Am I really thinking entangle is best for a Magical Secrets choice?

[MarkVIIIMarc]

I can't believe it. Its time to level Lore Bard up to level 6 now and I'm thinking about taking Entangle as one of my Magical Secrets spells (Counterspell for the other).

What happened is I played two sessions with other players. First Entangle was instrumental capturing an enemy twice and the second session with the Druid not there it was sorely missed.

This got me thinking about how I beat Baldur's Gate with a combination of summoned skeleton meat shields and entangle.

In my Bard's party no one has Entangle or Web, or at least no one uses either. We have a Cleric, Rogje, Wizard, Ranger, Fighter a my Bard.

Revivify or a damaging Cantrip like Eldritch Blast or Poison Spray were possible choices. We have killed a few party members and the Priests in two towns and the DM seem to enjoy making money off Resurecting them. We even had a Druid NPC do some Resurrection like spell which changed the race of our Ranger so I don't think Revivify is THAT necessary.

Edit: My Bard also has a good Dex modifier, a magical quiver which can hold 60 arrows and a magical long bow so a D8 there or with a Cantrip seems to make little difference. I admit there are situations where the creature may be immune to either.

But Entangle? It just seems anticlimatic lol.

[DarkKnightJin]

I'd say it depends on how your character would feel about the spell.
Have they seen it in action? Do they like being a pain in the current foe's backside?

From what I've gathered, Bards tend to favor control or de/buff spells over straight blasting. And they're pretty good at that.

If you feel the party could use a way for the baddies to stop moving around so much.. pick up Entangle or Web.
I'm AFB right now, but Hold Person is always a good option to try and lock down a strong baddy.
You might also want to consider Aura of Vitality. That's a Paladin only spell, but it's just as useful on a Bard or Cleric.

[Dalebert]

It's not a bad spell but there are just so many better choices, and even then I'd take Web over Entangle.

[Foxhound438]

It's not a bad spell but there are just so many better choices, and even then I'd take Web over Entangle.

I would take entangle, myself. It's a spell level lower and Web provides only barely better effect for your action.

As for compared to -anything- else, I would probably take something like aura of vitality + maybe haste, or wall of sand, or some kind of damage cantrip since bard does have some decent CC options of its own, like hypnotic pattern. I wouldn't say entangle is a bad choice though, it's a great spell that slips under the radar for a lot of people.

[AttilatheYeon]

Armor of Agathis and Aura of Vitality

[MarkVIIIMarc]

So much to choose from and only have till Thursday to decide!

Thanks for the food for thought though.

[Dalebert]

I would take entangle, myself. It's a spell level lower and Web provides only barely better effect for your action.

I gave my reasoning in the other thread. I never prepare entangle on my druids right now. I might give it another shot soon based on the support I'm seeing here. I seem to recall it being hyped up before and feeling lackluster in actual use when I decided to try it for a bit.

[Foxhound438]

I gave my reasoning in the other thread. I never prepare entangle on my druids right now. I might give it another shot soon based on the support I'm seeing here. I seem to recall it being hyped up before and feeling lackluster in actual use when I decided to try it for a bit.

it's definitely really bad if nothing fails the save.