Make your selections and also give any reasons why or offer suggestions that I didn't include.
Also, what exactly makes a spell evil? It seems most of the ones I personally thought might be evil fell into either enchantment or necromancy. Is it depriving someone of their autonomy of enchantment and some illusions, is it the anti life forces of necromancy? Or how about the sort of cruelty and pain of something like heat metal?
Imprisonment hands down is the most evil spell that I can think of. Imprisoning someone where they can’t talk to anyone else and they’re conscious until they’re freed is just evil! Solitary confinement in prison drives prisoners insane over a few years. Imprisonment can last for centuries because the target of the spell doesn’t age while under the spell.
Storm of Vengeance is pretty bad. It's basically reserved for destroying villages indiscriminately, which means lots of innocent people would be killed and maimed.
A PC could justify learning it if they are in a mass combat campaign, but realistically, only BBEGs are going to bother.
Heat Metal probably isn't the evilest spell, but having played a few druids and bards in campaigns and one shots I've never been able to bring myself to take it.
Gotta say any spell like geas, modify memory or dominate person, that likes...**** with memory, or any sense of free will, is pretty hardcore evil, id say alot more evil then most necromancy, especailly animate dead, which just raises a body to help you out not the spirit
Magic is a tool. Tools are neither good, nor evil. What matters is what a person does with it, that defines good or evil. Magic in the hands of a good person will generally do good with it, even with seemingly "evil" spells like animate dead or geas. But then the question becomes a matter of ethics, not morals.
Money works the same way too. Money in the hands of a good person will generally do a lot of good with it, and money in the hands of a bad person will do a lot of evil with it. Money and magic has no will of its own. It has to be told what to do. It is designed to take orders. Master your magic, or your magic will master you.
Magic is a tool. Tools are neither good, nor evil. What matters is what a person does with it, that defines good or evil. Magic in the hands of a good person will generally do good with it, even with seemingly "evil" spells like animate dead or geas. But then the question becomes a matter of ethics, not morals.
Money works the same way too. Money in the hands of a good person will generally do a lot of good with it, and money in the hands of a bad person will do a lot of evil with it. Money and magic has no will of its own. It has to be told what to do. It is designed to take orders. Master your magic, or your magic will master you.
Geas, is inherently evil, as blackmailing/threatening someone to do a good act, is still an evil act in and of itself, for many npcs geas would just be a straight kill shot, or to do what it says. so even telling some villager to not forge a sword for the bbeg, is still using evil means, to do a good act overall
It really comes down to do the ends justify the means, and who "beats the other" because whoever eventually defeats the other will play their actions as good and the others as evil
Really, Modify Memory wins this hands down - in particular because if used correctly, it replaces any need to ever use Dominate, which is the only other candidate that basically cannot be used for good.
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Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider. My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong. I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲 “It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
Really, Modify Memory wins this hands down - in particular because if used correctly, it replaces any need to ever use Dominate, which is the only other candidate that basically cannot be used for good.
Modify Memory for me. You can do ... Something bad I'll just say ... And then erase the memory of it. You can make some incredibly terrible memories or make them forget something terrible you did.
Of all the spells this one has the greatest potential for evil.
There can be good uses, of course. Like if somebody has a traumatic memory and wants to be rid of it, you can do that for them with consent. If I had magic in real life and was the only one, I'd take this as an emergency to keep my secret so people and governments don't destroy me and my family for their greed/envy.
But the few good uses don't outweigh the significant potential for evil modify memory has. So, in my opinion, this wins no contest. Dominate Person and Imprisonment follow closely behind.
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Magic is a tool. Tools are neither good, nor evil. What matters is what a person does with it, that defines good or evil. Magic in the hands of a good person will generally do good with it, even with seemingly "evil" spells like animate dead or geas. But then the question becomes a matter of ethics, not morals.
Money works the same way too. Money in the hands of a good person will generally do a lot of good with it, and money in the hands of a bad person will do a lot of evil with it. Money and magic has no will of its own. It has to be told what to do. It is designed to take orders. Master your magic, or your magic will master you.
Geas, is inherently evil, as blackmailing/threatening someone to do a good act, is still an evil act in and of itself, for many npcs geas would just be a straight kill shot, or to do what it says. so even telling some villager to not forge a sword for the bbeg, is still using evil means, to do a good act overall
It really comes down to do the ends justify the means, and who "beats the other" because whoever eventually defeats the other will play their actions as good and the others as evil
It kind of comes down to consent. What if someone chooses to submit to a geas to help break a bad habit, for example. It’s an extreme m example, I fully acknowledge that. My point is more, I agree with christoper that it’s not the spell as much much as who is casting it, and who it’s being cast on, and why.
Certainly the mind control/memory spells people are mentioning likely have the greatest potential to be used evilly. Probably they are most often used evilly, but that doesn’t make the spell itself inherently evil.
Sickening Radiance - It's simply too easy to trap a target group of creatures in a contained area, prevent their obvious means of escape then just wait for 6 failed rolls during the 100 round duration = death.
Doen't matter how many hp they have, and with each failed save the exhaustion points add up making it harder and harder for them to escape or succeed on the next save.
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Have played every version of the game since Basic (Red Box Set), except that abomination sometimes called 4e.
Sickening Radiance -[...]with each failed save the exhaustion points add up making it harder and harder for them to escape or succeed on the next save.
That part isn't accurate. The only levels of exhaustion that will affect how quickly they succumb are 3 (Saving Throws at Disadvantage) and 6 (Death). The others don't really matter in this situation apart from maybe 4 (Max HP is halved), if their HP is low enough that the damage will kill them if their Max HP is halved (or will kill them).
Of course, the odds of succeeding 95 times out of 100 rolls is pretty low, to the point of effectively being guaranteed, even without Disadvantage, so it's nothing more than a quibble.
If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
Geas, because not only is it messing with someone's willpower to force them to do things, but they know that their new "friend" who's given them the charmed condition is forcing them to do those things and still have to keep doing them (so that they don't take a buncha damage)! 😭
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That's actually a really good point. "Evil spells" can be used for good, and "Good Spells" can be used for bad. That being said, there are some spells where just using them in the first place is kinda iffy, I mean, I guess you can justify mind control spells in a few situations, but that's a slippery slope and if you start justify mind control for a rare few situations, then when does the line between a justified and unjustified use of it start blurring (intentions are different than actions)?
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Make your selections and also give any reasons why or offer suggestions that I didn't include.
Also, what exactly makes a spell evil? It seems most of the ones I personally thought might be evil fell into either enchantment or necromancy. Is it depriving someone of their autonomy of enchantment and some illusions, is it the anti life forces of necromancy? Or how about the sort of cruelty and pain of something like heat metal?
Imprisonment hands down is the most evil spell that I can think of. Imprisoning someone where they can’t talk to anyone else and they’re conscious until they’re freed is just evil! Solitary confinement in prison drives prisoners insane over a few years. Imprisonment can last for centuries because the target of the spell doesn’t age while under the spell.
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Storm of Vengeance is pretty bad. It's basically reserved for destroying villages indiscriminately, which means lots of innocent people would be killed and maimed.
A PC could justify learning it if they are in a mass combat campaign, but realistically, only BBEGs are going to bother.
Heat Metal probably isn't the evilest spell, but having played a few druids and bards in campaigns and one shots I've never been able to bring myself to take it.
Counterspell is pretty evil. Especially when it is used on a healing spell...
Modify memory.
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Gotta say any spell like geas, modify memory or dominate person, that likes...**** with memory, or any sense of free will, is pretty hardcore evil, id say alot more evil then most necromancy, especailly animate dead, which just raises a body to help you out not the spirit
I think power word pain is the most evil spell. Causing anyone extreme pain is evil.
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Magic is a tool. Tools are neither good, nor evil. What matters is what a person does with it, that defines good or evil. Magic in the hands of a good person will generally do good with it, even with seemingly "evil" spells like animate dead or geas. But then the question becomes a matter of ethics, not morals.
Money works the same way too. Money in the hands of a good person will generally do a lot of good with it, and money in the hands of a bad person will do a lot of evil with it. Money and magic has no will of its own. It has to be told what to do. It is designed to take orders. Master your magic, or your magic will master you.
Geas, is inherently evil, as blackmailing/threatening someone to do a good act, is still an evil act in and of itself, for many npcs geas would just be a straight kill shot, or to do what it says. so even telling some villager to not forge a sword for the bbeg, is still using evil means, to do a good act overall
It really comes down to do the ends justify the means, and who "beats the other" because whoever eventually defeats the other will play their actions as good and the others as evil
Really, Modify Memory wins this hands down - in particular because if used correctly, it replaces any need to ever use Dominate, which is the only other candidate that basically cannot be used for good.
Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
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It causes the most arguments.
Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider.
My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong.
I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲
“It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
100%
Modify Memory for me. You can do ... Something bad I'll just say ... And then erase the memory of it. You can make some incredibly terrible memories or make them forget something terrible you did.
Of all the spells this one has the greatest potential for evil.
There can be good uses, of course. Like if somebody has a traumatic memory and wants to be rid of it, you can do that for them with consent. If I had magic in real life and was the only one, I'd take this as an emergency to keep my secret so people and governments don't destroy me and my family for their greed/envy.
But the few good uses don't outweigh the significant potential for evil modify memory has. So, in my opinion, this wins no contest. Dominate Person and Imprisonment follow closely behind.
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Need help with Homebrew? Check out ✨ this FAQ/Guide thread ✨ by IamSposta.
It kind of comes down to consent. What if someone chooses to submit to a geas to help break a bad habit, for example. It’s an extreme m example, I fully acknowledge that. My point is more, I agree with christoper that it’s not the spell as much much as who is casting it, and who it’s being cast on, and why.
Certainly the mind control/memory spells people are mentioning likely have the greatest potential to be used evilly. Probably they are most often used evilly, but that doesn’t make the spell itself inherently evil.
Sickening Radiance - It's simply too easy to trap a target group of creatures in a contained area, prevent their obvious means of escape then just wait for 6 failed rolls during the 100 round duration = death.
Doen't matter how many hp they have, and with each failed save the exhaustion points add up making it harder and harder for them to escape or succeed on the next save.
Playing D&D since 1982
Have played every version of the game since Basic (Red Box Set), except that abomination sometimes called 4e.
There are no evil spells. Only evil intentions.
Current Characters I am playing: Dr Konstantin van Wulf | Taegen Willowrun | Mad Magnar
Check out my homebrew: Items | Monsters | Spells | Subclasses | Feats
That part isn't accurate. The only levels of exhaustion that will affect how quickly they succumb are 3 (Saving Throws at Disadvantage) and 6 (Death). The others don't really matter in this situation apart from maybe 4 (Max HP is halved), if their HP is low enough that the damage will kill them if their Max HP is halved (or will kill them).
Of course, the odds of succeeding 95 times out of 100 rolls is pretty low, to the point of effectively being guaranteed, even without Disadvantage, so it's nothing more than a quibble.
If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
Geas, because not only is it messing with someone's willpower to force them to do things, but they know that their new "friend" who's given them the charmed condition is forcing them to do those things and still have to keep doing them (so that they don't take a buncha damage)! 😭
BoringBard's long and tedious posts somehow manage to enrapture audiences. How? Because he used Charm Person, the #1 bard spell!
He/him pronouns. Call me Bard. PROUD NERD!
Ever wanted to talk about your parties' worst mistakes? Do so HERE. What's your favorite class, why? Share & explain
HERE.That's actually a really good point. "Evil spells" can be used for good, and "Good Spells" can be used for bad. That being said, there are some spells where just using them in the first place is kinda iffy, I mean, I guess you can justify mind control spells in a few situations, but that's a slippery slope and if you start justify mind control for a rare few situations, then when does the line between a justified and unjustified use of it start blurring (intentions are different than actions)?
BoringBard's long and tedious posts somehow manage to enrapture audiences. How? Because he used Charm Person, the #1 bard spell!
He/him pronouns. Call me Bard. PROUD NERD!
Ever wanted to talk about your parties' worst mistakes? Do so HERE. What's your favorite class, why? Share & explain
HERE.