D&D: Five of the Worst 5th-Level Spells
What do some of the worst 5th-level spells in D&D look like? Well a lot like this, as you might have guessed from the title.
Alright here we are folks, 5th-level spells. The last of the “players can typically get to these” spells. These are the last “cast them a bunch throughout the day” (relatively speaking) spell levels, so there’s still plenty.
But what do the bad ones look like? Are there even any to begin with? Of course there are! This is the internet, Everything can be bad here if you try hard enough.
Wall of Light
When it comes to 5th-level spells and the words Wall of… there’s a reason you almost never hear “light” after it. Not only is Wall of Force a much, much stronger option, which hurts Wall of Light in comparison, Wall of Light just doesn’t do a whole lot for spellcasters in the first place.
Sure it does some damage and can blind people when it first appears. But that’s only in very specific circumstances. After that, its effects only apply if a creature ends its turn in the area. If it doesn’t, you can not only spend your concentration and your action, but you can also reduce the area of the spell to deal some mediocre (for a 5th-level spell) damage to a creature. Assuming you hit.
Enervation
Enervation is like a worse Witch Bolt. Instead of rolling to hit your target, they make a saving throw, and if they do, you spent your 5th-level spell slot doing a whopping 2d8 damage. If they fail, you do double that, and can potentially heal yourself.
As long as you spend your whole action as an 11th-level spellcaster every round to do 4d8 points of damage, don’t lose concentration, your target moves outside of your spell’s range, you move outside of the spell’s range, or your target gets cover from you. In which case the spell also ends.
Maelstrom
This spell is both weirdly restrictive and ineffective for its level. To begin with, it seems impressive, creativing a 30-foot area of damaging, difficult terrain. But it only deals damage when a creature starts its turn in the area, meaning that, at most you’ll only ever manage to hit a determined creature once.
And by this point, many enemies can fly. So they could bypass it altogether. And if they get hit? A whopping 6d6 points of damage, which you could already beat by just casting many other damaging spells.
Contagion
This spell “poisons” your enemy, assuming they’re not immune. And that’s most likely it. Unless you can somehow make them fail three saving throws before they die, in which case they become subject to a disease that does a little bit more. But when a target takes any effect from it, they’re probably dead anyway.
Insect Plague
And finally, Insect Plague. This spell creates a damaging area, like many others, that is also difficult terrain and lightly obscures itself. However, it takes your concentration, does damage that’s just okay, and again, is too easy to avoid for what it does.
What are your picks for worst 5th-level spells?
