What spells are better for monsters than for players?

[Quietus]

I've seen this come up a couple times recently, and I really like the idea that some of the spells seen as underpowered or less optimal, are actually great to give to your monsters. I'd be really interested to see if there are more than just the two that keep coming to the surface, and I think there's probably two different categories here - spells that are better for monsters because they are less punishing (and therefore more fun), and spells that are better for monsters because no PC would ever take them. I don't have examples for the latter, but I'm sure they exist, I'm just posting from work and can't really scour books right at this moment!


Spells that benefit from a lesser effect, instead of taking a player out of the fight (Hold Person, Hypnotic Pattern, Banishment), these tend to provide limitations while still allowing the player to have some amount of impact :
Bane
Slow



Spells that monsters would use but PCs would likely not :
List TBD

[PhoenixPhyre]

Slow. Obnoxious and debilitating, but not hard cc. And hitting 6 people by default means you can reliably hit the entire party, likely affecting at least one of them.

Bane. Similar to slow. Annoying but not "you don't get to play".

Vampiric Touch. Anything that heals and deals damage feels really threatening. Players hate enemy healers way more than is rational (for the health returned).

[Jerrykhor]

The first one that comes to mind is Power Word: Kill.

Others like Nystul Magic Aura most likely the players never heard of, but is very useful if you want to prevent the party Paladin from discovering your disguised demon.

Or situational spells like Control Water really shine for the monsters if the players are on a boat.

[KorvinStarmast]

The first one that comes to mind is Power Word: Kill. Power Word stun is handy if the caster has a bunch of minions who can exploit it ...

Or situational spells like Control Water really shine for the monsters if the players are on a boat. Yes. I found Stinking Cloud useful recently in a dungeon (White Plume Mountain) setting for one of the enemy spell casters.

[nickl_2000]

Shield on a Monster is obnoxious. As PCs, we typically focus fire to try and kill someone first (the caster or the healer) and we have to worry about conserving resources for a whole adventuring day. The NPC/Monster doesn't, they can burn a shield every single round and have a +5 to AC the whole time.

[tiornys]

Treantmonk does a great video on spells like this:


https://youtu.be/8ybVJZR-5QI

He covers True Strike, Bane, Crown of Madness, Gaseous Form, Elemental Bane, Dream, Flesh to Stone, Mordenkainen's Sword, Control Weather, and Gate.

(There's also a companion video for spells that are better for players, covering Fortune's Favor, Hypnotic Pattern, Phantom Steed, Banishment, Otiluke's Resilient Sphere, Forcecage, Mass Suggestion, Antimagic Field, Maze, and Fear).

[Chronos]

The fiend-summoning spells from Xanathar's: All of them, both the devil and demon ones, will work better if the summoner's goals align with the fiend's. Which is much more likely to happen on the DM's side of the screen.

[stoutstien]

Tasha's mind whip is a good blast option for NPCs that has an interesting impact on the flow of the encounter.

Dispel magic is underutilized as well

[follacchioso]

After the recent changes, Counterspell works only against PCs' spells.

[LudicSavant]

I've seen this come up a couple times recently, and I really like the idea that some of the spells seen as underpowered or less optimal, are actually great to give to your monsters. I'd be really interested to see if there are more than just the two that keep coming to the surface, and I think there's probably two different categories here - spells that are better for monsters because they are less punishing (and therefore more fun), and spells that are better for monsters because no PC would ever take them. I don't have examples for the latter, but I'm sure they exist, I'm just posting from work and can't really scour books right at this moment!


Spells that benefit from a lesser effect, instead of taking a player out of the fight (Hold Person, Hypnotic Pattern, Banishment), these tend to provide limitations while still allowing the player to have some amount of impact :
Bane
Slow



Spells that monsters would use but PCs would likely not :
List TBD

Upcast Charm Person is a multi-target, non-Concentration "don't take hostile actions against me, and regard me as a friendly acquaintance" for an hour for solo monsters. Whereas for those in groups (like PCs) you might still be able to attack another target when charmed.

[Corran]

While I agree that slow might not be as bad against pc's as a well placed banishment, an upcast hold person or the like, it will still be a very strong spell. Even if pc's are not optimizing their action economy, they will have either exra attack or spellcasting, and they are generally better than the monsters at having the good AC's more tested than the low AC's, that slow would be a very effective spell to use against your typical party. While it's more of a situational spell at the hands of pc's. Thus, a good spells for the monsters, and potentially very dangerous if they have the numbers and they are geared more towards offense than defense (cause due to the repeated saves it will work better if the encounter is short in duration). If the fight does not go into the party's way, it can increase the chances of character death if it sticks enough on one of them, cause it makes running away harder.

Sanctuary is a nice one. Not just because it's a good spell. It can be used to humanize your bad guys during combat, like have one cast it to try and save another. Accompagny it with the right words and suddenly your pc's are not killing some nameless mooks, they are killing Bob, whom Lydia is trying to save.

Misty step can be scary, particularly if you give it to something that plays aggressively (eg brutes). It's scary for a reason, and that reason is because it can be very effective. But the initial shock will probably be exaggerated. I guess what I am trying to say is that a somewhat unpredictable teleportation ability can be scary, and scary can often mean exciting, so there.

Mid combat Danse macabre. If they dont go for the caster first that is. Good time for the villain to say something cliche too and ffor potentially turning what appears as a win into something more contested (for a low/medium level party).

Create Undead... :p

[JNAProductions]

Slow is better than Hold Person/Monster for the monsters, not because it's more effective, but because it's a potent tool without completing shutting a player out of the game.

That's an entirely out of game concern, but it matters a lot.

[Quietus]

Treantmonk does a great video on spells like this:


https://youtu.be/8ybVJZR-5QI

He covers True Strike, Bane, Crown of Madness, Gaseous Form, Elemental Bane, Dream, Flesh to Stone, Mordenkainen's Sword, Control Weather, and Gate.

(There's also a companion video for spells that are better for players, covering Fortune's Favor, Hypnotic Pattern, Phantom Steed, Banishment, Otiluke's Resilient Sphere, Forcecage, Mass Suggestion, Antimagic Field, Maze, and Fear).

I'm not normally a fan of Treantmonk's content, his presentation style just doesn't grab me. But I do like several of his points here!


The fiend-summoning spells from Xanathar's: All of them, both the devil and demon ones, will work better if the summoner's goals align with the fiend's. Which is much more likely to happen on the DM's side of the screen.

Ahh, good point! I hadn't thought about that.


Tasha's mind whip is a good blast option for NPCs that has an interesting impact on the flow of the encounter.

Dispel magic is underutilized as well

Tasha's Mind Whip is just good in general, but I do like it as a debuff that changes things up. Just happens to work on both sides of the screen!


Upcast Charm Person is a multi-target, non-Concentration "don't take hostile actions against me, and regard me as a friendly acquaintance" for an hour for solo monsters. Whereas for those in groups (like PCs) you might still be able to attack another target when charmed.

Oh now that's interesting! I think of Charms from the PC side as a mixed bag, better in social situations. Hadn't thought about it in a monster's hands, that does work well!

[TyGuy]

Just about every spell that doesn't get picked often by players, for not being competent enough, is better for monsters. Because a) monsters are expendable. They're going to die anyways. Suboptimal spells aren't going to change that. And b) they have flavor or flair due to never getting picked. Whatever cool factor they have, it gets to be shown without fretting about opportunity costs.

Compelled duel
Earth tremor
Illusory script
Witch bolt
Barkskin
Cloud of daggers
Cordon of arrows
Crown of madness
Flame blade
Elemental weapon
Flame arrows
Life transference
Summon lesser demon
Elemental Bane
Giant insect
Grasping vine
Mordenkainen's faithful hound
Antilife shell
Conjure Elemental
Conjure volley
Contagion
Dream
Immolation
Infernal calling

[Corran]

Compelled duel
Earth tremor
Illusory script
Witch bolt
Barkskin
Cloud of daggers
Cordon of arrows
Crown of madness
Flame blade
Elemental weapon
Flame arrows
Life transference
Summon lesser demon
Elemental Bane
Giant insect
Grasping vine
Mordenkainen's faithful hound
Antilife shell
Conjure Elemental
Conjure volley
Contagion
Dream
Immolation
Infernal calling
I find dream to be better for the players. The DM is a DM all the time. While a player gets to be a DM for a while when using this spell. It's a nice change of pace.

[loki_ragnarock]

Witch Bolt - An unmitigated disaster of a spell gets to be an unmitigated disaster for monsters. Player uses cover to break line of sight? They get to feel clever, ending the effect. Player jogs the distance to break the effective range? They get to feel clever, ending the effect. Monster can't use any other action but to do 1d12 damage? Sounds like a win for the PCs; they might not feel clever, but they don't feel dead, either.

[solidork]

My favorite is Bestow Curse, it's open ended enough that you can do some really creative but tactically suboptimal stuff with it and has the potential to last forever and thereby drive plot.

[Ir0ns0ul]

Darkness, Fog Cloud and other obscurement spells.

[KorvinStarmast]

After the recent changes, Counterspell works only against PCs' spells. What are you talking about?

[SpanielBear]

What are you talking about?

I believe this might be an… ungenerous? reading of the NPC spellcaster stat blocks in the new Mordenkainens, which have listed spells replaced with spell like abilities.

There’s a RAW/RAI argument brewing here that’s going to be an utter typhoon in a teacup at some point. But it’s not really helping the OPs question.

[kingcheesepants]

Base defense spells like Guards and Wards, Glyph of Warding (assuming you're using the glyphs as intended and not abusing them), Antipathy/Sympathy, etc are generally not that useful for players since players rarely get to defend a base (and if they do they might not have time/money to cast spells like that beforehand) but since monsters almost always have a base that needs to be defended these are great for them.

[Nidgit]

Programmed Illusion is another delightful villain spell, along with stuff like Magic Mouth and Nystul's Magic Aura.

As far as in-combat spells, Tasha's Mind Whip is a favorite in part because it scales so well. Much like Hold Person, it adds additional targets instead of extra damage. Pairs very nicely with extra combatants to punish the action economy prediction.

[tiornys]

Darkness, Fog Cloud and other obscurement spells.
This varies heavily by table and especially the tactical acumen and cooperation level of the group. In the hands of well-coordinated players who know what they're doing, these can easily do more for the players than they would for most monsters. Such a group is likely also prepared with counters in the case of monsters who might actually benefit more and are trying to use these effects themselves.