Hello magic casters of all shapes and sizes! Welcome to my spellbook and thank you so much for checking out the 27th episode of our first level spell series. Today we’re taking a look at an upgrade from vicious mockery, today we’re going to be taking a look at dissonant whispers dnd 5e.
It is found exclusively on the bard spell list and found in the good old trusty players handbook. Without further ado let’s take a look at the mechanics so we know what we’re talking about.
Table of Contents
Mechanics
- Level: 1st
- Casting Time: 1 Action
- Range/Area: 60 ft
- Components: V
- Duration: Instantaneous
- School: Enchantment
- Attack/Save: WIS Save
- Damage/Effect: Psychic
Your damage will be a die six and you get three of them initially and then an initial one per spell slot level above first. Your cast time will be the standard one action and your range is the average 60 feet. Your duration is instantaneous and do you know what is the saving throw for dissonant whispers? it is a wisdom saving throw.
On a fail they take 100% of the damage, use the reaction and move away from you. A success is half damage and no movement. The components are strictly verbal, the school is enchantment and the damage type much like it’s a vicious mockery predecessor is psychic. With that out of the way let’s take a look at the full description so we get exactly what’s going on. You may also like to read this dissonant whispers booming blade.
Description
You whisper a discordant melody that only one creature of your choice within range can hear, wracking it with terrible pain. The target must make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, it takes 3d6 psychic damage and must immediately use its reaction, if available, to move as far as its speed allows away from you.
The creature doesn’t move into obviously dangerous ground, such as a fire or a pit. On a successful save, the target takes half as much damage and doesn’t have to move away. A deafened creature automatically succeeds on the save.
At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 2nd level or higher, the damage increases by 1d6 for each slot level above 1st.
So a little bit to unpack there about what does the spell dissonant whispers do?! I’d like to point out that it uses its reaction to move its maximum speed away from you. Now whether or not that actually subtracts from the movement, i would argue it does but i could also argue its kind of treated as a dash action so ultimately up to your DM on that one. That being said, this is very beneficial because it moves away from you on your turn, not on their next turn. That makes sense.
So i think that’s particularly interesting and it makes sense that a deafening creature would automatically succeed this is just a verbal component of whispering. It also worth noting that it doesn’t move into obviously dangerous grounds so if it’s a hidden trap it would still move just fine. You may also interested in does dissonant whispers break grapple.
And it could potentially there’s an argument for it moving into things such as a spear of flame for example because it’s not pertaining to the ground necessarily. It’s one of those as written things right! If your DM disagrees then it disagrees but for the most part i could see an argument being made either direction. That being said, let’s take a look at some quick alternative uses here. Check out this article about dissonant whispers forced movement.
Alternative Uses
The first one that really comes to my mind at least would be using it to move enemies away from you, this is really beneficial if you are a squishier character or if you’ve already taken a ton of damage. Another interesting way i thought this being used would be the same as vicious mockery, if you are in a tavern for example and you want to make a stealthy assassination. Also check out is dissonant whispers a charm?
The way the spells written that makes it seem like the actual verbal component is just the melody or whispering. So if you’re just humming a song at a bar or in a tavern…no one really noticed sort of pay you in your mind right. So it’s a really good way of stealthily assassinating people in public areas. You may also like to read this is dissonant whispers a fear?
Conclusion
That being said, if you have any alternative uses, any crazy ideas or any cool stories involving dissonant whispers 5e i’d really like to see them down in the comments below. Thank you so much in advance guys and as always a happy casting. Also read these articles on silvery barbs 5e | command vs dissonant whispers | does dissonant whispers provoke opportunity attacks