its an ok level 1 spell for a new character and that's it. - it's upcastable but the upcast is just +1 die, but on top of that it needs concentration so you cant use it next to other much more useful spells and the concentration part does not scale at all it stays at 1 d12 that consumes your action and FORCES your action use on it or the spell breaks
Ooh, aid is another example. At 3rd level when one can take the spell, an extra 5 HP can be the difference between life and death saving throws for up to 3 PCs. But by 5th level the spell is kinda pointless unless I’m seriously missing something.
I feel like Aid gets overlooked because people just want to blast, but it's really good and one of the best spells for upcasting. It's one of the only things in the game that increases your Max HP instead of just giving out Temp HP. 5HP is near the average hit die roll for every class except barbarian. So for each upcasted level of Aid, it's similar to having the health pool of some that many levels higher than you.
If I play a 'support' character that has "empty" high level slots due to multiclassing, I almost always use them on Aid.
Also while a very niche situation, because Aid increases your Max HP and heals you for that much, if you have 2 or more party members down and making death saves Aid effectively works as a mass heal to bring them all back up for only a second level spell which saves you a third level slot you might use on Mass Healing Word instead.
Ooh, aid is another example. At 3rd level when one can take the spell, an extra 5 HP can be the difference between life and death saving throws for up to 3 PCs. But by 5th level the spell is kinda pointless unless I’m seriously missing something.
I feel like Aid gets overlooked because people just want to blast, but it's really good and one of the best spells for upcasting. It's one of the only things in the game that increases your Max HP instead of just giving out Temp HP. 5HP is near the average hit die roll for every class except barbarian. So for each upcasted level of Aid, it's similar to having the health pool of some that many levels higher than you.
If I play a 'support' character that has "empty" high level slots due to multiclassing, I almost always use them on Aid.
Also while a very niche situation, because Aid increases your Max HP and heals you for that much, if you have 2 or more party members down and making death saves Aid effectively works as a mass heal to bring them all back up for only a second level spell which saves you a third level slot you might use on Mass Healing Word instead.
The average PC hit die roll might be 4.5-5.5, but most of the time the PCs are fighting monsters instead, and they often hit much harder. It might take 2-3 levels of aid to make up for a single hit from a monster.
According to RotFM, any town with 100 inhabitants would have more than 25 on the city watch
I know a lot of people have pointed out that this doesn't make sense, but it does if you don't ignore all the context. Those numbers don't refer to the "city watch" or actual guards, they refer to the maximum amount of militiamen that the town can gather in case of dire emergency. It's a number that reflects every able-bodied man in the settlement. It literally says next to the number that they can "muster up" those numbers.
Ooh, aid is another example. At 3rd level when one can take the spell, an extra 5 HP can be the difference between life and death saving throws for up to 3 PCs. But by 5th level the spell is kinda pointless unless I’m seriously missing something.
I feel like Aid gets overlooked because people just want to blast, but it's really good and one of the best spells for upcasting. It's one of the only things in the game that increases your Max HP instead of just giving out Temp HP. 5HP is near the average hit die roll for every class except barbarian. So for each upcasted level of Aid, it's similar to having the health pool of some that many levels higher than you.
If I play a 'support' character that has "empty" high level slots due to multiclassing, I almost always use them on Aid.
Also while a very niche situation, because Aid increases your Max HP and heals you for that much, if you have 2 or more party members down and making death saves Aid effectively works as a mass heal to bring them all back up for only a second level spell which saves you a third level slot you might use on Mass Healing Word instead.
The average PC hit die roll might be 4.5-5.5, but most of the time the PCs are fighting monsters instead, and they often hit much harder. It might take 2-3 levels of aid to make up for a single hit from a monster.
I was making no implication that PCs are fighintg other PCs. Just that, per spell level of Aid, a PC effectively has the HP of a PC [spell level - 1] levels higher. Monsters can hit very hard, yes, that's why more HP matters especially when it doesn't need to take up your action economy in combat. It lasts 8 hours (16 hours with Extended Spell meta magic which is an entire adventuring day). Casting it before you enter the dungeon will save you turns in combat later.
I can't remember a time when Aid has been cast in our games that at least one of the targets of Aid hasn't survived at least one round longer in a combat because of the extra HP; even if it was only a base casting of Aid at 2nd level.
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can i raise the obvious one that no-one has yet.
Witch Bolt
its an ok level 1 spell for a new character and that's it. - it's upcastable but the upcast is just +1 die, but on top of that it needs concentration so you cant use it next to other much more useful spells and the concentration part does not scale at all it stays at 1 d12 that consumes your action and FORCES your action use on it or the spell breaks
No, Witchbolt is a lousy spell at every level.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
I feel like Aid gets overlooked because people just want to blast, but it's really good and one of the best spells for upcasting. It's one of the only things in the game that increases your Max HP instead of just giving out Temp HP. 5HP is near the average hit die roll for every class except barbarian. So for each upcasted level of Aid, it's similar to having the health pool of some that many levels higher than you.
If I play a 'support' character that has "empty" high level slots due to multiclassing, I almost always use them on Aid.
Also while a very niche situation, because Aid increases your Max HP and heals you for that much, if you have 2 or more party members down and making death saves Aid effectively works as a mass heal to bring them all back up for only a second level spell which saves you a third level slot you might use on Mass Healing Word instead.
The average PC hit die roll might be 4.5-5.5, but most of the time the PCs are fighting monsters instead, and they often hit much harder. It might take 2-3 levels of aid to make up for a single hit from a monster.
Aid actually has excellent level scaling -- +1 level is +5 to 3 targets. Compare to cure wounds that is +4.5 to 1 target.
I know a lot of people have pointed out that this doesn't make sense, but it does if you don't ignore all the context. Those numbers don't refer to the "city watch" or actual guards, they refer to the maximum amount of militiamen that the town can gather in case of dire emergency. It's a number that reflects every able-bodied man in the settlement. It literally says next to the number that they can "muster up" those numbers.
I was making no implication that PCs are fighintg other PCs. Just that, per spell level of Aid, a PC effectively has the HP of a PC [spell level - 1] levels higher. Monsters can hit very hard, yes, that's why more HP matters especially when it doesn't need to take up your action economy in combat. It lasts 8 hours (16 hours with Extended Spell meta magic which is an entire adventuring day). Casting it before you enter the dungeon will save you turns in combat later.
I can't remember a time when Aid has been cast in our games that at least one of the targets of Aid hasn't survived at least one round longer in a combat because of the extra HP; even if it was only a base casting of Aid at 2nd level.