D&D 5E - Power Gamers Guide to Elemental Evil Players Companion

Publish date: 2024-03-27
Aarakocra
I am conflicted, I made an Eagle Totem barbarian for this kind of thing, and now they come out with an Eagle-person who can do it for any class without having to rage. :p
Flying is cool. Non-dungeon monsters can have ranged attacks added to their statblock for no change in CR. Giving +Dex, and making it so medium/heavy armor doesn't work is not cool. Dex is already skirting the "too good" line, and heavy armor is already skirting the "borderline bad" line.
It also allows a way to ad-hock the Avariel.

Deep Gnomes.
Great for Assassins.
Racial feat is an interesting precedent for making some of the more powerful races an option later on down the line.

Genasi.
They seem a bit on the underpowered side, except for fire, which is good. I am of the opinion that races should have some mechanical gimmick that shows up frequently in order to prevent them from becoming funny looking humans. +2 con is OK for everything, so there is no real pressure for the one true class combo.

[sblock=Subrace]Air
They are bad. Even with con/dex. I expected more air-time to them, or at least advantage on acrobatics.
Earth
I like merge with stone better than levitate, Unfortunately this is Pass Without Trace, poor naming convention got me for a bit here.
Fire
They have it all really, good resistance, nifty powers, infra-vision.
Water
they are worse than fire, but still better than air and earth.
Amphibious is better than Air's holding breath ability, if only because it works while you are unconscious.
Acid resistance is worse than fire, would have been better to go with poison resist.
Swim speed is nice, and the spells are better than nothing.[/sblock]

Goliath
Someone has to be the party pack-mule, but you would be better off with a half-orc everywhere outside of the cold and/or mountains.

Spells
Clerics need spells too.
[sblock=Cantrips]
Magic Stone
You can throw rocks for blunt damage instead of whatever other elemental damage you have. Doesn't scale, but your friends can throw your rocks instead.

Control Flames, Gust, Mold Earth and Shape Water
These are elemental limited Prestidigitation. The Flame one the worst, it's best unique feature is dimming the lights, otherwise just use Firebolt to light something up. The Water one (a bit better) can make a 5' Ice cube, which can be handy for making a bridge at least. Gust (generally useful) can be used as a ranged shove VS STR save. And Earth (on par with gust) can make/smooth out difficult terrain so long as there is dirt around, or be used as a shovel

Create Bonfire
At-will area denial, keep a checkpoint locked down, even if it is fire.

Frostbite
Like the bard spell, now with cold damage and a Con Save. Better is some campaigns, worse in others.

Thunderclap
Thunderwave in cantrip form, but without the knockback.
[/sblock]

[sblock= Level 1]
Absorb Elements
Reaction resistance, and some free bonus damage. I would put it on the level of shield.

Beast bond
At first I thought this was the nature equivalent of Find Familiar, then I was disappointed.

Catapult
The range on this can be crazy, 150'+90'. Note that it also damages the object, which could be interesting if you combine it with something like a flask of oil or acid.

Ice knife
Not bad for a small AoE, best thing about it might just be the two chances to peg the primary target.

Earth tremor
I think I would rather Thunderwave. At least then you won't accidentally trap yourself in difficult terrain.
[/sblock]

[sblock= Level 2, With many clones]
Aganazzar’s scorcher
It's Lighting bolt's hot-headed little brother. Requires a red dragonscale(!), has a short range. Evokers and Dragon Sorcerers will want to stick to Scorching Ray.

Dust devil
Basically Flaming Sphere, but with pushing. It may be usable on the Z-axis, for what that is worth.

Earthbind
It's super specialized and super weak at the one thing it does. Note that this does not cause fall damage, and that most creatures with a fly speed also have a walking speed that will remain at full strength. I can't justify anyone actually memorizing this. It seems like something that would go on a scroll or a magic item for a fighter to use.

Maximilian’s earthen grasp
This is really good. A ranged Grapple that is VS STR saves instead of acrobatics/athletics checks. And if the target dies or escapes you can use it on their buddy! No scaling however.

Pyrotechnics
Basically Fog Cloud. Might possibly be even worse.

Skywrite
As a ritual, it could be useful for some trickery or sending messages. Not something to memorize.

Snilloc’s snowball swarm
A cold-based Shatter, only really good for cold-based dragon sorcerers.

Warding wind
It can save you from deadly gasses, and it makes you deaf. That could be handy in some specific situations. Might be an interesting option for a Fighter trying to set up a hard front line.
[/sblock]

[sblock=Level 3, Where fireball is the gold standard]
Erupting earth
Earthball! Less damage, but it makes permanent difficult terrain. Worthy of consideration for those who aren't damage focused at least.

Flame arrows
Something to make people hate crossbow snipers more. A spell for Gish types or pre-buffing your party for an ambush.

Melf’s minute meteors
This is the alternate Fireball, for damage focused mages, who expect the fight to last 3 turns or more, and don't have anything better to use their concentration and bonus actions on. So basically worse than Fireball in most situations.

Tidal wave
Waterball! Well, actually Watercylinder. Less damage, knocks prone, and creates a bunch of water. I get the feeling this could stand to have an STR save instead of DEX. Not quite as good as Erupting earth.

Wall of sand
Wizard only, for no discernible reason. Quite effectively divides a battle in half.

Wall of water
Less effective than Wall of sand, but at least it has some spiffy interactions with cold and fire damage that could be used creatively.
[/sblock]

[sblock=Level 4, where we have fun with a new ball]
Elemental bane
Adding Insult to Injury. Negates resistances, and then boosts damage on top of it. A must-have for anyone looking to specialize in a single element. Everyone else should just pick a different damage type instead.

Storm sphere
This spell has it all: Huge area denial, and consistent ranged damage for a bonus action.

Vitriolic sphere
Acidball! Upside: Better damage type. Downsides: takes two turns for full damage, and you can save for less than half of the total. Slightly worse than the gold standard all things considered.

Watery sphere
This is Hard Control. Downside: The area is only 10'. Upside: everything else. Easily the best of this level (and the best so far) just for the sheer control.
[/sblock]

[sblock=Level 5, Have fun storming the castle]
Control winds
A spell made for Mass Combat, outside of Mass Combat it can be used to cushion your party from some fall damage.

Immolation
This should qualify as cruel and unusual punishment. Unfortunately (for both caster and the victim) the damage is a bit low and slow.

Maelstrom
Area denial for druids, use for clumping up the badguys so your party can get in more AoE action.

Transmute rock
Great multi-use spell. Aside from the listed uses, it could be used to make or break stone walls quickly. Even better if you can cast it twice in a row.
[/sblock]

[sblock=Level 6, Invest in Investitures]
Bones of the earth
It's kind of like Wall of Stone, only without the concentration, AC, or fine control. Can be used as elevators.

All of the Investitures seem like they would be better for Gish-types.
Investiture of flame
Flashy, grants immunity to fire and resistance to ice (because someone will use it on you) and punishes enemies for trying to get close to you.

Investiture of ice
The opposite of flame in every way, damage types and makes it harder for people to get away from you.

Investiture of stone
Resistance to normal damage, walk through walls, become the terminator.

Investiture of wind
Fly, with built-in ranged attack defenses. For air superiority.

Primordial ward
It's like protection from energy, but three levels higher. At least it can grant immunity, but only for a turn.
[/sblock]

[sblock= Levels 7&8 because of short lists]
Whirlwind
Water Sphere's air-based cousin. Now with Bludgeoning damage and farther flings!

Abi-Dalzim’s horrid wilting
Necroball! But with less damage than delayed blast fireball, or even normal fireball. This is really bad unless you have a bunch of undead or golem minions in the area, and even then it's just normal bad.
[/sblock]

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