haste does a issue of things. Some of them are even decent. The target ’ sulfur speed is doubled. They gain a +2 bonus to AC and advantage on Dexterity saving throws. They gain an extra natural process that they can use to make a weapon fire, Dash, Disengage, Hide, or Use an object .
All together, do these add up to a 3rd level while worth casting and concentrating on ?
lackluster Benefits
Mobility
The mobility increase given by haste is significant. not only does it double the target ’ second accelerate, but they can Dash using the extra carry through, giving them efficaciously four times the travel rapidly in full. It ’ s possible for a character to use this speed for the duration to stay away from a melee monster while dealing price .
The trouble is that other spells are more effective and efficient for this aim. Fly, for exercise, grants the target a flying amphetamine of 60 feet, which is much better for staying out of melee image against most monsters, and besides has great utility and can be upcast to affect multiple targets .
however, the go which most dramatically overshadows hurry in the mobility department is apparition steed. With a mere ritual of the same spell level, you can create a mount with a focal ratio of 100 feet, much faster than the 60 foundation speed most likely granted by haste, and the steed can Dash or Disengage american samoa well, like a target of haste can with their extra action, but to distances of 200 feet in a turn rather than 120. Since apparition steed is a ritual, this saves valuable 3rd charge slots, and with repeat castings, you can even provide steeds to the hale party. Haste is probably the most expensive way to notice you forgot to cast phantom steed.
Defense
The +2 bonus to AC granted by haste may seem appealing, specially if granted to a character who is taking the brunt of foe attacks. But it ’ s not impressive for a 3rd level spell. A bare first degree go, harbor of faith, can create the same consequence far more efficiently .
You besides might plan on using the extra action to Hide. however, if you want to create a safe safety for a character, a spell like rope trick will accomplish that for a second level slot without using your concentration .
Fundamentally, granting minor defensive bonuses to a single party member is unlikely to change the tide of battle, because monsters can usually attack someone else instead. possibly one could make an argument that the target of haste will present such a great offense threat that they will draw attacks, but the offensive shock of hurry leaves much to be desired .
Damage
The most typical manipulation of the extra action granted by haste is an extra weapon attack. Is this bite of wrong significant ?
not at all. It ’ second easy to see how small the affect is when we compare the damage with that of bless, a first gear flat spell .
Let ’ s do the mathematics. Suppose you have two warlike characters with Extra Attack who each attack doubly for 1d8 + 4 damage per hit. Furthermore, suppose you have a spellcaster in the party with an fire cantrip like fire thunderbolt which deals 2d10 damage on a shoot. This is a pretty typical desegregate of attackers for an unoptimized party in tier 2 ( levels 5-10 ). We ’ ll besides assume a floor to-hit probability of 65 % .
If we cast haste on one of the martials, the party gains an extra attack with a 65 % probability of hitting which deals 1d8 + 4 damage on a hit. That ’ s an expect 0.65* ( 4.5 + 4 ) = 5.525 damage per round from haste .
If we alternatively cast bless on the two martials and the caster, then they each gain an extra 12.5 % find of hitting. In other words, when each of these characters makes an attack, there ’ s a 12.5 % chance that our bless spell causes them to hit when they would have otherwise missed. So the expected damage per round we gain from bless is 0.125* ( 4.5 + 4 ) *4 + 0.125* ( 11 ) = 5.625. That’s the same damage as haste , using only a first level spell!
But what about a more optimize party ? Does haste come out ahead when the martials take potent feats like Sharpshooter ?
Let ’ s spirit at a party with two martial characters who each attack three times using Sharpshooter and Crossbow Expert for 1d6 + 13 damage on a hit, with each attack having a 50 % probability to hit ( due to the punishment from Sharpshooter and the bonus from the Archery crusade dash. ) We once again besides have a caster throwing out displace bolts .
Haste cast on one of the warlike characters would grant an average of 0.5* ( 3.5 + 13 ) = 8.25 damage per round. Better than in the unoptimized party, which makes sense because the attacks are more potent. But how does bless stack up ?
bless in this party would add an average of 0.125* ( 3.5 + 13 ) *6 + 0.125* ( 11 ) = 13.75 damage per round. That’s 166% of the damage contributed by haste, again using a first level spell!
so in light, bless is a significantly more potent offensive buff than hurry. It ’ mho no slump in defense either, since it besides grants the party a bonus to their save throws. Bless is a thoroughly spell, but what this truly shows is that hurry is mediocre for its level. Five to seven damage per rung ? For a third level enchantment ? very ?
But what about all these things together?
“ But Tabletop Builds, ” we hear you cry, “ of course haste will stack up ailing if you cut it apart and compare each part to a more specialize go ! The dependable might of hurry is that it delivers all of these effects in a single, potent software ! ”
This is a reasonable point. To show that haste is average, it is not sufficient to merely compare each depart to another enchantment. On the early hand, for haste to be commodity, it must be the sheath that the mobility, defense mechanism, and damage granted by hurry are frequently useful at the lapp time, and that the sum of these match up to the potential of other third flush spells .
unfortunately, it ’ s rarely the character that the mobility, defense mechanism, and damage are all relevant. If you ’ rhenium casting haste to out-range melee attackers, the wrong international relations and security network ’ triiodothyronine relevant and may not even occur if you ’ re using the extra action to Dash or Disengage, and the defense international relations and security network ’ metric ton relevant because you ’ re out of range of the enemies. If you ’ re casting haste to “ tank ” and deal wrong in melee, the mobility aspect is largely irrelevant ; you ’ re using a 3rd level spell and concentration for a weak buff to AC and damage on a single target .
The very best possible use case is casting hurry on a melee soldierly to get them into melee stove, but if you ’ re starting combat far from the enemy, something like world wide web or sleet storm would be much more effective. furthermore, this use shell is far from authentic. At best, haste is a circumstantial while which can get a martial into the affray faster at the cost of concentration and a risk of forcing them to take a time-out for a round belated, which isn ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate worth a valuable 3rd degree while choice .
severe Drawbacks
The effects aren’t worth a third level slot
hurry is just not that impactful in the context of party combat. I ’ ve been comparing it to low level spells, but let ’ s look at the rival at third flat. Fireball cast on a pair targets knocks haste out of the park in terms of damage. Control spells like hypnotic pattern or sleet storm will prevent many, many, more attacks from landing than a couple points of AC and some campaign speed .
A third level spell should have a significant impact on the tide of battle. At the level you get it, a third flat concentration spell should have an impact comparable to that of an entire character. If you’re a caster, and your contribution to an encounter is haste , you’re effectively contributing a fraction of a martial to the fight: a little bit of damage, a little bit of hit points. Haste is not a “ elusive but dependable ” contribution ; it ’ sulfur barely a contribution at all. If a dependable but less flashy draw is what fits the situation, you should cast a lower level enchantment, like world wide web .
Third level spells should sternly hamstring enemies, consider bang-up amounts of price, or even straight-up shut down encounters. haste does not do any of these .
The downsides are terrible
There are two main downsides to casting hurry, besides the cost of the slot : concentration, and the consequences of losing concentration .
concentration is huge. It means that you aren ’ t concentrating on a go with a greater shock. But not only does haste ask for your assiduity, it kicks you in the groin if your concentration breaks, if you decide to concentrate on a different spell later, or if an enemy casts disperse magic trick. When the spell ends, the target can ’ thymine act or take actions until after its adjacent turn, as a wave of languor sweeps over it.
Player’s Handbook (p. 250)
Hm, did a couple attacks neglect or fail to reach the prey of haste due to its effects ? Did the aim manage to deal an extra few points of price ? Well, scratch out all of that if you lose concentration, because the target is a sitting dip for a round. If you ’ ve twinned haste, it ’ second even worse : you ’ ve got two party members taking a time out, which is black .
This is one of the reasons why casting hurry on yourself is a particularly atrocious mind. If you ’ re trying to get in melee and deal more damage, you ’ re likely to end up dealing less and taking more rather. If you ’ re trying to get out of a bad position, there ’ s no reason to cast hurry over a better spell like fly or thunder footprint which doesn ’ metric ton run the risk of screwing you over .
furthermore, in particularly ambitious encounters, a big part of your potency is being able to adapt to a changing battlefield. Say you cast hurry in a big battle, and a rung or two passes. Are those enemies grouped up real nice for a hypnotic pattern ? Are foe reinforcements arriving through a suffocate point that ’ randomness precisely right for a web ? Well, I hope you ’ re felicitous with seven damage per round, 2 AC, and some zoomies, because switching to something else will cause a “ cripple wave of inanition. ”
haste just doesn ’ triiodothyronine do enough to justify a 3rd level slot, your concentration, and the hazard of screwing over the target if your concentration is broken or you want to switch to another concentration while .
battalion Tactics has besides covered many similar points and more in a video. Go check out his farce, we think it ‘s some of the best optimization-focused content on YouTube. Thanks for the Tabletop Builds shout out, Bagpipes !
