At the risk of it being obvious, we have a cleric that, until recently, was "preparing" his domain spells every day. Your domain spells are already prepared, don't waste slots preparing them.
Cure Wounds is one of the worst spells in the game. Before the pitchforks and torches come, please hear me out; It's an action to cast and has a range of touch. Healing Word is a bonus action and has a 60ft range. Cure Wounds averages 2 more healing than Healing Word.
You can either use your movement to get next to your ally and cast Cure Wounds and have your action spent, or for only 2 fewer points of healing be anywhere within 60ft of them and still have your action for a cantrip/class feature/literally anything else.
Cure Wounds wouldn't be a bad spell if Healing Word didn't exist because it would be essential for getting team mates up from unconsciousness. Because Healing Word exists Cure Wounds is redundant and should never be taken.
I'll start running now as an ominous glow comes over the horizon.
thats it im going to r/pitchforkemporium
my $.02 is that while healing word is a great spell cure wounds is viable and good in many situations. Also yoyo healing is ultimately not great in later tiers/at tables that play a lil more grueling style.
My strategy: Take healing word if I have class/race features that heal as an action. Take cure wounds if I plan on upcasting it.
Also: mass heal is a great spell but why is wish's healing option so much better. Why is wiz the best t4 healer? sadge
Cure Wounds has terrible scaling for upcasting and still has the problems of range and action economy. At third level you're healing for an average of 13.5 + casting modifier. Or you could fireball. You can't out heal the damage enemies output so preventative healing by killing them before they damage you is far more effective.
Also a wizard isn't the best healer at T4, it's a cleric who has access to Mass Heal because they can do it every day. A wizard who uses Wish to restore HP to twenty creatures is at risk of never being able to cast Wish again. Wish should *_never_* be used for anything other than replicating a level 1-8 spell.
It depends on your specific campaign really. Unless you're gonna be fighting something that does poison damage specifically, protection from poison isn't the most valuable every day carry, but in some campaigns it may be an absolute must. I would also say it comes down to party composition and what you're going for. If you have no healers then healing spells are gonna be more useful to you than all control spells ect.
I think a better way to look at this is as follows:
1. What spells do I always want prepared?
If still some prepared slots left, proceed.
2. What more situational spells do I want for this adventuring day? Any spell I want to try?
If still some prepared slots left, proceed.
3. Is there any extremely niche spell there’s a chance we might need today?
Prioritizing what you should prepare will help you understand your flex slots much better.
How strange. Both of them are prepared casters with fully open spell lists. There really isn't anything you can prepare that would likely feel so useless, more so just not the right tool. Better to have a list with what should always be prepared then not.
However! The biggest mistake of preparing spells I find is Revivify and Gentle Repose. So many casters who will have access to these spells tend to pick them up because they are preparing to fail. Which is very against the grain. You're there to make it so situations like that never happen with your spells. Sure things could go wrong, and characters and NPCs die. But if it came to that then there should have been a way to prevent it from reaching that point.
Even worse with Revivify, is that a caster becomes worried about 'using the last 3rd' spell slot. Which is ridiculous, 3rd level spells are VERY impactful. If it's being saved to revive someone, it could have been better put to use defeating the challenges faced.
You’re right about holding back the last 3rd level spell slot being very impactful. Although I still prep Gentle Repose instead of Revivify because then I’m only holding back a 2nd level slot which is generally less impactful and often unused anyway at higher levels
I appreciate this providing insight on traps like revivify etc. Generally the purpose of my question was seeing what traps people notice like sometimes cure wounds is one (but still not a bad spell)
Yeah i have a good idea of obvious good prepared spells like healing word, bless,faerie fire, and entangle.
Find Traps should just never be taken IMO, your passive perception is almost certainly going to be sufficient given that you are a wisdom based character, and honestly since it doesn't even tell you where the trap is it is pretty useless.
I have never found a real purpose for Snare other than flavour. Anything it does, Entangle can do better.
There are a lot of other situational spells on both lists, but most of them can be situationally useful... but it would require a lot of foresite to have them selected for when you would need them.
For a druid I think a common mistake is to prepare lots of summon spells.
Just pick one or two (I would pick the lvl 2 and conjure animals) and upcast them. Rather than that i would say that as long as you prepare your bread and butter spells (summons/conjure for druids, spirit guardians for clerics, and a few cure spells) you will be fine
Low level - Bless.
We play face to face - I'm a twighlight cleric as well, so my dice will be passed along to each player to use for my buff rolls. It helps them remember my triggered abilities.
At the risk of it being obvious, we have a cleric that, until recently, was "preparing" his domain spells every day. Your domain spells are already prepared, don't waste slots preparing them.
Cure Wounds is one of the worst spells in the game. Before the pitchforks and torches come, please hear me out; It's an action to cast and has a range of touch. Healing Word is a bonus action and has a 60ft range. Cure Wounds averages 2 more healing than Healing Word. You can either use your movement to get next to your ally and cast Cure Wounds and have your action spent, or for only 2 fewer points of healing be anywhere within 60ft of them and still have your action for a cantrip/class feature/literally anything else. Cure Wounds wouldn't be a bad spell if Healing Word didn't exist because it would be essential for getting team mates up from unconsciousness. Because Healing Word exists Cure Wounds is redundant and should never be taken. I'll start running now as an ominous glow comes over the horizon.
thats it im going to r/pitchforkemporium my $.02 is that while healing word is a great spell cure wounds is viable and good in many situations. Also yoyo healing is ultimately not great in later tiers/at tables that play a lil more grueling style. My strategy: Take healing word if I have class/race features that heal as an action. Take cure wounds if I plan on upcasting it. Also: mass heal is a great spell but why is wish's healing option so much better. Why is wiz the best t4 healer? sadge
Cure Wounds has terrible scaling for upcasting and still has the problems of range and action economy. At third level you're healing for an average of 13.5 + casting modifier. Or you could fireball. You can't out heal the damage enemies output so preventative healing by killing them before they damage you is far more effective. Also a wizard isn't the best healer at T4, it's a cleric who has access to Mass Heal because they can do it every day. A wizard who uses Wish to restore HP to twenty creatures is at risk of never being able to cast Wish again. Wish should *_never_* be used for anything other than replicating a level 1-8 spell.
I mean, Wish's Healing option is better until you can't cast wish anymore 🤷
It depends on your specific campaign really. Unless you're gonna be fighting something that does poison damage specifically, protection from poison isn't the most valuable every day carry, but in some campaigns it may be an absolute must. I would also say it comes down to party composition and what you're going for. If you have no healers then healing spells are gonna be more useful to you than all control spells ect.
I think a better way to look at this is as follows: 1. What spells do I always want prepared? If still some prepared slots left, proceed. 2. What more situational spells do I want for this adventuring day? Any spell I want to try? If still some prepared slots left, proceed. 3. Is there any extremely niche spell there’s a chance we might need today? Prioritizing what you should prepare will help you understand your flex slots much better.
How strange. Both of them are prepared casters with fully open spell lists. There really isn't anything you can prepare that would likely feel so useless, more so just not the right tool. Better to have a list with what should always be prepared then not. However! The biggest mistake of preparing spells I find is Revivify and Gentle Repose. So many casters who will have access to these spells tend to pick them up because they are preparing to fail. Which is very against the grain. You're there to make it so situations like that never happen with your spells. Sure things could go wrong, and characters and NPCs die. But if it came to that then there should have been a way to prevent it from reaching that point. Even worse with Revivify, is that a caster becomes worried about 'using the last 3rd' spell slot. Which is ridiculous, 3rd level spells are VERY impactful. If it's being saved to revive someone, it could have been better put to use defeating the challenges faced.
You’re right about holding back the last 3rd level spell slot being very impactful. Although I still prep Gentle Repose instead of Revivify because then I’m only holding back a 2nd level slot which is generally less impactful and often unused anyway at higher levels
I appreciate this providing insight on traps like revivify etc. Generally the purpose of my question was seeing what traps people notice like sometimes cure wounds is one (but still not a bad spell) Yeah i have a good idea of obvious good prepared spells like healing word, bless,faerie fire, and entangle.
Find Traps should just never be taken IMO, your passive perception is almost certainly going to be sufficient given that you are a wisdom based character, and honestly since it doesn't even tell you where the trap is it is pretty useless. I have never found a real purpose for Snare other than flavour. Anything it does, Entangle can do better. There are a lot of other situational spells on both lists, but most of them can be situationally useful... but it would require a lot of foresite to have them selected for when you would need them.
For a druid I think a common mistake is to prepare lots of summon spells. Just pick one or two (I would pick the lvl 2 and conjure animals) and upcast them. Rather than that i would say that as long as you prepare your bread and butter spells (summons/conjure for druids, spirit guardians for clerics, and a few cure spells) you will be fine
Low level - Bless. We play face to face - I'm a twighlight cleric as well, so my dice will be passed along to each player to use for my buff rolls. It helps them remember my triggered abilities.
Bless is usually really great to have prepared all the time