Best spells for Ring of Spell Storing

[Quoz]

Playing through Tomb of Annihilation (no spoilers please) and I just got hold of a ring of spell storing. Four of our five members can cast spells. I'm Sorcerer 5/hexblade 1 Gish. We also have a valor bard 6, druid 2/bard 4, and ranger 6. 5th player is a swashbuckler.

With that spread we can have a lot of good spells to be available. My current standard load out is haste and mirror image, then If those are used fill with shield at a short rest if I have any warlock slots left. Are there any other good spells to keep ready that I might be missing? If I give this to our rogue instead what should we cast in it?

[Iados]

Playing through Tomb of Annihilation (no spoilers please) and I just got hold of a ring of spell storing. Four of our five members can cast spells. I'm Sorcerer 5/hexblade 1 Gish. We also have a valor bard 6, druid 2/bard 4, and ranger 6. 5th player is a swashbuckler.

With that spread we can have a lot of good spells to be available. My current standard load out is haste and mirror image, then If those are used fill with shield at a short rest if I have any warlock slots left. Are there any other good spells to keep ready that I might be missing? If I give this to our rogue instead what should we cast in it?

Haste and Mirror Image may be some of your best standard uses of the ring for now. Some other spells may have situational value as well. Once you hit Level 7, giving the ring to the rogue and casting either Greater Invisibility or Dimension Door into the ring can be extremely valuable.

[Matrix_Walker]

Find familiar and Find steed are spells that give you class features in spell form, they are awesome in a ring of spell storing.

Then you can have your familiar attune to the ring, and wreck the action economy with them casting spells from the ring and maintaining a concentration spell for you. extra points, you can send your familiar back to his pocket dimension to keep his concentration frome being broken.

[Afrodactyl]

My fiend warlock in a recent homebrew campaign kept a fireball kept in his ring of spell storing, for emergency blasting. It probably wasn't the best use of it, but we were rather lacking in terms of magical blasters, so the backup was quite handy.

In hindsight, I'd suggest either a powerful support/emergency exit spell like dimension door, fly, haste, counterspell, etc, or one of those spells that you have that's really useful but never used due to lack of spell slots.

[hymer]

If I give this to our rogue instead what should we cast in it?
How about something requiring concentration, when all the casters are already concentrating. Can anyone cast Pass Without Trace?

[Joe dirt]

Counterspell

[strangebloke]

Find familiar...
Find steed...
Find greater steed...

Suddenly the whole party is riding Pegasus work a flanking continent of owls.

[Contrast]

Having an extra healing word for emergencies at a different initiative order can be literally life saving.

[ChainsawFlwrcld]

With that party makeup, my ring would have
1) Counterspell
2) Faerie Fire
3) Feather Fall or Shield

[RSP]

If you give it to the rogue, a lvl 2 and a lvl 3 Shadow Blade would be pretty sweet for them (or 2 2nd lvl Shadow Blades and a Shield). Between the added d8 and advantage in anything but bright light, they should be optimizing their SAs and putting out good damage. Haste wouldn't be a bad spell for the rogue either.

Could also give a 5th level AoA to whomever tanks the most. Or Hex if anyone has Extra Attack and Dual Wields.

[Yagyujubei]

as a melee/caster type when I had the ring I just put in haste and two castings of shield...basically trivialized any one encounter I wanted.

[Nifft]

Find familiar and Find steed are spells that give you class features in spell form, they are awesome in a ring of spell storing. That's brilliant.


Suddenly the whole party is riding Pegasus work a flanking continent of owls. No man is an island; no owl is a continent.

[sir_argo]

My strategy on a Ring of Spell Storing is to store low level spells that are very useful, but situational. Spells that I will likely only cast once in a great while, so I don't want to waste a memorization slot, but are really useful on that rare occasion. Spells like Feather Fall, Expeditious Retreat, and See Invisible.

[Kenny Snoggins]

Find familiar and Find steed are spells that give you class features in spell form, they are awesome in a ring of spell storing.

Then you can have your familiar attune to the ring, and wreck the action economy with them casting spells from the ring and maintaining a concentration spell for you. extra points, you can send your familiar back to his pocket dimension to keep his concentration frome being broken.

I had no idea this was a 'legal move' for AL. Pretty incredible. Gaining an extra 'concentration slot' is an enormous boost to my PC since he's normally torn between using Hex or Darkness. Now i see that my bat familiar (from tome of secrets) can carry the ring and cast darkness and hold the concentration all by himself. Could he also cast and control a 'spiritual weapon' from the ring? Or would the subsequent bonus actions of that spell be considered an attack? Now I want to see what a bat's spiritual weapon would be. I'm guessing a fat guano bomb.

Is a Find Greater Steed's spell sharing 2 way? Can a griffon with a ring of spell storing caste Haste on itself with the ring and the rider also benefits? That would be nuts.

[strangebloke]

Is a Find Greater Steed's spell sharing 2 way? Can a griffon with a ring of spell storing caste Haste on itself with the ring and the rider also benefits? That would be nuts.

Eyup. It's a great item.

[Citan]

Hi!
Honestly there are many different ways to use the Ring, and as such many different spells that would qualify as "best" for a given situation.

In a party with fullcasters, it can be a way to "trade" spells to make your party more adaptable to a situation.
It could be just a way to enhance your own awesomeness by giving you another slot for the day.

What I like the most though (or would like to, because several of the suggestions I'll put below are mere theorycraft, since I rarely had that ring in my games) is to...

1. Put to good use a non-caster's concentration that would be otherwise wasted (great especially on a ranged character) by making him/her support party buffs (like having a non-AT Rogue or non-EK Fighter sustaining a Bless or even a Wind Wall or Darkness).

2. Give to some frontliners emergency fuel for tough fights (like having a melee Paladin or Battlemaster have Healing Words to help the other without using a full action or needing to move).

3. Give to one ally which rely on a specific buff as his regular tactic, a way to be autonomous (like a Barbarian needing some more move with Longstrider, a Sharpshooter Rogue loving Haste, a Monk facing dangerous creatures protecting with Absorb Elements or Shield while he reaches for his Stunning Strike target -unless maybe he got a Fly stored instead- etc).

4. Get some emergency spell that you can keep undefinitely once stored instead of having it learned/prepped just in case (Feather Fall, Revivify, Water Breathing, Aid, etc... Even Leomund's Tiny Hut could actually justify itself provided you know when using it would actually making things worse by trapping yourself).

5. Pay a town's NPC to store some utility spells that you can't access one way or another (especially Detect/Locate spells or other niche spells).

6. Or, provided the right party composition (here comes the theorycraft ;)), make some crafty tactics such as...
- a "capture/assassinate tag-team": one guy expert in Grappling (or any other reliable way to prevent a creature from moving) with great resilience or great mobility, the other being whatever you want as long as moderately resilient, decent utility and high offense (ways to pull/push appreciated) carrying a ring with Leomund's Tiny Hut. Grapple the creature then either stick it where it stands or move it towards a better place (like close to your friends if possible) just before your pal cast Leomund's Tiny Hut. Now you shut off completely any and every help this enemy could get, it's you and him, for best and worse. ^^
- a "melee honeypot": get a Paladin, EK or Barbarian (non-raging immediately) to draw enemies then have him cast the sticky bit (or damaging bit), either alone or in combination with your own spell: just a Plant Growth or even a simple Grease could disorganize the melee attackers, and most creatures wouldn't expect a Barbarian to suddenly cast a powerful Cone of Cold or Erupting Earth either. You could also allow a Vengeance Paladin to create a perfect setting by lighting up a Wall of Fire before engaging his enemy (of course, if you're *that* dangerous, the enemy will rather take wall damage than your damage, but gosh is it classy ^^ Plus you're still preventing archers to help him).

Basically, I love using it to have, ponctually, a supplemental caster or giving "one-time Magic Secrets" to people. :)

[RSP]

Is a Find Greater Steed's spell sharing 2 way? Can a griffon with a ring of spell storing caste Haste on itself with the ring and the rider also benefits? That would be nuts.


Eyup. It's a great item.

RAW, the spell sharing is not two-way:

"While mounted on your steed, you can make any spell you cast that targets only you also target your steed."

There's no way I see to read that sentence as "if the steed cast a spell it also targets the rider."

[strangebloke]

RAW, the spell sharing is not two-way:

"While mounted on your steed, you can make any spell you cast that targets only you also target your steed."

There's no way I see to read that sentence as "if the steed cast a spell it also targets the rider."

Ah, sorry, you are correct. My bad. Still, the trick works.

[romanwas]

:smallwink:

[Matrix_Walker]

I had no idea this was a 'legal move' for AL. Pretty incredible. Gaining an extra 'concentration slot' is an enormous boost to my PC since he's normally torn between using Hex or Darkness. Now i see that my bat familiar (from tome of secrets) can carry the ring and cast darkness and hold the concentration all by himself. Could he also cast and control a 'spiritual weapon' from the ring? Or would the subsequent bonus actions of that spell be considered an attack? Now I want to see what a bat's spiritual weapon would be. I'm guessing a fat guano bomb.

Is a Find Greater Steed's spell sharing 2 way? Can a griffon with a ring of spell storing caste Haste on itself with the ring and the rider also benefits? That would be nuts.

I believe the AL ruling is that it works, but that magic items your familiar attunes to count against the characters attunement limit of 3. In the RAW, you an your familiar can each attune to 3.

[Greywander]

Find familiar and Find steed are spells that give you class features in spell form, they are awesome in a ring of spell storing.

Then you can have your familiar attune to the ring, and wreck the action economy with them casting spells from the ring and maintaining a concentration spell for you. extra points, you can send your familiar back to his pocket dimension to keep his concentration frome being broken.
But can you put Find Familiar in the ring then give it to your familiar so he can summon a familiar, then put Find Familiar into the ring again and give it to your familiar's familiar so he can summon a familiar, then put Find Familiar into the ring...

Bam! Infinite familiars! Infinite concentration!


I believe the AL ruling is that it works, but that magic items your familiar attunes to count against the characters attunement limit of 3. In the RAW, you an your familiar can each attune to 3.
This is the only sensible way to handle the above. That, or simply rule that familiars can't have familiars. Personally, I find that the familiar fits the concept of a genius (personal guardian spirit) quite well, so in a way it really is just an extension of your own soul. It wouldn't make must sense for your guardian spirit to have its own guardian spirit, and (assuming attunement has something to do with your soul) it wouldn't make sense for your guardian spirit to have separate attunement slots from you. In fact, it's debatable if a familiar should even have separate concentration from you.

Now, there is a difference between the familiar spirit you get from casting Find Familiar (which takes the form of a creature) and the process of binding a real creature to be your familiar. If you summon an imp and make a contract with it, it can become your familiar but also remains its own separate being. Honestly, they should probably differentiate between these so that it's not confusing (for example, is a chainlock imp and actual imp or a familiar spirit in the form of an imp?).

[Matrix_Walker]

But can you put Find Familiar in the ring then give it to your familiar so he can summon a familiar, then put Find Familiar into the ring again and give it to your familiar's familiar so he can summon a familiar, then put Find Familiar into the ring...

Bam! Infinite familiars! Infinite concentration!


This is the only sensible way to handle the above. That, or simply rule that familiars can't have familiars. Personally, I find that the familiar fits the concept of a genius (personal guardian spirit) quite well, so in a way it really is just an extension of your own soul. It wouldn't make must sense for your guardian spirit to have its own guardian spirit, and (assuming attunement has something to do with your soul) it wouldn't make sense for your guardian spirit to have separate attunement slots from you. In fact, it's debatable if a familiar should even have separate concentration from you.

Now, there is a difference between the familiar spirit you get from casting Find Familiar (which takes the form of a creature) and the process of binding a real creature to be your familiar. If you summon an imp and make a contract with it, it can become your familiar but also remains its own separate being. Honestly, they should probably differentiate between these so that it's not confusing (for example, is a chainlock imp and actual imp or a familiar spirit in the form of an imp?).

You might be able to get a giant chain of familiars, but only the one with the ring can cast or concentrate on a spell, and only the one attuned to the ring can provide concentration.

I don't see why a spirit given form is no longer it's own being. Sounds more like a rationalization to justify such a house rule.

[dejarnjc]

Do you still have to perform the Verbal, Material, and Somatic components of a spell cast with a ring of spell storing? Based off the language below, I'd assume that a familiar cannot perform the necessary components to cast a spell and therefore couldn't use the ring.


While wearing this ring, you can cast any spell stored
in it. The spell uses the slot level, spell save DC, spell
attack bonus, and spellcasting ability of the original
caster, but is otherwise treated as if you cast the spell.

[Matrix_Walker]

Do you still have to perform the Verbal, Material, and Somatic components of a spell cast with a ring of spell storing? Based off the language below, I'd assume that a familiar cannot perform the necessary components to cast a spell and therefore couldn't use the ring.


While wearing this ring, you can cast any spell stored
in it. The spell uses the slot level, spell save DC, spell
attack bonus, and spellcasting ability of the original
caster, but is otherwise treated as if you cast the spell.

From the DMG "Some magic items allow the user to cast a spell from the item. The spell is cast at the lowest possible spell level, doesn't expend any of the user's spell slots, and requires no components, unless the item's description says otherwise. The spell uses its normal casting time, range, and duration, and the user of the item must concentrate if the spell requires concentration."

Spells cast from magic items don't require the components.

This has been ruled to work just fine both by JC and by AL rules.

[dejarnjc]

Ah, I personally wouldn't allow it just because it's silly IMO.

And just to be contrarian, also from the DMG... I guess an imp familiar could do it despite this restriction though.


Using a magic item's properties might mean wearing
or wielding it. A magic item meant to be worn must be
donned in the intended fashion: boots go on the feet,
gloves on the hands, hats and helmets on the head, and
rings on the fingerr.

[Kenny Snoggins]

Ah, I personally wouldn't allow it just because it's silly IMO.

And just to be contrarian, also from the DMG... I guess an imp familiar could do it despite this restriction though.[/B]r.

I think several of the familiars/steeds could. A griffon has talons, which are essentially fingers, as does an owl. Anywhere along the wing of a bat is technically a finger, and a bat also has toes, which it uses as fingers. The only thing I can think of off hand that might not be able to would be an octopus or a pegasus, although I'm sure there are other exceptions of things without fingers. For any kind of ruminant you can't get it around a single phalanx so I guess they are hosed. But most people go for the griffon anyway with Find Greater Steed. Likewise an owl and a bat are both good and those are the most common familiars I've seen in use.

[dejarnjc]

I think several of the familiars/steeds could. A griffon has talons, which are essentially fingers, as does an owl. Anywhere along the wing of a bat is technically a finger, and a bat also has toes, which it uses as fingers. The only thing I can think of off hand that might not be able to would be an octopus or a pegasus, although I'm sure there are other exceptions of things without fingers. For any kind of ruminant you can't get it around a single phalanx so I guess they are hosed. But most people go for the griffon anyway with Find Greater Steed. Likewise an owl and a bat are both good and those are the most common familiars I've seen in use.

I'm 99% certain you need a hand to have a finger. Anyway, apologies for derailing the convo. This is kinda a moot point.



I think holy weapon for a martial (or shadowblade) are great options for a ring of spell storing.

[Kenny Snoggins]

I'm 99% certain you need a hand to have a finger. Anyway, apologies for derailing the convo. This is kinda a moot point.

And every working professional in the field of phylogeny and comparative biology is 100% certain you're wrong.

Shadowblade in the ring seems OK, but generally for a level 2 weapon spell I think spiritual weapon is strictly superior unless you are doing the aforementioned familiar/steed concentration trick. Spirit Guardians is fascinating for it's potential to set up multiple bubbles of death if a martial or non-cleric is wearing the ring. Or I suppose you could overlap them for a turbo venn diagram of death if you so desired.

[dejarnjc]

And every working professional in the field of phylogeny and comparative biology is 100% certain you're wrong.


I'm sure it's less a biology question and more a question of how a person defines a particular word.




Shadowblade in the ring seems OK, but generally for a level 2 weapon spell I think spiritual weapon is strictly superior

Well both are bonus action spells but at 5th level, shadowblade is a 4d8+STR/DEX weapon that can inflict its damage multiple times a turn via multi-attack, action-surge, spells like haste, and reaction attacks. Also can be thrown and confers advantage in dimlight or darkness.

Spiritual weapon at 5th level is just 3d8 + spell casting mod once a turn.

[the secret fire]

I had no idea this was a 'legal move' for AL. Pretty incredible. Gaining an extra 'concentration slot' is an enormous boost to my PC since he's normally torn between using Hex or Darkness. Now i see that my bat familiar (from tome of secrets) can carry the ring and cast darkness and hold the concentration all by himself. Could he also cast and control a 'spiritual weapon' from the ring? Or would the subsequent bonus actions of that spell be considered an attack? Now I want to see what a bat's spiritual weapon would be. I'm guessing a fat guano bomb.

Is a Find Greater Steed's spell sharing 2 way? Can a griffon with a ring of spell storing caste Haste on itself with the ring and the rider also benefits? That would be nuts.

That's a great way to lose your ring to an intelligent enemy.