Chill Touch is one of my favs! With so many monsters that resist or are immune to Fire damage, Chill Touch's Necrotic damage is a very solid option, and also has the 120ft range. Wizards get so few Radiant damage options (which pause many monster regeneration abilities) so it gives them a possible solution.
For Prestidigitation, the trinket ability would actually last 12 seconds, not 6. It says it last until the END of your next turn, so it last two turns which is 12 seconds. For Mind Sliver, you'd actually have to cast Mind Sliver as an action and follow it up with a Quickened leveled spell, not the other way around. Since if you cast a spell as a bonus action, you can't cast another spell on your turn unless it's a cantrip with a casting time of 1 action. Definitely a great combo though. I use this combo occasionally on my Warlock/Sorcerer to great effect.
@@adventureswithfrodo2721 That's easy to say. How am I wrong? I DM and have read the rules and the spell and that's how it works. Provide some substance to prove I'm wrong or or shut up and move on.
Eldritch blast is also fairly amazing for the prodigy spellcaster sidekick from Tasha's - all spellcaster sidekicks get to add spellcasting modifier to damage of cantrips at level six, replicating Agonizing Blast, and prodigy spellcasters can use spells from both the warlock and bard spell lists. I honestly like the sidekick rules for prodigy spellcasters better than for either bards or warlocks at low to middle levels. If I know the campaign is never going to get to level 20, I definitely will lobby the DM to allow me to play a sidekick.
@@dndlounge they're also a great way to turn a low-level mob into the BBEG from the DM's side. A level 15 party can have a lot of hubris knocked out of them by a plain old goblin - if he's a level 20 warrior sidekick build.
I have a list of my own for martial characters. Shocking Grasp is a good melee spell attack. Grants advantage against metal armor and the target can not use reactions. Another I've yet to use is Primal Savagry. You have claws or fangs that do acid damage. Everything goes back to normal at the end of the attack. Sword Burst is an area of effect spell. It's a dexterity save or suffer 1d6 force damage. Shillalagh makes a club or a staffce into a magic weapon doing 1d8 damage. Last one minute without concentration.
Encode thoughts is OP. A use i never see for encode thoughts is combining it with detect thoughts. People think it's garbage but it literally lets you steal thoughts and memories from from other wizards. Generally without them even noticing. This would include prepared spells Just read their thoughts, then encode the spell right into your pocket and walk off... congrats, you never need to buy scrolls again, just the scribing cost. Oh yeah, if you aren't a race that needs 8 hours sleep, feel free to pull your own prepared spells out of your head, they last 8 hours, so do a rest, cast mage armour and a bunch of other long duration buffs, scry for the day, etc etc. Then simply hoover up your temporarily removed spells back into your memory and set out fully buffed with a full list of memorised spells. Only downside is if you reach the end of a day with zero spell slots to pull out of your head. Alternatively, you can also pull memorised spells out of your head, rest 4 hours, and then also pull out your newly memorised spells, reabsorb the first set, and just keep the spells you memorised at rest as replacement spells that need to be used within 8 hours. If you want to be tricky and make these last... all you need is one expended spell slot and you can cycle the spell memories through your head, to renew their 8 hour duration. Only limiting factor here is that your swapping slot would need to be high enough to hold anything you feed through it for duration renewal. So cycling will generally require you to be down your highest spell slot, and this becomes more painful if you also multiclassed. That isn't all... you could literally pull counterspell out of an enemy mages mind if you detect it there... unless they enjoy countering your cantrip after detect thoughts goes off... That is why encode thoughts is OP.
I don’t disagree with your ranking, but I’ve gotten a lot of use from Magic Stone, Shape Water, Mold Earth, and Gust. Magic Stone gives magic weapons early and easily. Wear a sling as a belt and a necklace of ornamental stones and you’re never unarmed. Stone Arrowheads give you even greater range. Shape water has a ton of uses, drying things is overlooked. Any gritty survival campaign, this spell shines. Drying a person who fell through the ice, drying soaked wood to make a fire, pulling moisture from a dried river bed. Mold Earth is great for a rogue to take cover and use hide or if you have time, you can shape a battlefield. Gust is a handy movement spell. Pushing enemies or allies, or items. Likewise, it’s handy to disperse fog, spores, poison gases, etc. having a handful of ground up glass or sand to go with that gust is a dirty move for blinding people. Powder poisons likewise could be blown onto your enemies. Blowing dust or mud all over a smug noble in their finery from a hidden position is a great option if you’re petty like me. Also handy when sneaking as wind through trees makes noise to cover any slight sounds you make or kicks up dust obscuring the guards view as you cross an open area. Time a gust readied action with a door opening to create chaos and a distraction. Lastly as a combo with another caster, a bag of flour and wind blowing it is very flammable for any fire spell.
Really love all these uses for the “elemental” cantrips (and magic stone). I’ve got videos for each of these (except Gust), and I’m definitely a fan of all of them…except Gust, which I think falls kind of flat compared to the others. BUT you’ve given me some ideas I hadn’t considered for when I do cover Gust at some point! I guess an assumption in this list (that I didn’t mention) is which cantrips are always going to be good, regardless of your DM or campaign type. But I agree with what you’re getting at here - allowing for some of these creative uses that aren’t explicitly laid out in the spell description brings these spells up to a higher tier. And as long as they’re balanced with other cantrips, that’s a good thing!
I missed Sapping sting! It's an awesome set up for a melee character as on a failed save, the creature drops prone, giving advantage to all the melee attacks, fishing for those sweets nat 20s Also, I would put Minor illusion on the 4th spot, imo it's the best utility cantrip in the game, especially if you are a small creature, you can hide behind your illusion and gain total cover from it (no AC bonus tho), which would make you an invalid target for spellcasting since there's not a clear path to the target (spellcasting rules)
Very good point on Minor Illusion, probably should've shown in it a bit more love! As to Sapping Sting, I should have clarified in the video - I only considered spells from the main three sourcebooks. Definitely would have made the cut otherwise :)
A good list. I would have put it in a different order and I would have dropped one of them in favor of Minor Illusion. This cantrip allows you to get creative in deceiving people. The biggest problem is for the player to remember to use it.
Thanks! I kinda slipped Minor Illusion into the same slot as Prestidigitation...but I think I should've done it the other way around on second thought. Order is definitely arguable :)
You forgot one of the very most useful cantrips in the whole game... "Mold Earth". You can do tons of useful stuff with it. Here's a list what I can imagine doing with mold earth alone: - You can dig up a trench and use the excavated earth as a wall right behind that trench. (10 ft height from the bottom of the hole up to the top of the earthen wall the enemy must overcome) -> The enemy takes additional falling damage and perhaps goes prone once you throw them back into the hole :D - You can push an enemy back into the hole with different actions like gust, making it difficult for the enemy to reach the top. - You can make the bottom of the hole difficult terrain or smoothen one side of the hole becoming "slippery". So every enemy without climbing speed will waste a lot of movement to reach the top of the wall. - You can redirect a river or lava stream etc., flood an area or prevent an area being flooded by building a small dam (works awesome together with fabricate or several characters with mold earth cantrip.) - You can strengthen and fortify the defence of a position / camp / town or one side of a bridge etc. - You can block a corridor or hallway with earth or unblock a collapsed tunnel. - You can seal, cover or disguise a sewer entrance or fix a hole on a house / dam / wall etc. - You can carve out a river, lake or creek to become deeper. - You can set up a trap, wooden spikes (or poisoned spikes), glyphs, bonfire and so on in the excavated hole to cause extra damage. - You can make 10x5ft rectangle on the ground in front of you difficult terrrain (up to 1hr) for additional battleflied movement-control or create a 10x5 ft rectangle behind you while you try to escape from a battle or guards etc. - You can create a wall between you and your enemy within 1 round that gives you 3/4 or full cover (depending on your height) and eventually break line of sight of an enemy spellcaster or archer that is targeting you or someone in the group, provide extra cover for wounded allies or cover a VIP you have to escort. - You can build earthen steps (shapes) next to a wall and just use those steps to get ontop of that wall without climbing. - You can leave a message on the ground. e.g. if you are being kidnapped or chasing an enemy or suspicious person while your grp is minutes or up tp one hour behind you. - You can make footsteps (shapes) to mislead people or guards or set up an ambush while goblins look at the footsteps and turn their back on you (while you hide in a bush). - You can build a small well to gain access to water. - You can push an enemy 5ft away with the excavated 5ft cube of loose earth for additional movement-control. (causes no damage but moves the earth and in conclution the enemy behind that earth away) - You can use the excavated earth of the two 1 hour duration actions to form a 10ft high "tower" right under your feet so melee enemies have a hard time to reach you. And you don't even need to move. - You can intimidate a person by putting them into the hole and filling it up again with earth until only the head of that person is above the ground. Coat their head with honey and wait until the fireants start crawling and biting on the persons head. (Also good for tort*re to get some information) - You can instantaneously excavate a 5ft cube earth right unter the enemies feet causing them to fall into the hole and throwing the 5ft cube of earth ontop of the enemy. He will be buried alive under 500 - 700 pounds of earth. Despite the cantrip "mold earth" causing no damage itself the lack of space makes the enemy unable to move in any way and the lack of oxygen will let the enemy suffocate within a few minutes (depending on the con modifier of the creature). So you CAN inflict deadly damage to enemies by indirectly remove oxygen and the ability to move around them!! Also Jeremy Crawford said on a post on April 26, 2016 (Twitter / X) that "lose earth" only excludes (solid) stone. So you reasonable can dig a tunnel with that cantrip until you reach a solid fundament or stone. That includes excavating clay as well. This is what I call a "creative"-spell like fabricate, wish, prestidigitation or some illusionary spells and can be heavily influenced / restricted by your DM. So just talk with your DM what he/she will allow with that cantrip. It's super versatile by changing your environment to your advantage for combat, puzzles, utility, exploration and even some limited use in social encounters. It's free, no concentration required, no attack/saving/proficiency throw needed, a duration up to 1 hour and only needs 1 round (6 seconds) to cast without any material cost and no verbal component (only somatic component -> silent cast!) up to 30ft range. A MUST-HAVE in my opinion.
Mold Earth. I stopped counting at 12 bodies I've disposed of with this cantrip. Furthermore, you don't have to excavate all 5', you can make a foxhole too. With enough prep you can make trench system for NPCs defense ala Seven Samurai.
Up casting viscous mockery tier 3. creature must attack you next. Tier 6 creature must attack your chosen Alli next. Tier 9 creature must attack whatever you say next.
Haha, no doubt -- I actually have a video called "the prone condition is underrated" (ua-cam.com/video/G6KwLKg-Xoo/v-deo.html). As to why no Sapping Sting, I should've said in the video -- I was only considering spells in the main three sourcebooks. Otherwise, it definitely would've made the cut!
Mage Hand not doing damage is proven by mythbusters the average punch from a boxer (and reasonably most adventurers ) is between 500 and 700 pounds mage hand can only hit with 10 pounds. That being said use mage hand to poke 'em in the eyes as a help action or stab yourself to fake an attack (Ive always ruled that this would deal 1 damagebut only if dont to yourself)
Mage hand , Prestidigitation or Minor Illusion can't do any harm. YES but If you pair them with some thing and do a few setup. You could wreck a few things. Prestidigitation will let you make a lot of gold if used right without "stealing" cons Depening on how your DM let you soil things. You could end fights real quick with clothes wearing beings mage hand is the reason bag of holding weights 15 pound. Flaming fist. yeah 9 pounds of lard in the hand on fire. In someone face does how much damage Minor Illusion Bottle shape and color at one time was real important. They both let you know what was in your hand because a lot of people could not read. it would be a shame if the color or shaped change Fear of heights is a common thing. So I'm sure you would not just run in a room with a deep pit. their a little path to the side you could wall on to get to the other side . Be careful and walk slowly.
Fantastic video as always! Your perspective on how to actually use the mechanics of the game outside of DPS it’s so refreshing.
Really appreciate that, thanks!
Chill Touch is one of my favs! With so many monsters that resist or are immune to Fire damage, Chill Touch's Necrotic damage is a very solid option, and also has the 120ft range.
Wizards get so few Radiant damage options (which pause many monster regeneration abilities) so it gives them a possible solution.
For Prestidigitation, the trinket ability would actually last 12 seconds, not 6. It says it last until the END of your next turn, so it last two turns which is 12 seconds.
For Mind Sliver, you'd actually have to cast Mind Sliver as an action and follow it up with a Quickened leveled spell, not the other way around. Since if you cast a spell as a bonus action, you can't cast another spell on your turn unless it's a cantrip with a casting time of 1 action. Definitely a great combo though. I use this combo occasionally on my Warlock/Sorcerer to great effect.
You are wrong about the trinket.
@@adventureswithfrodo2721 That's easy to say. How am I wrong? I DM and have read the rules and the spell and that's how it works. Provide some substance to prove I'm wrong or or shut up and move on.
Eldritch blast is also fairly amazing for the prodigy spellcaster sidekick from Tasha's - all spellcaster sidekicks get to add spellcasting modifier to damage of cantrips at level six, replicating Agonizing Blast, and prodigy spellcasters can use spells from both the warlock and bard spell lists. I honestly like the sidekick rules for prodigy spellcasters better than for either bards or warlocks at low to middle levels. If I know the campaign is never going to get to level 20, I definitely will lobby the DM to allow me to play a sidekick.
Very cool, I didn't know that. I gotta look into sidekicks more...
@@dndlounge they're also a great way to turn a low-level mob into the BBEG from the DM's side. A level 15 party can have a lot of hubris knocked out of them by a plain old goblin - if he's a level 20 warrior sidekick build.
I have a list of my own for martial characters. Shocking Grasp is a good melee spell attack. Grants advantage against metal armor and the target can not use reactions. Another I've yet to use is Primal Savagry. You have claws or fangs that do acid damage. Everything goes back to normal at the end of the attack. Sword Burst is an area of effect spell. It's a dexterity save or suffer 1d6 force damage. Shillalagh makes a club or a staffce into a magic weapon doing 1d8 damage. Last one minute without concentration.
Great options, I’m an especially big fan of shocking grasp on gish charactees
Encode thoughts is OP.
A use i never see for encode thoughts is combining it with detect thoughts. People think it's garbage but it literally lets you steal thoughts and memories from from other wizards. Generally without them even noticing. This would include prepared spells
Just read their thoughts, then encode the spell right into your pocket and walk off... congrats, you never need to buy scrolls again, just the scribing cost.
Oh yeah, if you aren't a race that needs 8 hours sleep, feel free to pull your own prepared spells out of your head, they last 8 hours, so do a rest, cast mage armour and a bunch of other long duration buffs, scry for the day, etc etc. Then simply hoover up your temporarily removed spells back into your memory and set out fully buffed with a full list of memorised spells.
Only downside is if you reach the end of a day with zero spell slots to pull out of your head.
Alternatively, you can also pull memorised spells out of your head, rest 4 hours, and then also pull out your newly memorised spells, reabsorb the first set, and just keep the spells you memorised at rest as replacement spells that need to be used within 8 hours.
If you want to be tricky and make these last... all you need is one expended spell slot and you can cycle the spell memories through your head, to renew their 8 hour duration.
Only limiting factor here is that your swapping slot would need to be high enough to hold anything you feed through it for duration renewal. So cycling will generally require you to be down your highest spell slot, and this becomes more painful if you also multiclassed.
That isn't all... you could literally pull counterspell out of an enemy mages mind if you detect it there... unless they enjoy countering your cantrip after detect thoughts goes off...
That is why encode thoughts is OP.
I don’t disagree with your ranking, but I’ve gotten a lot of use from Magic Stone, Shape Water, Mold Earth, and Gust.
Magic Stone gives magic weapons early and easily. Wear a sling as a belt and a necklace of ornamental stones and you’re never unarmed. Stone Arrowheads give you even greater range.
Shape water has a ton of uses, drying things is overlooked. Any gritty survival campaign, this spell shines. Drying a person who fell through the ice, drying soaked wood to make a fire, pulling moisture from a dried river bed.
Mold Earth is great for a rogue to take cover and use hide or if you have time, you can shape a battlefield.
Gust is a handy movement spell. Pushing enemies or allies, or items. Likewise, it’s handy to disperse fog, spores, poison gases, etc. having a handful of ground up glass or sand to go with that gust is a dirty move for blinding people. Powder poisons likewise could be blown onto your enemies. Blowing dust or mud all over a smug noble in their finery from a hidden position is a great option if you’re petty like me. Also handy when sneaking as wind through trees makes noise to cover any slight sounds you make or kicks up dust obscuring the guards view as you cross an open area. Time a gust readied action with a door opening to create chaos and a distraction. Lastly as a combo with another caster, a bag of flour and wind blowing it is very flammable for any fire spell.
Really love all these uses for the “elemental” cantrips (and magic stone). I’ve got videos for each of these (except Gust), and I’m definitely a fan of all of them…except Gust, which I think falls kind of flat compared to the others. BUT you’ve given me some ideas I hadn’t considered for when I do cover Gust at some point!
I guess an assumption in this list (that I didn’t mention) is which cantrips are always going to be good, regardless of your DM or campaign type. But I agree with what you’re getting at here - allowing for some of these creative uses that aren’t explicitly laid out in the spell description brings these spells up to a higher tier. And as long as they’re balanced with other cantrips, that’s a good thing!
Definitely a strong list. Even getting a couple of these on a character is definitely optimal.
Very solid picks for Cantrips! Great vid :) I would say that Minor Illusion (and to some extent presdigitation) are dependent on GM. But yeah...
Thank you! Yeaaa are always at the mercy of DM fiat to some degree, but they’re so much fun with the right DM
I missed Sapping sting! It's an awesome set up for a melee character as on a failed save, the creature drops prone, giving advantage to all the melee attacks, fishing for those sweets nat 20s
Also, I would put Minor illusion on the 4th spot, imo it's the best utility cantrip in the game, especially if you are a small creature, you can hide behind your illusion and gain total cover from it (no AC bonus tho), which would make you an invalid target for spellcasting since there's not a clear path to the target (spellcasting rules)
Very good point on Minor Illusion, probably should've shown in it a bit more love! As to Sapping Sting, I should have clarified in the video - I only considered spells from the main three sourcebooks. Definitely would have made the cut otherwise :)
Such a great video
A good list. I would have put it in a different order and I would have dropped one of them in favor of Minor Illusion. This cantrip allows you to get creative in deceiving people. The biggest problem is for the player to remember to use it.
Thanks! I kinda slipped Minor Illusion into the same slot as Prestidigitation...but I think I should've done it the other way around on second thought. Order is definitely arguable :)
You forgot one of the very most useful cantrips in the whole game... "Mold Earth".
You can do tons of useful stuff with it. Here's a list what I can imagine doing with mold earth alone:
- You can dig up a trench and use the excavated earth as a wall right behind that trench. (10 ft height from the bottom of the hole up to the top of the earthen wall the enemy must overcome) -> The enemy takes additional falling damage and perhaps goes prone once you throw them back into the hole :D
- You can push an enemy back into the hole with different actions like gust, making it difficult for the enemy to reach the top.
- You can make the bottom of the hole difficult terrain or smoothen one side of the hole becoming "slippery". So every enemy without climbing speed will waste a lot of movement to reach the top of the wall.
- You can redirect a river or lava stream etc., flood an area or prevent an area being flooded by building a small dam (works awesome together with fabricate or several characters with mold earth cantrip.)
- You can strengthen and fortify the defence of a position / camp / town or one side of a bridge etc.
- You can block a corridor or hallway with earth or unblock a collapsed tunnel.
- You can seal, cover or disguise a sewer entrance or fix a hole on a house / dam / wall etc.
- You can carve out a river, lake or creek to become deeper.
- You can set up a trap, wooden spikes (or poisoned spikes), glyphs, bonfire and so on in the excavated hole to cause extra damage.
- You can make 10x5ft rectangle on the ground in front of you difficult terrrain (up to 1hr) for additional battleflied movement-control or create a 10x5 ft rectangle behind you while you try to escape from a battle or guards etc.
- You can create a wall between you and your enemy within 1 round that gives you 3/4 or full cover (depending on your height) and eventually break line of sight of an enemy spellcaster or archer that is targeting you or someone in the group, provide extra cover for wounded allies or cover a VIP you have to escort.
- You can build earthen steps (shapes) next to a wall and just use those steps to get ontop of that wall without climbing.
- You can leave a message on the ground. e.g. if you are being kidnapped or chasing an enemy or suspicious person while your grp is minutes or up tp one hour behind you.
- You can make footsteps (shapes) to mislead people or guards or set up an ambush while goblins look at the footsteps and turn their back on you (while you hide in a bush).
- You can build a small well to gain access to water.
- You can push an enemy 5ft away with the excavated 5ft cube of loose earth for additional movement-control. (causes no damage but moves the earth and in conclution the enemy behind that earth away)
- You can use the excavated earth of the two 1 hour duration actions to form a 10ft high "tower" right under your feet so melee enemies have a hard time to reach you. And you don't even need to move.
- You can intimidate a person by putting them into the hole and filling it up again with earth until only the head of that person is above the ground. Coat their head with honey and wait until the fireants start crawling and biting on the persons head. (Also good for tort*re to get some information)
- You can instantaneously excavate a 5ft cube earth right unter the enemies feet causing them to fall into the hole and throwing the 5ft cube of earth ontop of the enemy. He will be buried alive under 500 - 700 pounds of earth. Despite the cantrip "mold earth" causing no damage itself the lack of space makes the enemy unable to move in any way and the lack of oxygen will let the enemy suffocate within a few minutes (depending on the con modifier of the creature).
So you CAN inflict deadly damage to enemies by indirectly remove oxygen and the ability to move around them!!
Also Jeremy Crawford said on a post on April 26, 2016 (Twitter / X) that "lose earth" only excludes (solid) stone.
So you reasonable can dig a tunnel with that cantrip until you reach a solid fundament or stone. That includes excavating clay as well.
This is what I call a "creative"-spell like fabricate, wish, prestidigitation or some illusionary spells and can be heavily influenced / restricted by your DM.
So just talk with your DM what he/she will allow with that cantrip.
It's super versatile by changing your environment to your advantage for combat, puzzles, utility, exploration and even some limited use in social encounters.
It's free, no concentration required, no attack/saving/proficiency throw needed, a duration up to 1 hour and only needs 1 round (6 seconds) to cast without any material cost and no verbal component (only somatic component -> silent cast!) up to 30ft range. A MUST-HAVE in my opinion.
My other go to is shocking grasp as a "I need to shut down reactions now".
Good list, Guidance and Minor Illusion really should be ranked higher though.
Mold Earth. I stopped counting at 12 bodies I've disposed of with this cantrip. Furthermore, you don't have to excavate all 5', you can make a foxhole too. With enough prep you can make trench system for NPCs defense ala Seven Samurai.
When you take magic initiate to put vicious mockery on a sorcerer
Up casting viscous mockery tier 3. creature must attack you next. Tier 6 creature must attack your chosen Alli next. Tier 9 creature must attack whatever you say next.
No Sapping Sting ? Prone condition is so under rated ...
Haha, no doubt -- I actually have a video called "the prone condition is underrated" (ua-cam.com/video/G6KwLKg-Xoo/v-deo.html). As to why no Sapping Sting, I should've said in the video -- I was only considering spells in the main three sourcebooks. Otherwise, it definitely would've made the cut!
Mage Hand not doing damage is proven by mythbusters the average punch from a boxer (and reasonably most adventurers ) is between 500 and 700 pounds mage hand can only hit with 10 pounds. That being said use mage hand to poke 'em in the eyes as a help action or stab yourself to fake an attack (Ive always ruled that this would deal 1 damagebut only if dont to yourself)
Mage hand can NOT attack. So your comment is pointless. And it does not say how hare mage hand could punch it just says how much it can lift.
You CANNOT cast a leveled spell as your ACTION if you cast ANY bonus action spell - ONLY a cantrip.
Mage hand , Prestidigitation or Minor Illusion can't do any harm.
YES but If you pair them with some thing and do a few setup. You could wreck a few things.
Prestidigitation will let you make a lot of gold if used right without "stealing" cons
Depening on how your DM let you soil things. You could end fights real quick with clothes wearing beings
mage hand is the reason bag of holding weights 15 pound.
Flaming fist. yeah 9 pounds of lard in the hand on fire. In someone face does how much damage
Minor Illusion
Bottle shape and color at one time was real important. They both let you know what was in your hand because a lot of people could not read. it would be a shame if the color or shaped change
Fear of heights is a common thing. So I'm sure you would not just run in a room with a deep pit. their a little path to the side you could wall on to get to the other side . Be careful and walk slowly.