"Fireball does nothing to solve the ancient riddle to open the ancient king's tome." Silly Esper, with enough explosions you don't need to solve the riddle.
Funny, in a one shot I was playing, we failed a puzzle causing flammable, explosive gas to be released. Our bard walked up to the gas cloud with a candle, causing an explosion, killing himself, and nearly causing a tpk, but afterwards, it turned out that the explosion opened the puzzle door.
@@nuclearholocausto4987 omg I did the same thing on the same puzzle... I thought it was just gonna burn away. We got out of range. But "boils law" sent a blast at us. Turning me to ash and killing scores of legionaires. My party barely survived.
Counterspell, Dispel Magic, Banishment, Shield and Absorb Elements ARE what make Abjurers a pain in the butt to take out... even at somewhat early levels (pre-Level 10)
I personally don't mind imprisonment (9th level abjuration). Yeah, it's hecka expensive, but sometimes nothing does the job better than forever sealing your foes in a specialized cage with a bizarre riddle attached. Heck, DM's can even make magic items out of the imprisonment spell. Powerful entities sealed inside gems make potent magic item materials.
For people who want to easily refer to this list in the future... (SPOILERS): 10- Anti-magic Field 1:12 9- Restoration (Lesser and Greater) 2:34 8- Invulnerability 3:23 7- Absorb Elements 4:09 6- Pass Without Trace 5:12 5- Protection from Evil and Good 6:09 4- Dispel Magic 7:18 3- Banishment 8:57 2- Shield 10:50 1- Counterspell 11:31
2:58 Hey! It's one of my favorites of my work from Magic! My wife wishes I had not sold the original, but At least I have a print of it on my wall. Happy to see it here in your video. I really should do something with my youtube channel other than posting video game clips. 🙂
As a kid wen we would play 2e, my favorite character was a thief/abjurer. Bending the rules a bit, but I was the richest in the party throughout the whole campaign.
Probably not Top 10 worthy, but Armor of Agathys probably deserves an honorable mention. It makes you very scary to attack in close quarters, and gives you a pretty respectable survivability buff. Gods help the unfortunate soul who attacks a Warlock with Shadow of Moil and Armor of Agathys up, and Hellish Rebuke on standby.
Stunning Fist and Hypnotic Gaze both incapcitate foes, whcih could be used to break Imvulnerabity (or any other concentration spell). Stunning Fist has the potential to be used 4 times in a turn though, even if the damage of every strike was nullified
Countering a counterspell thrown at you is something I'm straight up saying no to in any campaign I run because it makes no sense. You see your spell being countered, so you use counterspell as well to get your initial spell through. To me this is impossible for 3 reasons: 1. Your reaction is somehow faster than the other person's reaction for some reason. 2. You're casting 2 spells during your turn, which the rules generally say no to although it's action + bonus action. 3. You somehow manage to cast counterspell without interrupting the casting of your initial spell, which seems counterintuitive. Especially if your initial spell had somatic components as well.
you can cast as many spells as you can (action surge gives you two fireballs in a single turn) but if you cast a bonus action spell, you cannot cast any spell but a cantrip
Played the game from launch (Basic Box) to early 21st century... I believe the change I liked the most was in 3rd Ed. when counterspell wasn't actually a spell but rather a spellcasting ability available to any caster with unused spell slots... Oh well, interesting list, brings back fond memories. Abjuration/Conjuration is always fun to dominate the battleboard...
An old 2E spell that I thought was incredible was Spell Strike but I think it was 8th level evocation. It destroyed a spell that was already cast, reversing that spells consequences. It could bring a character back to life if killed by the spell, bring a wall back that was destroyed, etc...
On the medusa, I'd say it wouldn't help much... I always understood that you looking into those eyes petrifies you.. It's like nothing can come in to harm you, but you can still look outside the anti magic field. Unless you'd say the photons reflecting from her face are magical
@@MisheardMetal if he can make it to lv3 he should be fine any time before that he could trip and fall in the campfire take 7 damage fall unconscious and burn to death in silence while everyone sleeps.
@@MrSlutzkin Besides that some casters may not be using a focus then it shouldn't be ignored for those with component pouches. What's more I don't recall the PHB or DMG saying you should out right ignore components because they have no gold cost. It's entirely up to the DM to say that this component is specific to a creature and might have a gold cost attributed to it. Ie. Having some of the dirt from the grave a vampire was buried in sanctified or holy water for a ghost. I believe this is the only spell that acts this way.
"A character can use a component pouch or a spellcasting focus (found in “Equipment”) in place of the components specified for a spell. But if a cost is indicated for a component, a character must have that specific component before he or she can cast the spell." -PHB Banishment doesn't specify a cost, so a focus can replace its material component.
@@Jpteryx This right here is an example of fishing. "Specific Beats General This compendium contains rules that govern how the game plays. That said, many racial traits, class features, spells, magic items, monster abilities, and other game elements break the general rules in some way, creating an exception to how the rest of the game works. Remember this: If a specific rule contradicts a general rule, the specific rule wins." - PHB The question is what do you believe is in the component pouch? The assumption is that a caster has properly prepared their pouch for the spells they will use. Except Banishment has a component that changes based on the target of the spell. Like I said the DMs that run the game as if Banishment's material component cost is a non-factor have only themselves to blame for how OP the spell becomes.
Só I CAN take shield over mage armor?!? I always wanted to do This because 1 Wizards aren't meant to be targeted that I often 2 It looks cooler in my opinion
that last picture near the end of the hands casting a lightning spell...why on earth did they have forked nails? That just seems hilariously awkward or annoying to deal with
@@Eggsecuter Though both have spells that are absolutely exceptional. Conjuration and Evocation would take the position of weakest. Though Weakest is still good, just Abjuration and Divination are so over the top,
Well, there's a ton of ways one can get armor (warlocks have light armor, many races have armor proficiency or natural armor) and even if you don't, many times a +3 to ac (if you have no armor available) rarely saves you when there's creatures with a +10 or more on their roll. Giving an enemy disadvantage (such as through protection from evil and good) is an average difference of over 3 already, and that's only the start of that spell.
@@josuanygren I have heard people say shield of faith was bad because "it was only +2ac", except that one is used on targets that are already harder to hit. If you have a playstyle in which mage armor regularly helps you out, it might be a better idea to try a different playstyle. And since it is a small permanent buff, but most of the time isn't of much use to you, it isn't top 10 worthy except for perhaps the most useful builds. It's for armor what the spell 'darkvision' is for races without darkvision. It is a nice to have if you don't have an alternative, but only few have to take this alternative.
Soooo i have to say that as an Abjurer wizard myself, Imprisonment is such a disappointing spell in 5e Mechanics it doesn't even deserve to be 9th level.
10-blight (all the damage you could ever want at far range) 9-speak with dead (all the secret passwords, secret base locations, and dirt on your enemies you could ever want) 8-clone (one time 3,000GP investment for reusable true resurrection) 7-inflict wounds (high damage and can crit! mix with hold person.) 6-finger of death (got zombies? WANT MORE ZOMBIES!?) 5- bestow curse (with a little imagination this quickly becomes the scariest spell in the game.) 4-danse macabre (bunch of your skeletons just got knocked apart? pick them back up and send them back out WITH A VENGEANCE!!! mix with necromancer wizard.) 3-spare the dying (on a death domain cleric this basically gives your whole party near death immunity) 2-animate dead (BEHOLD MY ARMY OF 20 SKELETON ARCHERS AND 20 ZOMBIE MEAT SHIELDS!!! dont forget to arm your troops~) 1-create undead (BEHOLD MY 4 WIGHT LIEUTENANTS AND THEIR ARMIES OF 48 ZOMBIES!!!)
It doesn't affect constructs like warforged or golems, because they have actual spirits. But purely magic-powered constructs like animated objects go inert.
No you can't counterspell a counterspell and still cast the original spell because you would have cast a spell (that counterspell) and you are not allowed to cast 2 spells in the same turn.
"BONUS ACTION : A spell cast with a bonus action is especially swift. You must use a bonus action on your turn to cast the spell, provided that you haven't already taken a bonus action this turn. You can't cast another spell during the same turn, except for a cantrip with a casting time of 1 action." -PHB 202 Counterspell is a reaction, so you can indeed cast it along with a spell that required an action.
So you only have played 3.5 and above ? Oh you miss soooooooooooooo much D&D history . I'm sorry . 2nd edition was fun and so was 1.5 . Man there was spells that only gods could have . But now its nerfed for you guys because you dont wany a story only glory smh .
"Fireball does nothing to solve the ancient riddle to open the ancient king's tome."
Silly Esper, with enough explosions you don't need to solve the riddle.
see: the paladin from Adventure Quest
Funny, in a one shot I was playing, we failed a puzzle causing flammable, explosive gas to be released. Our bard walked up to the gas cloud with a candle, causing an explosion, killing himself, and nearly causing a tpk, but afterwards, it turned out that the explosion opened the puzzle door.
@@nuclearholocausto4987 omg I did the same thing on the same puzzle...
I thought it was just gonna burn away. We got out of range. But "boils law" sent a blast at us. Turning me to ash and killing scores of legionaires. My party barely survived.
I see you too studied Alexander the Great's cutting the knot school of problem solving.
@@TerrariaGolem Alesio, its you damn it
Scanlan’s 9th level slot vs Vecna. All you need to prove why counterspell is god tier.
Matthew Young also that bards can bring tears to without magic nor spells
Counterspell, Dispel Magic, Banishment, Shield and Absorb Elements ARE what make Abjurers a pain in the butt to take out... even at somewhat early levels (pre-Level 10)
and then we stack our wards on top >:)
I personally don't mind imprisonment (9th level abjuration). Yeah, it's hecka expensive, but sometimes nothing does the job better than forever sealing your foes in a specialized cage with a bizarre riddle attached. Heck, DM's can even make magic items out of the imprisonment spell. Powerful entities sealed inside gems make potent magic item materials.
That is a really cool one. It's storytelling and roleplaying contained within a spell.
For people who want to easily refer to this list in the future...
(SPOILERS):
10- Anti-magic Field 1:12
9- Restoration (Lesser and Greater) 2:34
8- Invulnerability 3:23
7- Absorb Elements 4:09
6- Pass Without Trace 5:12
5- Protection from Evil and Good 6:09
4- Dispel Magic 7:18
3- Banishment 8:57
2- Shield 10:50
1- Counterspell 11:31
Surprised to not see Mage Armour on this list. I see it on pretty much everyone who can get it except of course Draconic Sorcerers.
Good job again. I really like your content! Please keep it up!
2:58 Hey! It's one of my favorites of my work from Magic! My wife wishes I had not sold the original, but At least I have a print of it on my wall. Happy to see it here in your video. I really should do something with my youtube channel other than posting video game clips. 🙂
As a kid wen we would play 2e, my favorite character was a thief/abjurer. Bending the rules a bit, but I was the richest in the party throughout the whole campaign.
Yaay finally i can play blue in Dnd. My Dm is going to hate me
I was so close to putting a line in the video that said if this were mtg, abjuration would be white and blue, with a touch of green.
Probably not Top 10 worthy, but Armor of Agathys probably deserves an honorable mention. It makes you very scary to attack in close quarters, and gives you a pretty respectable survivability buff.
Gods help the unfortunate soul who attacks a Warlock with Shadow of Moil and Armor of Agathys up, and Hellish Rebuke on standby.
I enjoyed Armor of Agathys in 4e, and it's still pretty cool imo. Takes me back to my goliath barbarian-warlock Kazmthol ...
Drake Ford Armor of Agathys is one of my favorite spells, I once made a character build passed on it
Stunning Fist and Hypnotic Gaze both incapcitate foes, whcih could be used to break Imvulnerabity (or any other concentration spell). Stunning Fist has the potential to be used 4 times in a turn though, even if the damage of every strike was nullified
Stunning fist is amazing
Esper the Bard it makes monks excellent mage slayers I think
Like always ... awesome video :)
Heck yeah keep this shit coming! Crazy how D&D is popular now?!
Countering a counterspell thrown at you is something I'm straight up saying no to in any campaign I run because it makes no sense. You see your spell being countered, so you use counterspell as well to get your initial spell through. To me this is impossible for 3 reasons:
1. Your reaction is somehow faster than the other person's reaction for some reason.
2. You're casting 2 spells during your turn, which the rules generally say no to although it's action + bonus action.
3. You somehow manage to cast counterspell without interrupting the casting of your initial spell, which seems counterintuitive. Especially if your initial spell had somatic components as well.
If you do that, then you make the very powerful counterspell even more powerful.
@@esperthebard so?
you can cast as many spells as you can (action surge gives you two fireballs in a single turn) but if you cast a bonus action spell, you cannot cast any spell but a cantrip
Love the videos. Do you put your play sessions on a podcast or just video? Would love to listen to them.
Played the game from launch (Basic Box) to early 21st century... I believe the change I liked the most was in 3rd Ed. when counterspell wasn't actually a spell but rather a spellcasting ability available to any caster with unused spell slots... Oh well, interesting list, brings back fond memories. Abjuration/Conjuration is always fun to dominate the battleboard...
An old 2E spell that I thought was incredible was Spell Strike but I think it was 8th level evocation. It destroyed a spell that was already cast, reversing that spells consequences. It could bring a character back to life if killed by the spell, bring a wall back that was destroyed, etc...
On the medusa, I'd say it wouldn't help much... I always understood that you looking into those eyes petrifies you..
It's like nothing can come in to harm you, but you can still look outside the anti magic field. Unless you'd say the photons reflecting from her face are magical
I wanted prismatic wall there but cant argue against the list
I like anti magic field, works best for sword or valor bards or blade song wizards.
Invulnerability could make for some hilarious shenanigans.
What do you mean? Are your medusas not shooting concrete from their eyes?
I thought Medusa was cursed with an extreme case of Ugly.
Nice list
Do you have a video on playing a cleric in 5e?
Thanks
Can you do lists for the best spells from each school of magic. I need to figure out a plan for a Transmutation wizard
Shield mage sounds pretty fun tbh, like Teyo from MTG.
my very first D&D character is an abjuration wizard named sedrik.
Right on, hope it goes well for him.
@@MisheardMetal if he can make it to lv3 he should be fine
any time before that he could trip and fall in the campfire take 7 damage fall unconscious and burn to death in silence while everyone sleeps.
Any chance you'll do this sort of thing for the other 7 schools of magic
Everyone forgets the component requirement for Banishment. Banishing Strike is OP but Banishment's components is absolutely what balances it.
Material components that arent consumed are handwaived by having a arcane/divine focus.
@@MrSlutzkin Besides that some casters may not be using a focus then it shouldn't be ignored for those with component pouches.
What's more I don't recall the PHB or DMG saying you should out right ignore components because they have no gold cost. It's entirely up to the DM to say that this component is specific to a creature and might have a gold cost attributed to it.
Ie. Having some of the dirt from the grave a vampire was buried in sanctified or holy water for a ghost.
I believe this is the only spell that acts this way.
"A character can use a component pouch or a spellcasting focus (found in “Equipment”) in place of the components specified for a spell. But if a cost is indicated for a component, a character must have that specific component before he or she can cast the spell."
-PHB
Banishment doesn't specify a cost, so a focus can replace its material component.
@@Jpteryx this right here
@@Jpteryx This right here is an example of fishing.
"Specific Beats General
This compendium contains rules that govern how the game plays. That said, many racial traits, class features, spells, magic items, monster abilities, and other game elements break the general rules in some way, creating an exception to how the rest of the game works. Remember this: If a specific rule contradicts a general rule, the specific rule wins." - PHB
The question is what do you believe is in the component pouch? The assumption is that a caster has properly prepared their pouch for the spells they will use. Except Banishment has a component that changes based on the target of the spell.
Like I said the DMs that run the game as if Banishment's material component cost is a non-factor have only themselves to blame for how OP the spell becomes.
Have you thought of making a Top 10 Monsters that have not made a appearance in 5th edition?
Só I CAN take shield over mage armor?!? I always wanted to do This because
1 Wizards aren't meant to be targeted that I often
2 It looks cooler in my opinion
great
that last picture near the end of the hands casting a lightning spell...why on earth did they have forked nails? That just seems hilariously awkward or annoying to deal with
For the curious, I think he's referring to the picture at 13:10.
Abjuration is imo is the most powerful school, and subclass. Only divination can compete with it.
What would u say is the weakest?
@@Eggsecuter Though both have spells that are absolutely exceptional. Conjuration and Evocation would take the position of weakest.
Though Weakest is still good, just Abjuration and Divination are so over the top,
Leivve idk why but I trust ur opinion lol. What about the other schools?
ohh ur gonna review spells too
Where is the image from at 9:06?
I was expecting mage armor. It’s rare to find a mage without it.
Well, there's a ton of ways one can get armor (warlocks have light armor, many races have armor proficiency or natural armor) and even if you don't, many times a +3 to ac (if you have no armor available) rarely saves you when there's creatures with a +10 or more on their roll. Giving an enemy disadvantage (such as through protection from evil and good) is an average difference of over 3 already, and that's only the start of that spell.
Fair point, even so, mage armor has an 8 hour duration without concentration. You would ideally want on together with other concentration spells.
@@josuanygren I have heard people say shield of faith was bad because "it was only +2ac", except that one is used on targets that are already harder to hit. If you have a playstyle in which mage armor regularly helps you out, it might be a better idea to try a different playstyle.
And since it is a small permanent buff, but most of the time isn't of much use to you, it isn't top 10 worthy except for perhaps the most useful builds.
It's for armor what the spell 'darkvision' is for races without darkvision. It is a nice to have if you don't have an alternative, but only few have to take this alternative.
Soooo i have to say that as an Abjurer wizard myself, Imprisonment is such a disappointing spell in 5e Mechanics it doesn't even deserve to be 9th level.
Good list
But is this more or less just for 5e?
Mainly 5e because there are some 5e specific spells.
The spells mostly span the recent editions, just the mechanics change a bit. Happy gaming!
Is this all 3.5 or 5E? Me and my roommate play 3.5 with a lot of homebrew inspiration and he was curious,
5E, though most of these spells are in 3.5 or earlier
Any chance you could do the same with necromancy spells?
10-blight (all the damage you could ever want at far range)
9-speak with dead (all the secret passwords, secret base locations, and dirt on your enemies you could ever want)
8-clone (one time 3,000GP investment for reusable true resurrection)
7-inflict wounds (high damage and can crit! mix with hold person.)
6-finger of death (got zombies? WANT MORE ZOMBIES!?)
5- bestow curse (with a little imagination this quickly becomes the scariest spell in the game.)
4-danse macabre (bunch of your skeletons just got knocked apart? pick them back up and send them back out WITH A VENGEANCE!!! mix with necromancer wizard.)
3-spare the dying (on a death domain cleric this basically gives your whole party near death immunity)
2-animate dead (BEHOLD MY ARMY OF 20 SKELETON ARCHERS AND 20 ZOMBIE MEAT SHIELDS!!! dont forget to arm your troops~)
1-create undead (BEHOLD MY 4 WIGHT LIEUTENANTS AND THEIR ARMIES OF 48 ZOMBIES!!!)
freakyskull516 lol reading that was like listening to a 1950s commercial and I freaking love it!
What does an anti magic field do to a Warforged?? Or Elemental?
It doesn't affect constructs like warforged or golems, because they have actual spirits. But purely magic-powered constructs like animated objects go inert.
Bards can cast counterspell too right?
Well, with magical secrets they can, but that applies to every spell from every spell list.
It's not a standard bard spell, but they can get it (or any spell) with magical secrets.
@@esperthebard gotcha, i'm still new to the game
@@ccaarrttyy may your adventures be many!
No you can't counterspell a counterspell and still cast the original spell because you would have cast a spell (that counterspell) and you are not allowed to cast 2 spells in the same turn.
"BONUS ACTION
: A spell cast with a bonus action is especially swift. You must use a bonus action on your turn to cast the spell, provided that you haven't already taken a bonus action this turn. You can't cast another spell during the same turn, except for a cantrip with a casting time of 1 action." -PHB 202
Counterspell is a reaction, so you can indeed cast it along with a spell that required an action.
Goodberry is the only spell that exists.
A city's Abjurers are like realm patrol. They deport anyone from another realm, even if that realm is dying!
Does the ant magic field negate itself?
It's not magic per se, you're basically ripping a hole in the weave.
Lol sleet storm that invulnerable wizard. Watch him shit his robes.
pass without trace... the spell I can cast at will with my staff of the woodlands
So you only have played 3.5 and above ? Oh you miss soooooooooooooo much D&D history . I'm sorry . 2nd edition was fun and so was 1.5 . Man there was spells that only gods could have . But now its nerfed for you guys because you dont wany a story only glory smh .
Whoa man that's insane! Hopefully someday we can be 10% as amazing as you. Maybe the gods get their power from you??