Hello magic casters of all shapes and sizes! Welcome to my spellbook and thank you so much for checking out the 63rd episode of our second level spell series. Today we’re looking at a classic among classics. May i introduce you to you scorching ray spell dnd 5e this spell is usable by the sorcerer and the wizard and it is found in the players handbook and that is absolutely perfect.
For anyone who wants to rain down literal hellfire onto your foes from a vast distance. Needless to say, it’s pretty dang cool. How cool exactly! Good question, let’s check out the mechanics and start getting into the nitty-gritty.
Mechanics
- Level: 2nd
- Casting Time: 1 Action
- Range/Area: 120 ft
- Components: V, S
- Duration: Instantaneous
- School: Evocation
- Attack/Save: Ranged
- Damage/Effect: Fire
Your damage is 2d6 which doesn’t sound too impressive until you realize the effect is that you unleash three seperate rays that deal 2d6. Each requiring their own attack roll which means you got three chances to crit.
Your cast time is the standard one action, the range however is an impressive 120 feet delicious. The duration is instantaneous and the components are somatic and verbal. You may also like the comparison of scorching ray vs magic missile.
At higher levels you can cast one additional ray for each spell slot level above 2nd. And the school is evocation and the damage type is unsurprisingly fire. Pretty dang cool stuff though, if i do say so myself. Now let’s get into the full description and talk about the spell a little bit more.
Description
You create three rays of fire and hurl them at targets within range. You can hurl them at one target or several. Make a ranged spell attack for each ray. On a hit, the target takes 2d6 fire damage.
At Higher Levels: When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 3rd level or higher, you create one additional ray for each slot level above 2nd.
Very nice stuff needless to say! The fact that you can target more than one creature in a single cast is in of itself incredibly useful yet alone over that range it really does provide a great scope for you to test your abilities. Now let’s take a look at some alternative uses here. Don’t miss this dnd 5e twinned spell scorching ray.
Alternative Uses
So one of the ones i thought of but upon more reflection, i’m gonna leave up to DMs decide. Its uses to burn them buildings or cause fire to objects. So if you look at the spell it doesn’t actually say you need to target creatures, it just says targets, targets is anything.
However the reason why i feel like this is gonna be a point of debate is because this spell doesn’t mention that it can ignite things, a lot of fire spells they actually specify that they can ignite things that aren’t being warned carried stuff of that nature.
So this one doesn’t have that line anywhere so it’s kind of up for debate. I personally believe if you’re hurling rays of fire at people it’s probably gonna cause something to ignite but i know the rule all your DMs are gonna say no but even they have to concede on the fact that you can target objects with this as well so again you got to go back and forth.
Another great use of this is to target multiple low level people at once. Goblins any kind of those early levels that give you a lot of headache just due to shear action economy this is gonna really help you out. Also if you have an enemy running away this is a great way to pay them, once again great range! The ability to do multiple different attack roles and potentially get multiple crits very nice stuff.
Conclusion
In any case if you have any alternative uses, ideas, questions, comments, concerns regarding or scorching ray 5e please let me know down beneath in the comment section. That being said, i hope you all have a wonderful day and as always happy casting everyone. Also check out flaming sphere 5e | burning hands 5e | shatter 5e | fireball 5e |