Spells That Don't Suck

Spells

Expulsion

4th-level abjuration

• Classes: Cleric, Paladin, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard
• Casting Time: 1 action
• Range: 60 feet
• Components: V, S, M (an item the target abhors)
• Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute
• Replaces: Banishment

You brandish a repellent item at a creature you can see within range and attempt to expel them from this plane. The target must make a Charisma saving throw. On a failure, they are partly wrenched off their current plane. For the duration, they become incapacitated and gain resistance to all damage.

The target makes another Charisma save at the end of each of their turns, ending the spell on a success. Creatures on their home plane continue making saves for the duration. Extraplanar creatures failing their second Charisma save disappear from their current plane entirely. Extraplanar creatures failing the third Charisma save are banished back to their home plane and stop attempting saving throws. If you maintain concentration for the full duration, this banishment becomes permanent.

A target that returns reappears in the space it left or in the nearest unoccupied space if that space is occupied.

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 5th level or higher, you can target one additional creature for each slot level above 4th.

False Death

3rd-level necromancy

• Classes: Bard, Cleric, Druid, Wizard
• Casting Time: 1 action
• Range: Touch
• Components: V, S, M (a pinch of graveyard dirt)
• Duration: 8 hours
• Replaces: Feign Death

You touch a willing creature, charging it with necrotic magic and allowing it to mimic death. The target gains 10 temporary hit points for the duration.

As an action, or as a reaction to being hit with an attack or taking damage, the target can appear dead to all outward inspection and to spells used to determine the target's status. If the target breathes, its respiration is undetectable.

While in this false state, the target drops prone, can see and hear normally, and has resistance to all damage except psychic damage. The false state ends if the target moves or takes an action, bonus action or reaction.

The spell ends once the target has left the false state. Additionally, you can use an action to touch the target and dismiss the spell.

If the target is diseased or poisoned when you cast the spell, or becomes diseased or poisoned while under the spell's effect, the disease and poison have no effect until the spell ends.

Ghost Lights

Evocation cantrip

• Classes: Bard, Sorcerer, Wizard
• Casting Time: 1 action
• Range: 120 feet
• Components: V, S, M (a bit of tungsten or hickory, or a firefly)
• Duration: 10 minutes
• Replaces: Dancing Lights

You create up to four small lights within range that hover in the air for the duration. Each light may appear as you wish (torch, lantern, glowing orb, etc.) and can be colored as you like. Whichever form you choose, each light sheds dim light in a 15-foot radius.

As a bonus action on your turn, you can move the lights up to 60 feet to a new space within range. A light must be within 30 feet of another light created by this spell, and a light winks out if it exceeds the spell's range. If you cast this spell again, any current lights you created with this spell instantly wink out.

Ghost Touch

Necromancy cantrip

• Classes: Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard
• Casting Time: 1 action
• Range: 120 feet
• Components: V, S
• Duration: 1 round
• Replaces: Chill Touch

You create an intangible, cadaverous hand that latches onto a creature within range, assailing its life force. Make a ranged spell attack against the target. On a hit, the target takes 1d8 necrotic damage, and it can't regain hit points until the start of your next turn.

If you hit an undead target, it has disadvantage on attack rolls against you until the end of your next turn.

This spell's damage increases by 1d8 when you reach 5th level (2d8), 11th level (3d8), and 17th level (4d8).

Hailstorm

4th-level conjuration

• Classes: Druid, Sorcerer, Wizard
• Casting Time: 1 action
• Range: 300 feet
• Components: V, S, M (a piece of onion and a droplet of water)
• Duration: Instantaneous
• Replaces: Ice Storm

Balls of ice slam to the ground in a 20-foot-radius, 40-foot-high cylinder centered on a point within range until the end of your next turn. The balls of ice turn the storm's area of effect into difficult terrain until the end of your next turn. At the start of each of their turns, creatures in the cylinder must make a Dexterity saving throw. A creature takes 5d4 bludgeoning damage and 5d4 cold damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 5th level or higher, the bludgeoning and cold damage each increase by 1d4 for each slot level above 4th. Additionally, the radius and height increase by 5 feet for each slot level above 4th.

Imbue Element

3rd-level transmutation

• Classes: Druid, Ranger, Paladin
• Casting Time: 1 action
• Range: Touch
• Components: V, S
• Duration: Concentration (1 hour)
• Replaces: Elemental Weapon

You touch a melee weapon and enhance it with elemental power. Choose one of the following damage types: acid, cold, fire, or lightning. For the duration, the weapon deals 1d6 bonus damage per hit, and the weapon's base damage is of the chosen type. In addition, once per round after a creature takes damage from the weapon, they suffer an effect based on the damage type chosen:

• Acid: The target takes 2d4 acid damage at the end of their next turn.
• Cold: The target's movement speed is reduced by half.
• Fire: The target takes 1d6 additional fire damage.
• Lightning: The target can't take reactions until the end of their next turn.

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 5th or 6th level, the bonus damage increases to 2d6. When you use a spell slot of 7th level or higher, the bonus damage increases to 3d6.

Lashing Vine

2nd-level conjuration

• Classes: Druid, Ranger
• Casting Time: 1 bonus action
• Range: 30 feet
• Components: V, S
• Duration: 1 minute
• Replaces: Grasping Vine

You cause a magical vine to burst forth from the ground, wall, or ceiling in an unoccupied space of your choice that you can see within range. The vine has an AC and hit points equal to your spell save DC, and the spell ends if you cast it again while a vine remains. When you cast this spell, and then as a bonus action on each of your turns until the spell ends, you can direct the vine to pull a large or smaller creature within 30 feet of it that you can see. That creature must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw or be pulled 20 feet directly toward the vine.

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 3rd level or higher, the range and distance the vine can pull a creature increases by 10 feet for each slot level above 2nd. If you cast this spell using a spell slot of 4th level or higher, the vine can attempt to pull huge or smaller creatures.

Petrify

6th-level transmutation

• Classes: Warlock, Wizard
• Casting Time: 1 action
• Range: 60 feet
• Components: V, S, M (a pinch of chalk, water, and dirt)
• Duration: Concentration, up to 3 rounds
• Replaces: Flesh to Stone

You attempt to petrify a creature that you can see within range. If the target's body is made of flesh, the creature must make a Constitution saving throw. If the saving throw fails by 5 or more, the creature is instantly petrified; otherwise, a creature that fails the save begins to turn to stone and is restrained.

A creature restrained by this spell must make another Constitution saving throw at the end of each of its turns. If it successfully saves against this spell three times, the spell ends; if it fails its save, it is petrified.

The petrification lasts until the creature is freed by the greater restoration spell or other magic.

If the creature is physically broken while petrified, it suffers from similar damage if it reverts to its original state.

Siphon Life

3rd-level necromancy

• Classes: Cleric, Wizard
• Casting Time: 1 action
• Range: 30 feet
• Components: V, S
• Duration: Instantaneous
• Replaces: Life Transference

You gesture at two creatures within range, redirecting the life force from one to heal another within range. One creature of your choice within 30 feet of you that you can see must make a Constitution saving throw. On a failure, the target takes 4d8 damage, which can't be reduced in any way, and another creature of your choice that you can see within 30 feet of your target regains an equivalent number of hit points.

A creature can willingly fail this save.

The spell has no effect on constructs or undead.

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 4th level or higher, the damage increases by 1d8 for each slot level above 3rd.

Stinging Insects

Conjuration cantrip

• Classes: Druid, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard
• Casting Time: 1 action
• Range: 30 feet
• Components: V, S, M (six sugar crystals)
• Duration: Instantaneous
• Replaces: Infestation

You cause a cloud of biting, stinging insects to appear near one creature you can see within range. The target must make a Constitution saving throw. On failure, it takes 1d4 piercing damage and 1d4 poison damage and moves 5 feet in a direction of your choice. The creature doesn't move into obviously dangerous ground, such as a fire or a pit.

The spell's damage increases by 1d4 when you reach 5th level (2d4+2d4), 11th level (3d4+3d4), and 17th level (4d4+4d4).

Stormcloud

4th-level evocation

• Classes: Sorcerer, Wizard
• Casting Time: 1 action
• Range: 150 feet
• Components: V, S
• Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute
• Replaces: Storm Sphere

A 20-foot-radius sphere charged with crackling lightning and rumbling shockwaves appears centered on a point you choose within range. The sphere remains for the spell's duration; at the beginning of each of your turns, you can move the sphere up to 10 feet in a direction of your choice. The sphere spreads around corners, and its area is lightly obscured, difficult terrain. Creatures inside the sphere are deafened; creatures within 30 feet of the sphere have disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks made to listen.

Until the spell ends, you can use a bonus action on each of your turns to direct a lightning strike from the sphere's center at one creature you choose within 60 feet of the center. Make a ranged spell attack. You have advantage on the attack roll if the target is in the sphere. On a hit, the target takes 4d8 lightning damage.

After this lightning strike, each creature in the sphere must succeed on a Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, a creature takes 4d8 thunder damage, or half as much damage on a successful save.

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 5th level or higher, the damage for each of its effects increases by 1d8 for each slot level above 4th.

Thunder Burst

Evocation cantrip

• Classes: Bard, Druid, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard
• Casting Time: 1 action
• Range: Self (5-foot radius)
• Components: S
• Duration: Instantaneous
• Replaces: Thunderclap

You create a burst of cracking sound that can be heard up to 100 feet away. All other creatures within 5 feet of you must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or take 1d8 thunder damage and be deafened until the end of their next turn.

The spell's damage increases by 1d8 when you reach 5th level (2d8), 11th level (3d8), and 17th level (4d8).

Unearth Legend

5th-level divination (ritual)

• Classes: Bard, Cleric, Wizard
• Casting Time: 10 minutes
• Range: Self
• Components: V, S, M (rare gems worth at least 250 gp, which the spell consumes, and a jeweled notebook worth at least 200 gp)
• Duration: 1 week
• Replaces: Legend Lore

You contact an otherwordly entity, offering it the gems used in the spell's casting in exchange for the history of a person, place, or object. The entity tells you everything it knows about the subject (typically well-known lore or widely-told stories).

After it is contacted, the entity researches the subject for up to 1 week. Its discoveries appear as writing in the jeweled notebook. It might learn obscure myths, forgotten legends, or even lost secrets. The more information you possess when you cast the spell, the faster and more detailed the results will be. The entity may not understand the information it finds, and so might impart unsolved riddles, confusing poems, or other puzzling communications. Once the entity has conveyed everything it can discover, the spell ends.

Changelog (Main Doc)

Appendix 1: Replacements

Appendix 2: Design Notes

Ice Storm

Replaced With: Hailstorm

Ice Storm is just a garbage spell. Its damage is below the curve, and one round of difficult terrain isn't very impactful. Having two different size of damage dice is weird, too (though that has some fans). Mostly this got a damage buff so it doesn't underwhelm quite so hard, but also got a relatively-unique AoE scaling for upcast, to help distinguish it from fireball.

• Buffed Damage
• Added AHL AoE scaling

Infestation

Replaced With: Stinging Insects

The original isn't terrible, just a little underwhelming. Strong save, weak damage, and random movement is fiddly to adjudicate and hard to use.

• Buffed damage from 1d6 poison to 2d4 poison/piercing
• Made movement non-random

Legend Lore

Replaced With: Unearth Legend

The original spell here was very limited, and very annoying for a DM. Unless you know in advance your players are planning to cast LL, you'll just sound dopey trying to improvise a poem or riddle on the spot.

• No longer requires target to be "of legendary importance"
• Allows ritual casting
• Returns information slowly over a week, which probably gives the DM enough time to push the big reveal to next week's session and write a poem for it

Life Transference

Replaced With: Siphon Life The original's quite niche, and consequently very rarely taken. It's very difficult to use unless your wizard has a reliable way to recover the health, and logically, it's not clear why the caster's health is worth twice as much for somebody else.

• Removed 2x healing for 1x damage (never made sense)
• Target other creatures except constructs or undead

Polymorph

Replaced With: Animal Transformation

Polymorph was just pretty obviously too strong. Polymorphing allies into Giant Apes was extremely disruptive, and if the enemy couldn't break your concentration, just produced a giant wall of meat to chop through.

• Changed save from Wis to Cha (buff)
• Allow a save every turn to recover from baleful polymorph (nerf)
• Capped CR at spell level or character level, whichever's lower (big nerf)

Storm Sphere

Replaced With: Stormcloud

Storm Sphere's a spell that's fine, but it's a hybrid spell (in this case, AoE & ongoing-single-target). Most hybrid spells suffer because they're a little crap at both individual functions, so you generally decide what you want to do more and pick a more-focused spell for that. This primarily got a damage buff, but then also got some (beautifully thematic if I say so myself) mechanical changes to help distinguish itself from its main competitor, Sickening Radiance.

• Added ability to move the sphere
• Took away the initial damage; replaced it with lightning damage for the bolt's target and thunder damage for folks in the sphere.
• Added deafened condition because it really should have it.

Thunderclap

Replaced With: Thunder Burst

Fairly weak damage for what it was, but mostly this one's a language cleanup and making it more consistent with other spells.

• Language update and range now self, 5 foot radius like sword burst (corrects silly questions, there's a reason TCoE updated SCAG)
• Damage increase
• Niche rider: deafened until the end of its next turn

Tiny Hut

Replaced With: Arcane Shelter

Broadly, Tiny Hut works fine for guaranteeing a safe rest, but is too tempting for parties to try and set up cheesy fights where it gets used as invincible cover. So the changes attempt to preserve its role while making it much harder to use in combat.

• Fails if there's not enough space (so you can't block a passageway)
• Changed from evocation to abjuration
• 10 minute cast time instead of 1m (reduces cheese)
• Projectiles can't pass through (no archers sitting inside)
• Moving through costs 25' (no darting out, attacking, darting back in)
• Made it fully translucent instead of one-way visible (so you're sacrificing good information about what's happening outside)
• Doesn't forbid Large creatures (large PC rules will happen at some point)

Sword Burst

Replaced With: Blade Burst

Very small change here - there's no good reason for the spell to do force damage. It's literally swords.

• Changed damage type from force to piercing. that's it.