Top 10 Best Buff Spells DnD 5e

for those who don't know buff spells are spells that increase a skill of a target in some way and are largely considered beneficial effects so this video will go over some of the best buff spells you can pick up starting us off at number 10 we have the second level ability enhanceability this spell allows you to touch a creature and grant them the abilities of a specific animal and you can choose which one the abilities grant advantage on specific skill checks as well as secondary abilities for example bear's endurance gives a target advantage on constitution checks and grants you 2d6 temporary hit points which are lost when the spell ends being able to gain temp hp is usually considered a pretty decent ability by itself cure wounds a first level spell that when counts at second level heals for 2d8 in comparison to being gained 2d6 temporary hp plus advantage on constitution checks as well as other possible effects so while cure wounds is slightly more health this spell has slightly more flexibility while the rest of the secondary effects are fairly inconsequential and increased carrying capacity slightly less fall damage the temporary hp boost is pretty solid now while ability checks are not as strong as saving throws they can still be pretty solid this does require concentration but that's something that all buff spells require as a way to balance them as if you didn't casters would be far stronger than they already are still this spell lasts for an hour so you get some pretty solid duration out of it also if you upcast it you can target additional creatures so this doesn't have to remain a single target buff still this isn't the strongest buff as aside from the 2d610 bhp you don't really get much combat benefits from it so it remains at the bottom of the list and at number 9 we have crusaders mantle a third level paladin spell and what it does is create an aura with a 30-foot radius giving each non-hostile creature in the aura including you an extra 1d4 rating damage when hit with a weapon attack the aura is centered on you and moves as you do like your normal paladin aura now this is a relatively simple spell but can be useful if your party consists of a lot of marshals paladins don't gain access third level spells until level 9 and all of you would have extra attacks meaning this is an extra 64 damage from you and your allies each turn and this could be more if you have access to something like a monk which makes lots of individual attacks or less if you have a rogue which will be more likely making a single attack the biggest downside of this spell is that it requires concentration which even with proficiency and constitution saves through something like the resilient feat can be hard to maintain when you're a frontliner the other downside is that it has a really short duration at only one minute meaning that it won't last longer than a single combat and for paladins who most of the time just want to use their divine smite feature this is a loss of 48 damage on that front but it does very much fit into the theme if you're going for a more team oriented paladin leader instead of a single avenging knight still due to the downsides and the fact that it can only be taken by a single class this takes a lower spot on the list and at number eight we have the cantrip resistance what this spell does is let you touch a willing creature and by doing so you can add a d4 to a saving throw within the next one minute duration of the spell the reason this spell even makes this list is for two reasons first off it's a cantrip so it has unlimited number of daily uses and secondly you can roll this d4 before or after you make the save so if you roll so low that it wouldn't have helped or high enough that you would have succeeded anyway you can save the d4 for the roll when you only fail by a few points the weakness of the spell is that it has a range of touch meaning that it isn't really suited for combats as it does still eat your action rather than a reaction like absorb elements silvery barbs or shield however if you are delving through a dungeon in which you're running into traps or if you're paranoid of ambushes then you can just be casting and recasting a spell over and over as you make your way through the dungeon to help yourself or an ally avoid them so it has potential if you know what you're walking into but should never be cast during combat leaving it at another blow spot on this list only being at the previous two spots because it can be used whenever you want and at number 7 we have enlarge reduce this is a second level spell which causes a creature or an object to become one size larger or smaller the best part of this is its versatility because it be used both as a buff spell and as a debuff spell as a buff you can use it to enlarge the target so that its size increases by one class from small to medium medium to large etc etc this also gives the target advantage on strength saving throws which while uncommon can have their uses the target's weapons are also enlarged to fit the creature's new size and due to this increase they deal extra 1d4 damage with their attacks if there isn't enough space for the creature to fully enlarge they instead attain the maximum size possible in the space available which if you are persuasive enough and with a lenient enough dm could allow you to debuff a creature by enlarging it too sure they're bigger stronger and deal more damage now but if you're trying to escape from them down a smaller path then maybe you enlarge the target so they can't follow you that said the main debuff with the spell is the reduced side of it where the target's size is decreased by one class from small to tiny medium to small and so on and so forth this does exactly the opposite of enlarge the target now has disadvantage on saving throws and their weapons deal 1d4 less damage but still with a minimum of one and if you have a grappler in your party this spell will be vital when going up against larger creatures as you can only grapple a creature that is one size larger than you so your medium-sized human grappler becomes a large size allowing them to grapple huge sized creatures an unwilling creature does get to make a constitution save to try and avoid this which as we've covered many times is by far the worst save to ask creature to make as most of them have quite high constitution scores still this isn't something to worry about while using it as a buff as the friendly creature will probably be a willing one the bad save aside the only real downside of the spells that eats up your concentration also it only lasts for one minute which like crusader's mantle means it will only last for a single combat still all in all this is a pretty solid buff spell generally so it takes number 7 spot on this list and at number 6 we have the cantrip guidance this spell is very similar to resistance but far better what it does is let you touch one willing creature then the target can roll at d4 and add that number roll to one ability check of its choice just like resistance the d4 can be rolled before or after making the ability check but makes guidance better than resistance then it lets you add the d4 to ability checks instead of saving throws you see saving throws are far more common in combat than outside of it but resistance isn't good in combat when saving throws are most needed as it requires an action to cast leaving you unable to deal damage guidance on the other hand can be easily used out of combat where most ability checks occur also ability checks are just far more common in campaigns than saving throws are so this would come up far more often as long as you don't need to be sneaky about it once a single party member gets the spell the whole group basically has an extra d4 for every ability check for the rest of the game as long as the party sticks together in at number 5 we have intellect fortress which is a third level spell from tasha's culture of everything what it does is grant resistance to psychic damage and advantage on intelligence wisdom and charisma saving throws to a target there are over 500 spells to date and fifth edition and less than 20 of them do psychic damage that means having resistance to it is rarely going to come up as only a handful of creatures even have access to this damage type still the advantage on intelligence wisdom and charisma saving throws alone is very good since those are relatively common saves to encounter when fighting caster type enemies and these are the saves where if you fail they will more often than not result in a loss of control effect taking you out of the fight while the spell does require concentration it lasts for a full hour which is pretty nice getting advantage on a roll from a numbers standpoint is basically equivalent to getting a plus 5 to your roll and for such critical saving throws this is quite a powerful buff where you would probably get the most bang for your buck though with this spell would be in an underdark campaign as mind players and their minions are rather potent spellcasters who also deal a considerable psychic damage of their attacks and besides when you have a bunch of tentacle-faced monsters that want to eat your brain and little brains that want your body it's good to have protection at all times even when you are not fighting creatures that deal psychic damage getting an advantage on three saving throws is just a really solid ability which is why it puts it at the number five spot and at number four we have the first level spell heroism what this spell allows you to do is touch a willing creature and until the spell ends the creature is immune to being frightened and gains timber hit points equal to your spellcasting ability modifier at the start of each of its turns now the immunity to being frightened is a good effect but it doesn't come up all that often the ability to gain 5 temporary hit points every turn though is huge the spell lasts for a minute so if you have the spell the entire time you can get up to 50 temporary hit points assuming you have max out your casting stat at 20. attempt hp does go away after the spell ends and does not stack so you do actually need to take damage every turn in order to get its full effect but if you cast a spell to start of a fight it should last you the entire encounter as most fights last around three to five rounds anyway this could also be considered a healing spell given the sheer amount of extra health it gives you however while it does give temporary hit points it doesn't actually heal which is why i didn't make it into our top 10 healing spells video a great target for this the party would probably the barbarian as frightened as one of the few things the rage feature does not protect them from at least until sixth level with mindless rage but that's only for the path of the berserker barbarian and at number three we have shield of faith this is a first level spell that grants the creature a magic shield for 10 minutes this requires only a bonus action to cast which frees up your action letting you also cast a cantrip or make an attack on the same turn as you cast a spell this shield increases the target's ac by two for the duration just like a normal shield would but no hands or proficiency is required any spell or item that gives you bonus your ac is inherently good which is why it's especially rare to see this effect on items and spells most spells that grant you bonus or ac don't actually give you a plus your ac rather just set your ac bark skin lets your ac become 16 mage armor sets it to 13 plus your dex modifier and so on and so on being able to give yourself or someone else a plus two do they see with only first level spell slot is very useful most tier one and two enemies only have a plus three or four to hit and if you cast this on a frontliner who has a decent ac already most creatures are going to have a very low chance of hitting them take a paladin for example if he has full plate armor giving him an ac of 18 as well as his shield which gives him a plus two on top of that for a total ac of 20. once you cast this he'll have a whopping 22 ac making him nigh unhittable outside of crits this spell is excellent at providing that extra defense that you really need at low levels before you can afford magical armors and at number 2 we have the first level spell bless now when you ask a 5e player what the go-to buff spell is bless will usually be their first pick this is because it is a very versatile and useful spell that you can get from the very start what it does is let you target the three creatures of your choice whenever one of those targets makes an attack roller saving throw before the spell ends you can add a d4 to the roll this spell is similar to resistance and it lets you add a d4 to any of your saving throws but it's just far far better this is because the d4 can be added to your attack rolls as well as your saving throws and unlike resistance this isn't just a single d4 difference duration let's let you add a d4 to every roll within its iteration it also lets you target three creatures compared to resistances one and if you upcast it you can target additional creatures with a single first level spell slot you're giving all of your allies an extra d4 to all their attacks and saves and this is just incredible so much so that this spell can see use even in higher tiers of play having the ability to choose any saving throw or attack roll makes the spell one of the best buff spells for any situation and while it was nearly being out by the top spot it was a contentious fight for which one was better and finally at number one we have the third level spell haste this is a must-have for any caster as what it does is double the target speed gives them plus two ac gives them advantage on deck saving throws and an additional action each turn as we talked about the number three spot with shield of faith getting extra ac is really good the fact that this spell does this in addition to giving the target another action and doubling their speed makes the spell quite strong now the extra action is limited so you can't use it for anything you want as it only lets you dash disengage hide use an object or make a single attack meaning that it doesn't stack with things like extra attack still an additional swing of the sword is kind of like having an extra attack which is nothing to scoff at another useful part of the spell is if you want to charge in with your double movement speed attack a target and retreat after using your extra action disengage this allows a slightly squishier class to avoid potentially getting hit a rogue is probably the best target because they can attack and hide but also unlike other martial classes they only get a single attack on their turn normally so this allows them to have a second chance if they miss now haste does have the rather serious downside that when the spell ends the creature can't move or take actions until after its next turn this isn't bad if you can end the combat before the spell runs out but if you lose concentration this can make the hasted character very vulnerable so you really have to watch out for this and keep yourself protected when casting it or you could try to pull some shenanigans and try casting this on an enemy the target does have to be willing but they could also just be dumb as once cast you then immediately drop your concentration to make them vulnerable but this will usually work once at your table so don't count on doing this more than once before your dm gets mad alright and that's the video what do you think are there any better buffs that deserve to be on the list do you agree with this channel's manager that haste isn't as good as bless if so i'd love to hear your thoughts as well as ideas for future videos just like this one down in the comments [Music] you

Channel: TheD&DLogs

Views: 34,980

Keywords: D&D, Dungeons and Dragon, s Dungeon & Dragons, D&D Beyond, DnD, Wizards of the Coast D&D, Heroes Campaign RPG, tabletop, gaming, roleplaying, rule, rules, d20, d12, d10, d8, d6, d4, DM, PC, tips, tricks, advice, guide, dice, book, PHB, VGTM, dungeons and dragons, 5th edition, best, overpower

Id: BfhS48s8j1Y

Length: 13min 23sec (803 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 27 2022