Are the new spells for D&D 2024 any good?
We’ve finally got our hands on Heroes of Faerun, one of the 2 new Forgotten Realms books and the first rules expansion for D&D 2024. Within that comes 19 new and refreshed spells. But how good are they and are any of them worth taking for your character? That’s what I’m going to dig into in this article with ratings and comparisons for all the spells featured in Heroes of Faerun.
About the spells
Before I dive into the actual analysis, I’ve pieced together some details about the spells so it’s easy for you to find the information relevant for your character and you know what to expect.
| Spell | Level | School | Classes | Previous release |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spellfire flare | 1 | Evocation | Sorcerer, wizard | New |
| Wardaway | 1 | Abjuration | Bard, cleric, paladin, wizard | New |
| Death armor | 2 | Necromancy | Sorcerer, wizard | New |
| Deryan’s helpful homunculi | 2 | Conjuration | Cleric, wizard | New |
| Elminster’s elusion | 2 | Abjuration | Wizard | New |
| Cacophonic shield | 3 | Evocation | Bard, sorcerer, wizard | New |
| Conjure constructs | 3 | Conjuration | Wizard | New |
| Laerel’s silver lance | 3 | Evocation | Cleric, sorcerer, wizard | New |
| Syluné’s viper | 3 | Conjuration | Druid, wizard | New |
| Backlash | 4 | Abjuration | Bard, sorcerer, warlock, wizard | New |
| Doomtide | 4 | Conjuration | Bard, cleric, warlock | New |
| Spellfire storm | 4 | Evocation | Sorcerer, wizard | New |
| Alustriel’s mooncloak | 5 | Abjuration | Bard, druid, ranger, wizard | New |
| Songol’s elemental suffusion | 5 | Transmutation | Druid, sorcerer, wizard | New |
| Dirge | 6 | Enchantment | Bard, cleric | New |
| Elminster’s effulgent spheres | 6 | Evocation | Druid, sorcerer, wizard | New |
| Simbul’s synostodweomer | 7 | Transmutation | Sorcerer, wizard | New |
| Holy star of Mystra | 8 | Evocation | Cleric, wizard | New |
| Blade of disaster | 9 | Conjuration | Sorcerer, warlock, wizard | Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything |
Every spell level gets at least one new spells other than cantrips, though only 5 of the spells are above level 5 (which isn’t an unusual proportion).
All of the spells are brand new to 5e other than blade of disaster which has appeared in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything.
Wizards get the most love with 17 of the 19 spells available to them while sorcerers do the next best with 10. Paladins and rangers get very little love with just 1 new spell each and interestingly, artificers get no new spells. Artificers haven’t been officially released for D&D 2024 yet, but the 2014 version is still valid and Eberron: Forge of the Artificer was initially due to be released by now.
- Artificer – 0
- Bard – 6
- Cleric – 6
- Druid – 4
- Paladin – 1
- Ranger – 1
- Sorcerer – 10
- Warlock – 3
- Wizard – 17
Level 1 spells
- Spellfire flare (3/5) – In terms of raw damage, the dice are equal to inflict wounds, but inflict wounds will deal half damage on a successful saving throw, this just misses. However, this is ranged (inflict wounds requires touch) and it ignores half and three quarters cover. Where it gets interesting is with upcasting as it creates separate blasts like scorching ray. It has one less blast than scorching ray, but the damage at level 2 is slightly higher, and because we’re dealing with d10s instead of d6s, it scales better at even higher levels.
- Wardaway (2/5) – The damage isn’t big but the restrictions are kind of limiting. Half speed and lose an action or a bonus action is annoying, but this is only for one turn at most. My issue with this is that the damage isn’t great and neither is the debuff. If I want to nullify, then sleep or Tasha’s hideous laughter are better. If I want damage, then magic missile, spellfire flare or chromatic orb are better. I’d rather do one thing well than 2 things badly.
Level 2 spells
- Death armor (5/5) – Advantage on death saving throws is fine, but it’s the kind of buff you don’t really want to need (and often won’t need). The important bit here is the extra damage. The wording is once per turn the damage can be dealt, that means it can affect every enemy that makes a melee attack against the target. That damage can soon rack up, even if it is spread between multiple enemies. You’ll want to pop it on a tanky ally that’ll throw themself into the middle of the fray (like a barbarian). The longer you can keep that ally on their feet, the better, so healing spells will be great. You can cast ahead of combat and it doesn’t require concentration making it an excellent buff!
- Deryan’s helpful homunculi (1/5) – Essentially faster crafting. There’s an issue here though. This will cost you 100gp every time you use it and as it only lasts 8hrs, will only help for a single day of crafting (so you get through 2 days of crafting while they’re helping). Considering that anything worth crafting and spending an extra 100gp making is going to take several days at least to craft, this just seems like poor economics, especially considering you’re likely crafting for the cheaper gear anyway. This just seems like a pointless spell to me. However, there is perhaps a work around here. Using circle magic, you can use the supplant option with 2 other spellcasters to remove the material cost entirely. But you are reliant on circle magic rules being used at your table and 2 other spellcasters available to help.
- Elminster’s elusion (3/5) – Decent magical protection that you can cast ahead of combat and with just a bonus action. It will consume your concentration, but if you’re up against spellcasters, this might well be worth the cost.
Level 3 spells
- Cacophonic shield (4/5) – Like a slightly less damaging spirit guardians. The emanation’s range is smaller too but you get thunder resistance, ranged attacks have disadvantage against you and you cause deafened with it. These seem like decent trade offs and a great option for non-clerics to grab something like spirit guardians.
- Conjure constructs (1/5) – This seems significantly worse than conjure animals (the same level equivalent spell). The range is worse, the damage is significantly worse (conjure animals can affect multiple creatures per round) and even the damage per hit is worse (3d6 Vs 3d10 for conjure animals). The temporary hit points also aren’t that much. For me, this is just a significantly inferior and underwhelming spell for this level.
- Laeral’s silver lance (2/5) – Basically a weaker lightning bolt that also knocks prone. It has a slightly greater range than lightning bolt but quite a bit less damage. Unless you’re fighting down corridors, this probably isn’t a great option and I’m not convinced that prone is enough for the damage sacrifice.
- Syluné‘s viper (2/5) – Those temporary hit points may not last long which could lead to an early end for the spell. A climb speed at this level isn’t that impressive and the damage is very weak considering it requires an action. Incapacitated is good, but you could instantly whack a group of enemies with that and more in a single turn with hypnotic pattern. This just doesn’t seem worth it.
Level 4 spells
- Backlash (4/5) – Solid damage reduction and retaliation. For comparison, hellish rebuke will deal 5d10 damage if upcast to this level (average 27.5 damage). Backlash will protect from an average of 14 damage and deal 14 damage back (with a better damage type). So I think they’re comparable in power. Just depends whether you want to be more protective and have the flexibility of casting at lower levels.
- Doomtide (3/5) – The initial effects can be useful, but it will take effort to keep creatures being affected by this. It’s 5d6 damage for each creature so it only needs 2 turns of damage on creatures to exceed a fireball’s power plus the darkness effect and you’ve got a great big slowly moving obstacle for enemies to navigate around. A little tricky to get those 2 turns of damage though, I imagine most enemies will just avoid it, making it a potentially less good fireball.
- Spellfire storm (3/5) – Basically the same situation as doomtide. The damage is a little higher, but it doesn’t move and can prevent spells when cast in it’s area, but it seems unlikely that will happen often. With teamwork, you could make some big damage happen here, but it’s tricky.
Level 5 spells
- Alustriel’s mooncloak (4/5) – Some pretty decent protection here. It’s unlikely you’ll want to allow this to end for the other benefits. You could maybe do a bit of a heal at the end of a combat, or if someone really desperately needs the hit points, but I’m not sure those conditions are worth saving against unless the situation is really desperate (like getting grappled by a kraken).
- Songol’s elemental suffusion (3/5) – I’ll ignore the questionable decision to name a resistance ability as an immunity and focus on the mechanics here. A resistance is a fine bonus and it’s pretty flexible. Flight is broadly good. It’s whether the emanation damage is worth the extra couple of levels this costs on top of the fly spell. It’s only 2d6, though prone is caused too, but it affects enemies at the start of your turn so it’s harder to manoeuvre into the right place to catch enemies. There’s a couple of challenges here. The first is that the classes casting this spell mostly want to be away from enemies. The second is that flight in combat is often used as a safety feature to stay out of harm’s way. This maybe isn’t so bad for a bladesinger or sea or moon druid, but it kind of feels like you can’t get the most from all aspects of this spell making it fall a bit flat. Circle magic options become interesting, but you end up with the same issues, but maybe paladins, rangers and warlocks grabbing this is a pretty good idea.
Level 6 spells
- Dirge (5/5) – This is kind of like a massive spirit guardians! The damage is only slightly more, but its range is now 60ft instead of 15ft. You can also knock enemies prone or slow them. Casting as a circle spell means you can prepare ahead of combat and that you can cause levels of exhaustion which could easily accumulate into something quite nasty for your enemies. It’s not a lot of extra damage for the spell slot, but that range makes it very hard to avoid.
- Elminster’s effulgent spheres (3/5) – If you just go for the damage, then this is similar damage to finger of death at level 7. This doesn’t need actions to use (as you can cast ahead of combat). Whether it’s preferable to use several bonus actions or one action to make this happen is questionable and may depend on what else you have to do with your bonus action. But it’s quite a slow burn damage dealer. I’d have been tempted to allow as many orbs as you like to strike using your bonus action to a maximum of 3 allowing these to be used quicker. It’s not clear if the resistance applies to the triggering attack. If it does, then that’s decent, if not, then that could end up a bit tame. I’m going to assume the former, but if it’s the latter, this is disappointing.
Level 7 spells
- Simbul’s synostodweomer (3/5) – In combat, this means action-less healing which is very handy (it just happens when a spell is cast). You’ll need to use it on a spellcaster so it’s pointless on a barbarian. Interestingly, over time, the magnitude of healing is greater if multiple, lower level healings are used than a few higher level ones as you add your spellcasting ability modifier to the healing. It’s also more potent for those with larger hit dice (like paladins). The drawback is it does consume hit dice, but better than using these after a combat during a short rest.
Level 8 spells
- Holy star of Mystra (5/5) – The bonus action damage here is considerably better than Elminster’s effulgent spheres. The added benefits of three quarters cover (which is a big buff against attack rolls) and the ability to deflect spells back on the caster is defensively, very comprehensive (even if only as a deterrent).
Level 9 spells
- Blade of disaster (4/5) – Average damage from this is only slightly less than power word kill per turn. Power word kill is automatic damage, but this is probably higher over 2 turns and almost certainly higher over 3+ turns. On top of that, it only requires bonus actions to use. This feels really devastating, especially if you can use it over multiple rounds.
Are the new spells any good?
Firstly, it’s worth mentioning some very unique approaches to names. I’ve no idea what a synostodweomer is, and that’s going to be one heck of a word to remember, but it sounds great! We’ve also got effulgent spheres, cacophonic shields and elemental suffusions. Suffice it to say, I think the naming conventions are great.
In terms of quality, I think that varies. I don’t expect every spell to be a 4 or even 3+ score. Sometimes you want unique, situational spells that can give odd benefits. And sometimes they’ve tried this. But what you don’t want is pointless spells where there just feels no reason to take them. Unfortunately, a couple of spells are like this.
Conjure constructs is one of those offenders. It’s just so underpowered compared to similar spells like conjure animals that it really is a pointless inclusion. Some amount of power comparison should have been involved in this process, but it wasn’t.
Deryan’s helpful homunculi is perhaps an even bigger offender here. I like that they’ve tried to give a unique benefit here for crafter’s, that’s great. But then it costs 100gp each time and doesn’t last long enough to make that big an impact. The whole point of crafting is cheaper production of gear, and this ruins that by adding a cost while only saving a single day of crafting as they only last long enough for a day of labour.
I didn’t think Syluné’s viper was particularly great either.
Outside of these 3 spells though, there’s some really interesting options. Backlash is a defensive and offensive alternative to hellish rebuke. Dirge and cacophonic shield give you alternatives to spirit guardians with new effects. Holy star of Mystra gives some great things to do with your bonus action plus some nice protection and death armor is a nice buff to stick on your barbarian.
Overall, I think there’s some decent variety, it’s just a shame that not all the spells quite stick the landing.
What do you think of the Heroes of Faerun spells? Let me know in the comments below.
Spotlight on the Forgotten Realms books
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