In the game, players can take a bonus action only when a special ability, spell, or other feature states that they can do something as a bonus action. This means that players cannot cast a non-cantrip spell during their turn if they cast a spell as a bonus action. If a spell has a casting time of 1 bonus action or a reaction, players can use them accordingly.
However, players must use a bonus action on their turn to cast a spell, provided they haven’t already taken a bonus action this turn. They can’t cast another spell during the same turn, except for a cantrip with a casting time of 1. If a spell has a casting time of 1 bonus action or a reaction, players can use them accordingly.
Various class features, spells, and other abilities allow players to take an additional action on their turn called a bonus action. The Cunning Action feature allows rogues to take a bonus action, but the official ruling is that one bonus action and one action cannot be swapped.
Some spells require a bonus action, a reaction, or much more time to cast. Players can perform bonus actions in addition to their normal action, but only one bonus action per turn. Some spells are bonus actions, and they provide opportunities for players to cast spells, make extra attacks, or get themselves out of bad situations. However, the bonus action spellcasting restriction in 5th Edition D and D can keep players from casting a reaction spell on their own turn.
📹 The Best Bonus Action Spell in D&D 5e is..
Let’s look at some of the best bonus action spells in Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition that people underrate. These are the best …
Can you draw a weapon as a bonus action?
It is possible to draw a longbow as a free action and a shortsword and shield as a bonus action, as illustrated in the following example, in which the subject is seen holding a longbow and drawing a shortsword and shield.
Can I cast two cantrips?
A single attack cantrip may be cast using the player’s action, which may then be “twin”d. As a triple class fighter, the option exists to cast another cantrip using Action Surge, twin that, and receive a reaction spell on someone else’s turn in the same round.
Is Dragon’s Breath a bonus action?
Dragonborn fighters have the option of utilizing their breath weapon as a bonus action or as an attack during an attack. It should be noted, however, that the ability cannot be used again until a short or long rest is completed. To illustrate, a 5th-level fighter named Kiris can utilize her Attack action to make two attacks. She may first use her sword and then subsequently employ her breath weapon as a second attack.
Can you cast two spells with bonus action?
The casting of a bonus action spell, irrespective of its level, precludes the player from casting another spell on their turn, with the exception of a cantrip. This signifies that neither action nor reaction spells can be cast during a player’s turn, and that only one reaction can be obtained within a round.
Can you cast a cantrip and a spell?
It is possible to cast a bonus action spell (regardless of level) followed by a cantrip with the same action. However, the use of the action or reaction to cast a spell of a higher level is not permitted, even if the bonus action spell was a cantrip.
Is Eldritch Blast a bonus action?
Spell Sniper doubles the range of all spells with attack rolls, giving Eldritch Blast a range of 240 feet. Eldritch Adept allows you to pick extra invocations for your PC, while Metamagic Adept allows you to use metamagic abilities like Quicken Spell or Subtle Spell. War Caster allows you to use Eldritch Blast as a reaction and push enemies away if you have Repelling Blast. Hex is a warlock spell that curses an enemy, causing them to take an extra 1d6 points of necrotic damage every time you hit them. Casting Hex first allows you to deal all Eldritch Blast damage plus Hex damage on top of it.
Is Barbarian Rage a bonus action?
The D and D 5E Free Basic Rules only cover a small portion of the content available on Roll20. Players can explore the Player’s Handbook, Dungeon Master’s Guide, and Monster Manual for more options. Barbarians gain hit points, with 1d12 per level hit dice and 12 + your Constitution modifier at the first level. Higher levels have 1d12 or 7) hit points and your Constitution modifier per level after the first. The Player’s Handbook and Monster Manual provide additional options for players.
Is dropping rage a bonus action?
Rage lasts 1 minute and ends early if you are knocked unconscious or haven’t attacked a hostile creature since your last turn. You can end rage on your turn as a bonus action. After raged the maximum number of times for your barbarian level, you must finish a long rest before rage again. You can rage 2 times at 1st level, 3 at 3rd, 4 at 6th, 5 at 12th, and 6 at 17th. Unarmored Defense benefits you with 10 + Dexterity + Constitution modifiers.
Can I cast Hex and Eldritch blast?
The Hex curse has the potential to markedly enhance the damage output of a Warlock, bestowing upon them the ability to sustain an additional 1d6 necrotic damage each time they inflict damage upon the cursed creature. This is due to the fact that Hex has no saving throw, which results in the target sustaining this damage each time they are struck by the caster.
What counts as a bonus action in D&D?
A Bonus Action is an act that doesn’t cost one full Action and is typically performed alongside a related feat or spell that calls for a Bonus Action. It can be used at any point during your turn, but you cannot use more than one Bonus Action on a single turn. If you have multiple feats that require a bonus action, you can only use one of those feats per turn. If you are afflicted by a negative status that subdues your use of Actions that turn, you will also lose your Bonus Action. Positive feats that allow multiple Actions do not grant multiple Bonus Actions, so your limit is always one Bonus Action per turn.
Can I do a cantrip as a bonus action?
In Dungeons and Dragons, bonus action spells allow spellcasters to cast two spells in one round, allowing them to cast one cantrip in a turn. However, many spellcasters miss out on some bonus spells that should be part of their DnD arsenal. Far Step, a fifth-level teleportation spell for Sorcerers, Warlocks, and Wizards, allows players to teleport up to 60 feet to an unoccupied space. This Concentration spell lasts for a minute, allowing players to continue using their bonus action each turn.
Misty Step, a second-level spell, allows teleportation up to 30 feet and is available for more classes, including Wizards, Warlocks, Sorcerers, circle of the land Druids, and certain Paladins. Although it does not require concentration and is one use, it is perfect for quick battlefield crossings or escaping prison cells. Both Far Step and Misty Step are essential for effective DnD spells and can help players overcome challenges in their battles.
📹 You can BREAK the 5e Action Economy with BONUS ACTIONS!! | Let’s Learn D&D 5e
You can BREAK the 5e Action Economy with BONUS ACTIONS!! | Let’s Learn D&D 5e Chapters 0:00 – Intro 1:12 – Weaponize It …
Huh, I knew that Hex would’ve been high on the list but I didn’t expect it to surpass healing word. That said, my monk casting Hex (Fey Touched, I needed the +1 to Wis) on the big guy in one of our fights for me and our fighter to prone lock it was the only thing that kept that from being a potential TPK, so I don’t really disagree.
It’s not the greatest spell but I need to give a shout-out to one of my favourites, Zephyr Strike. Bonus action 1st level Ranger spell to completely avoid AOO, for one minute is pretty solid, if situational, but you can activate it once during that time to get advantage on an attack roll and deal 1d8 extra force damage and you gain 30 feet of movement for that turn. Thus you could run right up to an enemy key target, say their spellcaster, hit them with advantage and extra damage, and walk right back to where you were. It has shades of Ashardalons stride, but is much more accessible at level 1 and is a tool I always take on rangers, particularly as an opener.
My DM was super confused when my ranger/wizard climbed up a tree and jumped to grapple the flying vampire who was trying to get away. He warned me it was a bad idea. I went with it anyway. My character failed the grapple check and the vampire went to bite him. Misty Step back to the tree. My DM was kinda mad at me after that. lol.
I was expecting Tasha’s otherworldly guise, considering the massive bonus, despite being quite high level It is a bonus action imunnity to 2 elements, you choose between FIRE AND POISON or necrotic and radiant, while gaining +2 AC, Double attack AND 40FT FLIGHT, on top of a condition imunnity (poisoned for one, charmed for the other). Is like a pseudo haste + the fly spell combined, plus imunnity. But thats my opinion. Please feel free to tell if you don’t think is good.
I took the Fey touched feat for my Centaur Rune Knight that im playing ROTFM. I needed to add some versatility and utility to her, and gaining misty step as well as hex has been an incredible addition to her arsenal. Since she’s always on the frontline and also has trouble climbing things, misty step has been invaluable and hex coupled with the effects of the runes and classic fighter tools like action surge it’s been fantastic.
While only applicable to high level play, I found Crown of Stars to be incredibly potent. (Well until the terrasque). Bonus action for 4d12 radiant damage is very good, with the added bonus of shedding light. At high levels your attack bonus means you almost always hit. It just got crazier with my build though. Chaos Sorcerer able to get advantage on most attack rolls due to Tides of Chaos. Also had a similacrum (ala wish) so had two identical characters firing off 4d12 bonus action volleys with advantage, chaos bombardment for the occasional extra d12, rerollable damage with metamagic and of course the occasional crit. Often it was 60-80 damage per round on the bonus actions. Then you throw in a couple twinned disintegrates….. Oh an I had 2 9th level spell slots due a boon acquired by using the deck of many things fates card to restore a deity’s power. Turns out a similacrum with a 9th level spell slot is pretty handy.
Good shout out on Shield of Faith. As a Paladin, I found it could be very helpful in saving teammates. It’s both a bonus action and ranged, which means you can cast it while engaged in melee to help another teammate who might be getting surrounded, without having to run directly to them. Taking a PC’s AC from 16 to 18 makes a big difference. I’ve saved my teammates’ bacon with this little spell more than once as a Paladin. I’ve also used Blade of Disaster. It’s like a spiritual weapon on monster energy cocaine. It’s definitely worth taking. 10/10 Would take again.
No mention of Guardian of Nature? Love the Great Tree form for my Circle of Stars Druid — advantage on Archer Starry Form attacks, Guiding Bolt, Thorn Whip, etc. Also no mention of Dragon’s Breath? So much fun to play a wizard/sorcerer with a damage-dealing familiar! Lastly, Zephyr Strike is fantastic for certain Ranger builds!
Regarding the effect of Hex on the target’s initiative roll: I don’t think it works that way. If you manage to sneak up to the target and open with a Hex, what I think would happen is that both the party and the target roll for initiative, but the target doesn’t get to act that round on their turn because they are surprised. The initiative roll however is made as per usual.
My arcane trickster 4/DM homebrew artificer 5 is blessed with shadow touched and shadow touched II (fey touched but flavoured as a evolution of this “disease” he has), so he can cast Invisibility, inflict wounds, misty step and hex at will once per day, then re-cast it with his slots… IT’S SO FUN TO PLAY, I swear. The “downside” of these feats it’s the lore component that my char now has to live with a shadow entity that inhabits his body, as some kind of infection, that sometimes takes over control and creates chaos. Since the start, the shadow would feed on his strength and life power, eventually leading to him going from 12 to 8 strength. The ordeal would kill him in the process if we didn’t find a solution, the easiest being a greater restoration/remove curse (spell house ruled to remove only one specific curse, working as a ritual with multiple rolls to determine success). In the end, my char and his shadow got to communicate and created an alliance, in which the shadow would feed of animals while controlling the body, and they would be on good terms. The shadow is kind of stupid, chaotic stupid and so, so funny to interact with. It creates a lot of problems as a chaotic energy, since my character is a known prince and needs to keep his image, so sometimes we have to fix problems caused by the shadow, as roleplay. It’s amazingly entertaining and since the “feeding on cow strength” whole ordeal started the town a urban legend of a kind of chupacabra, the chupavaca (cowsucker).
I know this is kinda nuts but we started a campaign at 10 to 12 I can’t remember the exact lvl, and I ran a multiclass of an Abjuration Wizard and a Divine Sorc., honestly one of my favorite characters I’ve ever played. Very fun for anyone who likes to run supports. The vid just reminded me of this as I use a lot of these spells with that character.
You can banishing smite and divine smite with the same attack. You can banishing, eldritch, and divine smite with the same attack. You can banishing, eldritch, divine smite a target that has been hit by path to the grave from a grave cleric. You can crit with a banishing, eldritch, divine smite on a target that has been hit by a path to the grave from a grave cleric. If you did you’d do 44d8+20d10 damage. Even ignoring the silly, when I played curse of strahd, our hexblade archer crit with a banishing+eldritch smite on strahd at level 9 and knocked off more than 2/3 of his health with one attack
Yup, Hex is powerful. Currently, I’ve got a echo knight fighter/aberrant mind sorcerer that’s gonna have it soon (tasha’s lets it be swapped in). It’ll really starts to sing with 5 levels of echo knight. Subtle-spell Hex or have echo out before initiative; first round, BA the one you haven’t done, action surge and echo strike twice for 18d6+X with a maul, drop 1-2’s with GWF. That comes online at level 6 if your DM is lenient. (The build does dump everything in 2 rounds though.)
Community Note: That beeping noise is in this article. Don’t do like I did and check your phone, other computers, battery life, or home smoke detector. It’s just a background sound from the article. To make this comment relevant, such sounds aren’t available in a D&D game, but Ventriloquism, Ghost Sound, or a bard who passes a CHA check can all “yell fire in a theatre” to great effect when done cleverly.
It’s not technically a bonus action spell but I gotta shout out imo a super overlooked spell. Melf’s Minute Meteors may use an action to activate but you can use it immediately and then as a bonus action after. Being able to bonus action deal up to 4d6 damage and then cast another full spell is great, and sure you only get 6 meteors but that’s still three rounds at its base 3rd level that you get that extra 4d6 damage (on potentially multiple creatures, but it’s good just targeting only one creature) but in my experience both in my games and perusal others play, you won’t often be in a combat that lasts more than 4 or 5 rounds. It’s just a lot of free bonus action damage without a big cost, and it’s flavor text is rad as hell
My favorite combo as a cleric is to cast Guardian of Faith before combat (assuming the combat isn’t something unexpected), then cast Spiritual Weapon and Sacred Flame the first round of combat, then the second round cast Spirit Guardians. The only concentration spell in the bunch is Spirit Guardians. And stacking those duration spells together makes for a truly broken combo.
When it comes to Hex, a big issue is someone hearing or seeing the components, and 90ft is a lot closer than some people think especially when trying to cast it on a guard in the middle of the quiet night. It doesn’t matter if a player uses stealth or sleight of hand, verbal components must be spoken out loud in an average conversational tone and verbal components are not just a few wiggles of your fingers that you can hide behind your back. Unless you are a sorcerer or have subtle spell from the metamagic adept feat, your verbal and somatic components are a majority of the time not able to be hidden from your target. I would accept a loud crowd covering up the verbal components from the target, but the people around you are definitely going to know you a doing much more than just being loud. The solution is this: Catch yourself a beetle or some other type of harmless bug/creature, cast Hex on them from a good distance, get within 90 feet of your target, crush the bug(unarmed strike for at least 1 damage), and then use your bonus action to move it over to your target without any noise or visual effects. Easy and effective, a since Hex is at minimum 1 hour this is easy to plan ahead of time. Bonus points if you twin it on two bugs(I don’t agree **at all** with this ruling and think it is ridiculous rpg.stackexchange.com/q/132921/47234).
Also with Hex the ability to maintain the spell for up to 24 hr at higher lvl is amazing. If you just want a rival npc politician to have a shit day, hex their charisma. The fact that you can set and forget is so good and so on brand flavor wise. I have a character in a downtime heavy campaign that will often use all their spell slots at the beginning of the day to hex their competition or people they dislike.
As a DM, I wouldn’t let Hex be so good at imposing disadvantage on foes outside of combat. Maybe the target won’t notice something change right away when the spell is cast, but It has somatic, material and verbal components. The target will notice someone chanting and waving at it, unless unseen and hushed somehow.
The problem with Hex is that casting a spell on someone is almost always going to lead to initiative being rolled first. Hex has verbal components, it will break stealth and everyone will know you’re casting a spell. You’re either going to have to go Metamagic Adept as a Warlock, Magic Initiate as a Sorcerer, or multiclass a Sorlock.
The sanctuary / haste / blindness combo wouldn’t work but only because the sorcerer couldn’t cast spells while protected from sanctuary without dissolving the effect, however if sanctuary were cast after the sorcerer did all their stuff (basically reverse order) it would work so long as the sorcerer didn’t do anything else except move.
I realize I just talked down Compelled Duel but I might have been a bit hasty. And maybe this is old news but what if Compelled Duel was combined with Sanctuary? As in, Round 1 my cleric casts Compelled Duel and Sacred Flame at the big target to get its attention. If my cleric survives to round 2, cleric then casts Sanctuary and starts healing with Healer Kits and Medicine skill. Throws out support type spells, Aid or Beacon of Hope or whatevs. And just ties up the target or gives disadvantage for a significant amount of time.
Small point of disagreement in an otherwise excellent article: as a DM, there is zero chance I would rule that a dragon (or any enemy with an intelligence score above 2) who received a hex curse could be surprised. The hex IS the surprise and its effect to plunge the dragon down the initiative order seems reward enough, IMO. Even as a player, I would have a very hard time arguing how a dragon could suddenly feel much slower (the logical effect of disadvantage on DEX) and not immediately suspect something was amiss. That said, Hex and Healing Word are definitely my top two as well. They are just SO GOOD.
THANK YOU for pointing out that Hex isn’t just a damage boosting move. If you have a grappling Barbarian, or a Web casting Wizard, you can make escaping them nearly impossible. Like, Giants have high strength and typically low dexterity. You throw Web on them, and it usually lands, but then they just rip out of it instantly because of how strong they are. Not when hexed, lol. Add in that the person who cast Hex is now shooting a restrained target, and you get a lot of reliable damage out of it. People also forget that Hunter’s Mark has its own background mechanic that you become really good at tracking that target. You can put it on someone fleeing a losing fight, and follow him back to his leader or base. It’s a move that’s specifically meant to be applied long before a fight, without anyone knowing it happened, but even after the fight, you can use it to hunt down the remaining targets.
I don’t think it belongs on the list but I am a big fan of “Expeditious Retreat”. I gave it to my warlock and during fights against an opponent who is melee only, they can not touch me as I continuously dart around and Eldritch Blast them! 🙂 HOWEVER it is always hard to pick which spell to use IF ANY when using a class with so few spell slots lol
I like the article, good analysis. My only gripe would be about a target being unaware of the hex. With v, s,m components required I would rule that it is pretty obvious that the caster is using magic of some kind and if that happens no guard will sit there and listen to the party’s attempt at lying. Most of the other examples were great, especially with initiative disadvantage.
I feel obligated to call you a name since you specifically asked for it. Hey BUMBLE BUTT!! Why didn’t you include Shillelagh?! It’s a cantrip that imbues a wooden weapon with magic for a first level (typically) wimpy character class that also lets the caster use their spellcasting ability modifier instead of their strength (I did indicate these are typically wimpy folks since they can rely on their Wild Shape for physical stats). Unlimited uses, no concentration, a way to get around damage immunities to non-magical damage resistances, and it’s fun to say. “Shillelagh!” I know the downside that it doesn’t scale and is only available to druids but I think it’s worth an honorable mention. (And I’m sorry for calling you a Bumble Butt.)
Not even a mention of Expeditious Retreat with a nod to Zephyr’s Strike. Even if my spell selection is a narrow as a Ranger’s, I’d likely cast either of those over Ashardalon’s Stride. Also feels like you just compared bonus action spells against each other instead of keeping mind that they’re also competing against action spells when you actually play the game, which ended up over-valuing certain bonus action spells that just aren’t that great in context or fall off quickly.
I was sad for a moment when I realised that as a player I might not ever get access to Blade of Disaster… but as a DM, I can throw it on an enemy and use it as much as I want. Could be a very cool villain that can cast Spiritual Weapon and Blade of Disaster and attack the players with floating spectral swords
The only surprise here is Compelled Duel, then I remembered most people play with normal rest rules and do 1 combat per day so Paladins don’t ever run out of spell slots. Paladins really need to think how to use their slots and be really mindful when you actually run 6 encounters a day like you should by game’s design, and Compelled Duel in those situations is really hard to justify.
I like Hex a lot, but it doesn’t work too well on the one class that gets it. Trying to retain concentration over several hours is just a pain, and precludes some other warlock possibilities like using Eldritch Sight. One of many reasons why Fey Touched is great. Hexing Dex to prevent sneaky enemies from hiding in battle is underrated. Using it to nerf Initiative rolls is a bit of a gray area rules wise – most DMs I respect wouldn’t allow casting of an offensive spell outside of initiative, at least not without Subtle Spell.
Swift Quiver I feel has one major problem that really holds it back from being useful. You can’t use it the same turn you cast it. Bigby’s hand for example, let’s you use it the same turn you cast it, but swift quiver is a 5th level set up spell you can’t use until turn 2. Its value goes up a lot if you’re able to do those bonus action attacks the same round it is cast. Sure if the party is smart and they ambush they can have it prepped, but thats not every combat scenario.
argument: Spirit Guardians coupled w/sentinel and warcaster feats as an 11 lvl warlock with agonizing blast = damage out the wazoo rnd 1 spirit guardians, e blast 3 times at 10 feet away he moves up to you to attack, taking 4d8, AND 3 more e blasts oh, if you have armor of agythys up too, they take 25 damage too, IF they live to hit you
I used sanctuary to allow our barbarian to move across the battlefield and engage the BBEG. It required 3 turns of movement to get there, so without sanctuary the numerous enemy minions would have dog piled her en-route, as well as the BBEG targeting her with spells. With sanctuary 2/3rd of the enemy failed their saves and didn’t attack. A tactically useful and fun use of a 1st level spell slot. (This was early tier 2 play, so dimension door/haste etc wasn’t in play.)
Personally I don’t think Hex should be nearly that high on the list for the reasons you listed. Disadvantage on ability checks isn’t the biggest deal and I would say it’s most useful when you have a grappler/shover in your party. All of your other situations are pretty circumstantial and require planning, which makes it hard to do considering that Hex has a verbal component. No, it’s not a charm spell, but wanting to lie to a guard would be much harder if you started saying stuff in weird pitches and tones, which would likely make them suspicious. Even worse if you’re actively trying to hide from a creature, as you can’t exactly cast verbal components quietly. It’s a good spell and it’s better than Hunter’s Mark. Though in my opinion, it shouldn’t be in front of Healing Word, Misty Step, and Sanctuary, and definitely shouldn’t be in the number 1 spot. Also, Blade of Disaster? Really? It’s a worse Crown of Stars despite being two levels higher as other than offering some more damage, it requires your concentration and may I mention is a 9th level spell. You could be using Wish, Prismatic Wall, True Polymorph, Shapechange, or Foresight if you want to be offensive, spells that do insane effects and are game changing… and instead, you’d use it on a buffed Spiritual Weapon. Which requires your concentration so you can’t even use your action next turn for your more show-stopping spells anyways. I’m bewildered how it scored higher than Spiritual Weapon and Compelled Duel.
I respect your list but I don’t think Hex would work that well in some of your situations. Particularly for a surprise round, perception check, charisma guard, and investigation check unless you have access subtle spell. Hex requires vocal, somatic, and material components. Casting spells is not silent and not without obvious signs that you are casting otherwise subtle spell wouldn’t exist. This means: You have to get out of hiding to cast the spell thereby the dragon knows you’re there, so while it has disadvantage on the initiative, it isnt a surprise round. Similar story for the rest. Investigation. The bug bear notices you casting. Charisma guard, in a magical world the guard would know you’re casting a spell and would probably just attack you. Perception, maybe if you cast it before you run and hide but if you are already trying to hide, it would see you casting. Unless you have subtle spell or some other way to cut off their hearing and sight as you cast the spell I don’t think it’d work too greatly.
Cody: Call me names and stuff. Me: Um, okay. Cody is a big doo-doo head? Regarding spells not on the list, I would have put Shadow Blade on there somewhere. The idea that it deals psychic damage is huge, as not many creatures as resistant to that, and it’s only level 2. Misty Step is a great spell, but Far Step, while a 5th level spell, continuously lets you use a bonus action every round to bounce 60 feet. That’s basically a controlled Blink spell.
Most DMs I’ve seen say that creatures know you hexed them because: 1) It has V, S, & M components. 2) They describe black or purple wispy clouds that surround the target’s head even though there is no visual RAW. OR 3) the hex is innately magical and their passive Arcana detects it. Of course, all of that can be fixed with rules clarifications and hiding/subtle spell metamagic. I just find DMs are generally misunderstanding or misjudging this spell and need to reread. If you nerf it at your table, that’s fine. Just let the players know that up front. Perhaps the players wouldn’t pick a warlock in that case… I’m not salty you are. Haha
While I admit your use of Hex to screw your enemy’s Initiative is clever, I have to call you out on the god awful choices for this list. Compelled Duel and Ashardalon’s Stride are terrible for various reasons I’m sure are in these comments, but the truly heinous suggestion of Swift Quiver is a crime of misinformation against the community. For anyone who hasn’t read it, which Taking20 clearly didn’t, Swift Quiver does nothing when you cast it. On subsequent turns you can use a bonus action to make two ranged weapon attacks. At best this is going to be 19 average damage (Longbow, 20 Dex) from your bonus action. Animate Objects has an average of 64 damage from your bonus action. You can still bypass resistance/immunity to nonmagical by simply animating silver objects such as the SILVER COINS IN YOUR WALLET. But its not simply a total waste of a 5th level slot, you suggested wasting a Magical Secret for this! You could have taken Far Step, Holy Weapon, or Banishing Smite as 5th level bonus action spells. That’s not all though, there are far better secrets such as Aura of Vitality, Find Greater Steed and *WALL OF FORCE*.
I disagree with Compelled Duel. Too many restrictions. I am in a party with a bunch of murder hobos. As most are. And they won’t restrain themselves from one target, especially if they are in the mindset of focus fire. Moreover, I am the PAM pallie tank with Sentinel. AKA The Goalie. I Need ALL THE MOBS To Line Up HERE Please! Which is antithetical to Compelled Duel. As soon as I try to catch a second target from skirmishing at my ranged team, Compelled Duel ends. If I was a simple blaster/striker? Maybe? But then we can just loop back to focus fire technique among murder hobos. A Barbarian/Pallie not acting as tank perhaps? And Concentration checks? The affected target is attacking you after all. Now I know it’s not in the scope of this article but Command (Approach) is my must have as the group’s goalie.
I know there are some great spells that may be an ACTION to Cast But then use a BONUS ACTION to subsequently activate. ANIMATE OBJECTS comes to mind. A great use of the bonus action for players. I’d love to see a article of just best BONUS actions to harness in the game completely. Ex: misty step, crossbow expert, cunning action, quicken spell, etc… perhaps separated into categories like: – class abilities, – subclass abilities, – spells, – racial/lineage traits, – magic items, – feats that grant or buff bonus action uses. Thanks so much for posting about these awesome bonus action spells!
I recently wrapped up a level 20 “Pit of 100 Trials”-styled multi-shot where Healing Word was my Moon Druid’s most useful spell – Shapechanged into an Ancient White Dragon and did my claw claw bite/breath weapon? Healing Word. Calling lightning while dancing around in the sky as an Air Elemental? Healing Word. Just that little extra bit goes such a long way for keeping the party alive and in the fight!
The problem with swift quiver is that you are most likely to use it as a ranger (though you could use it through magical secrets you are not likely to be doing it due to other great spells being options). This means you only get it at very high levels. The best rangers (generally) make use of crossbow expert + sharpshooter, this means that you are already using you BA to make an attack. Though swift quiver does remove the requirement for ammunition lots of DM’s already ignore it. So for this hand crossbow CBE + sharpshooter ranger you are just making one extra attack on your turn with swift quiver AND CONCENTRATION. This concentration could otherwise be spent on great spells like summon woodland beings, conjure animals, entangle, spike growth or keeping pass without trace up throughout a combat meaning you could potentially give your entire team a free surprise round, which means everyone has advantage on attacks and the enemy essentially miss their turns! just with this one ranger that is 3 attacks for the CBE + Sharpshooter ranger. Plus lets say a fighter (which at level 15, where you get swift quiver, is making three attacks) and a spell caster means so much more that swift quiver AND WITH ONLY A SECOND LEVEL SLOT. Although having fun is the most important thing at the end of the day
Hex has verbal, somatic, and material components. Your uses of the spell pretty much require that you’re multiclassing sorcerer to get Subtle spell, and probably devoting additional resources to stealth. Even then, there’s a huge opportunity cost. After character level 5 if you’re concentrating on Hex you’re not concentrating on something much better. If you’ve got a grappler in the group, by 5th level they probably have advantage, expertise, & 16 strength while most monsters don’t even have proficiency in the escape mechanic needed. There’s already something like a 80%-90% chance of success. Increasing that chance of success to 95% isn’t better than… say… neutralizing several enemies with Hypnotic Pattern. The opportunity cost is just huge. And it gets bigger each level. And because you’re on a warlock with pact slots the fact that it’s a 1st level spell is pretty much a moot point. It’s half of your Spellcasting until very high level… again… unless you’re multiclassing. Hex belongs on the list… but far from #1. Healing word ftw
Honestly the more I think about Swift Quiver, the more convinced I become that it’s overrated. The simple fact that it’s a 5th lvl Ranger spell makes it incredibly difficult to get, and even then it’s only ok. 2 attacks as a bonus action is great, until you realize it’s unavailable until level 17 (Or 10 if you’re a Bard.) And then you realize you can get 1 attack as a bonus action (so half the spell) at level 1 from about 7 different methods, none of which require concentration. It’s a cool spell, but comes online way too late. Balance-wise, it should probably be a 3rd level spell.
Wait a second, Hex is not the most powerful spell, it’s at maximum the most efficient bonus spell! UNLESS… You already know that, and just say it for the comment that I gonna left in disagreement! Haha! I need it! So it’s me outsmarting you and not leaving a comment disagreeing with you! Best luck on the next one!
I think hex’s ability is actually downplayed a bit. It’s a spell that actively scales with the warlock AND since eldritch blast grants additional beams with every few levels, that extra +1d6 Necrotic gets added on top of the 1d10 and, way more often than not, the Spellcasting ability bonus. By that point, the eldritch blast should be dealing out (with a 16 Charisma) 5-19 damage per eldritch blast with whatever added benefit you’ve given the spell. It’s hunters mark on steroids I also think Compelled Duel got way too much credit. While it’s not typically a great stat for melee fighters, they still get a Wisdom saving throw. Plus no one else can attack that creature AND you have to maintain concentration. There’s just way too much riding on this spell being good. If it were to be as good as you placed it, the initial saving throw needs to be nixed as well as the clause about others dealing damage to it. THEN it would be considerably better while not broken.
Ok, if I’m not mistaken, a level 9 Warlock basically needs to cast Hex only once per day, as long as every Hexed enemy gets to 0HP: nowhere in the description is said that the retargeting must happen soon after, it says on “a subsequent turn” not on “*the* subsequent turn” so if HexedenemyN is killed at the end of fightX, at the beginning of fightY you can get an HexedenemyN+1
Swift Quiver is kinda bad. You can’t make the 2 attacks when you cast it. If you compare this to Crossbow Expert, it only starts seeing value on the third round. And for a 5th level slot and your concentration? it’s not great. The main benefit of Swift Quiver over Crossbow Expert besides the range is that you can cast (non-concentration) spells as your action and still use the two attacks. But even still, a 5th level slot is expensive.
Misty Step becomes even better when you’re an Order of Scribes Wizard above 6th level. With your Manifest Mind ability (which can be up to 300 ft. away from you before it vanishes) you can cast the spell as though you were in the Spectral Mind’s space (up to your proficiency times per day); the “a place you can see” also being satisfied by being able to see anywhere the Spectral Mind because you see anything it sees. If you have the Manifest Mind positioned just right, you could get your Misty Step up to 330ft. away. The trick is just getting your Spectral Mind into the position you’ll want to Misty Step from ahead of time; when you first create it you can have it start up to 60 ft. away from you, and you can move it up to 30ft with a bonus action each round after that. It hovers just over the ground (no fllying) and it can’t pass through objects (so it will be blocked by doors). With those limitations in mind, if you can imagine a way to get it in the right position, you can use it to amplify your Misty Step.
I love all these spells, but I think an honourable mention has to go to Expeditious Retreat. Expeditious retreat allows you ON THAT TURN and any subsequent turn, to use your bonus action as a Dash action. So at any point in the fight you can double move if: you need to plain run away, you need to chase down a retreating foe, you need to get out of difficult terrain, or plain and simply need to reposition slightly more than your movement would allow. It’s a level 1 spell available to Artificers, Eldritch Knights, Arcane Tricksters, Sorcerors, Warlocks or Wizards. I love spells that allow me to pick up extra movement ability, and the best bit about this one is you can use a single bonus action to both activate this spell and reap it’s benefits!
Rated too high: – Ashardolan’s stride, in DnD, you want to focus fire. That is take out the one enemy, so he stops attacking, then the next and then the next. This tickles all the enemies on the battlefield just a little bit, and it takes up your concentration. It is only a little better than Zephyr Strike, but an entire two levels higher. – Compel duel is concetration, to ‘deal’ with one enemy. Except, you just make them target you, and it is concentration. You are doing this instead of bless or shield of faith, so has better be good.. But it isn’t. Paladins require high Charisma, meaning they are actually the second most squishy melee character only surpassed by the monk. (Rogues don’t count, because even melee rogues should use their bonus action disengage, meaning they are effectively more like short range rogues). If you want to protect your allies, use wrathful smite, now the creature is scared of you, and have disadvantage on attack rolls, also against you, so you are more safe, and you got an additional 1d6 damage, and the creature cannot willingly come closer to you. – Blade of disaster. I know you say you put it on for the fun levels. But this is a 9th level spell. It might average something like, 40 damage per turn. Meteor storm causes an average of around 100 damage in a huge area, in 1 turn. I know what you are thinking, meteor swarm is an action, but you know what, it doens’t matter, because you can’t do much with your action as 17th level spellcaster if you have just cast spell with your bonus action.
Hex and Hunters mark are terrible, terrible spells without the bubble of the bonus action restriction bumping them up. Hex is passable as a low level warlock, because their spell list at level 1 is just terrible, but by the time you get hypnotic pattern, fear, slow, etc., your concentration shouldn’t be entirely focused on the itty bitty shitty of like 2.5 damage on average, when you could be casting encounter changing spells. And Hunters Mark shouldn’t be taken ever, there are some builds where its okay at low level(pole arm master, crossbow expert, etc), but again, your concentration should be focused on something else, something better, like Entangle, Spike Growth, or Conjure Animals. In other words, healing word is probably still the best one.
Why is nobody talking about Shadow Blade and Spirit Shroud? Paladins, Hexlbades and Bladesingers can use Spirit Shroud to gain a lot of dpr and Shadow Blade is awesome for Bladesingers without a good magical weapon. Both spells use rarely resisted damage type (radiant for spirit shroud), deal bonus damage to any target not just one like Hunter‘s Mark or Hex and they have nice additional effects.
Hex is overrated at number 1, after level 5 you have better things to spend your covenant on. spiritual weapon might be slightly underrated, it scales fairly well and not likely resisted. Go to spell for all clerics. Grasping vine is a terrible spell for its level, probably top 5 worst. A 4th level spell that requires concentration, I can’t move, has only a medium range, and does 0 damage? No thank you
I prefer far step over misty step. It’s a more valuable slot and conc; sure. But it’s 60ft and lasts 10 rounds. Unless you’re concentrating on something particularly important, I think it’s is far more value for a slot. Even more so when you consider that after the first turn you use to cast this spell; you get the full effect and can cast a leveled spell. And frankly, as someone who has been in a lot of t3-t4 late game groups or ran high level games; Misty step’s 30ft as a reposition tool would often also use my entire action to dash following it. Even if I’m playing a wizard and using misty step with my 18th level feature. It costs me no resources except the most important resource of all: action economy. Meanwhile with far step I’m sure to cover all the distance I need.
Tbh I’m not sure swift quiver is as great as it sounds. Sure, you get to make 2 shots as a bonus action, but that’s at the cost of your concentration, where as if you were using crossbow expert with a hand crossbow you’d be making one less attack sure, and with a slightly smaller damage die, but you could concentrate on other spells that are either doing more damage or causing other effects. On that same valor bard, you could potentially do more damage by combining something like haste with find greater steed, you’d actually be making more attacks that way as you’d still be getting 4 shots and then your steed would also be under the effect of haste giving it 3 attacks as well (granted they are melee attacks but still). I’m sure people smarter than me have done the math on this But in a game where options like crossbow expert exist I think you are hard-pressed to spend your concentration on swiftquiver, 5th level spell slots are expensive, for a bard you only have so many magical secrets you can work with, For a Ranger you would be so late into the game that you may have already taken something like crossbow expert anyways to do more damage for the 90% of the game you’ve been through already that would also be competing with the bonus action of swift quiver…idk, I want to like swift quiver but i think it’s a trap
Why Hunter’s Mark should have made the list . At higher level it lasts 8 hours . To cast it a creature must be within 90 feet. Nothing says it has to stay within 90 feet . Kill a creature leave HM on said creature, adventure for the day next combat happens just move HM. So for 1 3rd level spell slot you cast Hunters 1 time and have it all day . That’s a ton of extra damage for A third level spell slot.
One spell I’d throw into the honorable mentions is Expeditious Retreat. Dashing as a bonus action has come in so much use for my character. I took it as a “Eh, I might use it once in a while.” I can fly as a variant tiefling, and getting out of bowshot rapidly is incredibly useful, especially with a 600ft Eldritch Blast (Eldritch Spear and Spell Sniper).
Interesting list! I have a soft disagree on shield of faith- it is a good tool to have in the toolshed for sure, especially for a paladin who can follow up an attack action with a defensive boost. However, even for a paladin, it is a very steep opportunity cost to be using your concentration on a single target, minor AC boost. I have a hard disagree on blade of disaster- damage looks OK in a vacuum, but at level 18+, it isn’t really impactful and represents a very minor effect for the cost of a character’s single 9th level spell slot. I felt Divine Word was a major exclusion from this list. With divine word, the hp-based effects are just gravy, the real effect is a mass 24 hour banishment for any number of celestials, elementals, feys, or fiends within range using a bonus action. It is a situational spell, but at the level where the spell comes into play battling these types of creatures is a fairly common situation, and when applicable the effect is very strong.
So I think that compelled duel may not be that great when you consider the probability of the target to save. First off, if you are using that spell, you want your paladin to be tanky if you are going to be using it as part of a strategy. High AC or High health or both. In order for that to happen, they need to have high dex or high con or both. That doesn’t usually leave enough room to get the best charisma. Therefore, under most circumstances the save DC for compelled duel is going to be very low and the probability of the target saving is going to save will be quite high. It’s just one of those situations where you can definitely get a paladin to have a high save DC by purpose building one as a caster focus, but if you do then when they cast it, it won’t be as good of a spell. Even if you are multi classing into paladin in order to get it from a CHA based caster class we have the issue of HP. The hit dice for warlock, bards, and certainly sorcerers mean that under most circumstances you would not want compelled duel.
How does Dragon’s Breath not even get honorable mention, you can choose damage type, it can be put on others like a familiar or mount, can be twinned to be twice the payout, no recharge? Also no love for the very early abusable Expeditious Retreat, which can early on give a squishy the ability to out run or kite early game foes?
Misty Step is literally the reason I’m playing an Eladrin Wizard right now. It’s such a useful movement skill for such a nominal cost that I couldn’t pass up gaining it as a racial ability. Even just once a day, being able to teleport on top of a building, across a chasm, or otherwise out of danger (plus seasonal effects) is spectacular.
I have personally found what I feel is a fair fix for healing word spam/ cure wounds getting little love: don’t allow it to heal if the character is unconscious or in silence. We play it that the character has to hear the healing word to benefit and this has made the party play smarter and less recklessly. Although we do also have an extra home rule called chanting the word where every time a different character casts healing word within 30 feet of another then every friendly creature targetted by healing word heals an additional hitpoint per level (so if 3 casters cast level one healing words in a turn then the amount healed for all the castings would be d4 + spellcasting mod + 2). I think it adds a great bit of flavour to the idea of a something like a sonorous gregorian chant resonating through the air. It also encourages co-ordinated team work What do you think?
In terms of using hex to give disadvantage on initiative, I think the rules state that verbal components must be clear and loud (or something to that effect), so by casting hex, you’re breaking stealth and losing surprise, making it a gamble to beat the dragon on initiative instead of just taking the surprise round.
Holy Weapon is a great spell. IF you cast it on you multi attack fighter, the amount of damage they can then deal out is amazing. I played an arcane archer that our Cleric cast this on and with 3 attack per round I was destroying stuff. But at low levels or as a cleric casting it on themself, I’d agree its not that good.
Casting blindness deafness does break sanctuary though. As it effects an enemy. Unless you want to blind or deafen your allies. Also shout out to spirit shroud, dragon’s breath on a familiar and shadowblade. Having played paladin a lot with oath of devotion I did not find sanctuary or compelled duel that useful tbh. Better of with shield of faith if tanking or divine favor if dpsing. Also played a lot of cleric and there the bonus action is mostly spiritual weapon or healing word.
I have got to hear your defense of Hail of Thorns. To me, it seems like a very wasteful spell slot. It even takes an action on which it does nothing to cast, AND uses your concentration, meaning it breaks concentration on other, better spells! And Swift Quiver is bad because it makes you do nothing with it on the round you cast it. If it let you make those two attacks on the turn you cast it, it would be as good as you say.
The one thing I do like about one or two of the named-smites is that you can scale it right up to level 9. Yeah, probably not terribly efficient but if you’re multiclassing a lot and have a lot of spell slots without many high-level spells, it can be good. Forget which one it is that scales. Think it’s the lightning one maybe?
Blade of Disaster feels so good but is so bad in actual play i feel like, it can only move 30 ft consuming your bonus action, at that level monsters can just outmanuver it so easily it makes it worthless. Unless your DM just puts down a wall of flesh with no real strategy you are gonna fell real bad using your bonus action just to try to catch up to the enemy
Divine Word deserves a mention, appart from it’s main effect depending of the enemy’s hitpoints, it’s last effect is why it´s worth of the mention, practically functions as a mass banishment for Celestials, Elementals, Fey and Fiends who are in range regardless of their hitpoints if they fail the save
Whoa, no one’s gonna bring up Shadow Blade? Lvl 2, but my Wild Sorceror/Eldritch Knight usually upcasts it as lvl 5 or 7, which is 4d8 or 5d8. Action surging while hitting enemies with 5d8 PSYCHIC damage (rarely ever resisted), and it’s dual wieldable, AND it can be throw and recalled…It’s nothing to laugh at. Two regular attacks at 5d8, then maybe use a bonus action to hit em with a flametongue scimitar. OR…can you imagine a Sorcerer/Paladin using a DIVINE SMITE using Shadow Blade? It’s just silly.
Guardian of Nature is by far the best BA spell in 5e! Advantage on all attacks for 1 minute, bonus movement for 1 minute, 1d6 bonus dmg on every hit! OMG! If you look at it separately, it is in fact Hunter’s Mark, Longstrider, Darkvision and 1/4 of Foresight (lvl 9 spell!) in one! Even DEX/WIS version is great and offers 1/4 of Foresight, 1/2 Spirit Guardians, Enhance Ability and False Life in one! Why isn’t it even mentioned in this rankings???
I think hex is very overrated. Not just by you but by everyone. Warlocks don’t have that many spell slots, and above a certain level where the 1d6 damage falls off, spending a warlock spell for a niche and situational use, just seems like a waste. It’s only useful if another full caster can get access to it through feats or class features.
one problem with some of your examples of using hex as a broken spell, it nowhere says it is invisible in effect. in my games, the hex marks the enemy with some sort of glowing hex mark on or hovering near the target. a lot of your examples would assume the hex target doesn’t notice the hex, which in my opinion would require subtle spell metamagic. hex the dragon from range at surprise, he would indeed get disadvantage on saves, but he wouldn’t have the surprise condition, as he would know he was under attack as soon as the hex hit him/her. Similarly, hex the gate guard and he would start as hostile, forget social interaction rolls.
I feel like this list has a lot of bad takes. Like arshadalons stride uses concentration for 20ft of floor movement and 1d6 damage within 5 feet. It’s THIRD LEVEL, you could just cast fly which is 100% better. Who cares about running around and casting cantrips for 5-10 damage when you could fly or do anything else with concentration at 2nd tier play. Same problem with Hex and Hunters Mark. Early game sure, but once you’ve got 2nd and especially 3rd level slots those are so much stronger and so much COOLER. Same with Swift Quiver, it’s a trap. The spell is 5th level! By then you could upcast Conjure animals for 16 1/4 CR beasts, or 8 1/2. You could summon eight brown bears each with extra attack
The only thing I’ll say about your commentary on the uses for Hex is this: Anyone that has ears will be able to know they’re hexed. It has a verbal component. If you have a way to mitigate that? Yea, most of your examples work….but that verbal component being there makes it significantly less valuable for trying to disadvantage opponents in social encounters or stealth situations.
The thing I find interesting about Hex is that it’s an Enchantment spell, instead of a Necromancy spell, especially given that it isn’t automatically detected. In fact that almost seems like a mistake. It does deserve the #1 spot, but it’s clearly mis-catagorized. I’m glad to see Sanctuary high on the list. It’s come a long ways as a spell from 2nd edition. Bonus action spells seem…. almost like innate class features instead of spells.
The best thing about hex that you don’t have to immediately switch it to a new target after the current dies. That means if you cast it on a bandit at 5th level, and kill that bandit, you can go out drinking with your party, sell off your loot, and do a bunch of other crap, and 12 hours later when another bandit attacks, you slap the same hex you cast that morning on him.
Blade of Disaster is a bit of a weird choice to me. Sure, it’s a lot of damage but it’s a lot of damage on a 9th level spell. Taking into account that two of the three classes that get it only get one 9th level spell it becomes a very tough sell, considering it competes with Wish, True Polymorph, Meteor Strike and invulnerability, to name a few. Also, unlike Spiritual weapon it takes up your concentration, which is something you might want to use for something else.
Hex is a terrible spell for the first place. The damage output is just inefficient. There are much better alternatives without wasting concentration on it. Disadvantage on ability checks might work great in certain situations but with verbal, somatic and material component the target should be aware of the spell most of the time. Especially if we use something like an adult dragon, with about +12 to perception checks, as an example. Similar goes for hunters mark. To have an advantage on Perception and Survival checks against the creature can make a huge difference sometimes. But most of the time players use it only to increase their damage and it’s just sub-optimal to put it nicely. It doesn’t even bring anything into RP for those who want to say D&D is not about optimization.
I don’t understand why you would like Swift Quiver so much. IMHO it’s a bad spell. It has dis-synergy with the best feat for rangers – XBE, meaning that for an optimized ranger it only really adds a single attack per turn, while a 5th level conjure animals can add 32 (!!) attacks per turn at advantage (with velociraptors). Swift Quiver also doesn’t work on the round you first cast it, only lasts a minute, and requires the use of your BA every turn which means you can’t use your BA to do anything else without wasting the spell’s benefit for the round…
Fantastic article! Really like that some of my favorite spells made it to the list. I don’t want to be rude, but there are a couple of corrections that should be said in case people didn’t catch them for the future: – The number 8 spell, Spiritual Weapon, is not a level 1 spell. It is a 2nd level spell and, though it is available at early level and is easily a fantastic spell, it is not available to 1st level clerics. Shield of Faith, however, is a 1st level spell and certainly earns its spot ahead of Spiritual Weapon. – The number 4 spell, Sanctuary, drops not only if the creature attacks or causes damage, but also if they affect an enemy with a spell. So while a Sorc casting Haste would still be protected, they would lose the protection immediately after casting Blindness/Deafness. However, there are many other options that are available that do not cause the spell to drop. Healing and buff spells such as Healing Word or Shield of Faith :D, battlefield control spells such as Darkness or Wall of Stone, and even things like the Dodge action are all available and make Sanctuary a top tier spell for clever players.
i love perusal 5e players pretend classes still exist lol! a group of levels 1s would just destroy a group of much higher level toons from 2e for example. but keep pretending its not broken af and ill keep laughing at the christmas morning mechanics. this isnt for d&d players its for millennials who need to be coddled and handed everything and never die because their little hearts cant take a loss.
Im really confused on quickened spell, or just sorcerer in general: You cant have more sorcery points that exceed your level but I see guides on people able to stack up sorcery points with their sorlock build or even sleepless sorlock build. May I know how does that work? Because if the sorcery points cant exceed level, you’ll always have to use bonus actions to convert sorcery points and then quickened on the next turn. ( sorry im new to dnd) Anywhere I can read on this stacking of sorcery points?
You missed the best BA spell in the game… Dragons Breath. Range of touch so you can cast it on your familiar using their reaction to cast it on themselves. The you still have your whole action and the familiars whole action to play with. Need to cast a firebolt for more damage… You got it. Need to dash, disengage, or dodge? You’re good to go! On top of all that, your familiar still gets to move and use the breath against the enemies that you want them to.
The best part with Shield Master is it can also knock your opponent prone. A bonus action to halve your opponents movement and give advantage to your allies is pretty awesome. And if you take Hex either as a Hexblade or through Fey Touched then they can have disadvantage on their check to stay upright.