Hello spellcasters of all shapes and sizes! Welcome to my spellbook and thank you so much for checking out the 57th episode of our second level spell series man we are deep into this series let me tell you. Today we are covering arguably one of the most broken spells in d&d 5e just in general.
Let me tell you i have personally used this spell to derail campaigns i’ve had it used on me to derail campaigns it is just a stupidly worded spell that is way stronger than it needs to be at least in my humble opinion and experience.
Today we’re talking about the one and only phantasmal force spell dnd 5e it is usable by the bard, sorcerer and the wizard and it is found in the good old players handbook. Now what makes it so broken you may ask well that is a great question but in order to answer it we’re gonna need to take a look at the mechanics here. So let’s do that. You may also have interested in paladin spells 5e.
Mechanics
- Level: 2nd
- Casting Time: 1 Action
- Range/Area: 60 ft (10 ft Cube)
- Components: V, S, M *
- Duration: 1 Minute (Concentration)
- School: Illusion
- Attack/Save: INT Save
- Damage/Effect: Psychic
The effect at a glance is as followed: You create a hyper realistic illusion in the mind of a target within range. They will always believe the illusion to be real for the duration of the spell. If the illusion harms the target, they take 1d6 psychic damage. Also check out this prone 5e.
The cast time is just an action, the range is a decent 10 feet but the actual area of effect takes place in a 10-foot cube. The duration is one minute and it is concentration thank god. The saving throw is intelligence which is really really strong in 5e cuz a lot of people pick this dump stat. You can also check out this polymorph 5e.
The components are the holy trinity so verbal, material and somatic. The material component in case you’re curious is a bit of fleece kind of meant to signify pulling the wool over one’s eyes…pretty cool! and the school is unsurprisingly illusion. So it sounds pretty broken already but let me write the full description so you get the real grand affect. Also check out this prayer of healing 5e.
Description
You craft an illusion that takes root in the mind of a creature that you can see within range. The target must make an Intelligence saving throw. On a failed save, you create a phantasmal object, creature, or other visible phenomenon of your choice that is no larger than a 10-foot cube and that is perceivable only to the target for the duration. This spell has no effect on undead or constructs.
The phantasm includes sound, temperature, and other stimuli, also evident only to the creature.
The target can use its action to examine the phantasm with an Intelligence (Investigation) check against your spell save DC. If the check succeeds, the target realizes that the phantasm is an illusion, and the spell ends.
While a target is affected by the spell, the target treats the phantasm as if it were real. The target rationalizes any illogical outcomes from interacting with the phantasm. For example, a target attempting to walk across a phantasmal bridge that spans a chasm falls once it steps onto the bridge. If the target survives the fall, it still believes that the bridge exists and comes up with some other explanation for its fall – it was pushed, it slipped, or a strong wind might have knocked it off.
An affected target is so convinced of the phantasm’s reality that it can even take damage from the illusion. A phantasm created to appear as a creature can attack the target. Similarly, a phantasm created to appear as fire, a pool of acid, or lava can burn the target.
Each round on your turn, the phantasm can deal 1d6 psychic damage to the target if it is in the phantasm’s area or within 5 feet of the phantasm, provided that the illusion is of a creature or hazard that could logically deal damage, such as by attacking. The target perceives the damage as a type appropriate to the illusion. * – (a bit of fleece)
My goodness is that a long explanation. But you see how it’s broken. The broken part stems from the fact that they’ll always justify it. And that enables you to pull some rather nasty shenanigans and just really in flex that creative muscle of yours. So let’s actually take a look at some alternative uses to give you some good examples. Check out this produce flame 5e.
Alternative Uses
I am gonna try and use some creative ones that i have used or that have derailed some of my campaigns. So a great one is to use it to basically replicate an object that you’ve stolen or morph an object that was there into something that it isn’t for example turning the crown on the queen’s head into like a rotting structure something in that nature that causes the king to freak out and panic. That’s one good use of it. Also read phantasmal killer 5e. and also check out what is the difference between phantasmal killer and phantasmal force?.
But the most game-breaking use i’ve come up with is using it to replicate loved ones in the form of ghosts. Basically letting the target know that their loved one has died and kind of once revenge for one thing or another this is really good when it comes to murder mysteries this is once again derailed a couple games i’ve been in to the point of just absurdity so it’s a great gambit because even if the person you’re replicating is still alive. Don’t miss this phantom rogue 5e.
The target of the spell will justify it so that they are dead if that makes sense. So it’s pretty cool it’s very interesting at least to a lot of good rp another great use of this is using it to create a monster that only one person can see and having a monster overlay with an important figure. Do you know that 5e when to give magic weapons.
For example if there’s a nobody keeps getting in your way have him think that the king turned into a skeleton or demon or something of those lines and have him unadvertised attacking the king. I think that’d be very cool stuff a very interesting and i’ve once again this is a game breaking spell. You can also check out this sleep spell 5e explained.
Conclusion
That being said, if you have any ideas, alternative uses, thoughts, questions, comments, concerns please put them down beneath in the comment section i’m sure a lot of you are gonna have a lot to say about this spell. Thank you so much guys, i really do appreciate it. I hope you all have a great day and as always happy casting everyone. Also read can phantasmal force blind? |