D&D: Five Spells for Turning Up the Heat
It’s Summer and the highs are approaching records. Just the time to look at some of the best fire spells in Dungeons & Dragons.
Fire is one of the more common elements in Dungeons & Dragons. Though it has a reputation for getting the short end of the stick. After all, the thinking goes, so many creatures are resistant or immune to fire, why even bother?
And while yes, many creatures are at least resistant to flames, more still get to ignore poison. Fire is also the element of power in D&D. The best spells draw on it. It doesn’t get better/more iconic than Fireball, for instance. But there are other spells too. Let’s take a look.
Fireball
Let’s start with the most iconic one! Fireball reigns supreme for a reason. Even the designers of the game acknowledge it’s a little overpowered. It does 8d6 for a 3rd level spell, and can hit most everyone you care to hit in a single blow.
This has been a staple of D&D since the earliest days. And in 5th Edition and beyond, Wizards hurling fireballs don’t seem to be going anywhere but up.
Heat Metal
This one’s for those of you who prefer delayed gratification. Although ironically, you get it much sooner than you do Fireball. Heat Metal is one of the more mean spells in D&D. Because it just goes off. You won’t always get to use it — if you’re fighting monsters without metal, it’s a shame. But when you go up against that foe in armor?
Cast Heat Metal on them and watch the fun as they take 2d8 points of fire damage each round as a bonus action. And on top of that, the affected creature has disadvantage on attack rolls and ability checks until it can get away from the heated object. Or you could make someone drop their awesome sword and be unable to pick it up for a minute.
Firestorm
This is fireball for nice people. People who care about the environment. You call down a storm of sheets of roaring flame in ten different ten foot cubes, which is a huge area. Creatures who fail take a pile of damage: 7d10 to be exact, and this storm sets everything on fire. Except plants, if you choose.
Green-Flame Blade
Green-Flame Blade is one of those spells anyone who wants to cast spells and also fight in melee uses. And it’s not hard to see why. It lets you make an attack as you cast the spell. And when you hit with that attack, you can deal extra damage to a second creature nearby, letting you get more bang for your buck. And at higher levels, the spell does even more damage to your target and nearby targets.
Meteor Swarm
What’s better than fireball? How about four bigger badder fireballs? Meteor Swarm is a 9th level spell, to be fair. So you may never actually get to cast it. But it is fun. To start with you get four different 40-foot-radius spheres. Any creature caught in the burst of one of these spheres, takes 20d6 fire damage and 20d6 bludgeoning damage, for a whopping 40d6 points of damage. On average, 140 points of damage. A solid hit that will chew through most anything.
What are your favorite fire spells in D&D?
