Level 9 Moon Druid - Few questions about 5th level spells

[dejarnjc]

Hi all,

So I'm currently in 3 games, one of which I run, but in the game I currently play the most my wood-elf moon druid just hit level 9.

So I was looking at all the 5th level spells I now have available, albeit for one cast a day, and I had a few questions:

Antilife shell: This spell seems 95% useless unless you're just using it to keep mosquitos off you in a swamp. I'm trying to think of a reason my druid would ever waste time preparing this spell but I'm coming up short. Is the spell really this meh or am I missing something? Maybe if I want to keep a horde of stupid creatures with no range off me and my group?

Contagion: I've read the sage advice on this spell and I understand how as written the spell could have been too powerful as a boss killer. The sage advice, however, seems to make this spell almost useless in combat. Are there any home brewed, balanced options out there for this spell that I can run by my DM?
http://www.sageadvice.eu/2015/06/13/contagion-effects/

Planar Binding: If I summon an elemental through conjure elemental, can my cleric party member cast Planar Binding to take control of it for 24 hours? And if he does, does it keep on being a concentration spell for my character? If not, then does it become a concentration spell for him?

[SharkForce]

antilife shell: ranged weapons, reach weapons, and spells are relatively uncommon. there's a lot of enemies that you can keep from having any meaningful effect (or drastically reduced effect) with this spell. using it is fairly simple. you cast it when you're fighting a bunch of enemies that don't have any of the things that counter it, and then enemies can't get to you, giving you free reign to pick them off with your own ranged spells, ranged attacks, and reach attacks. bonus points if you can stand in a space to block enemies from reaching the rest of your party while doing so, if the rest of your party has ranged attacks as well.

contagion: sorry, i got nothing for you on this.

planar binding: ask your DM. it's going to take some house rules just to make this spell function remotely like it says it does, so really, this spell will pretty much work (or not work) based on how your DM thinks it is supposed to work (or not work). with that said, as written, planar binding (assuming it works) will make spells used to conjure stuff match its own duration... which has no concentration requirement. and yes, concentration is part of the duration of a spell, look it up. so, RAW, once it works (if it works at all), you wouldn't need to concentrate. but again, RAW is relatively unimportant, because you're going to need to figure out how your DM thinks it is supposed to work. WotC certainly hasn't given any clarifications on the matter. they're too busy giving sage advice answers for people who have no idea what the rules say but the rules are actually quite clear on the matter to give any advice covering something that is legitimately unclear.

[rudy]

planar binding: ask your DM

Yeah, I agree. As a DM I would totally let this work because

1. Rule of Cool
2. It costs 1,000 gp each time you do it, and I wouldn't be giving out so much gold to make 1,000 gold trivial. Make sure you account for that; it wouldn't be something you'd be doing every day.

[dejarnjc]

planar binding: ask your DM. it's going to take some house rules just to make this spell function remotely like it says it does, so really, this spell will pretty much work (or not work) based on how your DM thinks it is supposed to work (or not work). with that said, as written, planar binding (assuming it works) will make spells used to conjure stuff match its own duration... which has no concentration requirement. and yes, concentration is part of the duration of a spell, look it up. so, RAW, once it works (if it works at all), you wouldn't need to concentrate. but again, RAW is relatively unimportant, because you're going to need to figure out how your DM thinks it is supposed to work. WotC certainly hasn't given any clarifications on the matter. they're too busy giving sage advice answers for people who have no idea what the rules say but the rules are actually quite clear on the matter to give any advice covering something that is legitimately unclear.

Thanks, this was probably my most pertinent question as I'm pretty fond of summoning. That 1K cost will eat at me (especially since my character is somewhat obsessed w/ money) but it may be worth it when we can anticipate boss fights and plan ahead and whatnot.

[energyscholar]

Conjure Animals, a 3rd level spell, works well up-cast to 5th level.

Wall of Stone is often an 'I win' button when used underground: you split a group of foes in half and can defeat them in detail.

Mass Cure Wounds doesn't heal a lot of HP, but it's the Druid's first AOE healing option.

Conjure Elemental is powerful but dangerous.