Hello magic casters of all shapes and sizes! Welcome to my spellbook and thank you so much for checking out the 55th episode of our second level spell series. Today we have a great spell in store for all of you today and i just love the flavor behind it as well. It’s probably the coolest spell we’ve covered so far.
Today we’re gonna be taking a look at moonbeam spell dnd 5e this spell is found exclusively on the druid spell list and is found in the players handbook. You know i’ve said it once, i’ve said it before, i’ve said it million times the druid spell list has some of the most flavorful spells in the game. Mechanically are they all the best!…debatable. But are they cool as hell!….oh heck yeah they are. Now without further ado let’s check out their mechanics and see if you can pick up what i’m laying down here.
Table of Contents
Mechanics
- Level: 2nd
- Casting Time: 1 Action
- Range/Area: 120 ft (5 ft Cylinder)
- Components: V, S, M *
- Duration: 1 Minute (Concentration)
- School: Evocation
- Attack/Save: CON Save
- Damage/Effect: Radiant
Your damage is 2d10 plus an additional d10 per each slot level above 2nd. The effect at a glance is as followed: Shape changers have disadvantage on the save, on a fail they revert to their original form, you can use an action to move the beam 60 feet in any direction.
Cast time is one action, the range is a 120 feet and in terms of the actual area of effect it’s a 5-foot wide but 40-foot tall cylinder which is pretty impressive. The duration is one minute and it is a concentration spell. The components are the holy trinity so the somatic, material and verbal.
If you’re curious about that material component it is several seeds of any moonseed plant and a piece of opalescent feldspar which is a hard rock it’s pretty cool! In any case the save is constitution and on a success the creature takes half damage, the school is evocation and the damage type is radiant which is awesome. Just because they haven’t really covered a lot of radiant spells.
Now that we’re done looking at the mechanics. Let’s take a look at the full description here so you can get part of the reason why i think this spell is so gosh darn cool!
Description
A silvery beam of pale light shines down in a 5-foot-radius, 40-foot-high cylinder centered on a point within range. Until the spell ends, dim light fills the cylinder.
When a creature enters the spell’s area for the first time on a turn or starts its turn there, it is engulfed in ghostly flames that cause searing pain, and it must make a Constitution saving throw. It takes 2d10 radiant damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.
A shapechanger makes its saving throw with disadvantage. If it fails, it also instantly reverts to its original form and can’t assume a different form until it leaves the spell’s light.
On each of your turns after you cast this spell, you can use an action to move the beam up to 60 feet in any direction.
At Higher Levels: When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 3rd level or higher, the damage increases by 1d10 for each slot level above 2nd. * – (several seeds of any moonseed plant and a piece of opalescent feldspar)
Needless to say just wow! Pretty cool. Once again damage potential not necessarily the best spell we’ve covered but that being said this is certainly one of the coolest. In any case let’s take a quick look at some alternative uses here.
Alternative Uses
So some of the best ones i was able to think of was using this as a part of the plan, this will make a great signal and it would also help steer large groups of people in the right direction. I think that’d be great use for it. We have also sleep spell 5e explained.
Outside of that you could use it for the reverse you could use it to just follow one person. Providing a great indicator of where they’re located how fast they’re moving while still being able to deal damage to them. Naturally you’d probably need something like a familiar or some other way of keeping tabs on them or like really great eyesight and a high vantage point would work as well. Also check out 5e spell effects.
But you’d need a way to keep track of them. The reason being you want to keep it centered on them right and the spell itself doesn’t actually give you any indication as to whether or not it’s doing damage on its own. You could alternatively use it on someone who’s running away from you who’s already badly hurt. Also read does moonbeam do damage on cast.
The reason this works really well is freaks action you can move at 60 feet which is pretty incredible. So if they move their full movement and did a bonus action dash that would still be about 60 feet for most humanoids so you can keep pace with a person who’s burning their actions to dash which is pretty dang cool. Actually i really like it it’s a great control spell for sure fantastic controll spell. Do you know is bane a good spell 5e.
Conclusion
That being said, if you have any ideas, alternative uses, thoughts, comments, concerns please out them down beneath in the comment section i really do appreciate it. Thank you so much guys, i really appreciate it. I hope you all have a great day and as always happy casting. Also check out spiritual weapon 5e | call lightning 5e | sunbeam 5e | see invisibility 5e |