In Dungeons & Dragons, it's hard to commit to spellcasting without optimizing your list of prepared spells at least a little. While role-playing is always an important part of the game, picking the wrong spells means that a character becomes almost useless throughout most problem-solving scenarios. Once a caster gets to a high enough level, they really start wasting spell slots if they don't know what they're doing.
Fourth level spells can be a powerful weapon, a useful tool or a complete waste of space depending on which options a player goes with. Certain options so bad that there's seldom ever a reason to choose them, and players unfamiliar with gameplay at higher levels may want to steer clear of them altogether.
Sitting at about the halfway point between the weakest and the strongest a spell can be, the fourth level spells for most classes represents a caster's transition into becoming a true powerhouse. Here, spells allow players to dominate a combat session or dispel an entire problem that could have taken hours with a wave of their hand. For that reason fourth level spell slots are incredibly valuable, especially when they're first gained. That means a caster really needs to be sure they aren't wasting their efforts.
Spells like Confusion show just how inferior some options are. Confusion may seem like an attractive option because of its area of effect, but there is so much potential for failure that the spell is simply not reliable enough to be a viable option. A target can succeed their saving throw, be forced to move in a random direction, attack a random person, not move at all or make their saving throw later on. Spells that require saving throws are already a gamble, but Confusion stacks so many gambles atop one another that all it can create is chaos.
Another chaotic option is Storm Sphere, which wins a lot of cool points for creating a contained maelstrom that fires lightning bolts at targets within its range. However, it absorbs both a caster's concentration and their bonus actions. The damage it is likely to deal just isn't worth it at that level, and casters are almost always better off casting something like Wall of Flame to create more control over the battlefield. Grasping Vine suffers the same problems as Storm Sphere for the Druids and Rangers who seek to use it. These spells just aren't worth the effort it takes to cast them.
Warlocks in particular really need to optimize their spell lists, as there's such a small pool they can utilize every short rest. With that in mind, Warlock spells like Blight and Elemental Bane end up occupying valuable real estate while seldom proving useful. Constitution saves are most monster's highest stat, so these spells will seldom work against a good chunk of the bestiary. It's better to produce damage types few monsters have resistance to anyways (like force or thunder) than to burn a fourth level spell slot to take away those resistances.
Spell slots are a precious commodity. With the wrong spells, a Sorcerer or Wizard may think that they are ready to rule the day only to find out they are poorly equipped to face the threats their Dungeon Master prepared for them. Getting to those higher levels is all about feeling powerful, and these are the wrong spells to pick for those who want to live out that fantasy.
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