3) Animate objects doesn't do magical damage - they are animated non-magical objects - which can be significant if the DM is concerned with damage.
The type of damage isn't the issue, it's the fact that getting ten attacks that have a +8 to hit means that you're probably successfully landing hits most of the time AND you still have an action left. Sure, the damage is 1d4 + 4, but it still averages out to like 34 points of damage per round as a bonus action. Being able to deal more reliable damage than Fireball does as a bonus action and still cast a heavy-hitter spell like Guiding Bolt (if you're on your second round) or attack something an eleventh time on the same turn is the definition of broken.
But Animate Objects is level 5 AND concentration. Fireball is level 3. That's a major difference. At level 5 you get all sorts of really powerful spells. If you are unlucky, you'll get one turn of those attacks before losing concentration or the objects get wiped with a single AoE spell. Because it's non-magical melee, enemies can be resistant, especially at level 9+ when you get the spell in the first place.
Does your average count a hit from all attacks? Because +8 at level 9 really isn't an automatic hit. Against 18 AC it's 50/50.
Animate Objects definitely isn't overpowered at all. It's pretty good in some situations, but it's not always even GOOD.
At level 5 you get spells like Telekinesis that allows you to lift, move and restrain actual Adult Red Dragons. Or Cone of Cold, which is AoE for 8d8. Say you hit 5 targets, which wouldn't be a first. That's a lot of damage.
First, the 50% hit rate is included in the average damage output of 34 per round. If the attacks all hit, the average damage output goes up to 65 per turn, and up to 90 with crits. As a bonus action.
What you're forgetting is that this thread is about subclass exploits. First of all, neither of the purportedly more powerful spells you list are cleric spells. Animate Objects is a Forge Cleric domain spell. Second, 5th level cleric spells are very low in damage output. The best you can get is Flame Strike, which is AOE and deals about 30 damage on a failed save. The fact that Animate Objects is concentration is not a weakness, it's a benefit because Flame Strike is over once you cast it, and Animate Objects (and your tiny army of murder items) lasts as many rounds as you can keep it up and the baddies can't knock them down. And, I say again, you still have your action every subsequent round to cast a non-concentration whammy like Inflict Wounds or Guiding Bolt. Spells which scale extremely well, deal good damage on their own, and in the case of Guiding Bolt increases the chances that your concentration spell will hit better.
Trust me from experience. DMing a powergamer Forge Cleric is no joke.
Ah, my bad. I missed the Forge Cleric part. Yes, Animate Objects is a strong spell for a cleric. :)
Animate objects is generally a pretty good spell. If you pick tiny objects and use them against a cr 9 enemy (stats based on DMG) you'd expect about 45.5 damage on average per bonus action which is in line with DMG recommendations for a single target damage spell. The scaling is a bit weird because the average goes down as monster ac increases so by cr 20 the average is 35.75 if you cast the level 5 version but the scaling of 2 extra tiny objects is very good so if you always up cast it to your highest level your damage will increase on average. This also doesn't take into account resistance and immunity to non magical attacks which are relatively common and a unique issue for animate objects among spells. Ac caps out a 25 which would make the minimum average damage about 16.75 damage but all of those creatures are immune to non magical attacks.
It also synergises well with effects that increase ally damage that don't have a limit on targets. For example [Tooltip Not Found] will give an extra 2.5 damage on average per hit for a maximum of 10 hits a round.
They also easily gain advantage as a group because the animated objects have blind sight and you don't actually need to see a creature to command it them to attack, you can easily give all of the animated objects advantage on attacks which brings that average damage against cr 9 to 67.
Finally it's also a pretty good concentration breaker because it's allot of little attacks much like magic missile but magic missile is probably still better.
So overall it's a pretty good spell for single target damage and is probably the best single target sustained damage spell in the game especially if you can trigger it's synergies.
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Ah, my bad. I missed the Forge Cleric part. Yes, Animate Objects is a strong spell for a cleric. :)
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Animate objects is generally a pretty good spell. If you pick tiny objects and use them against a cr 9 enemy (stats based on DMG) you'd expect about 45.5 damage on average per bonus action which is in line with DMG recommendations for a single target damage spell. The scaling is a bit weird because the average goes down as monster ac increases so by cr 20 the average is 35.75 if you cast the level 5 version but the scaling of 2 extra tiny objects is very good so if you always up cast it to your highest level your damage will increase on average. This also doesn't take into account resistance and immunity to non magical attacks which are relatively common and a unique issue for animate objects among spells. Ac caps out a 25 which would make the minimum average damage about 16.75 damage but all of those creatures are immune to non magical attacks.
It also synergises well with effects that increase ally damage that don't have a limit on targets. For example [Tooltip Not Found] will give an extra 2.5 damage on average per hit for a maximum of 10 hits a round.
They also easily gain advantage as a group because the animated objects have blind sight and you don't actually need to see a creature to command it them to attack, you can easily give all of the animated objects advantage on attacks which brings that average damage against cr 9 to 67.
Finally it's also a pretty good concentration breaker because it's allot of little attacks much like magic missile but magic missile is probably still better.
So overall it's a pretty good spell for single target damage and is probably the best single target sustained damage spell in the game especially if you can trigger it's synergies.