In D&D, it’s not enough to win. You’ve got to absolutely wreck someone’s day in the process. Fortunately there are spells for that.
For most of the fights you get into in D&D, you’re probably going to win. After all, 5.5E arms players with plenty of tools to punch well above their weight. From new toys like Weapon Masteries to far more powerful interpretations of persistent area of effect spells, you can win a good 8 times out of 10 unless you’re really up against it.
But when you know you’re going to win, it becomes all about winning with style. Or at least ruining the enemy’s fun for daring to oppose you. Which means reaching for one of these spells that will let you absolutely stunt on the enemies.
Silvery Barbs
There is no better spell for ruining someone’s day than silvery barbs. This spell made a big splash in Strixhaven: Curriculum of Chaos, and ever since has been ruining NPCs and monsters’ collective days. It’s not hard to see why either. It’s a 1st level spell that’s really easy to pick up.
All it does is force a creature to reroll a successful save, ability check, or attack roll. But boy does that just absolutely take the wind out of someone’s sails. Especially when it turns a big villain’s natural 20 into a natural 2 and they go from possibly threatening one character in the party with making death saves, to doing no damage to the party before getting stomped into a bloody pulp, and the party can just dance around saying “gg ez” the whole time.
Counterspell
Counterspell is like a slightly more preventative Silvery Barbs. In D&D, spells are among the most powerful abilities an NPC can unleash. And Counterspell can shut down even the most powerful spell before it happens. Even if it goes up against a higher-level spell, a 3rd-level Counterspell can still take the wind out of a spellcaster’s sails.
Depending on how you roll. Especially with monsters having much more limited actual spells these days, a single Counterspell at the right time (or more) makes it one of the best spells for ruining someone’s day.
Hold Person/Monster
When you cast this spell, the only thing you get to do on your turn is make a saving throw. No move, no action, no reaction in the meantime. Thank you for playing, roll a d20, and hope that nobody nearby has Silvery Barbs.
Forcecage
With Forcecage, you don’t even get to make a saving throw. You’re just trapped in a cube of force for an hour. Maybe if you can teleport you can escape, but you only get one chance. And if you mess that up, you’re not going anywhere.
Wish
If you’ve ever run into a problem with Vlaakith in Baldur’s Gate 3, you know how quickly the Wish spell can ruin someone’s day. In fact, while the other spells on this list might actively ruin someone’s day at the moment, Wish can ruin a whole world with a single spell.
So, maybe use it with caution.
What are some of your favorite ‘killjoy’ spells?
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Source: Bell of Lost Souls
