it”, imagine themselves Palpatine’ing all over the place, and then realize they’ve locked themselves into one action that’s going to fail for the entire fight.”
And as Baldur’s Gate 3 players can agree, True Strike is also on the list. “True strike is hot garbage though. It was definitely an overreaction to nerf it so hard from prior versions (used to give +20 to hit on your next attack and it cut through concealment bonuses).”
“Advantage made it bad enough and why it also takes concentration is beyond me.”
Fortunately, D&D 5E is getting upgraded rulebooks in 2024, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the game. Hopefully, the new Player’s Handbook will address the issues with these spells, and take them out of the lower tier.