Conjure Barrage: Cloudy With a Chance of Fuck You
Usable By: Ranger
Spell Level: 3
School: Conjuration
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Self (60-foot cone)
Duration: Instantaneous
Components: V, S, M (one piece of ammunition or a thrown weapon)
You throw a nonmagical weapon or fire a piece of nonmagical ammunition into the air to create a cone of identical weapons that shoot forward and then disappear. Each creature in a 60-foot cone must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw. A creature takes 3d8 damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. The damage type is the same as that of the weapon or ammunition used as a component.
Review by Sam West, Twitter: @CrierKobold
That moment in every grand fantasy movie battle where the wave of arrows blacks out the sky and rains upon one side of the fight can be mesmerizing, inspiring, magical. Apparently in D&D, that equates to roughly 14 points of damage. Oof.
Conjure Barrage is a ranger exclusive spell no other character would ever want to have. At 9th level, for one of your two 3rd level spell slots, you too can have the ability to fire out damage that roughly equates to damage sorcerers and wizards have been putting out since first level. Burning Hands, while hitting a smaller area, is a 1st level spell dealing 3d6 damage, coming in at an average of 11 damage. After EIGHT extra levels, you get the privilege of casting a spell that barely out-damages a FIRST level spell on the full caster’s spell roster!
Within the context of just the ranger class, the spell aims to fulfill a specific utility purpose in giving you a tool to handle masses of monsters at once. In this regard, you have to accept that you’re dealing little damage to lots of enemies, which makes the spells actual utility feel quite narrow. Ranger’s typically are at their best when dealing large amounts of damage to single targets using their multi-attack in combination with subclass features and Hunter's Mark. Conjure Barrage, then, is a nice option to have to cover a situation where you’re weaker hypothetically.
Unfortunately you aren’t likely playing this game in a vacuum by yourself, and have other player characters along for the ride. If there is a single full caster among them, it is crazy to me to attempt to justify firing off one of your two 3rd level slots you had to wait till 9th level to get when your party’s cleric or wizard can burn one 2nd level slot they’ve had since THIRD level and do more damage to roughly the same number of creatures. Alternatively, they could just fire out a 5th level spell they just got access to and deal well over double the damage in better areas, often with additional effects beyond the damage. Want to feel inadequate? Fire off Conjure Barrage the round before your sorcerer casts Cone of Cold! Both have the same area, are unlocked at the same overall character level, yet one does 3d8 while the other does 8d8! YIKES!
In a game without full casters, Conjure Barrage serves a great niche. If you’re in a group where you find that everyone splits up to handle different groups at once, having Conjure Barrage in your back pocket doesn’t hurt, as it opens up an option otherwise unavailable to most rangers. In a group with no full casters at all, it can actually give your party a tool they’ve been looking for, and open up your DM to making more complex encounters based on waves of weaker baddies they know you can now handle with some well placed Conjure Barrages. However, you’re very likely playing in a group of three or more players, and one of them likely is playing a full caster and has effects that functionally make this option obsolete. If that’s the case, take something that at least offers some utility like Conjure Fey or Animals, or Water Breathing. If you’ve got a druid who is already doing those things AND has their 5th level damage spells at the ready, you’re just shit out of luck. Sorry you picked a half caster!
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