WOTC 5e PHB spells survey

[J-H]

It's pretty long, about 200 spells in alphabetical order.

https://survey.alchemer.com/s3/6620080/spells

Not sure how I beat jaappleton to posting this.

[PhoenixPhyre]

Note: it doesn't cover every spell. And is really boring--just a "how satisfied (basic 1-5 scale) are you with <spell>" and then a "have you used <spell> as a DM, player, or not at all (checkboxes)".

I did leave a comment at the end explaining why I was strongly dissatisfied with some spells in particular.

[J-H]

Yeah, but it generates a lot of data.
I suspect they're going to use it to identify spells that have a huge dissatisfaction rate (like Barkskin, Weird, or the "Conjure X HD of trash") for revision.

[PhoenixPhyre]

Yeah, but it generates a lot of data.
I suspect they're going to use it to identify spells that have a huge dissatisfaction rate (like Barkskin, Weird, or the "Conjure X HD of trash") for revision.

Yeah. Not coincidentally, those were ones I marked as being very dissatisfied with (among a few others like True Strike and Witch Bolt).

[ProsecutorGodot]

Yeah. Not coincidentally, those were ones I marked as being very dissatisfied with (among a few others like True Strike and Witch Bolt).

Did you write witch bolt in, it didn't show up for me.

I really should have written it in, it's terrible.

[LudicSavant]

Yeah, but it generates a lot of data.
I suspect they're going to use it to identify spells that have a huge dissatisfaction rate (like Barkskin, Weird, or the "Conjure X HD of trash") for revision.

I don't think I even got those spells on my survey.

[Gtdead]

It seems that there was some randomization going on. Not the worst idea since it asks you if you want to continue rating spells and you can choose what you want to rate, so some trends may emerge. I'm sure I didn't get Witch Bolt too and I also didn't get Lightning Bolt that I wanted to rate way below Fireball. Pretty sure I got all the Conjure X spells though.

[Seclora]

It seems that there was some randomization going on. Not the worst idea since it asks you if you want to continue rating spells and you can choose what you want to rate, so some trends may emerge. I'm sure I didn't get Witch Bolt too and I also didn't get Lightning Bolt that I wanted to rate way below Fireball. Pretty sure I got all the Conjure X spells though.

Seconded, I also had to write in Witch Bolt. They skipped over the whole Conjure X section though, and I didn't have the space to add them all.

Kind of glad they didn't want us to rate the whole PHB though.

[dafrca]

In truth, I wonder what they will learn from this. The list felt somewhat random to me, but then maybe I just missed the link between all of them.

[Sparky McDibben]

Interesting. It went from 53% to 100% as soon as I entered my demographics. Hmmm....

[dafrca]

Interesting. It went from 53% to 100% as soon as I entered my demographics. Hmmm....

Interesting message that.

[Mastikator]

Interesting. It went from 53% to 100% as soon as I entered my demographics. Hmmm....

Same, I wonder which demographics get which extra questions.

[Foolwise]

Only one way to figure it out...

Everyone divulge your demographics, and don't forget your last 4 SSN and mother's maiden name!

PSA- Don't do this.

[Kane0]

Oh boy, another big long one. I hope this one allows for me to tell them to stop asking for me to spend over an hour on a questionnaire.

[Tanarii]

My comments were:
True Strike is useless.
Witch Bolt is effectively useless.
Guidance is a pain in the ass for novice DMs.
Healing Touch and Cure wounds either need their ranges switched or their action types switched.

[J-H]

Interesting. It went from 53% to 100% as soon as I entered my demographics. Hmmm....

Most of their surveys seem to do that.

[jas61292]

I know a lot of people will gravitate towards talking about ones they don't like for being underpowered, but I focused on those I dislike for seeming too strong. Personally, I think the biggest offenders are things that break standard action economy. Magic may be able to "break the rule" in universe, but it should not break the basic rule assumptions of the game. If each character is only supposed to get one action and one bonus action, spells should not be a way around that.

[ProsecutorGodot]

I know a lot of people will gravitate towards talking about ones they don't like for being underpowered, but I focused on those I dislike for seeming too strong. Personally, I think the biggest offenders are things that break standard action economy. Magic may be able to "break the rule" in universe, but it should not break the basic rule assumptions of the game. If each character is only supposed to get one action and one bonus action, spells should not be a way around that.

Simulacrum and Conjure Woodland Beings (would have put them all in given the space) were easy choices for "very dissatisfied" because of the way they can completely throw balance out the window. It's one of the very few actual restrictions our DM has for our party Sorcerer, even if he's not an optimized character having two (or more) of him would be an incredibly significant increase in our parties ability.

In hindsight I wish I'd saved this survey for a time where I wasn't under a time constraint, something I feel very strongly about that I neglected to bring up is that a lot of my dissatisfied options were because the spell might have been interesting or useful but had a much too specific use case. I'd really like an expanded system that bundles similar effects like Blindness/Deafness and Enlarge/Reduce

[Eldariel]

I really wish they'd make "Dissatisfied/Satisfied in X" like two scales: Power (separate too strong and too weak) and usability. E.g. Animate Dead and Conjure Animals are way too strong and unwieldy while Fireball is merely too strong compared to options and Witch Bolt, Find Traps and such are simply way too weak.

[Mjolnirbear]

My comments were:
True Strike is useless.
Witch Bolt is effectively useless.
Guidance is a pain in the ass for novice DMs.
Healing Touch and Cure wounds either need their ranges switched or their action types switched.

Wait... Why the last two?

You think Cure Wounds should be either 30ft range or a BA to cast? Isn't the BA why Healing Word only heals 1d4?

Or... No, I see it now. HW is too good, so it should be nerfed by action or range, while CW should be buffed the other way, making both acceptable choices. Right?

[Gtdead]

Seriously, I rated both Simulacrum and the Conjure line fairly high. The way I see it, if we rate it low, it will either be buffed or we will get something similar with a PB scaling. For me usable = high satisfaction, not usable = low satisfaction.

Or to put it more accurately: It's good if it does what it is supposed to do and it's bad if it tries and fails.

[Sigreid]

Still maintain if they really want people to take these surveys they need to be a lot shorter

[dafrca]

Still maintain if they really want people to take these surveys they need to be a lot shorter

And better organized. This seemed like a lazy mess to me.

[KorvinStarmast]

And better organized. This seemed like a lazy mess to me.

Yes, that was the feeling I got also.

[Foxhound438]

anyone else putting shade on grasping vine? It just seems so bad.

[Tanarii]

I really wish they'd make "Dissatisfied/Satisfied in X" like two scales: Power (separate too strong and too weak) and usability. E.g. Animate Dead and Conjure Animals are way too strong and unwieldy while Fireball is merely too strong compared to options and Witch Bolt, Find Traps and such are simply way too weak.

What bothers me about a Dis(satisfied) scale is it doesn't indicate why. Some spells (and class features and feats) I'm dissatisfied because they are overpowered, other because they are underpowered. And the latter can be because they need a buff in direct power numbers, or because they're awkward or even just effectively impossible to use.

[PhantomSoul]

Wait... Why the last two?

You think Cure Wounds should be either 30ft range or a BA to cast? Isn't the BA why Healing Word only heals 1d4?

Or... No, I see it now. HW is too good, so it should be nerfed by action or range, while CW should be buffed the other way, making both acceptable choices. Right?

Exactly; pop-up healing being so favourable in 5e makes the paltry difference in healing often meaningless... while the action economy and range aspects will easily be waaaaaay more relevant.

[BoutsofInsanity]

I hit my main hates.

Flamestrike, Prismatic Wall, Ice storm, and Forcecage.

I really really don't like forcecage.

[Corpus]

Flaming Sphere, you can walk right through it no issues, but if it bumps into you it causes damage.
Now this really pisses me off to no end!