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

[Zardnaar]

This thread will be comparing the Elemental Evil Players Companion material to the PHB and making a comparison. First impressions are mostly positive as the PDF is well laid out with decent art work and hey its free. Several AD&D spells missing from the game since 2E have also returned and under their oringal names as 3E did have some of them with a new name.
This thread however will be looking at the relative power level of the new options from a min/max or power gaming PoV. This is not so much to try and break the game but to see how the material stacks up with existing material. The class that gained the most with this PDF seems to be the Dragon Sorcerer due to the new elemental spells. A little disappointed that the air, earth, fire, water cleric domains did not make it in. Not much in there for non spell casting classes but in 5E that is only a handful of classes now.

Races
Aarakocra
Short and sweet really. Aarakocra get +2 dex and +1 wisdom and they get to fly and are proficient with 1d4 unarmed strikes. That is more or less all they get. While bland they get to fly and not just in a limited why but in effect they have a permanent 3rd level spell going all of the time and it can’t be interrupted. Traditionally flying PC races have levelled up slower in D&D in 2E/3E and in 4E I do not recall any race that could fly right out of the gate. They can’t wear heavy or medium armour while doing it but Rogues, spell casters, archers etc won’t care. Probably the most power race in this document and maybe the most powerful race in the game depending on the class. Flying monks hmmnnn….

Deep Gnomes.
This was one of the 1st D&D races I ever saw due to having a 1E copy of UA and no 1E PHB. Back then they were the most powerful PC race in the game making Drow look weak and PC Drow were the next most powerful race. IN 5E their racial package is nothing really exciting however although they get 120’ dark vision with no draw back unlike the Drow. They get advantage on some (int, wis, cha) saving throws vs magic and advantage to hide in rocky terrain along with +2 int, +1 dex. Over all a somewhat meh race mechanically.

Genasi
The elemental humans with a genie bloodline races have been semi popular in my home games over the years probably because they have human blood. In terms of popularity outside core races they are trailing Aasimar but they would be the next most popular races with my players beating things like Drow so it is good to see 5E version of them. In effect each Geneasi get some languages and +2 con while each type of Genasi is a subrace so no surprise there.

Air Genasi.
You can hold your breath and you get +1 dexterity and can levitate once per long rest. Aarakocra can fly at will, Eladrin can teleport that recharges on a short rest. The air genasi doesn’t even compare that well to PHB races. Seems to be a weak race if not out right bad.

Earth
+1 strength, you are not slowed down by difficult terrain made of earth or stone, and you can pass without trace 1 per long rest. Yay. At least its better than the Air Genasi and it still seems weak. Play a Dwarf instead its better IMHO.

Fire Genasi
+1 intelligence, dark vision, Fire resistance, Produce flame cantrip burning hands 1/long rest once you hit level 3. At last a Genasi that doesn’t suck. Darkvision is nice to have, resistance to the most common elemental power source is good, and you get a cantrip and a spell at 3rd level. This actually looks all right except +2 con and +1 int is not that useful for most classes. If it had +1 wisdom it would be a great cleric class due to the produce flame cantrip if nothing else. The best of the bunch of the Genasi IMHO

Water Genasi
+1 wisom (doh), resistance to acid damage, a swim spead and you can breathe underwater, and you get a cantrip and a create/destroy water spell 1/long rest. IN the right campaign or environment this race looks quite nice but it is a bit to situational IMHO. Acid is not a overly common elemental attack either so in some cases none of your racial abilities are going to matter. This makes the race probably a weak to out right bad option as its spells are nothing to get excited about either. And Aarakocra’s can fly.

Goliath
Seemed to be a popular race AFAIK in 4E and they were one of the few races worth the LA in 3.5 so I have expectations this race should be half decent. It gets +2 strength and +1 con which is slightly worse than a mountain dwarf I hope the rest of its abilities are decent. You get athletics as a bonus skill which is nice for some builds (shield master), and you get stones resistance as well which is a variable amount of damage reduction and it recharges on a short rest. That’s quite good and at level 1 probably doubles your hit points in effect. Powerful build and mountain born are mostly fluff IMHO. This race looks good but stones resistance doesn’t scale with level and you only get it once per short rest. Still looks fun and somewhat useful. Both PHB Dwarf subraces are likely better though but it is interesting and looks powerful at least at low levels. Overasll an average race I suppose on the plus side you are not a Genasi.

Spells
As I said earlier the Sorcerer won the jackpot in terms of options here. Frostbite, Ice Knife and Snilloc’s Snowball Swarm make an Dragon sorcerer focusing on cold magic viable IMHO. Several spells also make a return here from AD&D as well. There are a lot of spells here so I will just highlight a few of the interesting ones.

Abi Dalzims Horrid Wilting
This spell came from 2E Tome of Magic Book and it was a decent spell back in the day as it was not fire and it dealt a lot of damage as Fireball in 2E topped out at 10d6 damage. In 5E it deals 10d8 necrotic damage. That is kind of garbage to be honest and you have better things to cast with your only 8th level spell slot. This spell is interesting in a bad way just avoid it.

Aganazzar’s Scorcher
Back in 2E this was the spell you wanted your DM to let into the game as wizards lacked a decent level 2 spell that dealt damage as flaming sphere and melfs acid arrow were a bit meh. The spell came from the Forgotten Realm Adventures book and Scorching Ray in 3.5 kind of stole the spells thunder. 3d8 fire damage is nothing special for a level 2 spell in 5E but a 30’ line of it is not to bad and since it is 5’ wide it is easy to use. For a Dragon (fire) Sorcerer Scorching Ray is still better most of the time and you have other options for AoE effects. I think I would use this spell as a wizard though.

Flame Arrows
Just what 5E needed more fire spells!!! The problem with 3rd level fire based spells is they always get compared with and come up short against fireball. That was the problem this spell had in 2E. Now it is a buff spell and you can get 12d6 damage out of it instead of 8d6. But the 12d6 is split over several attacks as you cast the spell on ammunition. Could be fun on a Ranger I suppose but it looks like the tradition of this spell not being fireball continues.

Frostbite and Thunderclap.
Two new cantrips that deal direct damage are always going to be interesting. Thunderclap seems a bit meh but if you are getting swarmed by Kobold it could be great. Frostbite looks good though as it is similar to vicious mockery and adds another cold cantrip for a Sorcerer to add extra damage to.

Ice Knife.
AFAIK this spell originated in the 2E Complete Wizards Handbook. Potentially a lot of damage for a level 1 spell 1d10+2d6 in a 5’ radius save for half. A Dragon (silver/white) Sorcerer can add there charisma bonus to that as well. Decent level 1 spell, no brainer for a sorcerer.

Maximilian’s Earthen Grasp
Another 2E spell from the Tome of Magic which introduced Elemental Wizards to AD&D. Back then it grabbed hold of you and held you there with the strength of an Ogre and it dealt 1d4 or 1d6 damage IIRC. In 5E it more or less does the same thing as you are restrained and damage is 2d6. Situationally useful but a lot of creatures hve decent strength scores so this spell might be better as a DM spell to use on PCs as opposed to a spell you want to use a lot as a PC.

Melfs Minute Meteors
Another AD&D spell last seen in the 2E PHB. Back then the main problem with this spell was the same problem Flame Arrows had- it was not fireball. This time around you get 6 meteors each dealing 2d6 damage to a 5’ radius and you can throw 2 of them per round. This spell I think could be insane for a fire sorcerer who can add charisma bonus to each meteor and the spell scales very well with an extra 2 meteors per spell level used which is an extra 4d6 damage not d6 like fireball. It looks like Melfs Minute Meteors has finally taken level 3 fire spells out of the shadow of big brother fireball. This spell looks useable over fireball and it may even be better.

Pyrotechnics
This spell more or less does what it has always done. How useful that is varies.

Snillocs Snowball Swarm
One of those elemental spells that had its origins IIRC in Forgotten Realms Adventures. 3d6dmage 5’ radius dex save for half. Used to be good it seems to deal burning hands damage as a level 2 spell although it has range. I would prefer Flaming Sphere myself for a damage dealing spell but if you want to play a Dragon Sorcerer using cold spells well its more or less your only level 2 option.

Vitrolic Sphere
This is another AD&D spell updated to 5E. It appeared in Players Option: Spells and Magic and was a water wizard spell although other types of wizard could cast it of course. In 2E you could play a water based blaster wizard believe it or not due to spells like this and spells like Scalding Spout which boiled you alive (1d6/level). 10d4 acid damage followed up with 5d4 damage at the end of its next turn and it is acid damage as well. The initial damage gets an extra 2d4 damage per level the spell is “kicked” using a Magic the Gathering term. This spell is going to hurt and its acid based as well.

 

[procproc]

I'm pretty sure Ice Knife was originally printed in the 1e Oriental Adventures book as a 2nd level spell, but I could be wrong. It's been a while.

 

[Zardnaar]

You could be right there. Not sure if it is the same spell as such though.

 

[Diamabel]

Absorb elements primary effect looks to be a very potent defensive option as a reaction- resistance to diverse elements and certain dragon breath types is nothing to sneeze at for a first level slot.

 

[Tony Vargas]

Traditionally flying PC races have levelled up slower in D&D in 2E/3E and in 4E I do not recall any race that could fly right out of the gate.

FWIW, the post-Essentials HotFw, race, the Pixie could fly. But it had an altitude limit of 1, so if it flew higher than 10' or so, it'd 'fall' at the end of it's turn.

Spells
As I said earlier the Sorcerer won the jackpot in terms of options here. Frostbite, Ice Knife and Snilloc’s Snowball Swarm make an Dragon sorcerer focusing on cold magic viable IMHO. Several spells also make a return here from AD&D as well. There are a lot of spells here so I will just highlight a few of the interesting ones.

I was actually letting myself hope that we wouldn't see a constant expansion of spell lists like we saw in every other edition (which, bad as it was in other editions, might be even worse for 5e, since most casters are so profoundly versatile, combining 3.5 prep /and/ spontaneous casting in one). The pace of announced releases was slow. The one book likely to contain additional player options was cancelled. Turns out they're just giving the stuff away for free, and making it official in organized play.

Frostbite and Thunderclap.
Two new cantrips that deal direct damage are always going to be interesting. Thunderclap seems a bit meh but if you are getting swarmed by Kobold it could be great. Frostbite looks good though as it is similar to vicious mockery and adds another cold cantrip for a Sorcerer to add extra damage to.

Something to use 'Potent Cantrip' with, though.

Melfs Minute Meteors
Another AD&D spell last seen in the 2E PHB. Back then the main problem with this spell was the same problem Flame Arrows had- it was not fireball. This time around you get 6 meteors each dealing 2d6 damage to a 5’ radius and you can throw 2 of them per round. This spell I think could be insane for a fire sorcerer who can add charisma bonus to each meteor and the spell scales very well with an extra 2 meteors per spell level used which is an extra 4d6 damage not d6 like fireball. It looks like Melfs Minute Meteors has finally taken level 3 fire spells out of the shadow of big brother fireball. This spell looks useable over fireball and it may even be better.

The big selling point back in the day was that it let you do /something/ each round without memorizing and blowing through a lot of combat spells. 5e is back to fewer spell slots, so that should apply, to an extent. But, 5e also has cantrips, so you can see how they /had/ to make MMM pretty darn good to edge out just casting cantrips.

This is another AD&D spell...

You could've used a hotkey for that.

 

[Zardnaar]

FWIW, the post-Essentials HotFw, race, the Pixie could fly. But it had an altitude limit of 1, so if it flew higher than 10' or so, it'd 'fall' at the end of it's turn.

I was actually letting myself hope that we wouldn't see a constant expansion of spell lists like we saw in every other edition (which, bad as it was in other editions, might be even worse for 5e, since most casters are so profoundly versatile, combining 3.5 prep /and/ spontaneous casting in one). The pace of announced releases was slow. The one book likely to contain additional player options was cancelled. Turns out they're just giving the stuff away for free, and making it official in organized play.

Something to use 'Potent Cantrip' with, though.

The big selling point back in the day was that it let you do /something/ each round without memorizing and blowing through a lot of combat spells. 5e is back to fewer spell slots, so that should apply, to an extent. But, 5e also has cantrips, so you can see how they /had/ to make MMM pretty darn good to edge out just casting cantrips.


You could've used a hotkey for that.

Well there is pointless spell bloat and useful spell bloat. See the 5E Sorcerer and how you are more or less stuck being a fire one. If you have elemental wizards you need to be able to give them elemental spells. I like 2Es wizard hand book, tome of magic and spells and magic that was actually useful spell bloat.

3.5 seemed to have spell and feat bloat just for the sake of it. 4E was more or less just as bad. Not all spell bloat was useful in AD&D either. I do not mind it when it is themed as such on strong archtypes like elemental wizards or frost wizards for example but when you are doing it for dimensionalist wizards you may have gone a bit far.

 

[Tony Vargas]

Well there is pointless spell bloat and useful spell bloat. See the 5E Sorcerer and how you are more or less stuck being a fire one. If you have elemental wizards you need to be able to give them elemental spells.

Sure, when it fills out a class that has an inadequate list, there's at least a reason for it.

But, the negative consequences are the same whether you're adding spells to shore up a lack of supported concepts, or paint a different picture of magic in a new setting, generate a little excitement, or just to pad out a supplement - each new spell might turn out to supplant some other formerly-best-at-something spell, or synergize in some unintended way with something else, or just be 'optimal' in some other way. With some casters getting their full spell list 'known,' others able to add to theirs, able to prep, /and/ able to cast spontaneously, those broken spells and combos bubble to the top very quickly, and can be systematically abused.

It's a problem that it looked like 5e might have been trying to minimize.

3.5 ... 4E ....AD&D ....

Yeah, every edition of D&D had a constant flow of new spells (and powers, in 4e). Even 0D&D did as it expanded from the original 3 booklets. Though, FWIW, 3.5 Spontaneous Casters & 4e AEDU classes had to actually level up and retrain to get the latest broken stuff, so in those specific cases, the negatives were mitigated, a little, in actual campaigns.

 

[Mouseferatu]

New spells =/= spell bloat. Spell bloat, AFAIAC, requires an excessive quantity and/or an excessive amount of power creep. I don't think this particular list--especially given that it's fairly tightly themed, and that it does fill in a number of gaps--particularly qualifies.

 

[TarionzCousin]

New spells =/= spell bloat. Spell bloat, AFAIAC, requires an excessive quantity and/or an excessive amount of power creep. I don't think this particular list--especially given that it's fairly tightly themed, and that it does fill in a number of gaps--particularly qualifies.

There is an increase in the amount of options (bloat) and some good new spells (like Frostbite = fantastic). Put those together, and I would call this selection of spells "bloatastic."

 

[Leatherhead]

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.
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]