For Your Consideration - Cantrips
Let’s take a look at some cantrips today. Some are overlooked, some are abused and others just need a little love.
Chill Touch
Casting time: 1 action
Range: 120 feet
Components: V S
Duration: 1 round
Classes: Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard
You create a ghostly, skeletal hand in the space of a creature within range. Make a ranged spell attack against the creature to assail it with the chill of the grave. On a hit, the target takes 1d8 necrotic damage, and it can’t regain hit points until the start of your next turn. Until then, the hand clings to the target.
If you hit an undead target, it also has disadvantage on attack rolls against you until the end of your next turn.
The necromancy cantrip suffers lousy PR and a really bad title. There is no cold damage involved with the spell and you don’t have to touch anyone for the spell to work. The Spell’s range is 120 feet, the same as favorites Eldritch Blast and Firebolt. You're doing necrotic damage not cold damage as the spell’s name implies you’d be doing.
Most people will tell you they take Eldritch blast or Firebolt of this spell for the simple reason that they both do 1d10 damage versus the 1d8 damage that Chill Touch does. This is a very shortsighted as you are sacrificing no hit point regeneration for your opponent for an average 1 additional hit point of damage. Reducing the number of rounds a fight goes is important in the 5th edition. The longer combat goes on, the harder it becomes for the party to be successful. Abilities are using, spell slots are burned and one-use magic items go bye-bye. This may be true for your opponents too, but a fight is considered a loss in most cases if a single character dies, and when the party is reduced to only swinging their swords, it’s much easier for just that to happen. If your opponent can’t heal, and you shave off even one round in combat, it’s one less round where the squishy wizard can die.
Chill Touch also benefits greatly from the change in rules concerning undead that occurred in the 5th edition. In early editions, necrotic damage would heal undead creatures, and you learned very quickly not to use them against the zombie horde swarming you. This was changed to necrotic doing no damage, which was great, but still removed an entire set of spells when fighting undead. In the 5th edition, necrotic damage does its normal damage, which is fantastic. To add insult to injury, if you’re undead that is, Chill Touch has undead attacking at disadvantage against you on their next turn.
Take this cantrip, please.
Thorn Whip
Casting time: 1 action
Range: 30 feet
Components: V S M
Duration: Instantaneous
Classes: Druid
You create a log, vine-like Whip covered in thorns that lashes out at your command towards a creature in range. Make a melee spell attack against the target. If the attack hits, the creature takes 1d6 piercing damage, and if the creature is Large or smaller, you can pull the creature up to 10 feet closer to you.
At Higher Levels: This spell’s damage increases by 1d6 when you reach 5th level (2d6), 11th level (3d6), and 17th level (4d6).
While writing the article on Lower Level Combos, I came across a great many fun and deadly combos using the Thorn Whip cantrip. This transmutation cantrip usually plays second fiddle to Shillelagh when it comes to a druid damage cantrip. But if you’re willing to sacrifice a little damage, there’s a lot to this spell.
The fun things you can do with this little spell are limited only by your imagination. Having a nice ranged attack at the first few levels is nice since you can’t turn into a big bad animal with lots of HP yet. Sure, 30 ft. is pretty standard, but at 1st level, don’t look a gift horse in the mouth. Where it gets fun is thinking about all the things you can drag your target into when you use the thorn whip.
The most common combo is the Create Bonfire and Thorn Whip combo. It’s straight forward and if you can position yourself well on the map, you have the potential to so 1d6+1d8 damage every round on one target. Start by casting Create Bonfire on your target, just as you normally would. Being on fire, most bad guys will move out of the fire. That’s annoying, but you can cast Thorn Whip and drag him right back into the flames. I understand this you are limited but the fact that the whip only drags the target 10ft, but as I stated above, your positioning plays a very important part in using this combo to its fullest potential.
Now that’s just two cantrips. The list of things you can drag your opponent into, even only if you can drag them 10 feet, is very long. Flaming Spheres (which you can move 30 ft. too), Spike Growth, Walls of Fire, Sunbeams….this list is endless. And if you're at a loss what to do, why not just cast a simple little cantrip and attempt to drag the BBEG back into the beam of light that causes 6d8 points of radiant damage.
Shillelagh
Casting time: 1 bonus action
Range: Touch
Components: V S M
Duration: 1 minute
Classes: Druid
The wood of a club or quarterstaff you are holding is imbued with nature's power. For the duration, you can use your spellcasting ability instead of Strength for the attack and damage rolls of melee attacks using that weapon, and the weapon's damage die becomes a d8. The weapon also becomes magical, if it isn't already. The spell ends if you cast it again or if you let go of the weapon.
I mentioned Shillelagh above, and it needs to be mentioned in its own right. Why? Well, this spell has a lot of things going for it. First and foremost, it buffs your weapon’s one-handed damage from 1d4 (2.5) in the case of a club or 1d6 (3.5) for a quarterstaff to 1d8 (4.5). Don’t scoff at increasing your average damage by 1. Remember, we are talking about primarily using this as a low-level character where every point of damage counts. It also turns your weapon into a magical weapon that will allow it to bypass damage resistances to nonmagical bludgeoning damage. This helps when your just a lowly 2nd level druid and you encounter your first opponent with magic resistance. Unless you have a nice DM, you probably won’t have any magic weapons yet.
Want more reasons why it’s a great cantrip? The spell lasts for an entire minute, meaning it’s going to last the entire combat. For those druids who’s dump stat is Strength, cause who needs strength when you can turn into a bear, Shillelagh now makes you into a somewhat viable melee combatant, as you're using your spellcasting ability for the attack and damage rolls. It also doesn’t require concentration so you can still drop other spells on the heads of your enemies when you tired of bludgeoning them with your magical stick.
Finally, and to this player most importantly, Shillelagh is a bonus action cantrip. It is only one of two bonus cantrips available (the other being Magic Stone). By giving Shillelagh a cast time of 1 Bonus action, it guarantees that it can be used by the druid whenever he or she needs to. At lower levels, the druid doesn’t have a use for its bonus action in most cases, and this provides them with one. It’s a huge buff at lower levels, one that many a druid have used well.
Mold Earth
Casting time: 1 action
Range: 30 Feet, 5-foot cube
Components: S
Duration: Instantaneous
Classes: Druid, Sorcerer, Wizard
You choose a portion of dirt or stone that you can see within range and that fits within a 5-foot cube. You manipulate it in one of the following ways: If you target an area of loose earth, you can instantaneously excavate it, move it along the ground, and deposit it up to 5 feet away. This movement doesn’t have enough force to cause damage.
You cause shapes, colors, or both to appear on the dirt or stone, spelling out words, creating images, or shaping patterns. The changes last for 1 hour.
If the dirt or stone you target is on the ground, you cause it to become difficult terrain. Alternatively, you can cause the ground to become normal terrain if it is already difficult terrain. This change lasts for 1 hour.
If you cast this spell multiple times, you can have no more than two of its non-instantaneous effects active at a time, and you can dismiss such an effect as an action.
This transmutation cantrip is beloved by many for the shenanigans it brings to the table, but it has several functional and very useful that come along with it. As the description describes, the most common use of the spell is to create or negate difficult terrain. That is only where the fun begins for those with an open mind and a bit of creativity.
Cast the cantrip and create yourself a 5-foot fox hole. Climbing in and out of the foxhole can use more movement than you want to, depending on the DM. That’s quite alright, as you know have a 5-foot pile of dirt to give you cover. I can’t tell you what kind of cover your DM will give you, but I would imagine at least 1/2 cover would be granted.
The same idea can be used to create a couple of holes in the battlefield that you can use as traps if you have enough time. Cast the spell a couple of number of times, possibly casting the spell twice in the same location to create a 10-foot hole. Cover the hole(s) as best as possible and you have a couple of traps set for the incoming hordes. If you have enough time and another spellcaster with the cantrip, you can even cast the spell in the surrounding area creating difficult terrain nearby, funneling the enemy into the area where you have laid your trap(s).
So now one of your opponents has fallen into a 5-foot hole. Cast the spell again and move the excavated earth back into the hole. The spell says that you cannot cause damage through the use of this spell, but nothing about not being able to immobilize them. At the very least I would say that the creature is grappled, and then we could argue other conditions based on the size of the creature that is now buried in the hole. Tiny creatures would be completely buried and would suffer any number of effects, which would be determined by the DM. The only examples I have seen on the effects of being buried are from the Earthquake spell and a Blue Dragon lair action. In both cases, you get to make a Dexterity saving throw and you have the possibility of being knocked prone and restrained. So at the very least, you have some precedent to argue your case for the creature being restrained. Small and medium creatures would probably be grappled, but a saving throw and a DM ruling are in the cards.
Other fun things to do with mold earth include making a “humanoid-shaped” model to scare would-be attackers, writing taunts in the ground for anyone who may be tracking/following you, a bust of yourself in the town square with the inscription “Greatest Wizard EVER”, so on and so forth. Use your imagination and have fun with this cantrip. It costs you nothing.
Vicious Mockery
Casting time: 1 action
Range: 60 feet
Components: V M
Duration: Instantaneous
Classes: Bard
You unleash a string of insults laced with subtle enchantments at a creature you can see within range. If the target can hear you (though it need not understand you), it must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or take 1d4 psychic damage and have disadvantage on the next attack roll it makes before the end of its next turn.
At Higher Levels. This spell's damage increases by 1d4 when you reach 5th level (2d4), 11th level (3d4), and 17th level (4d4).
I bring up the most beloved of the Bard’s cantrips for two reasons. First, it is the only official cantrip that does psychic damage (the new UA cantrip Mind Sliver also does psychic). Second, so that we can start a list of great insults to use in your game!
You’re so ugly, I’m not killing you for the gold, but as a favor to the rest of the world.
Your mother was a hamster and your father smelled of elderberries. (Greatest Monty Python insult ever)
Your background must be that of an orphan, cause you have a face no mother could love.
You know what the difference between your momma and a washing machine is? When I dump a load in a machine, the machine doesn't follow me around for three weeks. (The Campaign, 2012)
What is that smell? Oh wait, it’s you!
I take it the Remove Curse spell failed….
You’re so dumb, Mind Flayers don’t even waste their time with you.
You're somewhere between a cockroach and that white stuff that accumulates at the corner of your mouth when you're really thirsty. (Con Air, 1997)
I never forget a face, but in your case, I'll make an exception. (Grouch Marx)
Does the farmer know you got out of your pen?
You move like a cat…a fat, drunk, three-legged cat.
I know goblins that are smarter than you!
You hit like a pixie.
Saying you’re dumb would be an insult to all the dumb people in the world.
You're just the afterbirth, that which slithered out on your mother's filth. They should have put you in a glass jar on a mantelpiece. (There Will Be Blood, 2007)
I know zombies smarter than you.
Not enough hugs as a kid?
It must be a very lonely life with a face like yours.
Your mom’s so fat, even a gelatinous cube couldn’t hold her.
You dirt-eating piece of slime. You scum-sucking pig. You son of a motherless goat. (The Three Amigos, 1986)
Thanks all for taking the time to read this article. If you have any questions, comments or additional insults to share, please put them in the comment section.
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