Not So Fast! The Five Best Reaction Spells in D&D
Nothing like casting a spell on your enemy’s turn. This is why we’re looking at the five best reaction spells in D&D.
When it comes to spellcasting, there’s nothing as satisfying as getting to cast a spell on your turn, and on your enemy’s turn too. Which is why reaction spells are so satisfying. Not only do you get to act when it’s not your turn, but you’re usually doing it to ruin some poor NPC’s day.
But not all reaction spells are created equal. This is why we’re looking at the best reaction spells in D&D in no particular order.
Shield
This spell tops the list of best low-level spells and is up there on lists of best spells in general. And for good reason too. For what it does, it’s incredibly valuable. A single reaction and 1st level spell slot lets you basically cancel an attack. You get to add +5 to your AC (and shut down any magic missiles as a bonus). But that lasts until the start of your next turn.
So it’s possible that one spell shuts down a whole round of attacks coming your way.
Silvery Barbs
This spell sparked controversy when it first came out. It’s not often that a spell triggers a round of “this will ruin D&D”. But this one did.
And from a surface view, it’s not hard to see why. This spell triggers off of any creature succeeding on an attack roll, ability check, or a saving throw. When you cast it, the triggering creature must reroll their successful roll and use the lower of the two scores. So it’s like a super disadvantage.
You can use this spell to cancel a powerful attack. Or better yet, to force an enemy who succeeded on a save to fail. And then on top of all that you get to give a different creature advantage on the next attack roll, ability check, or saving throw it makes within 1 minute.
All for just the price of a 1st level spell slot. People theorized it would be used to burn through Legendary Resistance, to make enemies hampered more often in combat, and to take the wind out of a DM’s sails.
And while it wasn’t the end of D&D as we know it, it certainly proved to be very good even so.
Counterspell
Now we get into the other side of reaction spells. The ones that shut down spells. And Counterspell is easily one of the best. It’s a third-level spell, so it’s more resource-intensive. But it will cancel many of the deadliest attacks in D&D, by simply negating a spell as it’s being cast.
It’s hard to play around, too. Enemy casters in possession of it pose a problem for parties. You can get into counterspell duels (since you can cast a counterspell on your turn, too).
Temporal Shunt
More powerful than Counterspell is Temporal Shunt, which has twice the range of Counterspell. This means if you Temporal Shunt someone, they may be out of range to Counterspell you.
This spell is cooler, too. It throws the target to another point in time, causing their attack to miss or their spell to be wasted. The target then reappears and has no memory of you casting the spell or being affected by it.
And at higher levels, you can shut down multiple creatures at once. All fun and games.
Gift of Gab
This spell, out of Acquisitions Incorporated is a weird one, but it’s fun. It lets you rewrite the memories of each creature of your choice within 5 feet so that they forget everything you said within the last round, instead remembering a different set of words, spoken as part of the verbal components for this spell
All that without a save!
What are your favorite reaction spells?
