#dnd ranking

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[cagemasterfantasy]

School of Abjuration Ranking (5e)

Guide

1=useless

2=often useful

3=sometimes useful

4=perfect

Arcane Ward 3 a great source of what essentially amounts to temporary hit points but since they aren’t technically temporary hit points the 2 effects stack. Arcane Ward itself begins at full HP the first time you cast an Abjuration spell each day even if all you do is spend 11 minutes to Ritual cast Alarm on nothing important. It then lasts until you finish your next Long Rest. Since the ward can take damage in your place you may even be able to avoid saves to maintain Concentration when you take damage. This additional overshield is a resource and resources are meant to be spent but don’t be reckless and overextend. Be sure to take all the normal defensive precautions and the ward will help mitigate when the dice just don’t go in your favor. If you’re looking for an easy way to charge the ward consider the Eldritch Initiate feat to get Armor of Shadows. Armor of Shadows allows you to cast Mage Armor on yourself at will allowing you to fully charge the ward whenever you have a few minutes to repeatedly cast Mage Armor in order to charge it

Projected Ward 4 your party’s Defender likely takes a lot more damage than you so soaking some of it with your ward can really cut down on how many resources your party must devote to healing. Just be aware that you’ll be unable to cast Shield Absorb Elements and Counterspell in response to future triggering events should you block some damage to an ally

Improved Abjuration 3 situational by design but very powerful in games which feature enemy spellcasters. Counterspell is an off-switch for those enemy spellcasters. Adding your proficiency bonus dramatically improves its effectiveness making you able to easily prevent enemy spellcasters from doing anything at all without the need to burn your highest-level spell slots. If you can also cast Enhance Ability (Intelligence) on yourself before walking into a fight with enemy spellcasters you can counter spells with very little risk of failure

Spell Resistance 3 Resistance to spells is great for resisting dangerous save or suck spells and resistance to spell damage makes you greatly resistant to direct damage spells which typically don’t require saves. Both halves of the feature apply at the same time so against spells which allow you to save for reduced damage this is extremely effective because on a successful save you’ll often take just a quarter of the game. However you’re expected to counter spells rather than try to resist them so this is mostly a redundant defense for when you’re outnumbered or surprised

Final Ranking 3 School of Abjuration’s signature mechanic is Arcane Ward which provides a pool of not-quite-hit-points that you can use to mitigate damage to yourself and eventually to your allies. Improved Abjuration makes School of Abjuration the uncontested champion of Counterspell allowing you to defend your allies both from mundane damage with your ward and from spells with abjuration options like Counterspell and Dispel Magic. School of Abjuration is an easy option for players new to the game or players who might be intimidated by managing Wizard’s spellcasting. Because School of Abjuration’s features are primarily reactive in nature it allows the player to focus on using their spells offensively while falling back on their subclass features to defend themselves. However experienced players who are comfortable managing complex characters may find that the reactionary nature of the subclass frustrating because you may go long periods without your features being impactful unless you’re facing an abundance of spellcasters

[cagemasterfantasy]

Wild Magic Ranking (5e)

Guide

1=useless

2=often useful

3=sometimes useful

4=perfect

Tides of Chaos 4 how useful this is depends entirely on how often your DM will call for a Wild Magic roll to let you recharge Tides of Chaos. Your DM is absolutely allowed to never trigger the recharge mechanic limiting you to just 1 use per day. Or they might allow you to recharge Tides of Chaos after every time you cast a leveled spell allowing you to use Tides of Chaos frequently. The safest bet is to assume that you will get this once per day and possibly more if your DM is feeling whimsical. In that case using this for attack rolls is an absolute waste but using it for saving throws can save your life. (Me personally I trigger Wild Magic surge every time the player rolls a 1 or a 2)

Bend Luck 3 when your allies fails a save against death by 1 or 2 it’s heart-breaking. Spend the Sorcery Points and be everyone’s best friend. Two Sorcery Points is expensive but your allies’ lives are worth it. If your group is using magic items strongly consider a Bloodwell Vial so you have extra points to spend

Controlled Chaos 4 this considerably reduces the threat of the Wild Magic table and makes it more of a source of unpredictable buffs and comic relief

Spell Bombardment 2 this is a little bit of extra damage on many of your damage-dealing spells. Spells which use large dice like Toll the Dead are less likely to trigger the benefit but the extra damage is higher on average. Spells which roll a ton of small dice (like Meteor Swarm’s small mountain of d6s) are more likely to benefit but the additional 3 damage feels really insignificant for such a high-level class feature. More damage is nice of course it’s just not very exciting since Empowered Spell has been an option for 15 levels. Keep in mind that this applies whenever you roll damage for a spell rather than the first time that you roll damage for that spell like most damage boosting features. This means that you can reapply this benefit multiple times for spells which deal damage multiple times. It’s only once per turn of course but most spells that would benefit this way will only roll damage once per turn. For example Tasha’s Caustic Brew deals damage at the beginning of the target’s turn. This may be enough to justify picking spells that specifically benefit

Final Ranking 3 Wild Magic is unpredictable which means it’s unreliable and therefore ineffective. But it’s a lot of fun so if your group can survive you not min-maxing this adds an element of zany fun to your game. Just be sure that your DM is willing to play along or you’ll have trouble

[cagemasterfantasy]

Elf Class Rankings and Race Traits (5e

Guide

1= Do not play this class as this race

2=Can play but not recommended

3=Decent Choice

4= Perfect

Elves are a magical people of otherworldly grace, living in places of ethereal beauty, in the midst of ancient forests or in silvery spires glittering with faerie light, where soft music drifts through the air and gentle fragrances waft on the breeze. Elves love nature and magic, art and artistry, music and poetry.

Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 2.

Age. Although elves reach physical maturity at about the same age as humans, the elven understanding of adulthood goes beyond physical growth to encompass worldly experience. An elf typically claims adulthood and an adult name around the age of 100 and can live to be 750 years old.

Alignment. Elves love freedom, variety, and self-expression, so they lean strongly towards the gentler aspects of chaos. They value and protect others' freedom as well as their own, and are good more often than not. Drow are an exception; their exile into the Underdark has made them vicious and dangerous. Drow are more often evil than not.

Size. Elves range from under 5 to over 6 feet tall and have slender builds. Your size is Medium.

Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Darkvision. Accustomed to twilit forests and the night sky, you have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can't discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.

Fey Ancestry. You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed, and magic can't put you to sleep.

Trance. Elves do not sleep. Instead they meditate deeply, remaining semi-conscious, for 4 hours a day. The Common word for this meditation is "trance." While meditating, you dream after a fashion; such dreams are actually mental exercises that have become reflexive after years of practice. After resting in this way, you gain the same benefit a human would from 8 hours of sleep.

Keen Senses. You have proficiency in the Perception skill.

Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Elven.

DROW

Descended from an earlier subrace of dark-skinned elves, the drow were banished from the surface world for following the goddess Lolth down the path to evil and corruption. Now they have built their own civilization in the depths of the Underdark, patterned after the Way of Lolth. Also called dark elves. The drow have black skin that resembles polished obsidian and stark white or pale yellow hair. They commonly have very pale eyes (so pale as to be mistaken for white) in shades of lilac, silver, pink, red, and blue. They lend to be smaller and thinner than most elves.

Drow adventurers are rare, and the race does not exist in all worlds. Check with your Dungeon Master to see if you can play a drow character.

Ability Score Increase. Your Charisma score increases by 1.

Superior Darkvision. Your darkvision has a range of 120 feet, instead of 60.

Sunlight Sensitivity. You have disadvantage on attack rolls and Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight when you, the target of the attack, or whatever you are trying to perceive is in direct sunlight.

Drow Magic. You know the Dancing Lights cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the Faerie Fire spell once with this trait and regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. When you reach 5th level, you can cast the Darkness spell once and regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells.

Drow Weapon Training. You have proficiency with rapiers, shortswords, and hand crossbows.

HIGH ELF

As a high elf, you have a keen mind and a mastery of at least the basics of magic. In many of the worlds of D&D, there are two kinds of high elves. One type (which includes the gray elves and valley elves of Greyhawk, the Silvanesti of Dragonlance, and the sun elves of the Forgotten Realms) is haughty and reclusive, believing themselves to be superior to non-elves and even other elves. The other type (including the high elves of Greyhawk. the Qualinesti of Dragonlance, and the moon elves of the Forgotten Realms) are more common and more friendly, and often encountered among humans and other races.

The sun elves of Faerun (also called gold elves or sunrise elves) have bronze skin and hair of copper, black, or golden blood. Their eyes are golden, silver, or black. Moon elves (also called silver elves or gray elves) are much paler, with alabaster skin sometimes tinged with blue. They often have hair of silver-while, black, or blue, but various shades of blond, brown, and red are not uncommon. Their eyes are blue or green and flecked with gold.

Ability Score Increase. Your Intelligence score increases by 1.

Cantrip. You know one cantrip of your choice from the Wizard spell list. Intelligence is your spellcasting ability for it.

Elf Weapon Training. You have proficiency with the longsword, shortsword, shortbow, and longbow.

Extra Language. You can read, speak, and write one additional language of your choice.

WOOD ELF

As a wood elf, you have keen senses and intuition, and your fleet feet carry you quickly and stealthily through your native forests. This category includes the wild elves (grugach) of Greyhawk and the Kagonesti of Dragonlance, as well as the races called wood elves in Greyhawk and the Forgotten Realms. In Faerun, wood elves (also called wild elves. green elves, or forest elves) are reclusive and distrusting of non-elves.

Wood elves' skin tends to be copperish in hue, sometimes with traces of green. Their hair tends toward browns and blacks, but it is occasionally blond or copper-colored. Their eyes are green, brown, or hazel.

Ability Score Increase. Your Wisdom score increases by 1.

Elf Weapon Training. You have proficiency with the longsword, shortsword, shortbow, and longbow.

Fleet of Foot. Your base walking speed increases to 35 feet.

Mask of the Wild. You can attempt to hide even when you are only lightly obscured by foliage, heavy rain, falling snow, mist, and other natural phenomena.

MARK OF SHADOW

If you're an elf with the Mark of Shadow, you have this subrace, with the following traits.

Ability Score Increase. Your Charisma score increases by 1

Cunning Intuition. Whenever you roll a Dexterity (Stealth) check or a Charisma (Performance) check, roll a d4 and add the number rolled to the total ability check.

Shape Shadows. You know the Minor Illusion cantrip. Starting at 3rd level, you can also cast the Invisibility spell with this trait. Once you cast either spell with this trait, you can't cast that spell again until you finish a long rest. Charisma is your Spellcasting Ability for these spells.

Spells of the Mark. If you have the Spellcasting or Pact Magic class features, the spells on the Mark of Shadow Spells table are added to the spell list of your spellcasting class.

Spells

1st level spells Disguise Self and and Silent Image

2nd level spells Darkness and Pass Without Trace

3rd level spells Clairvoyance and Major Image

4th level spells Greater Invisibility and Hallucinatory Terrain

5th level spell Mislead

Source: Player's Handbook and Eberron: Rising from the Last War

Artificer 4 High Elf makes a perfect Artificer adding both Dexterity and Intelligence as well as a Wizard cantrip to complement Artificer’s spellcasting

Barbarian 1 one of the few classes where Elf is a truly bad option. But Barbarian is so strictly locked into Strength that it’s hard to function without an increase

Bard 3 the core Elf Perception proficiency and Dexterity increase both complement Bard nicely in any build

Cleric 2 Cleric is a challenging option for Elf but it’s absolutely doable. Wood Elves get a Wisdom increase and they make fine lightly-armored clerics. Avoid Domains which provide heavy armor proficiency and look for Domains which complement your subrace traits

Druid 3 generally a better option for Elf than Cleric Druid’s adherence to lighter armor makes it easier to rely on Dexterity without disregarding other class options like proficiency in medium and/or heavy armor. Mask of the Wild works while using Wild Shape.

Fighter 4 one of few classes where a large number of Elf subraces can truly shine. Since Fighter only needs an increase to either Strength or Dexterity Elf can fill any Dexterity based build and depending on your subrace you can emphasize different capabilities like spellcasting stealth or even Face skills

Monk 4 Wood Elf is among the best race options for Monk. Dexterity and Wisdom are exactly what Monk needs and no class is more dependent on perfect ability scores

Paladin 3 Like Bard Elf subraces which provide Charisma increases make great Paladins but don’t overlook subraces which provide Constitution increases. While high Charisma is great start with 14 or 15 is perfectly fine if you can’t find a Charisma increase on the subrace that you like. Mark of Shadow may seem like a strange choice for Paladin but mechanically it works very well

Ranger 4 Wood Elf is almost tailor made to be a Ranger but Ranger’s only major ability dependency is Dexterity so any Elf subrace makes a fine Ranger

Rogue 4 Rogue needs Dexterity and almost nothing else but free Perception proficiency does a lot to complement Rogue’s already spectacular skills. Nearly any Elf subrace works for Rogue offering unique options depending on your racial traits. High Elf Rogues should consider Booming Blade which makes for great hit and run tactics when combined with Cunning Action. Mark of Shadow offers several excellent options for Rogue even if you don’t plan to pursue Arcane Trickster

Sorcerer 3 Drow and Mark of Shadow both get Charisma increases which is really all that you need to succeed as a Sorcerer but they don’t add capabilities which the sorcerer couldn’t already provide

Warlock 4 Drow and Mark of Shadow make excellent Warlocks. Extra Charisma is all that you truly need but Dexterity helps to pad Warlock’s AC in light armor which is crucial for Hexblades. Drow innate spellcasting helps to complement the Warlock’s limited spell slots and be sure to pick up Devil’s Sight to capitalize on the ability to cast Darkness. Mark of Shadow grants some extra spellcasting and adds several new spell options to the Warlock’s spell list

Wizard 4 a High Elf Wizard is among the most obvious and iconic Wizard builds. All you truly need to succeed as a Wizard is an Intelligence increase and the core Elf’s Dexterity increase and Perception proficiency will help to keep you alive. 1 extra cantrip may not seem like much since you already start with 3 but cantrips are very powerful and an extra can do a lot to diversify your capabilities

[cagemasterfantasy]

Circle of the Shepherd Ranking

Guide:

1=useless

2=often useful

3=sometimes useful

4=perfect

Speech of the Woods 4 a free language and constant Speak with Animals. Not always useful but wonderful for a Druid to have and helpful if you’re summoning beasts because you can talk to them to gain information about things that they may have seen allowing you to use beasts as effective disposable scouts. As an example you might summon a bunch of low CR beasts with Conjure Animals hope for things like rats crows or other small common animals and send them to scout an area and report back to you

Spirit Totem 4 powerful and versatile and as a bonus action it’s usable without cutting into your spellcasting

Bear Spirit 3 if your party is on the defensive this is a good way to get some temporary hit points onto your allies. If you have a grappler in the party or if you’re facing an enemy that grapples your party Advantage on Strength checks is fantastic. However the temporary hit points only apply when you first create the spirit so its effectiveness diminishes quickly in most cases. This is also very helpful if you summon numerous low CR creatures. The temporary hit points apply to all allies in the area, so if you have 8 summoned hyenas or something they’re suddenly much more durable and can soak considerably more damage which might otherwise be directed at party members. Your summons get the benefits of Advantage on Strength checks too but most creatures that grapple have an attack that grapples automatically. Still you may be able to command them to grapple by normal means which may be more effective since they have Advantage

Hawk Spirit 3 your go to option in most cases especially if you don’t plan to flood combat with summoned creatures. As a back line spellcaster you can use your largely ignored Reaction to grant Advantage on an attack roll. If you have a Rogue in the party this is an easy way to get Sneak Attack. For other party members it’s just a nice buff that you can grant once per round but as Extra Attack comes online it will feel less impactful

Unicorn Spirit 3 If you’re taking a short rest and haven’t already expended Spirit Totem use this before your rest to get some extra healing. The spell you cast doesn’t need to be anything fancy it just needs to be a leveled spell that restores hit points. Healing Word works for example and it’s a great way to trigger this repeatedly. It’s unclear if spells like Goodberry or Healing Spirit are intended to work since they don’t immediately heal a targeted creature when you cast the spell but they do restore hit points so RAW I think it works. This is an exciting option when you have numerous summoned creatures because the additional healing doesn’t have a cap on the number of targets. If you have a small army of summoned creatures you can heal them for free stretching the benefits of your spell slot.

Mighty Summoner 4 one of the biggest problems with summoned creatures is that most can’t overcome damage resistance or immunity to non magical attacks. This solves that issue and also makes your summoned creatures slightly more durable so that you get some more mileage from your spell slots. However the new summon spells introduced in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything don’t appear to have hit dice so they don’t appear to benefit from the additional hp. All creatures should have hit dice and you might argue that they have a number of hit dice equal to the spell level used to summon them but we haven’t gotten an official answer on the subject so discuss it with your DM before making any assumptions. Summon Draconic Spirit which follows the same mechanics as other Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything Summon X spells specifies that the spirit has one hit die per spell level, which seems like a very reasonable way to handle that

Guardian Spirit 4 with this and Mighty Summoner you can make Conjure X spells last for an exceptionally long time even while in combat even if you don’t plan to use Unicorn Spirit to get free healing for your summons

Faithful Summons 3 at this level CR 2 creatures aren’t likely to win a fight for you even with the benefits of Mighty Summoner but they might keep enemies at bay long enough for your party to come to your rescue. The language is fairly clear that you can’t trigger this willingly so unfortunately you can’t tell your allies to beat you unconscious to get free summons though they could technically decide to do so on their own so long as you weren’t willingly going along with their plan. This also uniquely allows you to select the beasts which you summon which is weird since Conjure Animals doesn’t normally allow that. I recommend Giant Constrictor Snake because its attacks can grapple your foes and buy you more time for your allies to rescue you. But Giant Boar is hard to kill thanks to Relentless, and Polar Bear’s attacks are really good without needing to run around and leave your unconscious body defenseless

[cagemasterfantasy]

Circle of Dreams ranking

Guide:

1=useless

2=often useful

3=sometimes useful

4=perfect

Balm of the Summer Court 3 a pool of healing which you can use as a bonus action. It’s largely redundant with the spell Healing Word but it does have a few notable advantages. The pool of dice will quickly outpace your number of low level spell slots allowing you to quickly and inexpensively rescue dying allies. The ability to use more than one die is helpful if you want your ally past single-digit hit points and the temporary hit points can help keep them conscious though with so few temporary hit points you shouldn’t expect a miracle. Finally since Balm of the Summer Court isn’t a spell you can use it in the same turn as casting a leveled spell

Hearth of Moonlight and Shadow 2 situational and there are tons of other options available that cost resources to solve the same issues better though this feature automatically happens during every Short and Long Rest with no limitations. For example the spell Rope Trick will allow the party to climb into an extradimensional space with an invisible entrance for the price of a 2nd level spell slot and only for the length of a single Short Rest. Still if you don’t have a Wizard in the party this is nice to have while camping in dangerous places like dungeons

Hidden Paths 4 excellent range it works as a Bonus Action and you get a decent number of uses per day. It’s especially nice because Misty Step isn’t available to druids and this can target a willing ally. This is a great way to get out of dangerous areas to escape grapples or to rescue allies from the same

Walker in Dreams 2 the spells Dream and Teleportation Circle aren’t on the Druid spell list but Scrying is. The unique version of Teleportation Circle is a nice way to get yourself and your party back to a known safe point. Generally you can do that by other means like walking or turning into a bird and flying long distances but don’t underestimate the utility of what is essentially a Town Portal. This feature could be invaluable for situations where you need to retrieve something or someone and half of the challenge is escaping after securing the target: turn into a mouse chill in the target’s cell for an hour activate escape portal mission over. If your party includes a character who can cast Teleport this is an inexpensive way to get home after teleporting