Hello magic casters of all shapes and sizes! Welcome to my spellbook and thank you so much for checking out the 8th episode of our second level spell series. Today we’re gonna be talking about one of the most okay defensive spells out there at least that we’ve covered thus far on the website. Today we’re gonna be taking a look at barkskin 5e. Which is pretty much exactly what it sounds like in a weird way.
It is usable by the druid and the ranger which makes sense from a thematic standpoint and it is found in the good old players handbook. To be honest this spell has been a staple of d&d for quite some time indeed. It’s one of the kind of OG spells around. In any case with that being said, let’s actually take a look at the mechanics and kind of flesh this out a little bit. In any case you can also check out this bardic inspiration 5e.
Mechanics
- Level: 2nd
- Casting Time: 1 Action
- Range/Area: Touch
- Components: V, S, M *
- Duration: 1 Hour (Concentration)
- School: Transmutation
- Attack/Save: None
- Damage/Effect: Buff
Your cast time is the standard one action pretty good so far! The range is touch which is great for defensive spell because it kind of means you can apply to other people. The duration is one hour and it’s concentration. That’s the part i don’t like, i’ll get into why that is in a little bit. Also check out this dnd 5e barkskin and shield.
The effect at a glance is as followed: Touch a willing creature, their AC cannot be less than 16. Basically makes it so that 16 is their minimum. Don’t miss our article on bard 5e.
The components are somatic, material and verbal. Somatic means you have to gesture with one hand, the material component in this case is a handful of oak bark and the verbal component means you have to speak forth an incantation. The school is transmutation which means that you changes your body and it does. Fantastic, now let’s move on to the full description. You can also read 5e best artificer feats.
Description
You touch a willing creature. Until the spell ends, the target’s skin has a rough, bark-like appearance, and the target’s AC can’t be less than 16, regardless of what kind of armor it is wearing. * – (a handful of oak bark)
So basically the targets new base AC becomes 16 which is really a good, the thing i really don’t like about this spell is once again that’s its concentration. Can barkskin be used on self? So if you cast this on yourself it’s kind of counterintuitive in a couple ways. So firstly boost your AC which is good, but if you get hit you lose that benefit which is not good.
Also it takes up your concentration which means you lose access to some of the best spells in the game, as a trade-off to be honest i really don’t want a hundred percent see the upside, it does have a ton of use, the fact that you can cast it on other people makes it pretty valuable to certain builds. Also check out this what is an artificer in d&d.
Personally i kind of think in a lot of ways mage armor might be a little bit better but that’s just my personal thoughts. You’re more than welcome to have a different opinion you really are. That being said though, let’s move on to some alternative uses. You can also check out this 5e when to give magic weapons.
Alternative Uses
So one alternative use that i thought was pretty cool or at the very least a different ay to apply this is to use your familiar to apply to people. I mean that’s pretty dang neat, that’d be naturally through extension i guess you could apply it to the familiar as well if you really wanted to. Check out these strongest dnd 5e builds.
This one’s a little bit hinky but i would probably a lot of them to hide with advantage in kind of forests well this was applied, it just is kind of a camouflage when you really think about it, so that’s my ruling it’s not their rules as written but it makes logical sense and naturally you could definitely use this to cast on squishier NPCs or characters or important NPCs for that matter. So there is that to it as well so it’s not terrible, i just think it’s laid out pretty weird in terms of a defensive spell. Also read this dnd 5e best class for bugbear.
Conclusion
In any case if you have any alternative uses, ideas or stories please put it down beneath in the comment section i really appreciate it. Thank you so much for your time guys, i really do appreciate it. I hope you all have a wonderful day and as always happy casting. Also check out spike growth 5e | stoneskin 5e | is bane a good spell 5e | bless 5e | booming blade 5e | dnd barkskin wild shape |