Hello magic casters of all shapes and sizes! Welcome to my spellbook and thank you so much for checking out the 12th episode of our second level spell series. Today we’re gonna be taking a look at the first smite of the second level and one of my personal favorites. If for nothing more i just like it though thematically.
Today we’re gonna be taking a look at branding smite dnd 5e which is named pretty confusing as to what it is but there’s kind of a reason behind if you really stretch the imagination. In any case what does branding smite do? is much like ll the other smites. It is found exclusively on the paladin spell lists and it is found in the player’s handbook so we should all have access to it. Here you may also like to read divine smite 5e.
I really like this one and i got a couple very bright ideas in terms of how to use it. Puns aside let’s check out the mechanics here.
Table of Contents
Mechanics
- Level: 2nd
- Casting Time: 1 Bonus Action
- Range/Area: Self
- Components: V
- Duration: 1 Minute (Concentration)
- School: Evocation
- Attack/Save: None
- Damage/Effect: Radiant
So similar to the other smites your damage is your weapon damage plus 2d6 plus 1d6 per spell slot level above 2nd. Something you’ve really got a notice with branding smite dnd 5e spells though is it just specifies weapon damage it doesn’t say melee damage. So that means you can use this at a range which is super great!
The effect at a glance is as followed: On a hit you deal extra damage and cause the target to glow which negates invisibility. You may also interested in what is the smite rule 5e?
The cast time is one bonus action, the range is self, the duration is one minute and it is concentration, the components are just verbal, the school is evocation and the damage type is radiant which is all great stuff! Fantastic stuff as a matter of fact. Perfect lets check out the full description to break it down just a little bit further.
Description
The next time you hit a creature with a weapon attack before this spell ends, the weapon gleams with astral radiance as you strike. The attack deals an extra 2d6 radiant damage to the target, which becomes visible if it is invisible, and the target sheds dim light in a 5-foot radius and can’t become invisible until the spell ends.
At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 3rd level or higher, the extra damage increases by 1d6 for each slot level above 2nd.
Wowzers a lot of really good stuff here! Personally i think branding smite is the best smite we’ve covered at least this far and in all honesty there’s a ton of really great application for it. Especially if you’re DM is one that’s likely to enforce the penalties for being in darkness without darkvision in any case let’s move on to some alternative uses here.
Alternative Uses
So one of the cooler ones that i were to come up with would be if you’re dealing with an enemy that for whatever reason can escape into darkness be it fly away, be it sink into the the shadows anything like that or just straight-up hide this would be a great way to not lose track of them for at least a little bit longer and if they’re running and they’re probably already really hurt. So one or two strikes might be enough to actually just finish them off entirely.
Another great one that i would thought would be really cool is since its specify you need to be able to see exactly who the target is for this to be effect. If you’re chasing someone who’s known for blending into a crowd or you don’t know what the real identity is can like a murder-mystery type deal. You can check out the comparision between branding smite vs divine smite.
Hit him with this and just find the glowing guy. You know i mean why not make sense to me, i think it’s pretty cool and i would definitely allow that in one of my games. So just a little food for thought there, perfect! With those out of the way, those are all i can really come up with off the top of my head.
Conclusion
if you could come up with any more please let me know down in the comments beneath i’d really appreciate it. That being said, i hope you all have a wonderful day and as always happy casting. Also check out warding bond 5e | banishing smite 5e | thunderous smite 5e | wrathful smite 5e | searing smite 5e |