Level
1st
Casting Time
1 Action
Range/Area
Touch
Components
V, S
Duration
Instantaneous
School
Necromancy
Attack/Save
CON Save
Damage/Effect
Necrotic
A creature you touch makes a Constitution saving throw, taking 2d10 Necrotic damage on a failed save or half as much damage on a successful one.
Using a Higher-Level Spell Slot. The damage increases by 1d10 for each spell slot level above 1.
they nerfed my baby ;-;
yea, but take half damage on a save. that is big buff
RIP Inflict Wounds 2014-2024
You will be dearly missed.
Hmmmm, I'm just gonna keep using the old one, 'kay thanks
Half damage on the save is a nice consolation, but it's a constitution save, which a lot of monsters are going to be good at. Also the base damage has dropped by 33%, and you can't crit with it. :(
sure, kind of, but the reason I liked og inflict wounds so much was because it occupied a really unique space that no other spells really do, being a melee attack-based source of huge damage. the risk/reward of the potential to fail the attack was a really cool factor to me.
con save? look how they massacred my boy
So, I need to do a melee attack then the target get a saving throw?
Nope! It’s no longer an “attack.” The spell automatically connects, and the target takes full damage if they fail the save, or half if they pass. As folks are saying in the comments, this means the damage is more reliable, but it also means you can’t crit, and they took away 1/3 of the damage dice to accommodate the “half on a save” change. I think this is reasonable but I’ll probably still roll with 2014 version for my players.
I could see nerfing this spell, nerfing any spell is okay in general because so many are extremely powerful. This is a massacred spell though.
For the math I did a 40% chance for enemy to fail save, then I took half the average damage on the die and then took that at a 60% chance (for when people save against the CON save).
The equation is : [(5.5*2).4]+{[(5.5*2).5].6}= 7.7 dpr on average
To save on time assuming a 65% chance to hit this spell dealt 11.55 before. The average damage of this spell is incredibly low comparative to Burning Hands (better save = 7.875) or Guiding Bolt (9.8+chance for advantage effect). It’s sad that apparently Wizards of the Coast doesn’t do their own math.
On a happier note, because this spell is guaranteed to deal damage, loading it with higher spell slots for more dice rolled does work as a way to get okay damage from this spell, because no matter what is rolled as a way to resist this spell (be it on your end to hit or their end to save), the damage will always come through.
I had a death domain cleric dedicated to upcasting inflict wounds and wizards took him out back behind the shed
That's the new job of clerics, automatically touching others without their consent.
But I've NO idea how this is meant to work in combat. None of this makes any sense.
How about... No
So Chromatic Orb was 3d8 at long range, while Inflict Wounds was 3d10 but melee, both being pure damage spells of the same level and it all seemed fair.
Now they buffed Chromatic Orb, stealing the functionality of Chaos Bolt, but since it's all the same die and not a mix of dice it's much stronger and reliable than either of the spells was.
Meanwhile they
nerfedmassacred this spell.Normally my cleric prays to the gods of death, but for this, it'll make an exception and pray to the gods of order because here there is none.
Going from melee spell attack (which are very likely to hit) to Constitution save (which are very likely to succeed) is a horrifying nerf. It has also lost its crit potential and does not benefit from advantage anymore.
This has gone from about (0.7 * 15.5) + (0.3 * 0) = 10.85 (+3.85 per spell slot level) damage to about (0.4 * 11) + (0.6 * 5.5) = 7.7 damage (+3.85 per spell slot level).
For a melee spell, it has lost absolutely all its appeal. It does 0.5 more damage than magic missile (ranged autohit) or burning hands (cone) on a failed save. Utter waste of a spell slot.
Making a touch spell a save instead of an attack roll is both confusing and silly.
But hey, congrats, nobody will ever cast this again due to the damage nerf so it hardly matters.
How do you determine if you touch the target? There is no Attack Roll. No more working with Hold Monster or Path to the Grave.
Or does it? Help.
No attack roll, just a save.
From a design point of view, touch spells should always be attack rolls, but here we are.
This version takes an iconic spell and makes it irrelevant. That's a bold strategy, Cotton. Let's see if it pays off for 'em.
The damage die is way too swingy. The damage should have been changed to 4d6 (save for half) to make it similar to Guiding Bolt.
2d10 is the recommended damage amount in the new DMG for a single target 1st level damage spell. But the problem is this spell is too similar to Toll the Dead and most people would rather take their chances with that spell then risk using a spell slot on this.