With so many rulebooks and manuals, it is clear that Dungeons and Dragons is one of the most complex TTRPGs currently in edition, so players are always misjudging spells and combat abilities.
To make things a bit clearer for both DMs and players, here are some of the typical spells that players tend to use incorrectly, and how their correct use can be truly game-changing for both players and game masters. Stick around, adventurers, you might find a new way to use one of your favorite spells!
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10 Lay Of The Land
The Most Misused Spell in the Divination School
First on the list, we have Lay of the Land, a Divination spell that has sparked debate through and through. Some are confused as to how this spell works, and tend to use it as a compass, while others believe it's some sort of magical GPS: It is not. What this spell does is reveal an extremely accurate image of the distribution of geographical landmarks like villages, hamlets, and other areas highly populated (or not) in the surrounding area.
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It does have its limits, a 50-mile radius from the spot where it was cast. What this spell doesn't do: Detect enemies, detect treasure, or detect ambushes. So, no, it's not a magic radar or an enemy detection system. It's basically drawing a map of the zone in the mind of the druid, and using said knowledge to guide the party, which is extremely OP! If players used it correctly, that is.
9 Goodberry
It's Not A Healing Cheat, It's Something More Useful
For some reason, players believe the Druid transmutation spell Goodberry is a way to cheat death by consuming a bunch of berries all at the same time. Well, it's not. For starters, consuming more than one berry would have no further healing effect, except for recovering 1 HP, and filling their bellies for exactly 24 hours. But that's where the utility of the spell resides.
The creature that eats the berry doesn't need to procure food for 24 hours, which also overrules the necessity of having rations to complete a long rest. So long as there's a Druid in the party with this spell in their cooking book, there will be no need to waste rations, or sending the Barbarian and Ranger into a potential (and probably stupid) hunting accident. Used correctly, it becomes game-changing.
8 Fireball
Everyone Uses This Spell Wrong. Everyone!
With the advent of popular role-playing streaming and the meme culture, the Fireball spell has become some sort of popular joke among fans of Dungeons & Dragons (both old and newcomers). And there's always that wizard or sorcerer at the party who loves to hurl a Fireball spell at a pack of goblins, in an enclosed space: Big mistake. Fireball is not intended to be only a direct attack spell, and the friendly fire component of it speaks of an unwritten rule about the utility of magic. Most AoE spells, believe it or not, are used for war and advanced tactics. Fireball is one of those spells, and it has a double utility: Crowd control and ambush tactics.
The secondary effect of the spell (the blast radius plus, capability to destroy structures around it) is what makes this spell such an advantageous battle tactic for siege and warcraft. Imagine being holed up in the castle battlements, and receiving a direct hit from a well-placed Fireball spell: It will destroy everything. The other important use is crowd control: Most AoE spells, have a lingering effect (that many GMs decide to ignore), and Fireball can leave a trail of fire and destroy terrain (if the DM plays by the rules). In most cases, this means that after the enemies survive the absolute fear of being ambushed by a huge explosion out of nowhere (that can also be cast in parable or called down from the sky), they will have to travel across difficult (probably burning) terrain to reach the point of origin of the spell.
7 Misty Step
It's Not A Low-Budget Teleport, Stop Using It Wrong
For some reason, players tend to believe that the Misty Step spell (which is a level 2 spell, by the way) can do more than simply displace the caster from its current spot to a place where they have a clear line of sight. It cannot be used to go through windows, holes in the wall, or keyholes, nor used to teleport barrels of gunpowder, or save them while they are prone, to move into a not-threatened spot during combat.
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Its true value is pre-combat or mid-combat positioning, and is better used by Spellcasters to remain out of the range of melee attackers, or for certain melee attackers (Vengeance Paladin/ Eldritch Knight) to jump into the fray and become the center of attention. Plus, the effects are quite visible, and it's not precisely a stealthy spell. I mean, who wouldn't see a huge cloud of silvery mist popping out of nowhere?
6 Create Water
No, You Cannot Dismount A Charging Knight By Filling His Horse With Water
Let's be honest, and cut out with the nonsense: Create Water is not an offensive spell, nor can it be used to fill the lungs of enemies to suffocate them during battle. What the spell does is to create a magical source of water that can be called down as rain and can, potentially, extinguish fires, or if used as its alternate effect (Destroy Water), can also dissipate mist.
The proportions of the water created (that can be drunk in dire situations) are very limited, and cannot fill the body parts of unwilling creatures. Water flows naturally in nature in the form of molecules, and this spell condenses them into one of the states of water that can be moved with intention. Nothing more, nothing less.
5 Heat Metal
It Cannot Melt Enemies' Armor
Some players seem to believe that Heat Metal is a spell that can melt the face of an enemy wearing a helmet and kill them instantly. While it is true that casting it on an Armored enemy will make it suffer Fire Damage and have Disadvantage on its Attacks or an AC reduction, that also depends on which part of the armor the spell is cast on, or if it's on the weapon.
Heat Metal targets a specific part of the enemy's gear: A Weapon, a Shield, a Helmet, Gauntlets, Armor, Sabatons, etc. It cannot melt its entire armor and instantly kill them, or target all the parts of the armor at the same time. But a well-placed Heat Metal spell will make an enemy drop a shield at a critical moment, or a spear he is about to toss at a defenseless party member. That's what makes this spell so game-changing: Tactical uses to disrupt heavily armored enemy warriors. It can also be used to teach the groups' Rogue with a serious case of sticky fingers a lesson, given the case. Keep that in mind as well.
4 Hex
Similar To A Curse, But Not The Same
The Warlock's Hex spell is a point of debate among various parties of adventurers. Many believe it causes a designated target to roll saving throws with disadvantage, when actually, it makes rolls 'ability checks' with disadvantage, and only a specific one designated by the Warlock. So, why the confusion? People often mistook the effects of Hex for the powerful Bestow Curse that can, in fact, affect the saving throws of enemies. Hex also has the effect of adding 1d6 of Necrotic damage to the target every time the Warlock casts a spell on it or hits it with a weapon.
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Plus, it's a concentration spell and requires focus on the target. What players ignore is its situational use that can be a game changer: Nowhere in the spell description says the target knows about the Hex. This means, for example, that if the Warlock wishes to Hex a Bard so that he has disadvantage on his Dexterity ability checks for the purposes of interrupting his juggling performance, it can be done.
3 Rope Trick
Let's Play Hide And Seek
Rope Trick is a highly underrated and misused spell that turns a single point in reality into a pocket dimension with the capability to hide up to eight party members (considering these are all medium creatures or smaller). And that's about it: Wizards enchant the rope, players climb the rope and enter the dimensional hole, they hide, and they take the rope with them. They can stay there, hidden, for up to 1 hour per casting level.
This spell cannot be used to hurl spells at enemies from the pocket dimension, though players can hide and observe what happens below the breach, as if they were looking through a window. That's absolutely broken, and can be used as the perfect hidey-hole to infiltrate the King's castle past the curfew, or any other creative use players want to give it. And before some smart players try to do that 'nuke a Dragon' trick: It doesn't work that way. A Bag of Holding can perfectly fit inside this temporal pocket dimension, without altering its properties, nor causing a nuclear reaction that erases reality and the enemies around.
2 Zone Of Truth
It Has Become Popular In Trials Tropes, But There's A Tiny Problem
Players often seem to be confused about the uses of Zone of Truth and its application to actual roleplaying situations (that is, face encounters where there's no combat involved). More than one DM has surely experienced the Cleric or Paladin of the party using it wrongly for, let's say, trying to 'Bind' a Cambion and forcing it to comply with revealing the conditions of a Soul Pact, forcing the local corrupted politician to confess, and even using it in actual trials where the Rogue of the party is often on the bench.
None of those attempts will be fruitful, since the spell does warn players about its major flaw: 'An affected creature is aware of the spell and can thus avoid answering questions to which it would normally respond with a lie. Such a creature can be evasive in its answers as long as it remains within the boundaries of the truth.' This means every person or creature affected by Zone of Truth, has a chance to spend ages evading the question, being extremely creative, or just using rhetoric, and the Paladin of the party will only lose face in the courtroom. What players can do with this spell is to detect lies efficiently: If the person responds with evasions, then they know it's a lie, thus minimizing the risks or calling off the deals. Problem is: The other party will also know they know that they know they're lying, so it's complicated, to say the least.
1 Charm Person
Used Correctly: The Key To Every NPCs Heart
Players often confuse the Spell Charm Person with a much more powerful spell-like effect called Charm, which can be used by Fey creatures or Succubi. It's not the same, and Charm Person doesn't force any NPC to obey every player's command. Not at all: It simply makes them friendlier and more prone to respond positively to the players' inquiries or lead to promising prospects during a conversation.
It is as if the NPCs recognized a player as a long-lost friend whom they've just met for the first time in ages, and they are really happy about it. Contrary to powerful effects like Charm, Beguiling, or Compelling, Charm Person only causes creatures to consider the player as non-hostile, thus not attacking them, and granting advantage on skill checks for social abilities. Persuasion is one of such, so there's the game-changer in this Spell: Used correctly, it can bring empires down. But be careless, and the farce will only lead to absolute doom.
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