Conjure animals - should tell the player to use the "Swarm" stat block if you summon more than 2 beasts for combat purposes. This would allow you to summon a horde of bunnies, but not clog down the action economy.

Will you do a similar video on "underpowered outliers"? I'd love to see your take on True Strike, Barkskin, etc

The thing about Fear is that at the end of the day it's a 30ft cone. And these are very hard to position. Meanwhile Hypnotic Pattern is extremely easy to place. It's really the same advantage that Fireball has over Lightning Bolt - only one of them requires any sort of positioning.

Beyond these outlier spells, there are spells like Fabricate that need their rules tightened up a little. It’s one of my favorite spells, but I’ve been at multiple tables that ban it solely because it’s used as a money printer.

My theory is that the Conjure spells are just straight up being replaced mechanically by Tasha's Summon spells, just tweaked a bit to fit the different spell levels

In comics media, we have characters that use force fields/force field like projections [Raven, Invisible Woman, Green Lantern, etc.] They are shown to need to concentrate on the barrier both whenever they are hit or when the projection is hit. Let's imagine this but in DnD. We can "nerf" wall of force and force cage by allowing the trapped creature to attack the cage/wall itself. Since the cage/wall is not a creature, most spells will not work on them and elemental damage is not really that much of a concern. It can be made so that hitting the cage will force the spellcaster to make a concentration save based on the amount of damage the wall/cage receives. Give the wall/cage the same AC as the spell caster's DC in order to show how hard it is to even make a dent on the construct. This way, monsters and martial player characters without teleportation are not auto removed from combat. The worst feeling for a barbarian or fighter is the feeling of being put in a corner unable to do anything. What do you hit when you are in a force cage/wall of force? How does one get out. If a spellcaster casted a wall of force in a dungeon then triggered a poison smoke trap, any martial would be dead without magic. Edit: I just watched the vid and I like the HP option as well. This gives a clear goal for the people trapped in the cage and provides with an progress bar which shows them that their actions are contributing to something and is inching them closer to their intended result.

dude... I LOVE TMV spell fixes. nobody else does the math and the fixes are always so thematic and fun!

I think the conjure animal dilemma can be solved by improving the swarm stat block, you can conjure a swarm of Weasels or a couple dire wolves with interconnected HP pools

I was thinking Polymorph would have CR based on spell slot? Why of all spells does it scale based on character level, that makes no sense in 5e.

Most of the spells on this list have been part of the game for 20+ years, in some cases 40+. I don't know if that's embarrassing, or if the legacy perception of what the spell _should_ be affected their design. E.g., it's well known fireball is a little overtuned for a 3rd level spell, but it's so iconic (and lots of monsters have fire resistance) so they let it slide.

My suggestion for three of the spells: 1. For Goodberry, Zee Bashew proposed a great fix in his video for it that is really simple. Have the spell consume its material component. That way, the material component can not be replaced by a spell focus or component pouch. It makes survival gameplay easier, since it allows the party to extend their rations in harsher climates, but not trivial, since the ability to cast it requires being able to scavenge the necessary berries. This also indirectly buffs Create Food and Water, since it is a higher spell slot, but doesn't have a material component, so it becomes the better spell in truly inhospitable environments. 2. For Spike Growth, have it not apply the damage on forced movement, the same way you can't make an attack of opportunity against someone who is pushed or dragged out of your threatened area. The wording would be something like "When a creature uses its movement, action, or reaction to move into or through the area, it takes 2d4 piercing damage for every 5 feet it travels." The spell is still great for creating bottlenecks and areas of restricted movement, particularly if it can be placed in an area where enemies *have* to move through it to get to you or away from you, but that change removes the potential abuse of dragging enemies back and forth through the area and massively multiplying the amount of damage. 3. For Animate Objects, instead of having each object tracked separately, redesign it to be more like the Tasha's summoning spells. When you cast the spell, you can choose between "Large animated object", "Group of medium animated objects", or "Swarm of tiny animated objects", with each option acting as one gestalt "creature" with different abilities and attacks available depending on the type chosen. For example, the Large option might have a big slam attack that can knock targets prone, while the Swarm option might have a smaller attack that gives other creatures advantage on attacks against its target.

For wall of force/forcecage i would suggest another change: So, wall of force and wall of stone are both 5th level wall spells. Make wall of stone sturdiest (it has 15 AC and 180 HP for every plate), and wall of force more fragile, but harder to harm in the first place (give it like 15 AC and 60 HP, but also damage threshold of 15 or 20 or something in line). So now both of this wall spells have different niches - one is generally good, another is close to impossible to break for minions, but easy to break for giant monsters, bosses and other strong creatures. Problem solved. Damage threshold exists as a mechanic in 5e, so it is not that global of a change in this regard.

I like your version of Planar Ally so much more, not just as a fix of the original spell, but as a spell at all. Clean, simple, flavorful... it's great. I've never in my life been tempted to take Planar Ally but I have a Warlock or two who would absolutely take this version.

Personally, I think the only thing that Ceremony needs is a little disclaimer: "If the target of the spell is a living creature, it is considered willing only if it sincerely regards the ceremony as a momentous, unique event. The DM has the final say on whether the spell can affect a creature." So if you're in a campaign, you can still get the benefit, but if it's a one-shot, the DM could easily rule the character's commitment is not sincere. EDIT: Ceremony is intended as a player-facing mechanic that rewards roleplay with mechanical boosts. Either the DM gets a say in it, or this type of mechanics need to be scrapped entirely, because they're ripe for abuse afterwise, and the DM is then left to figure them out on their own. I'm lucky to play at a table where everyone acts in good faith, so this edge case wouldn't be a problem for me.

Magic Jar is one of those spells that's really intended for villains -- having a magic jar hiding out possessing people is perfectly good monster, and in that use case you really do want it casting spells and so on. I think the best way to have it achieve its intended purpose is to add something like "Player characters, or creatures of CR 1 or higher, may repeat the save at the start of each of their turns, ending the effect on success". Repeated saves make it less oppressive when used against PCs. The CR 1 limit means you can still possess random commoners forever, but makes it less oppressive against important characters.

Utility spells should buff allied ability checks, not supplant them. Find Traps, for example, should give a target creature a bonus (like advantage) on an ability check to find traps. That way the benefits stack. A rogue helped by a wizard’s spell would have the spotlight shined on them, not taken away. (And a wizard could still use the spell to try to find traps on their own, but it would be less effective than teamwork).

Really good ideas here, I'm gonna try to implement a bunch of them for sure. I would also suggest a Find Familiar tweak. As of now, the only thing keeping you from sending it on wild scouting expeditions that completely overshadow a rogue/ranger/scouting player is the 10gp cost, and the 1 hour casting time. I would maybe impose a limit on how often the spell can be cast, like once every 24 hours.

I'm expecting to see above-the-curve spells on this list like shield, wall of force, and forcecage.

Ok so you're missing the point of sleep. Sleep is meant to be a stealth spell, knock out the guards and go around. Making a save-repeat every turn turns it into a combat exclusive spell. A better fix is to keep it much the same but make them Incapacitated, Blind, and Deafened until the original conditions of the breaking the spell are met. The unconscious condition is just to powerful by itself, I agree with you.

It doesn’t make sense to repeat dex saving throws on tentacles and web. It would make more sense to make the continuing saving throws strength saving throws. Dex was to avoid getting restrained, once you are restrained, you need to use strength to get out. Making it a strength check as they do is like the only good use for the debuff aspect of warlock hex though, heh.

I made Guidance and Resistance into reactions, since players often don’t think to use Guidance until after the skill is rolled, and because you almost never know when a save will be called for. I also made True Strike a bonus action, but instead of advantage, it gives 1d4.

I think the fix for Shield while retaining if flavor is the Ac bonus given should equal your Proficiency bonus but still last the whole round, keeping it good in early game and letting it build back up in strength so it's not worthless at high levels.

I'm in total agreement on Goodberry. I have it on my Druid in my campaign right now, and it's not breaking combat, but it's definitely breaking world-building.

Hey man, great stuff as always! Honestly, some spot on adjustments here. Just wanted to say I've been reading and following your stuff since your 4th edition guides back in the day and it's always been helpful not only for builds but for better understanding the game. Keep up the good work!

One of the better TM videos recently. This definitely isnt a complete list, but its a pretty good starting point. Imo the biggest issue is the lack of standardisation between spells and the over use of natural language instead of game mechanics. That being said, healing word, sanctuary, spike growth, sleetstorm, planar binding have to be touched/touched more

Spike growth: each 5’ square can only deal its damage once. The area would remain difficult terrain throughout the duration of the spell.

Thank you. I need this in a set of videos to prove to my play group that 5R is going to be worth converting for.

This is really level headed. I like your approach, giving you positive feedback :)

Honestly, Wizards needs to hire you. You have a better grasp of the game than any of the people working there (or anyone online).

What a great way to start my morning! Thanks for putting this together!

I love your fix for wish. It's such an elegant way to prevent its abuse without completely taking it away from players. Well done!

🎶Barriers should not be invulnerable! Objects can be broken, walls can be broken, barriers of force should be able to be broken! 🎶

Would love to hear your opinions on fixing the weirdness that are the rules for Illusion spells like Phantasmal Force, the whole "take an action to investigate the illusion". Or even how would Major Image affect a combat encounter, I always see new players wanting to try to use Major Image to scare enemies by pretending to summon a big monster.

I like your Shield fix. Personally I think the spell should just absorb damage for a round, scaling with level spent. AC is already just so easy to break that I think it should be much harder to change than it is.

I'm glad you're doing this. This is a long time coming.

Idea for Spike Growth: Instead of capping the damage, make it so that the spikes are destroyed in a square that is moved into. They are often plants (or ice) after all. No more just pushing enemies back and forth. You'll run out of spikes eventually and need to reposition to take full advantage of the remainder. Depending on the map layout, not always possible.

thank heavens, i felt like i was going crazy as the only person who ever brought up Polymorph as a blatantly problematic spell. also, thanks for hitting silvery barbs AND shield. i feel like too many people target SB for nerfs and don't recognize Shield as a contemporary of similar power, it's clearly what the spell was balanced against.

What about Planar binding? Currently it is in this weird space where it is almost impossible to use on its own, but if you set it up it quickly gets out of hand. I think it should be changed to make it both easier to use and less overpowered.

"You saw the title so no need to waste time". I appreciate this so much. Right into the video 10 seconds in

I was really hoping for this video. Thanks

Planar ally is one of those abilities that should just be an RP thing. Like "you use Contact other plane" to chat with your yugoloth acquaintance and ask it to help you in exchange for 10000 gp"

I’m a little surprised not to see fireball on the list. I would recommend lowering the damage to 6d6 but increasing the upcast by 2d6 each level.

Honestly, I actually really like almost every one of these solutions. That's also EXACTLY how I would fix shield as well.

Videos like this make you my favorite!

These fixes (except teh conjure ones) are more problematic than you think. They make the fireball conundrum so much worse, where caster see single target save or suck spells that save every round and take a damage option instead of control. I get that control spells are powerful, but thats by design because a dead enemy doesnt hit you so a fireball is per design stronger than a fear spell. Nerfing these spells makes every caster pick Magic Missle, Shatter and Fireball because its the "only" option.

Simulacrum should still be able to cast spells. I love the idea of the wizard duplicating themselves. What I homebrewed is that the simulacrum has half the number of spell slots per level (like the HP is halved), round down. That way, they are prevented from using the more powerful spells, but can still look and feel like weaker copies of a caster.

Excited for this. Outside of all the class stuff, I have been REALLY hoping to see more spell drafts in the playtests, because there are so many spells that are cool in concept but just feel bad and un-powerful to take. Or those spells like Counterspell that are SO powerful they dominate other options.

Revised Shield: Adds 15 temporary hit points for one round. Upcast to add 5 THP per spell slot above 1st. This "defeats" magic missel at all levels, last 1 round and absorbs damage instead of increasing AC.

Isn’t that new sleep spell basically hold person at a lower level and can target non-humanoids?

Great video, as always, I really like most of the changes except the conjure spells. For conjure animals, I agree the number of the animals summoned should be limited, but I feel like just half amount of the current version would be sufficient enough, and mainly what should be fixed is the current upcasted option where you summon double amount of the beasts at 5th level. The size limit and only 2 cr 1/4 or lower feels like too much, especially when it competes with, say sleet storm and plant growth as a 3rd level spell for a Druid, AND it takes your concentration. Another thing with conjure woodlandbeings is that, there’s just not a lot of options of fey if they cannot cast spells. Like, in this fix, as a 4th level spell, you can make 2 like darklings that does like 12 damage with a +5 to hit. I think perhaps limiting the spells they can cast to only 2nd level or lower might be enough. Otherwise I feel like they just become not really worth casting even with a bit of extra action economy, given the low hit point they are too vulnerable for a 4th level slot and your concentration. Another thing about wall of force and forcecage, I think they should be breakable but probably with more hit points, maybe 200 hit points for wall of force. Mainly because wall of stone’s panel has 180 hit point each AND it block sight. Yeah theres a dex save to avoid being completely trapped by a wall of stone, but given that you can teleport through wall of force I feel like it should have a bit more hit point than wall of stone.

As a DM, I only impose the heat metal disadvantage if they fail their save. Arguably it can kinda be interpreted that way if you squint, but really that's just an excuse and i do it for balance reasons.

@Treantmonk Thanks for taking one for the D&D hobby

nerf shield nerf shield nerf shield nerf shield nerf shield

I think you did a pretty outstanding job. It really is amazing how relatively few spells are outliers when you list them all out like this.

Love your changes!

Thank you for your very interesting ideas

I think they will maintain the 2014 "conjure thing" spells level and name, but using the tashas "summon thing" format of curated/scaling statblocks and limit in the number of new entities. That way, they get both concepts at once, maintain the old spell, but with new philosophy.

Another fix for shield would be a spell form of the Abjuration Wizard's Arcane Ward, where it protects against a certain amount of damage in a round, with higher spell slots providing greater amounts of damage reduced. This allows the thematic ability to "break through" an enemy's shield spell if they do enough damage to reduce the ward to 0 hp.

I dont know if anyone brought this up yet, but the reason there's a strength saving throw on action for "Web" is because the restrained condition gives disadvantage on dexterity saves. So the dudes being restrained need another way to get out that isn't fighting against disadvantage or burning themselves alive.

Great video, and love the suggested fixes for each spell. It's also great coming here and reading alternative fixes. But the best part is seeing someone else who sees Tiny Hut as broken. It's way overpowered for a 3rd level spell - conveys full invulnerability while allowing those insides to fire ranged weapons out of it...and allows those inside to dig a tunnel underneath it while preventing anything from tunneling up into it. Polymorph (and TP and Shapechange) are all also broken, if for no other reason than the potential for ridiculous hit point buffs they provide. (I feel the same way about druid wild shape but that's a different topic). Very glad to see, again, I'm not the only one who views these spells as needing adjustment.

Easy fix to goodberry without removing a fun effect of not needing to eat further, costly material component: "10 freshly picked berries" 1 copper

I actually think Witch Bolt is a bigger problem than most spells. Imagine making a spell so terrible that True Strike seems like it "might have uses".

The note at the beggining (in the Silvery Barbs section) about only nerfing spells and not making martials/other spells better; one thing to take into consideration is that Level 1 Spells are all the caster has at that point, and often very few of them. They are like Warlocks, except they don't have good at-will damage to fall back on. These spells therefore need more 'umph' than would otherwise be considered for the Level, at the point you get them. That said, lower Level Spells shouldn't keep on providing that 'umph'. I actually think Sleep is really good example here; it starts off strong, then falls off. When you have almost nothing you can do as a Level 1 caster of note, this saves it. Now, I could agree that the implementation could be cleaned up, but the power level is right here. A bad Level 1 spell for this is Shield - it just keeps on giving, even at level 13 that Level 1 Spell Slot is amazing because of Shield. If Shield instead granted a flat DR it would be far more in tune with starting strong and falling off. So, I actually do think low Level Spells should be buffed to something akin to Sleep - just make sure they fall off afterwards. Another note, at higher levels (really, past Tier 1), martials stop scaling much. They definitely need more, otherwise we might as well consider games to end by Level 10 for martials and don't worry about the imbalance afterwards since the problem isn't being fixed at the source. If some Spells of Level 5+ are weak compared to their competitors, well there aren't that many at these levels and they could easily be shored up. CR is a joke in any case except early levels - so should also be buffed in any case past these. TL;DR - Spells need to be powerful in relation to how many Spell Slots you have for that Level, with extra emphasis on the earlier Spell Levels due to having no fallback options. Martials need buffing at higher levels, rather than nerfing Spells. Sort out CR.

One thing I've found weird about polymorph is that it's one of the few spells that scales with level rather than spell slot. It gets stronger as you and your allies gain levels, while still being cast at 4th level. Also a little baffling why the CR=Level when, as I understand, CR is a gauge for a party of 4 characters of equal level. Other spells that interact with CR tend to use the spell slot level, like conjure elemental, and I'd do the same with polymorph, where the CR maximum of the transformation is equal to the level of spell slot used.

I have a gut feeling that 2 CR1/2 mephits dont do enough at 7th level. What do you think the party would be fighting against that the mephits could still prove useful? Better yet, if you know one of your players prepares your version of summon minor elementals, what sort of combats are you designing for a level 7 party?

Wall of Force should have an Action/Hour casting option like Plant Growth. DM needs an invulnerable wall? Someone took an hour.

I'm so very glad to see that you did this video. I've been of this mindset for a very long while now, and I agree that these outlier spells HAVE to be changed to shake up the meta and address the problems you mentioned. I think many people already homebrewed their solutions, and it's good to see that the community begins to honestly think they have to be changed.

thanks for the ideas, well done.

The challenge with eliminating the option to do things “beyond” the example list for the wish spell, is that there are dozens of situations in the game that can only be undone via wish, and such scenarios are impossible to generalize into a simple restriction. Instead, it’s just up to the DM on what the limits are. Also, it gives players a chance to make a wisdom or intelligence check to determine if the character is sharp enough to determine whether or not their desired wish is a good idea or not. The potential permanent effect of losing the wish spell is enough of a restriction to prevent players from choosing it unless it is a campaign finale.

I think your fixed version of Sleep is too powerful. It would be straight-up better than all other level 1 control spells like Command and Hideous Laughter. It’s potentially stronger than Hold Person/Monster. One fix might be that Sleep only applies the Dazed condition?

With Summon Woodland Creature, one solution might also be that if you summon casting creatures, the caveat becomes the SUMMONER must pay all spell slots. So, in a dire situation, they could summon caster fey and rain hell. But they are basically saying "we are long resting after this" because they will not have spell slots left. It gives them an OPTION to circumvent the "one spell per turn" barrier, but it is not without cost.

I quite like some mechanical element to ceremony marriage, but something fluffy like: "if you and your partner are on the same plane, you instantly know whenever they fail a death saving throw."

Im very happy to see a video like this, i was one of the yhe people complaining to see a video like this to show up. Thank you, i hope it sates my hunger.

I'm of a split mind: I think there are enough good subclasses and classes that we should be bringing them up to meet the more powerful options. But with spells, there is usually only a few per oevel that are out of bounds, ao it makes more sense to bring them down (also helping close that martial/caster divide)

All of these changes make senses and I think are fairly balanced. However I think standardizing every spell to "roll another save at the end of your turn" takes away some of the individual flavor and tactical considerations of each spell. I wonder if it would still be too overpowered if you kept the action required to get out of web or black tentacles, but you made success automatic instead of an ability check.

I have changed a handful of spells at my table. For instance, silvery barbs at my table gives an oncoming attack disadvantage or a pending saving throw advantage. Still powerful, but a lot less immersion breaking and fair.

I like a lot of these! I do have a couple gripe with Polymorph, though, which is that basing the CR on the caster's level when you pick it penalizes you for picking it early (not that there are many beasts of CR higher than 7). Also, providing a repeat save makes it about as good as Tasha's Hideous Laughter. Maybe Hideous Laughter is overtuned, but I think this change pretty completely negates Polymorph as a control spell. I have a similar issue with the Banishment changes.

One oversight. FIREBALL Fireball deals too much damage in too large an area. It invalidates all other 3rd level damage dealing spells. Who would pick any of the spells bellow when they could cast fireball. Erupting earth, flame arrows, melfs miniature meteors, tidal wave, vampuric touch. It needs some nerfs to make all the other damage dealing spells more appealing. It deals the most damage, has the longest range, and has an area that's far greater than any other 3rd level spell. I think it should either have 6d6 damage or it should have a 10ft radius. Erupting earth is it's closest comparison and it averages 10 less damage in a 20ft cube.

Well done, Chris! I'd say most of these were very good fixes.

Spike Growth feels like it should be a save against the damage, it should be black tentacles junior more or less, rather than auto damage.

Interesting list. Although i really expected fireball to be in there as well. If i think about an outlier spell, fireball is the first one that comes to mind

Great video, as always. The only thing i think I'm missing is what is the standard? Each spell level has a really wide variety of power levels, from awful to broken. I'd have loved an analysis like this to put forward 1 or 2 spells for each pillar of play per level as the metric to adjust the new spells to. But maybe that's just me.

I definitely agree on the Pass without Trace part, but I think I would like to see a slightly different approach. Something along the lines of this: You maicly consiel yourself and creatures staying in an Area of 30ft around you. Creatures Affected by this spell gain the following benefits. - Creatures no longer suffer stealth disadvantage from Armor. - If any creature has a stealth modifier of less than +5 they may use +5 as there stealth modifier One of my favorite aspects of Pass without Trace is that it can help you with groupcheck of noise Party Members (Looking at you Paladin!). But it always feels so bad that it completely overpasses the expertise classes, especially the Rouge, the class most often associated with stealth, who don't get this spell. With these changes there is an actual decision whether to send in the stealthers alone or risk a groupcheck.

Silvery Barbs had 2 predecessor spells (kobold press) that fill the role & are level 1 appropriate. They are... 'Ill-Fated Word' & 'Unluck On That' -that as a reaction give either disadvantage to the roll or a minus 1d4. Players are used to Silvery Barbs so if you take it away then give them these substitutes.

For Shield, why not have it just add your PB to your AC? Would still be a good cast at any level, but not crazy strong.

This is a VERY well done video. I appreciate you addressing all of these spells and your fixes are pretty damn good. However, I have one small and one big problem. The small problem is it is a feels bad you’re just basically going across the board and saying “any effects with saving throws allow you to repeat the saving throws” because some of those spells derive almost all of their utility from the fact that they don’t require saves, and without that caveat they’re no better than 1st level spells. Secondly, the only COMPLETE miss of the video was the whole “barriers of force shouldn’t be invunerable” thing. What did leomunds tiny hut do to you? Wall of force is a FIFTH level spell bro, nobody in their right mind would take it to build a fortnite wooden wall of magical energy😂😂. They’re not even that broken like leomunds tiny hut is just used to take rests, it’s not even really a problem. And if you make them vulnerable, they’re absolutely dumpstered. This was a whiff and a half by you. I’d like to say once again though this vid was awesome and I liked ALL your other changes and i think they were much needed

I think the wonky wording for web and evards Tentacles is because on the repeated saving throw they want the creature to burn its action to make the saving throw so once they become unrestrained all they have is their movement and whatever bonus actions enemies get. Whereas if you automatically gain the saving throw and become unrestrained you now have your action to do whatever you want with which can feel really Cruddy if they failed the saving throw on the casting but then succeeded the saving throw at the beginning of their first turn inside the aoe.

Since Tasha's cauldron came out with its summon spells I've made one change to address the "Summon vs Conjure" thing. From then on any "Summon Spell" remains unchanged from TCE and every "Conjure Spell" from the PHB now has a casting time of 1 minute, if it didn't before. No other change. You could still pull them off in combat if you had the time beforehand but that's not a guarantee. They still keep most of their use in non combat scenarios and it tidies the language up. "Summon" is a faster way of calling a single creature whereas "Conjure" is a slower spell of more power and scope

I would love to see spells with concentration options. For example giving burning hands a concentration option that allows you yo do half damage each turn ad a bonus action.

In my opinion another fix for Spirit Guardians would be to keep its damage (still nerf upcasting) but reduce it's radius to 10ft. That way you actually have to play way more aggressively in order to hit a meaningful amount of enemies, and it gives enemies counter play. You're still an effective frontline tank.

This is the most sensible you have been on the rules of the game. Also, here is my take on Spike Growth I did some months back: Spike Growth 2 transmutation Casting Time: 1 action Range: 150 feet Target: A 20-foot radius centered on a point within range Components: V S M (Seven sharp thorns or seven small twigs, each sharpened to a point) Duration: Concentration, up to 10 minutes The ground in a 20-foot radius centered on a point within range twists and sprouts hard spikes and thorns. When the spikes appear, each creature within its area must make a Dexterity saving throw or take 2d6 piercing damage. A creature makes a saving throw when it enters the area for the first time on a turn and in addition to being damaged it gains the restrained condition until the end of its turn. A creature moving through the area at half speed doesn't need to make the saving throw. The transformation of the ground is camouflaged to look natural. Any creature that can’t see the area at the time the spell is cast must make a Wisdom (Perception) check against your spell save DC to recognize the terrain as hazardous before entering it.

For Conjure Animals and the other similar spells, I would just instead of the whole choose CR and creature of that CR, just make it a fixed rollable table that you roll from when you cast the spell to see how many of what creature appear.

Some of these fixes are good. Some of them I'm not a fan of. Magical Force being unbreakable is kind of cool. It can make for a good plot point I think and differentiates those spells from other lower level wall spells.

I appreciate the goodberry nerf, mostly because druids and rangers could solve world hunger and it frustrates me that no universe takes this into account.

Love your ideas. I will try at least some of them.

I expected to dislike most of these, but was pleasently surprised with the reasonability of most changes. That said, here are some thoughts on alterations that stood out to me: Shield - like it, but what would you say about allowing it be be upcast, with each addtional level allowing the shield to last against one more attack or missile; allowing some of its potency to be regained with investment? Sleep - At a glance, unconciousnes against any creature with a 1st level spell seems abut much. while the creature does awaken if they take damage, this still allows the repliaction of some of the effects of hold monster, a 5th level spell. What would you say about restricting it to humanoids only at 1st level, with nonhumanoids being affected by it if it's cast at 4th level or above? This way it retains the proporsed rebalance, while not opening up non humanoid hard CC too early. Spirit guardians - I dont agree with the damage nerf here. As is, the spell requires you to be either in melee range, or close to it, to affect targets - a precarious position to be in with a concentration spell. As a point of comparison, hunger of hadar applies similar impariments, does more damage, and lets you stay safe. You could nerf it's duration to 1 minute, guaranteing that it only lasts the duration of 1 encounter, but reducing both it's damage die size and count by 1 feels like an over correction. Its also worth remebering that with the rework of spiritual weapon, you can combo the two anymore, as both require concentration. Polymorph - While i largely agree, what would you say about making it so that the spell grants the recepient Temporary hit points? something to the tune of the beast's hit points or twice the recepient's level, whichever is lesser? This should replicate the feeling of the most recent rework to the moon druid, keep some of the spell's original uses (creating HP buffers for wounded characters and\or allowing casters to have some fun in melee), while removing the ridiculous HP inflation it casued. Conjure spells - Id also like to chime in and say that two creatures of CR 1/2 - 1/4 th(ish) at the levels in which these spells are available are nigh meaningless. The DPR for a creature of CR 3, multiple of which could reasonably exist in a medium encounter for parties capable of casting conjure animals, is about 24. Assuming this is split between two attacks dealing 12 damage each, such a creature could wipe out the results of a conjure animals spell (which will likely be wolves or velociraptors from an optimiztion point of view, each with 11 HP and low AC) in 1 turn, with the spell having had little to no effect. This is one creature among 2 - 3 in a medium encounter for a 5th level party, and the numbers dont become more flattering as we move up. As an alternative solution, what would you say about the following - a cluster of summoned creatures (lets stick with wolves for now, with a cluster meaning two or more) that attakcs a single target does not make individual attack rolls, but instead forces the target to make a saving throw, taking the damage of one from the creatures in the cluster on a fail, or half on success. Individual summoned creatures that attack a different target can still make their own attack rolls. This is the rule for controlling multiple summons found in Level Up - advanced 5th edition, and i feel solves the issue without gutting the spells. You essentially get a cloud of low hp monsters that can deal some damage, but not so much that the single target "burst" damage offered by it is too much. It also solves the issue of needing to control too many individual creatues in seperate inititives, since you can now group them up into smaller groups - tightening the initiative roster.

Wow, these nerf suggestions were way more gentle than I anticipated. Based on what WOTC did to counterspell, I don't think these are out of question. I also am not sure these would really address the martial-caster divide. I think these changes would be good, but martials probably still would need more buffs than they have gotten.

Conjure Animals nerf is a bit overkill, so you're right, players would riot if they went that route and it'd be killed in the survey. Not sure what the right fix is, but only two? No one would cast the spell, and this change would never make it in.

This is great!

Yes to all, 10/10 so far. I'd love to see you tackle some of the spells that don't get picked too but it's the upper end that cause the most issues and it would help diversity so much