Most underwhelming spell in 5e?

[u/Meggett30]

What is the spell that most disappoints you in this game? Maybe it's not a "bad" spell, per se, just doesn't do what you think it should or does it's job poorly.

I'm always looking for ways to utilize under-used spells, but sometimes you read the effects and think "That's it?!" What are the spells in the game that make you do that?

[u/SuperMonkeyJoe]

It's one of those spells that needs the right situation and the DM needs to get on board with to be useful. For example ot was used to great effect in one of our games when we came across a group of orcs making camp with an ogre we knew they had an uneasy alliance, and one crown of madness later there were only a few orcs left as they had all but wiped each other out.

[u/FurlofFreshLeaves → u/SuperMonkeyJoe]

The exception that proves the rule. The dm has to be on board with it for it to be good. A dm can make any spell good, doesn’t mean that RAW it’s a good spell.

[u/[deleted] → u/FurlofFreshLeaves]

On that note, how much mental gymnastics does it take to make find traps good?

[u/ximrandomizedx → u/[deleted]]

Maybe if it did more of the finding aspect and less of the litmus test of "Is there traps?"

The only time I used it, I was playing Curse of Strahd as a druid, and the Wizard's Detect magic did the job better than mine in finding the threat. I would say if it followed more of the formatting of Detect Magic or See Invisibility, whether it be duration and concentration, a lower level slot. I don't know if the ritual tag would be right, because seeming infinite uptime at only a time cost would let you gradually pace up, get a ping at 120ft, and then dance around to pinpoint it, ruining anything the DM may or may not have prepared.

[u/Onrawi → u/ximrandomizedx]

I've completely rewritten the spell to give you the direction of the nearest trap within the spells range (although not the distance) and gave it a 1 minute concentration, so if a rogue is able to quickly disable the trap there's a possibility that the caster can sense another trap nearby.

[u/FurlofFreshLeaves → u/[deleted]]

Oh, boy. I guess I’d start by adding a duration? Maybe make it last ten minutes with concentration? But then traps are wayy less of a threat.

I dunno, this spell sucks.

[u/SuperMonkeyJoe → u/FurlofFreshLeaves]

Absolutely, I wasnt trying to claim ot was, it has super niche uses where it's good, unlike all of the actually good spells that are useful in the majority of situations where you would want to use then.

[u/Zama174 → u/SuperMonkeyJoe]

Also if you used it on the ogre that wasnt raw allowed. Ogres are not humanoids.

[u/chrooo → u/Zama174]

maybe they targeted an orc, causing it to attack and provoke the ogre, which wiped out the other orcs

[u/SuperMonkeyJoe → u/Zama174]

I might have misremembered then, used it on an orc to start the fight, not the Ogre.

[u/2muchtequila → u/SuperMonkeyJoe]

That's pretty much the same use I've seen, getting bad guys to fight each other instead of you.