D&D 5E Underrated spells

[FormerlyHemlock]

1.) I noticed recently that Dream is a surprisingly good spell, both for communication and for attacking. It's obviously not usable in combat, but it's a useful DM tool kind of on the same level as Scrying: if a character (e.g. a PC) has done something to offend you (foiled your plans, stole your treasure, etc.) you can ruin his day, every day: prevent him from regaining spells, or HD, or many special abilities, and also do some minor damage. At a metagame level, that almost forces the PC to seek out and destroy you, if he can, or just live with a permanently weakened PC who has nightmares every night and rarely regains spells.


Bonus points for the voodoo aspect (disadvantage on save from hair clippings). That's cool.


The spell also combines well with Geas. Geas does 5d10 damage every day, which normally doesn't matter for powerful creatures, but if the Geased creature is being visited in his dream every night with nightmares, that 5d10 will add up and kill him in fairly short order.

2.) Major Image doesn't sound exciting at first, but then you notice that it's a 3rd level spell with full sight, sound, motion, thermal, and olfactory components--in AD&D this would have been a 5th level Advanced Illusion. Furthermore, Major Image VI is a permanent spell until dispelled. You could construct an entire lair out of permanent illusions, and whenever you are within 120' of one of them you use your action to begin animating it. That's awesome.

Any other underrated spells that you've noticed?

 

[brehobit]

One that I'd missed just because of it's name is shatter. I'm sure the rest of the world saw it, but it's a nice AoO at level 2. Especially great for a tempest cleric who can make it do 24 (save for half) damage with a 10' radius.

I didn't even look at it because I assumed I knew more-or-less what it did.

 

[MessiahMushroom]

Plant Growth. Every time our Druid casts it, I'm reminded of its power level.

• It's a third level spell (available at 5th level)
• It doesn't require concentration (its cast time is instantaneous)
• Its effect is permanent
• Causes doubly-difficult terrain wherever you want (in a 100-square-foot radius)
• Combos well with so many other things (spike growth, wall of thorns, cloud kill, AoE effects, push effects [thorn whip, propelling blast invocation], etc.)
• Makes farmers very happy

 

[ninjayeti]

Goodberry. The berries last 24 hours so you can use all your available spell slots creating goodberries just prior to taking a long rest. At the end of the rest you have your spell slots back plus a bunch of berries you can use for the next 16 hours.

 

[brehobit]

Water breathing. It's a ritual that lasts for 12 hours and doesn't take concentration. Only problem is it's fairly limited who can get it (druids and rangers are all I think)