Hello spellcasters of all shapes and sizes! Welcome to my spellbook and thank you so much for checking out the 45th episode of our cantrip series. This was a little bit unorthodox to reason being wizards just added this one in. So may i introduce to you the most painful headache your enemies will ever have dnd 5e spell mind sliver.
Maybe not the most painful, there are other spells like mind spike 5e that do a little bit more psychic damage to say the least but still pretty freakin brutal. This spell is usable by the sorcerer, warlock and the wizard. And will be found in the unearthed arcana. Let’s take a quick look at some mechanics here.
Mechanics
- Level: Cantrip
- Casting Time: 1 Action
- Range/Area: 60 ft
- Components: V
- Duration: 1 Round
- School: Enchantment
- Attack/Save: INT Save
- Damage/Effect: Psychic
Your damage die will be a D6 starting off with one and gaining an additional at 5th, 11th and 17th level. The cast time is one action, the range is a decent 60 feet, the duration is instantaneous, the saving throw is intelligence. You can also check out this fantastic blog on mind sliver vs vicious mockery.
The components is just verbal which is pretty cool. The school is enchantment which is also kind of neat and the damage type is psychic. So let’s take a look at the description and i’ll discuss a little bit of the controversy surrounding this spell. Also read this can bards learn mind sliver?
Description
You drive a disorienting spike of psychic energy into the mind of one creature you can see within range. The target must make an Intelligence saving throw. Unless the saving throw is successful, the target takes 1d6 psychic damage, and the first time it makes a saving throw before the end of your next turn, it must roll a d4 and subtract the number rolled from the save. This spell’s damage increases by 1d6 when you reach certain levels: 5th level (2d6), 11th level (3d6), and 17th level (4d6).
So a couple things to unpack here, i do think this is a very flavorful spell for the right character. I do think the warlock has a little bit of a higher likelihood of picking this spell, just because they don’t get a lot of spell slots to begin with and it’s a pretty cool debuff all things considered it’s a lot like bane in a lot of ways only this one does not require a concentration and you can only target one person with it and it only really lasts till the end of their next turn. Also check out this does mind sliver and bane stack?
So it’s okay…i like it a couple ways, i think wizards probably could have done a little bit better would be to make it a bonus action if that was the case i feel like almost everyone would take it and if you change the components from verbal to just somatic i think that would really help with a lot of people stealth builds. In any case let’s take a look at some alternative uses here.
Alternative Uses
The best one i could think of off the top of my head would be to use it to throw off an enemy or an archrival and this could be done during an archery competition for instance where there’s a lot riding on them making that perfect shot. Now that i’m actually thinking about it though there are quite a few alternative uses for this spell under the right circumstances. You can also check out this mind sliver vs toll the dead 5e.
This is a very well-thought-out debuff. If you are the kind of character who loves to plan things out in advance. It gives you a very small window of time where your opponent is disorientated and likely to screw up on their next saving throw and it puts yourself and your party members in a fantastic situation to be able to take advantage of that. Yeah…i’m really excited to see how this one turns out.
Conclusion
That being said, if you have any alternative uses or any kooky stories involving mind sliver 5e i’d really like to hear them down in the comment section below and i know everyone else checking this article would as well. We have a great community growing on this website i’m looking forward to keeping it up. That being said guys, thank you so much for checking out and as always happy casting. chill touch 5e | prestidigitation 5e | lightning lure 5e | sword burst 5e | toll the dead 5e.