So most people know about heat metal but it is often dismissed, pushed aside or misunderstood when in fact these level 2 spells is not only a extremely useful utility spell as well as a powerful damage dealer all the way though to level 20!
So first off yo use heat metal you have to right class and at least level 2 in that class and have access to level 2 spell slots to lean the spell, the classes that can lean the spell are Bards, Druids, clerics who picked the forge domain at level 1 as there subclass and the new artificer class, OR if your playing in the ravnica setting the background Izzet Engineer will give you the ability to lean the spell regardless of your class so long as you have access to level 2 spell slots! If you are a druid or Forge Domain cleric you will automatically have access to the spell when you gain your level 2 spell slots you just have to prepare it for the day.
You will find the spell itself in the players handbook on page 250 and here are its details "Heat Metal 2nd-level transmutation Casting Time: 1 action Range: 60 feet Components: V, S, M (a piece of iron and a flame) Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute Choose a manufactured metal object, such as a metal weapon or a suit of heavy or medium metal armor, that you can see within range. You cause the object to glow red-hot. Any creature in physical contact with the object takes 2d8 fire damage when you cast the spell. Until the spell ends, you can use a bonus action on each of your subsequent turns to cause this damage again.
If a creature is holding or wearing the object and takes the damage from it, the creature must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or drop the object if it can. If it doesn't drop the object, it has disadvantage on attack rolls and ability checks until the start of your next turn.
At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 3rd level or higher, the damage increases by 1d8 for each slot level above 2nd."
Now you know what classes can do the spell and what the spell does but its does not have all its details! First off right at level base level early on in the game (level 3) it is very VERY powerful on a creature you can effect it with, it lasts for a whole 1 minute (that is 10 rounds!) so that adds up for a grand total of 20d8 damage! 20d8 at level 3! (and it can up cast! a extra 1d8 per level witch will effectively add on a extra 10d8 damage per level if you can keep it for the full minute!) on top of that it has a nice range of 60 feet but more over after you cast it you don't have to stay within the 60 feet (or within vision of the target) to keep the spell going so by all means cast it on a dude and plate mail and pull a "cook and book" (thank you zea Bashew) just keep dashing and using your bonus action to reheat the metal! and there is no saving throw for the damage it just happens and a creature that says in contact with the heated metal gets disadvantage on attack rolls and ability checks, this is the base way to do it
Now next up the spell targets metal not creatures, this is important more so when it comes using it on creatures that do not have any metal on this, how can you use this on creatures with no metal in them? Simple with help from your allies! many things in this world are made of metal and many can be used on creatures: Arrows, Crossbow Bolts, Hand axes, daggers, darts, Javelins, spears, tridents and Yklwa (its a spear thing from chult so you will most likely only encounter this in ToA or make a character from chult lol) all of these items and simple weapons or can be fired from simple weapons and have metal and will as one would think stick into a creature when they hit, from there you can cast heat metal on the item in question in order to harm and debilitate them, and if you have a DM that gets real they know the worst thing you can do is remove a arrow or weapon stabbed into you as it will cause more bleeding and damage, so now you know how to use it on creatures not wearing metal.
Now many people must be thinking: "yeah but fire damage is the most common resistance and immunity in the game! this is not that great." And just the other day I was speaking to someone in one of my games during a brake and he said the same then and I managed to blow his mind and change his opinion by saying the following: "Yes alot of creatures resist or are immune to the fire damage, but they are not immune to the imposed disadvantage OR the constitution check to drop a held metal item!" alot of people forget that second part as it is extremely useful as utility in game, lets say your fighting a powerful fire giant and he is wielding that scary ass 28 (6d6+7) great sword, fear not! for you have HEAT METAL! the fire giant itself is immune to the fire damage and has a +10 to its con saves but if you cast it on his sword there is always the change to drop his sword reducing his damage from a scary 56 per round down to 16 per round (unless he chooses to throw a rock and it deals 29 (4d10+7) but that is only one attack vs two) with its punches (8 damage per punch) and EVEN if it doesn't drop the great sword it gets to enjoy disadvantage on attacks and ability checks making it more likely to miss or fail athletic contests for a full minute, on top of that reheating the weapon (or plate they tend to wear) is only a bonus action so you can do it again on your turn, make it do the saving throw AGAIN, then because your not casting a spell you can use your action to use another spell to deal more damage or heal allies, if your a druid you can wild shape and keep concentrating on the spell while being a bear or something OR changing into something with a high movement speed and booking it because as stated before to reheat the metal you don't have to be within 60 feet or have line of sight.
So all in all heat metal is extremely useful in almost any combat with the help of your allies OR even in social situations to avoid combat by threatening a NPC with heating up there metal armor and then running away leaving them to die unless they give into your demands, that out to put the fear of Moradin in your enemies (Dwarven god, well there big god, he made the first dwarves and was like "GET GUD AT FORGING" and they did lol)
It really is an awesome spell, especially against metal armored enemies, since hey will get all the damage and the disadvantage for 10 rounds. Also the spell doesn't escalate really good if u cast it on a weapon, but if u heat a metal armor....damn 10d8 extra damage each extra lvl above 2
Now you know what classes can do the spell and what the spell does but its does not have all its details! First off right at level base level early on in the game (level 3) it is very VERY powerful on a creature you can effect it with, it lasts for a whole 1 minute (that is 10 rounds!) so that adds up for a grand total of 20d8 damage! 20d8 at level 3!
Also, u made a mistake, it's 20d8 damamge at lvl2, and +10d8 for each lvl above that (if u manage to keep the enemy in touch with the obejct)
Yeah, all concentration spells are broken, that's why they're concentration. You bet that fire giant's gonna take that greatsword and attack you with it, and you better hope your DM doesn't rule that the heat metal works against you, you need to concentrate on it, which in my experience means that you'll only be using it for about 3-5 rounds, you almost never concentrate the full minute, because they're either dead by then, or you've gotten to hurt and it broke your concentration.
Another concentration spell that can do a bunch of damage at lower levels is the second level spell Moonbeam, a 5 ft. radius can fit 4 creatures in at once, and they must make a Con save each turn while in the radius or take 2d10 radiant damage every round for one minute, which if you have 4 creatures in every round, and they all fail their saving throws for the whole minute, you will deal 20d10 radiant damage to each target, which is an average of 110 damage to each creature, and in total 440 radiant damage, and radiant damage is less commonly resisted than fire, and if you have 4 creatures in the whole time, and roll as much as possible every round, and they never succeed on their Con saves, they each will take 200 damage, so total would be 800 damage. And you can cast Moonbeam at higher levels, doing 1d10 more damage each round, which is an average of 220 more damage each level above 2nd you cast it at. If you cast it at 9th level, and have 4 creatures in it each round, they all fail con saves each round, and you roll maximum damage, the combined damage for the whole minute would be 3,600 radiant damage. Now tell me that's not over powered. It is, and the reason it is allowed to be overpowered is because it is concentration, you almost definitely will not be concentrating on it the whole time, and you won't always have the ideal conditions, and you won't always do as much damage as you want.
Now you could argue that Heat Metal is better, the enemies won't stay inside the same area the whole time, it always stays on them, and continues doing the damage if you use your bonus action, but my response to that, dig a 20 ft. deep, 10 ft. diameter pit in the ground, push them in with Thunderwave, or shoving, or some other method, then roast them to death with Moonbeam, keep melee fighters on the outside readying their actions each round to shove in anyone that climbs out, or you could even cast this spell and put a giant rock on top of them with telekinesis or a goliath barbarian. A second level spell can do 110 damage to 4 people at once if you plan it right, and it works on fire based creatures.
But again, these spells are concentration, you aren't going to roll the highest damage possible every time unless you have weighted dice or are God, and you most likely won't concentrate the whole time, and they also won't survive the whole time to take this damage if you are 3rd level.
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It really is an awesome spell, especially against metal armored enemies, since hey will get all the damage and the disadvantage for 10 rounds. Also the spell doesn't escalate really good if u cast it on a weapon, but if u heat a metal armor....damn 10d8 extra damage each extra lvl above 2
Now you know what classes can do the spell and what the spell does but its does not have all its details! First off right at level base level early on in the game (level 3) it is very VERY powerful on a creature you can effect it with, it lasts for a whole 1 minute (that is 10 rounds!) so that adds up for a grand total of 20d8 damage! 20d8 at level 3!
Also, u made a mistake, it's 20d8 damamge at lvl2, and +10d8 for each lvl above that (if u manage to keep the enemy in touch with the obejct)
No, he didn't make a mistake. He meant as a 3rd level character, which is when you can cast 2nd level spells. It's confusing sometimes. I understand.
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I once had an encounter where a clever hobgoblin in heated chain mail jumped into a nearby lake to give himself fire resistance. It wasn't enough, but it let him last a couple more rounds to get a few arrow shots off at the caster before he perished.
Do you take the line in the spell's description "such as a metal weapon or a suit of heavy or medium metal armor" to imply you cannot cast this spell on light armor--for instance studded leather? I had never thought about it that way because it looks like the spell was just giving a partial list of examples, but over on reddit I was reading a thread about heat metal and several people referred to that line as RAW.
Also, how would you play casting heat metal on an axe with a wooden handle? Would it burn the wielder?
...lets say your fighting a powerful fire giant and he is wielding that scary ass 28 (6d6+7) great sword, fear not! for you have HEAT METAL! the fire giant itself is immune to the fire damage and has a +10 to its con saves but if you cast it on his sword there is always the change to drop his sword reducing his damage from a scary 56 per round down to 16 per round (unless he chooses to throw a rock and it deals 29 (4d10+7) but that is only one attack vs two) with its punches (8 damage per punch) and EVEN if it doesn't drop the great sword it gets to enjoy disadvantage on attacks and ability checks
I don't believe that is an accurate statement since a fire giant, being immune to fire, would take no fire damage.
If a creature is holding or wearing the object and takes the damage from it, the creature must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or drop the object if it can. If it doesn't drop the object, it has disadvantage on attack rolls and ability checks until the start of your next turn.
Furthermore, I believe the second sentence is entirely dependent on the first sentence and that would mean that the fire giant would be completely unaffected by the spell.
Agreed. If a creature is immune to fire then I would rule it as well that the second part would have no impact either. Meaning that creature can hold and swing his weapon without problem.
Also counting a full minute as damage is pointless. No combat lasts the full 10 rounds. It is unrealistic to calculate damage that way.
It is a nice low level spell when enemies don't have a lot of ways to deal with it. However in many cases the BBEG will have scouts and informants. Knowing that the PC's love to use Heat Metal. And thus either provide key creatures with magical armor to drop off their metal armor instantly. Or use Anti-Magic so that the spell can't even be cast. Or the enemies target the ones using this spell. Or any other counter measure. It's also fun if you use it against the players after they've been relying on it for a while.
I once had an encounter where a clever hobgoblin in heated chain mail jumped into a nearby lake to give himself fire resistance. It wasn't enough, but it let him last a couple more rounds to get a few arrow shots off at the caster before he perished.
Do you take the line in the spell's description "such as a metal weapon or a suit of heavy or medium metal armor" to imply you cannot cast this spell on light armor--for instance studded leather? I had never thought about it that way because it looks like the spell was just giving a partial list of examples, but over on reddit I was reading a thread about heat metal and several people referred to that line as RAW.
Also, how would you play casting heat metal on an axe with a wooden handle? Would it burn the wielder?
I would rule that the axe head wouldn't get hot enough to cause the weilder to take damage, but possibly create to much discomfort to hold it without making the saving throws. I know this goes against the text of the spell, but I feel like that would make sense for the spell, and also, I might rule it to burn the axe head, I'm not really sure.
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and don't forget that the heated axe head will do increased damage to the ones that get attached and hit by it as well ;)
I think you mean attacked, but yes, I would do this to. Do Heat Metal on a weapon of an enemy that it is fine with taking fire damage, or immune, I think that it is completely reasonable to do extra fire damage on those attacks.
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So all in all heat metal is extremely useful in almost any combat with the help of your allies OR even in social situations to avoid combat by threatening a NPC with heating up there metal armor and then running away leaving them to die unless they give into your demands, that out to put the fear of Moradin in your enemies (Dwarven god, well there big god, he made the first dwarves and was like "GET GUD AT FORGING" and they did lol)
By the same reasoning, it is devastating when cast on a party member.
If the goblin shaman casts this and runs away, then for the love of all that is holy CHASE THE BEGGAR DOWN! NOW! NOT LATER!
Why isn't it a metal? This chardalyn in very different from versions in the past which are found only as stones, and do spell storing. In this version they treat it like aluminum, softer, lighter, able to be worked LIKE METAL into weapons and armor. Metal, if you recall, is a crystal also...
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So most people know about heat metal but it is often dismissed, pushed aside or misunderstood when in fact these level 2 spells is not only a extremely useful utility spell as well as a powerful damage dealer all the way though to level 20!
So first off yo use heat metal you have to right class and at least level 2 in that class and have access to level 2 spell slots to lean the spell, the classes that can lean the spell are Bards, Druids, clerics who picked the forge domain at level 1 as there subclass and the new artificer class, OR if your playing in the ravnica setting the background Izzet Engineer will give you the ability to lean the spell regardless of your class so long as you have access to level 2 spell slots! If you are a druid or Forge Domain cleric you will automatically have access to the spell when you gain your level 2 spell slots you just have to prepare it for the day.
You will find the spell itself in the players handbook on page 250 and here are its details
"Heat Metal
2nd-level transmutation
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 60 feet
Components: V, S, M (a piece of iron and a flame)
Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute
Choose a manufactured metal object, such as a metal weapon or a suit of heavy or medium metal armor, that you can see within range. You cause the object to glow red-hot. Any creature in physical contact with the object takes 2d8 fire damage when you cast the spell. Until the spell ends, you can use a bonus action on each of your subsequent turns to cause this damage again.
If a creature is holding or wearing the object and takes the damage from it, the creature must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or drop the object if it can. If it doesn't drop the object, it has disadvantage on attack rolls and ability checks until the start of your next turn.
At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 3rd level or higher, the damage increases by 1d8 for each slot level above 2nd."
Now you know what classes can do the spell and what the spell does but its does not have all its details! First off right at level base level early on in the game (level 3) it is very VERY powerful on a creature you can effect it with, it lasts for a whole 1 minute (that is 10 rounds!) so that adds up for a grand total of 20d8 damage! 20d8 at level 3! (and it can up cast! a extra 1d8 per level witch will effectively add on a extra 10d8 damage per level if you can keep it for the full minute!) on top of that it has a nice range of 60 feet but more over after you cast it you don't have to stay within the 60 feet (or within vision of the target) to keep the spell going so by all means cast it on a dude and plate mail and pull a "cook and book" (thank you zea Bashew) just keep dashing and using your bonus action to reheat the metal! and there is no saving throw for the damage it just happens and a creature that says in contact with the heated metal gets disadvantage on attack rolls and ability checks, this is the base way to do it
Now next up the spell targets metal not creatures, this is important more so when it comes using it on creatures that do not have any metal on this, how can you use this on creatures with no metal in them? Simple with help from your allies! many things in this world are made of metal and many can be used on creatures: Arrows, Crossbow Bolts, Hand axes, daggers, darts, Javelins, spears, tridents and Yklwa (its a spear thing from chult so you will most likely only encounter this in ToA or make a character from chult lol) all of these items and simple weapons or can be fired from simple weapons and have metal and will as one would think stick into a creature when they hit, from there you can cast heat metal on the item in question in order to harm and debilitate them, and if you have a DM that gets real they know the worst thing you can do is remove a arrow or weapon stabbed into you as it will cause more bleeding and damage, so now you know how to use it on creatures not wearing metal.
Now many people must be thinking: "yeah but fire damage is the most common resistance and immunity in the game! this is not that great." And just the other day I was speaking to someone in one of my games during a brake and he said the same then and I managed to blow his mind and change his opinion by saying the following: "Yes alot of creatures resist or are immune to the fire damage, but they are not immune to the imposed disadvantage OR the constitution check to drop a held metal item!" alot of people forget that second part as it is extremely useful as utility in game, lets say your fighting a powerful fire giant and he is wielding that scary ass 28 (6d6+7) great sword, fear not! for you have HEAT METAL! the fire giant itself is immune to the fire damage and has a +10 to its con saves but if you cast it on his sword there is always the change to drop his sword reducing his damage from a scary 56 per round down to 16 per round (unless he chooses to throw a rock and it deals 29 (4d10+7) but that is only one attack vs two) with its punches (8 damage per punch) and EVEN if it doesn't drop the great sword it gets to enjoy disadvantage on attacks and ability checks making it more likely to miss or fail athletic contests for a full minute, on top of that reheating the weapon (or plate they tend to wear) is only a bonus action so you can do it again on your turn, make it do the saving throw AGAIN, then because your not casting a spell you can use your action to use another spell to deal more damage or heal allies, if your a druid you can wild shape and keep concentrating on the spell while being a bear or something OR changing into something with a high movement speed and booking it because as stated before to reheat the metal you don't have to be within 60 feet or have line of sight.
So all in all heat metal is extremely useful in almost any combat with the help of your allies OR even in social situations to avoid combat by threatening a NPC with heating up there metal armor and then running away leaving them to die unless they give into your demands, that out to put the fear of Moradin in your enemies (Dwarven god, well there big god, he made the first dwarves and was like "GET GUD AT FORGING" and they did lol)
It really is an awesome spell, especially against metal armored enemies, since hey will get all the damage and the disadvantage for 10 rounds. Also the spell doesn't escalate really good if u cast it on a weapon, but if u heat a metal armor....damn 10d8 extra damage each extra lvl above 2
Also, u made a mistake, it's 20d8 damamge at lvl2, and +10d8 for each lvl above that (if u manage to keep the enemy in touch with the obejct)
:)
Yeah, all concentration spells are broken, that's why they're concentration. You bet that fire giant's gonna take that greatsword and attack you with it, and you better hope your DM doesn't rule that the heat metal works against you, you need to concentrate on it, which in my experience means that you'll only be using it for about 3-5 rounds, you almost never concentrate the full minute, because they're either dead by then, or you've gotten to hurt and it broke your concentration.
Another concentration spell that can do a bunch of damage at lower levels is the second level spell Moonbeam, a 5 ft. radius can fit 4 creatures in at once, and they must make a Con save each turn while in the radius or take 2d10 radiant damage every round for one minute, which if you have 4 creatures in every round, and they all fail their saving throws for the whole minute, you will deal 20d10 radiant damage to each target, which is an average of 110 damage to each creature, and in total 440 radiant damage, and radiant damage is less commonly resisted than fire, and if you have 4 creatures in the whole time, and roll as much as possible every round, and they never succeed on their Con saves, they each will take 200 damage, so total would be 800 damage. And you can cast Moonbeam at higher levels, doing 1d10 more damage each round, which is an average of 220 more damage each level above 2nd you cast it at. If you cast it at 9th level, and have 4 creatures in it each round, they all fail con saves each round, and you roll maximum damage, the combined damage for the whole minute would be 3,600 radiant damage. Now tell me that's not over powered. It is, and the reason it is allowed to be overpowered is because it is concentration, you almost definitely will not be concentrating on it the whole time, and you won't always have the ideal conditions, and you won't always do as much damage as you want.
Now you could argue that Heat Metal is better, the enemies won't stay inside the same area the whole time, it always stays on them, and continues doing the damage if you use your bonus action, but my response to that, dig a 20 ft. deep, 10 ft. diameter pit in the ground, push them in with Thunderwave, or shoving, or some other method, then roast them to death with Moonbeam, keep melee fighters on the outside readying their actions each round to shove in anyone that climbs out, or you could even cast this spell and put a giant rock on top of them with telekinesis or a goliath barbarian. A second level spell can do 110 damage to 4 people at once if you plan it right, and it works on fire based creatures.
But again, these spells are concentration, you aren't going to roll the highest damage possible every time unless you have weighted dice or are God, and you most likely won't concentrate the whole time, and they also won't survive the whole time to take this damage if you are 3rd level.
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No, he didn't make a mistake. He meant as a 3rd level character, which is when you can cast 2nd level spells. It's confusing sometimes. I understand.
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I once had an encounter where a clever hobgoblin in heated chain mail jumped into a nearby lake to give himself fire resistance. It wasn't enough, but it let him last a couple more rounds to get a few arrow shots off at the caster before he perished.
Do you take the line in the spell's description "such as a metal weapon or a suit of heavy or medium metal armor" to imply you cannot cast this spell on light armor--for instance studded leather? I had never thought about it that way because it looks like the spell was just giving a partial list of examples, but over on reddit I was reading a thread about heat metal and several people referred to that line as RAW.
Also, how would you play casting heat metal on an axe with a wooden handle? Would it burn the wielder?
"Not all those who wander are lost"
I don't believe that is an accurate statement since a fire giant, being immune to fire, would take no fire damage.
Furthermore, I believe the second sentence is entirely dependent on the first sentence and that would mean that the fire giant would be completely unaffected by the spell.
"Not all those who wander are lost"
I'm pretty sure no dm in is right mind is going to make the fire giant drop his sword or attack at disadvantage....
Agreed. If a creature is immune to fire then I would rule it as well that the second part would have no impact either. Meaning that creature can hold and swing his weapon without problem.
Also counting a full minute as damage is pointless. No combat lasts the full 10 rounds. It is unrealistic to calculate damage that way.
It is a nice low level spell when enemies don't have a lot of ways to deal with it. However in many cases the BBEG will have scouts and informants. Knowing that the PC's love to use Heat Metal. And thus either provide key creatures with magical armor to drop off their metal armor instantly. Or use Anti-Magic so that the spell can't even be cast. Or the enemies target the ones using this spell. Or any other counter measure. It's also fun if you use it against the players after they've been relying on it for a while.
I would rule that the axe head wouldn't get hot enough to cause the weilder to take damage, but possibly create to much discomfort to hold it without making the saving throws. I know this goes against the text of the spell, but I feel like that would make sense for the spell, and also, I might rule it to burn the axe head, I'm not really sure.
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and don't forget that the heated axe head will do increased damage to the ones that get attached and hit by it as well ;)
Not only that, but if I was a DM, I would rule that the Great Sword now does fire damage on top of the damage it already does.
Same here.
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I think you mean attacked, but yes, I would do this to. Do Heat Metal on a weapon of an enemy that it is fine with taking fire damage, or immune, I think that it is completely reasonable to do extra fire damage on those attacks.
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By the same reasoning, it is devastating when cast on a party member.
If the goblin shaman casts this and runs away, then for the love of all that is holy CHASE THE BEGGAR DOWN! NOW! NOT LATER!
:-)
Does it work on Chardalyn armor in the Rime of the Frost Maiden campaign?
No, chardalyn isn't metal. Druids can wear chardalyn armor, in fact, if they don't mind contracting chardalyn madness.
Why isn't it a metal? This chardalyn in very different from versions in the past which are found only as stones, and do spell storing. In this version they treat it like aluminum, softer, lighter, able to be worked LIKE METAL into weapons and armor. Metal, if you recall, is a crystal also...