Mordenkainen's Faithful Hound broken?

[Joe dirt]

Here is why i think so... it has no concentration components... meaning u can cat it many times over. It last 8 hours, it can see invisible... overall one of the most solid spells of the game

Imagine this u know ur going to face a titan giant so u cast 5 of these hounds.... meaning it could do 20d8

[Inevitability]

Note that the created hound is immobile. Unless the foes are coming towards your location and you have time to prepare, it's as useful as a refrigerator in a snowstorm. Even then, you might be better off using the spell slots on combat spells or pre-battle buffs.

[RickAllison]

Here is why i think so... it has no concentration components... meaning u can cat it many times over. It last 8 hours, it can see invisible... overall one of the most solid spells of the game

Imagine this u know ur going to face a titan giant so u cast 5 of these hounds.... meaning it could do 20d8

You know, so long as the Titan remains within 5 ft of them. If he moves a little bit forwards or backward, or has a ranged weapon, they don't do anything.

Great spell for when you need to block an area and can keep them there. Otherwise, it is defeated by movement.

[Daishain]

It works well as a defensive preparation cast as ritual. As an offensive tool however it is going to be close to useless.

The ideal combat casting situation is against an opponent that cannot or will not move at all from its present location for multiple rounds in spite of having clear reason to move(very very rare in my experience). In this case, you cast a 4th level spell slot to cause 4d8 ongoing damage. Not bad, but certainly not broken.

[Dalebert]

It is a nice spell. If you're smart you could exploit it by combining it with tactics to keep an enemy in place. Could be as simple as having a good grappler in the party. But since it's not concentration, you could use something like telekinesis in conjunction or use your imagination.

[Specter]

In a corridor if they're chasing you, yes, otherwise no.

[Joe dirt]

I was thinking u could cast banishment, then ur hound spells... sorry for not mentioning

[R.Shackleford]

Note that the created hound is immobile. Unless the foes are coming towards your location and you have time to prepare, it's as useful as a refrigerator in a snowstorm. Even then, you might be better off using the spell slots on combat spells or pre-battle buffs.

Hey now, if there is ever a nuclear explosion during that winter you can survive by getting all up inside the refrigerator!

[MrStabby]

Go through a door. Deploy hound. Close door. Apply arcane lock...

In the time it takes a mob to pick the lock or bash down the door the hound can do quite a bit. Even then you are relying on them not running in, hitting the door and backing off before the end of their turn.

[JellyPooga]

I was thinking u could cast banishment, then ur hound spells... sorry for not mentioning

So the earliest you could pull this off is level 8, with one Banishment and one Hound. 4d8 damage for two 4th level slots isn't great.

The very best this trick gets is at level 20, where you could Banish and then cast a further 10 Hounds (at a massive loss, given that Hound doesn't scale with higher slots); coincidentally just enough time before the Banished creature returns. This would deal 40d8 damage, assuming everything hits, that the creature is Large, so that all 10 Hounds can get to it and that it doesn't move from the spot it returned to.

Meteor Swarm deals 40d6 damage over a rather large area and only costs you 1 spell slot and one action. Compared to expending every single slot you have of 4th level and higher, the Banishment+Hound "trick" ain't exactly rocking the power-game.

edit: If you could get a Hold Person off on the target and got it to stick, then maybe that 80d8 damage per turn (auto-crit vs. Held target) could be worth it for the lulz, but that's a big set up for...well, something that can be done with a lot less resources.

[R.Shackleford]

Go through a door. Deploy hound. Close door. Apply arcane lock...

In the time it takes a mob to pick the lock or bash down the door the hound can do quite a bit. Even then you are relying on them not running in, hitting the door and backing off before the end of their turn.

I feel like having a few hundred flying snakes in the room + hound + arcane lock would be a fun combo.

[MrStabby]

Or forcecage at higher levels. Maybe wall of force to create an area in which they can be confined... or actually any wall.

If using tem mates than anything that pushed people about could work: grapple, thorn whip etc.. It has a role certainly and is worth a wizard having for some scenarios but might not be worth preparing every day.

[Professor Gnoll]

Wall of Force would work well with it, as the hound isn't Concentration. Lock away an annoying enemy for a minute while your dog chews them up.

[Pex]

Note that the created hound is immobile. Unless the foes are coming towards your location and you have time to prepare, it's as useful as a refrigerator in a snowstorm. Even then, you might be better off using the spell slots on combat spells or pre-battle buffs.

Well, if you can use one to survive a nuke . . .

[SharkForce]

also useful for pit traps.

basically, it's a spell that needs some planning and proper execution to use effectively, and at that point it's a fairly effective DoT spell... but the DoT component isn't very high, and it is entirely possible for an enemy to literally just walk away if you aren't effective enough at preventing them from doing so.

it could be fairly powerful on a caster with a 2 level fighter dip for action surge, or if you use it in combination with someone else. otherwise, it needs prep time (you need to set up a situation where an enemy will be stuck in melee range for the hound, can't escape, and even then you probably also need to set up a way to prevent the enemy from being able to damage you as well or else the DoT is pretty low and you probably just want to kill the enemy normally anyways, meaning it didn't even really deal with a single enemy). it's very situational.

[MrStabby]

On the other hand you could just use it as it seems to be intended. A fantastic guard dog with side benefits. A fourth level spell is not that expendable but it is a long duration way to detect invisibility and pretty much never be surprised at night. If the hound sits in front of the battle line so enemies in close combat with you are within its range you can get some solid enough bonus damage for a spell that is maybe not so much about damage.

[Sir cryosin]

A bard with expertise in Athletics and tavern brawler feat could make good use out of it. Pick up bigby's hand for good measure.

[Sir cryosin]

It could also be used for assassination to sneak in to the targets room arcane lock the door and set up hounds and Spirit Guardians and watch the blinder action. P.S your going to need to be a bard.

[Maxilian]

It works well as a defensive preparation cast as ritual. As an offensive tool however it is going to be close to useless.

The ideal combat casting situation is against an opponent that cannot or will not move at all from its present location for multiple rounds in spite of having clear reason to move(very very rare in my experience). In this case, you cast a 4th level spell slot to cause 4d8 ongoing damage. Not bad, but certainly not broken.

Or have someone in your party who can restrict its movement (If you have anyone goes with a Grapple build it could work)