Continual Flame: Is This Burning an Eternal Flame?

Usable By: Artificer, Cleric, Wizard

Spell Level: 2

School: Evocation

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: Touch

Duration: Until dispelled

Components: V, S, M (ruby dust worth 50 gp, which the spell consumes)

A flame, equivalent in brightness to a torch, springs forth from an object that you touch. The effect looks like a regular flame, but it creates no heat and doesn’t use oxygen. A continual flame can be covered or hidden but not smothered or quenched.

Review by Sam West, Twitter: @CrierKobold

Is there any use for Continual Flame anymore?

I’ve DMed for this game for a decade, and not once ever seen somebody get value out of Continual Flame. This feels like a spell that exists to justify why the dungeon depths are lit up, or how the fire light survives through the rain. In practice, at 50 gold a pop, outside of trolling an NPC that irritates you, Continual Flame just going to feel like a torch. It still gets shut off by Darkness and similar effects. A copper piece torch, which this spell effect replicates, does nearly everything this spell can do.

Continual Flame feels like a legacy spell from 1st and 2nd edition when every element of magic brought to the table needed an explanation, when you’d track torch duration to the minute and it mattered. With 100 copper pieces making up 1 gold, you’d need to get 5,000 uses out of a Continual Flame lit object to justify its price over torches. No game needs to use 5,000 torches.

Even beyond mundane items, CANTRIPS outdo this. Light isn’t a cantrip I’m ranting and raving about, but will do exactly the same thing, but will also let you pick the colors! Dancing Lights gives you little dim lights you can position over places, hands free.

Even as a prank, Continual Flame isn’t that exciting. Whatever object you stick this on is bright, sure, but a blanket turns it off.

You don’t need Continual Flame. Nobody does. The game has left this spell in the dust; it has no real use for its level anymore. It's not even a ritual spell. This spell is bafflingly bad. It’s the equivalent of a common magic item you have to spend 50 gold and spell slot on.

Robert Bevan here.

Normally, I let Sam have the last word on these spell reviews. But I can’t bring myself to delete all of my wonderfully dumb Continual Flame ideas, so here they are…

Continual Flame is more than just another fire spell. It’s a versatile spell that the right caster can have a lot of fun with. Ironically, the one thing you can’t do with Continual Flame is burn everything to the ground.

That’s right. A Continual Flame produces no heat and consumes no oxygen. At first impression, that might make it seem like a weak-sauce Light spell. You might ask yourself why anyone would eat up a precious Level 2 spell slot or pay the exorbitant cost of the material components to cast this garbage when they could just carry a torch instead. I’m going to try to make a case for Continual Flame.

It may come as a surprise to players of a certain persuasion, but arson isn’t always everyone’s go to solution for solving problems. Some spellcasters may, in fact, value a source of light in their home that doesn’t run the risk of burning their house down.

The nigh-permanent duration is another big selling point. Cast it on a sconce which you can cover while you sleep and uncover when you want to see. Sure, it’s a little pricey, but it’ll be there as long as you want it.

Interior lighting is the most obvious solution, but let’s delve into some more fun applications.

Cast it on an article of clothing, such as a robe or cloak. You can have it tucked away in your bag while not in use. But whenever you need to distract a crowd, pull it out, put it on, and roll around on the ground screaming.

Similarly, you could impress ladies down at the local tavern by shoving your fist into an open flame. You can wince a little to sell it, but you won’t actually feel a thing.

Also, there’s nothing in the spell description that says you can’t use it on something worn or carried. So if you’re sneaky about it, you could cast it on someone else’s cloak on a crowded street. Then laugh as everyone around them either flees in panic or tackles them to the ground.

Cast it on a sword blade to make it appear more impressive than it is. It won’t do any extra damage, but it will look cool and will double as a torch so you can have your sword and shield at the ready when exploring dark dungeons.

Annoy someone you’re unfriendly but not openly hostile with by casting it on a piece of bedroom furniture. As long as you don’t dispel it, they’ll have to keep it wrapped up in a scarf or something whenever they want to sleep. They’ll no doubt grow weary of their friends continually asking why their bedpost has a big scarf wrapped around the top. Alternatively, you could cast it on his favorite hat.

Use Continual Flame on a stone and put it in someone’s campfire. When they go to extinguish the flames, sit back and laugh while they struggle to figure out why the fire won’t go out.

Dungeon Masters might use this to demonstrate an NPC’s opulence. Every Continual Flame lighting up a person’s house represents 50 gp worth of ruby dust that was spent on interior decor, which they’ll no doubt mention several times to the PCs.

It could also be used for flavor. Say you’ve got a Secret Society of Mages or something in your campaign. Every member casts their own Continual Flame in the Hallowed Hall of Wizards (or whatever). You know that one of the wizards has died when his or her flame goes out.

Bonus points if that happens while an imposter is trying to infiltrate the group. Clever players might pick up on the fact that Melvin the Magnificent’s Continual Flame snuffs out while he appears to be standing right in front of them.

Depending on how strapped for cash you are, some of these ideas may not be as practical as others. But I hope they at least demonstrate all the fun roleplaying opportunities there are to be had with Continual Flame.

5e Spells

Continual Flame: Is This Burning an Eternal Flame?