Need help compiling some spells

[Spectre9000]

Hey,

I haven't been able to peruse the entirety of the spell list yet to get a good feel for each of them and see exactly what they all do, so I was hoping you could help me compile two lists of spells; one that provides a constant damage boost to your weapons, such as Magic Weapon or Elemental Weapon, and another list comprised of spells that provide a melee oriented boost without needing concentration with a duration greater than 1 round, such as Armor of Agathys.

Thanks for the help, and I'll edit and update this as spells are suggested.


Elemental Weapon
Magic Weapon



Aid
Armor of Agathys
Bestow Curse (level 5+)
Blindness/Deafness
Creation (potentially create armor, shield, or weapon for 1 hour/minute)
Contingency
Death Ward
Freedom of Movement (break free from Grapple)
Fire Shield
Heroes' Feast
Protection from Poison
Regenerate

[MaxWilson]

Hey,

I haven't been able to peruse the entirety of the spell list yet to get a good feel for each of them and see exactly what they all do, so I was hoping you could help me compile two lists of spells; one that provides a constant damage boost to your weapons, such as Magic Weapon or Elemental Weapon, and another list comprised of spells that provide a melee oriented boost without needing concentration with a duration greater than 1 round, such as Armor of Agathys.

Thanks for the help, and I'll edit and update this as spells are suggested.


Elemental Weapon
Enlarge/Reduce
Magic Weapon



Armor of Agathys
Creation (potentially create armor, shield, or weapon for 1 hour/minute)
Death Ward
Freedom of Movement (break free from Grapple)
Heroes' Feast
Magic Circle
Protection from Poison
Regenerate


Enlarge/Reduce doesn't meet your "one hour min" criterion (it's one minute) and should be removed from the list. For hour-long damage buffs, Magic Weapon and Elemental Weapon are pretty much it unless you want to dig into the Book of Lost Spells. Unless you count Polymorph (T-Rex/Giant Ape).

Magic Circle isn't really melee oriented, unless you're planning on standing in one spot for the whole melee. It isn't mobile.

Crusader's Mantle adds +1d4 radiant damage to everyone near you, but that also doesn't meet your 1 hour minimum duration. It's only one minute (Concentration).

You have most of them already, but additional non-concentration buffs usable in melee: Fire Shield, Aid, Darkvision (useful in some circumstances), Magic Jar + Weretiger (not exactly a buff but still awesome), Contingency (when incapacitated or reduced to 20 HP: +Otiluke's Resilient Sphere), and Foresight (advantage on everything for 8 hours).

BTW Regenerate + Weretiger body = extremely resilient NPC. Even if you knock him down to 0 HP, he's back up again six seconds later and still attacking you.

[Spectre9000]

Thanks MaxWilson, I've updated the list.

[Ninja_Prawn]

Blindness/Deafness? Possibly the best concentration-free debuff in the game, considering it's only level 2 and blindness is incredibly nasty.

[Spectre9000]

Blindness/Deafness? Possibly the best concentration-free debuff in the game, considering it's only level 2 and blindness is incredibly nasty.

Added, thanks.

[MaxWilson]

Blindness/Deafness? Possibly the best concentration-free debuff in the game, considering it's only level 2 and blindness is incredibly nasty.

Oh, if you're looking at concentration-free debuffs as well as buffs, don't forget about Symbol, Contagion and Bestow Curse V.

Best things about Blindness/deafness: it scales with level, doesn't take concentration, and inflicts a moderately severe penalty which doesn't go away on damage.

Worst things about Blindness/deafness: short range, allows repeated saves, and most of the things you'd most like to blind have good Con saves and/or have blindsight anyway. And the fact that advantage doesn't stack, so it's more useful tilting an even fight in your favor than it is when you're trying to truly stack the deck in your favor.

It's a good spell to have memorized but not a no-brainer to actually cast in a given situation. Usually more of a second-round spell than a first-round spell unless your concentration is occupied w/ e.g. Conjure Animals.

[Spectre9000]

Thanks again MaxWilson. I removed Magic Circle and didn't add Symbol or Contagion, due to them not really being melee centric enough (imo), but more general purpose spells to create other opportunities; they also have long cast times, which aren't conducive to melee. Added Bestow Curse though.

[MaxWilson]

Thanks again MaxWilson. I removed Magic Circle and didn't add Symbol or Contagion, due to them not really being melee centric enough (imo), but more general purpose spells to create other opportunities; they also have long cast times, which aren't conducive to melee. Added Bestow Curse though.

I still don't see Foresight in the list.

[EvilAnagram]

Hunter's Mark lasts an hour and adds 1d6 per hit against a target.

[SharkForce]

Hunter's Mark lasts an hour and adds 1d6 per hit against a target.

hex does the same plus can give them disadvantage on an ability check type of your choice (strength to prevent them from grappling you, strength or dex depending on target to make it harder to resist your grapples).

[MaxWilson]

hex does the same plus can give them disadvantage on an ability check type of your choice (strength to prevent them from grappling you, strength or dex depending on target to make it harder to resist your grapples).

Dex also affects initiative.

The target does always have the option of switching from resisting with Dex (Acrobatics) to Strength (Athletics), so it's not quite pure disadvantage to resist. It's still a pretty decent little no-save debuff though.

You can also combine Hex (Intelligence) from one guy with Maze from another. Same goes for Hexing strength before casting Web.

Edit: oh, yeah. Longstrider works well for melee guys if you don't have to tank for someone else. It can convert a full round of attacks from an enemy into a single opportunity attack. I'm fighting an Iron Golem 5' away from me? I attack it (2 or 3 attacks most likely) and then I retreat 40' and wind up 45' from the golem. It opportunity attacks me once as I'm retreating, but it can only close to 15' without Dashing. Instead of hitting me twice with its sword, it effectively only gets to hit me once, possibly at disadvantage if I'm a ranger with Escape the Horde. Or it can breath poison on me (15' cone), but that has a recharge of 6 so it's rare. Anyway, Longstrider is a good option for melee guys to have.

[SharkForce]

Dex also affects initiative.

The target does always have the option of switching from resisting with Dex (Acrobatics) to Strength (Athletics), so it's not quite pure disadvantage to resist. It's still a pretty decent little no-save debuff though.

it isn't guaranteed disadvantage, but not a lot of enemies have high strength and dex, so you base it on your target. trying to grapple an ogre? give disadvantage to strength. sure, he can use dex instead, but that's still a penalty. trying to grapple a giant snake? give disadvantage to dex. again, it can switch to strength, but it's still taking a penalty.

the only problem is that you choose when you cast but don't re-choose when you move the spell. still, it's an all-around very good spell regardless.