Quote from NSA_iswatchingus >>

This is a neat spell. 

 This is a neat spell.

I like to think and explain I'm kind of pushing their soul out of their body, they see small rot begin to take place (and if it doesn't kill them then they're sucked back in)

Am I the only one underwhelmed by this spell? I mean, firstly, it's a single target that doesn't do anything more than deal damage. Secondly, rolling a save rather than an attack roll favors the targeted creature. Thirdly, Constitution is one of the abilities that most monsters have pretty high. Fourthly, dndbeyond shows 19 pages of undead and constructs which the spell does nothing against, while there are 3 pages of plant enemies.

Like, if I'm playing a druid preparing my spell list (or even as a sorcerer or wizard), even if I know for a fact that I'm gonna be up against plant enemies, I think I'd rather take Wall of Fire than Blight. Unless like, the big bad is an evil Treant? Idk, I'm just not sold on it.

I mean at least you can target more people when you cast it at higher level, but i think your right.

Casting blight at a higher level just gives you 1 extra damage die per level, it doesn't let you hit additional target.

oh whoops no this spell is terrible

I like to think of finger of death as a simple a pointing of the finger with no visual que, just an affected party. They either slump over dead or spider veins travel up their body 

I think the most hilarious thing about this spell is that it is derived from the biggest, most notable threat of the first campaign in a series. It includes none of the context: the Blight as it appears in the campaign slowly decays your body starting from your left wrist, which is just the physical signifier of your soul slowly growing too weak to sustain your physical body. It is a directly result of pissing off the God of Entropy, who basically manages the end of the world's energy cycle. It also weakens the users magic, as it cuts them off from the ambient magic of the plane they inhabit.

This writer of this spell has it because their ****ed up little wizard thought "ah, yes, I need to weaponize literal magical cancer." So, here we are.

It seems like Finger of Death but 4th level.

How about a vascular web of necrotic energy surrounds the target. Black nodes pulse at Nexus points where many of the thirsty veins come together. The nodes swell and stretch as the grotesque bulbs fill with the life force it drains from the target. This effect creates temporary pustules and blisters that leak stringy tendrils drawn towards the dark web.

Quote from Athan_Untapped >>

This is an awesome spell, but one I struggle a little bit to describe visually while also distinguishing it from finger of death and even disintegrate, all three of which I usually describe as a sickly gray-green ray striking at a target and causing them to necrotize and shrivel up particularly fast.

Anyone have any suggestions on distinguishing descriptions between each? How do you describe Blight?

Here's how I would describe each of these spells:

For Finger of Death, you point at the target, causing a stream of misty, green energy to slam into them, shrivelling their flesh. Blight is where you hold your palm outstretched, and ghostly white life energy is sucked out of the target in a spiralling, quadruple-helix formation, quickly fading to black as it is pulled towards your palm and is absorbed. With Disintegrate, you fire a bright white beam of light at the target, which explodes into what amounts to a flashbang explosion, leaving only a cloud of quickly-settling ash in its wake.

Simple, distinctive, resonates with what each spell is capable of.

I'm using a modified version of this spell in a sort of "magic generator" in a town that long ago was overrun by bugs that carried a fatal disease. A tribe of warlocks installed a device that would continuously keep this spell active over the bugs' breeding grounds, killing/poisoning their food sources (grass, flowers, etc) in exchange for the town becoming a deserted wasteland.

One of my PCs is from this town and is going to have to make the choice to restore his homeland to its former glory by turning off the machine and trying to eradicate the threat some other way, or by leaving their home devoid of life and in shambles. 

Will be a great character moment no matter what they choose, I think!

Oh, and the side effect of this spell is a few corpse flowers who are immune (because ✨flavor✨) plodding around so they have a fun combat encounter too. 

Just excited to run this tonight and wanted to share :) Cool spell, and let me get creative

Quote from O_Malley101 >>

You're a necromancer, take a necromancy spell. Forget about nitpicking the numbers, its far more fun to just play your character without using a calculator.

 For most. Not me.

Might as well rename this spell herbicide. Meh damage, meh damage scaling (1d8 single target?) It's usable against things immune or resistant to fire, but it still competes with scorching ray, which scales a bit better, can gain advantage, and is also very effective against most plants, a lot of them are vulnerable to fire. 
So even against many plants this scale spells by 8 per level compared to 2d6x2.  

"As you plot your next action the wizard waves his hand in your direction, mumbling something under her breath that you can't make out. Your eyes struggle to ascertain the scene as a wave, like heat rising off the desert floor, makes the air in front of you wiggle and shimmy. You feel the hair on the back of your neck stand up, just as a tingle begins rising up your spine and into your scalp. Your elbows begin to buckle and turn in towards each other as the tingle morphs into a sort chill; the kind of chill that causes you to exhale rapidly...but just then you realize you can not inhale....! Your scalp pulls tight! and your ears are pinned back tightly against your head as your fingers begin to involuntarily curl up and your eyes...just now beginning to clear...see the skin on your hands shrink, as if all the moisture in your body has been sucked out.... (all this after the save attempt, of course. Happy gaming to all!

This feels like one of the best spells to use against a Shambling Mound.