Hello magic casters of all shapes and sizes! Welcome to my spellbook and thank you so much for checking out the 34th episode of our first level spell series. Today we’re going to be taking a look at one of the most popular and beneficial spells in the players handbook. Today we’re gonna be taking a look at faerie fire dnd 5e this beautiful spell is usable by the bard, druid, artificer and it is found in the players handbook.
This is perfect for those characters who like to help out their allies and who genuinely just want to have a shall we say a colorful effect on the battelfield. It is honestly incredibly cool. With all that hype out of the way let’s take a look at the mechanics here and just break down a little bit how this works. You can also check out our other article like faerie dragon.
Table of Contents
Mechanics
- Level: 1st
- Casting Time: 1 Action
- Range/Area: 60 ft (20 ft)
- Components: V
- Duration: 1 Minute (Concentration)
- School: Evocation
- Attack/Save: DEX Save
- Damage/Effect: Debuff
Your cast time is the standard one action, the range is 60 feet and it forms a 20 foot cube. The duration is one minute and this is a concentration spell meaning should you take a damage while focusing on this spell. You need to make a constitution check and should you fail the spell ends. Also you can only concentrate on one spell at a time so you can not stack this with another concentration spell. Also read sacred flame 5e.
The effect at a glance is as followed: Within a 20 foot cube each object to glows in a color of your choice. Creatures in the area make a dex save or are effected by the same glow, and shed dim light for 10ft. Attacks made against an affected creature or object have advantage, invisibility has no benefit. Super cool! Do not miss this sleep 5e.
The components are just verbal meaning you just have to speak forth an incantation that’s it. The school is evocation which is kind of surprising and weird i get why but still let’s take a look at the full description here so we know exactly what we’re talking about and how to use faerie fire 5e.
Description
Each object in a 20-foot cube within range is outlined in blue, green, or violet light (your choice). Any creature in the area when the spell is cast is also outlined in light if it fails a Dexterity saving throw. For the duration, objects and affected creatures shed dim light in a 10-foot radius.
Any attack roll against an affected creature or object has advantage if the attacker can see it, and the affected creature or object can’t benefit from being invisible.
Very very cool stuff! My goodness. So it might be worth noting that overall this can be quite an overwhelming spell. So i would kind of pick and choose what defines an object with your DM in advanced otherwise the whole you’re just gonna see a bunch of light. Perfect perfect perfect there, does faerie fire give advantage? let’s take a look at some alternative uses. Don’t miss our comparision article on is faerie fire or bless better?
Alternative Uses
Now before we get into how kind of use it, i would like to bring up just real quick here that there is a little bit of controversy as to how this spell is used. So the only way i’ve played with it and the way i interpret it is kind of like magic paintball paint right. So within a 20-foot cube everyone gets dosed with that magic paintball paint and even when they leave it’s still on them. Also check out this what is a fey 5e.
However i’ve heard it argued in the past and online here that there are a couple DMs who interpret this as being only while they’re within that 20 foot cube are they affected by. I’ve never played with it like that, i’ve never been in a game where it’s ran like that but there are some DMs who feel that way so it might be worth noting running it past yours just before you know you pick thhis and then you end up wasting a spell or it doesn’t work the way you want it to or what have you. In any case if you’re interested in faerie fire pathfinder just check out this.
At the very least i would make the argument that if it is when they only are in that 20 foot range, i would compromise by making it where if another creature walks into that 20-foot cube they are also affected. You know what i mean! So in any case let’s take a look at some actual alternative uses here. Check out this cure wounds 5e.
So the most obvious one is to help deal with invisible creatures things like specters or anyone who could cast invisibility spell. Apart from that does faerie fire cancel invisibility? so the answer is I used it to shut down invisibility on my Bard/Paladin “Support Tank with a Shotgun” :). Really good stuff there! You could also potentially use it to track down a particularly quick enemy or the very least make it easier too.
I could imagine a campaign where a druid we’re to turn into an animal and then flee could use this to follow the animal a little bit better. You can also use it to find a hidden objects such as keys or at the very other end of the spectrum, you could actually cast this on your own party members and take advantage of that dim light benefit and this would be really useful if you want to help them attract a grow or if it is just a dark simple setting and you at least want to have a little bit of light. Also read this darkness 5e.
Conclusion
All right! That’s about all i can think of off the top of my head if you have any alternative uses of your own or crazy ways to use this spell or build your cool stories or anything regarding it. I’d really like to hear it down in the comments beneath, honestly it’s a super solid choice regardless of which class you’re playing. This would also be a really good one to pick for magic initiate as well. That being said, i hope you all have a great day and as always happy casting.