Help, need Spells that Deal Damage every Turn

[Mochan]

Hey guys, I am working on a "Damage over Time" character concept where the character just drops an offensive effect at the start of the battle then runs away and hides or dodges for the rest of the battle while letting the initial cast do its work.

The problem is I can't find too many of these effects. The only ones I could think of were:

Witch Bolt (Sorc, War, Wiz)
Flaming Sphere (Druid, Wiz)
Moonbeam (Druid)
Spirit Weapon (Cleric)
Spirit Guardians (Cleric)
Call Lightning (Druid)
Conjure Animals (Druid, Range)
Conjure Minor Elementals (Druid, Wiz)
Conjure woodland Beings (Dru, Ran)
Conjure Elemental (Dr, Wiz)
Conjure Fey (Dr, War)
Conjure Celestial (Cleric)
Animate Dead (Cleric, Wiz)
Animate Objects (Bard, Sorc, Wiz)


Other spells like Wall of Fire or Spiky Growth should be okay too but those are set in place and can't chase your opponents, meaning I'd need a grappler on my team to abuse it.

I would prefer spells that don't need my main action to control (like Spirit Guardian) so that I can spend my turn doing something defensive (like Dodging, Hiding, or spamming Bladeward) or casting cantrips to deal damage as necessary.

Any other spells that I may have missed?



For the rest of the character the emphasis is getting good AC so that I don't get hit at all and lose my concentration. Hiding is also another idea. So I was thinking a Halfling would be the best choice as they can use Naturally Stealthy to Hide behind their friends or a mount or something, and avoid getting hit altogether.


The Summoning type spells I don't favor as they add more stuff to the battle that take a while to resolve, but if it's looking like the best way to do the build I'll do it.

[CursedRhubarb]

Favored Soul Sorcerer (Flavored Soul? Mmm...Lemon Sorcery) could be a good one. Get access to Sorcerer and Cleric spells and can do a Twinned Heat Metal for some beefy damage output on armored foes, have a 24hr duration on Spiritual Weapon (spiffy!), And more with Metamagic/cleric spell shenanigans.

[MaxWilson]

Any other spells that I may have missed?

Evard's Black Tentacles is excellent, although the AoE is rather small.

Don't forget about Planar Binding--most of the summoning spells you listed can't be effectively cast during combat because, except for Conjure Animals, they take longer than 1 action to cast. Thus, you need to pre-cast them; and Planar Binding helps you pre-cast them days or weeks in advance, which is nice, especially if you want to have multiple minions under your control.

Also, don't overlook the various uses of Mass Suggestion to persuade other people's henchmen to become your own henchmen. It even works on wights created via Create Undead. Talk to your DM about what kind of things he would consider "reasonable" enough for Mass Suggestion to work with.

[Mochan]

A Heat Metal! That sounds like a good alternative to Witch Bolt. I forgot about that.

Favored Soul does sound like it has promise. I would be able to keep the Cleric Spells and still have access to things like Witch Bolt.

Druid still seems to have the most spells for my purposes, though.

Mass Suggestion is great, but I don't think it fits into the concept, and you can't generally use Suggestion to order a creature to attack its allies en masse unless there's a clever way to do it in terms of the plot.

(like when we were doing SKT a few weeks back the Frost Giant Jarl was looking for the Ring of Winter from Arctus Simber (sp?) and we convinced her via suggestion that her henchmen giants were hiding the ring from her, so she started fighting them and demanding them to give her the ring.

[cZak]

Bigby's hand, once cast, is usable with a bonus action; shove, grapple, slap, etc...

Storm sphere(?) from Elemental evil. I think it's a 20' radius 2d6 bludgeoning damage & knock prone effect with no action required; Strength save for 1/2 damage & not prone. With an action, you can throw a bolt of thunder damage at a target in the effect, too I believe.
I used to great effect vs drow in OotA encounter

[Lord Il Palazzo]

You've technically forgotten Cloud of Daggers, but that's probably for the best. Even without any save, 4d4 slashing within a 5 ft. square you can't move isn't the best use of a level 2 slot.

[Zaydos]

Does Melf's Minute Meteors count? Cast as a standard, but then bonus action to launch the attacks each turn. Damage is only 2d6 though. (Elemental Evil).

[RSP]

Not sure it fits your criteria but Crusader's Mantle could work if have a good amount of weapon attackers in your group. Cast it then Dodge/Blade Ward/Sanctuary. Reap damage rewards in terms of however many hits your allies make.

Granted, Lore Bard is the only real way to do this. Or a Pally MC.

[JellyPooga]

For the martially inclined, there's Entangling Strike; a remarkably well scaling spell that deals damage for as long as the victim stays entangled by it (costing their or an alllies action to escape), up to 1 minute.

[Foff]

If you're using UA you could try the Mystic. Some Disciplines ( Mastery of Force, Psychic Phantoms and maybe others i've overlooked) have some abilities that are casted once and deal damage over time plus some nifty effects

[Findulidas]

You've technically forgotten Cloud of Daggers, but that's probably for the best. Even without any save, 4d4 slashing within a 5 ft. square you can't move isn't the best use of a level 2 slot.

Depends, dropping it in a doorway does either effectively stop all monsters from getting in or force damages them as the move through. No saves either.

There is also the fact that you can force monsters inside it either through grappling and pulling them inside (while still being outside) or just pushing them inside using spells. Or throw it on a creature thats stuck, like from things such as simple entangle spells or similar.

Its not the best use of concentration but its not the worst either.

[Mochan]

Thanks for the ideas!

What is Entangling Strike? I can't find it anywhere.

Cloud of daggers is awesome fun, I use it in a grappling build, but for this build I need something that can go around and damage enemies without me directly being there. Better if I only need a bonus action to hurt them, because I'll be running away and hiding.

I'll be using this in an AL character so I can't use UA, but I'll keep those in mind for Homebrew games.

Storm Sphere sound awesome. That's exactly the kind of spell I need. Too bad it's Sorc only, but I'll figure it out.

Melfs is okay but you have a limited number of meteors.

Bigby's hand is okay but too high a level. I feel this spell got nerfed from previous Editions (and got shoved all into one spell). But it's an option.

So far the best concept I've come up with is a Halfling Druid that casts something like Call Lightning or Flaming Sphere or summons some animals/fey, then uses Mold Earth to get some dirt into a small mound he can go behind for cover as an AC bonus, then use my action to dodge while hiding behind the mound, and letting my spell do all the dirty work.

[JellyPooga]

What is Entangling Strike? I can't find it anywhere.

Ranger spell. Bonus action to cast, your next hit entangles opponemt and deals 1d6 damage per round for as long as they're entangled. Str check to escape (as an Action). Scales with an additional 1d6 damage per spell level above 1st (which can really add up).

[Christian]

Cloudkill. (Drd [CoL Underdark]/Sor/Wiz) Pretty decent spell, too.

Edit: Of course, you can't easily chase people with it. But it's not static, it moves on its own, always away from you, which gives you some ability to direct it by changing your position.

[Vorok]

Ranger spell. Bonus action to cast, your next hit entangles opponemt and deals 1d6 damage per round for as long as they're entangled. Str check to escape (as an Action). Scales with an additional 1d6 damage per spell level above 1st (which can really add up).

That one's called Ensnaring strike, not Entangling strike.

[JellyPooga]

That one's called Ensnaring strike, not Entangling strike.

Entangling, ensnaring...potayto, potahto...whatever :smallwink:

[Finger6842]

You might consider battlefield control spells also, anything that blinds or silences or causes disadvantage. For example Warlock gets several effective spells like Arms of Hadar, Chill Touch, Blight, Gaseous Form, Vampiric Touch and Hex.

[Foxhound438]

the elemental evil player's companion has a few good effects that would do the trick: create bonfire is a cantrip (though it's small, so you would need the target to be grappled or gridlocked for it to work), maelstrom does a ton of damage and keeps things contained pretty well, storm sphere gets to scale 2d6 with every spell level and can hit out to 60' from the initial cast, and whirlwind (though it does take your action to move) can restrain some creatures and suspend them, making them easy pickings for your ranged allies.