Hideous Laughter: Stop It. You’re Killing Me.
Spell Level: 1
School: Enchantment
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 30 feet
Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute
Components: V, S, M (tiny tarts and a feather that is waved in the air)
A creature of your choice that you can see within range perceives everything as hilariously funny and falls into fits of laughter if this spell affects it. The target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or fall prone, becoming incapacitated and unable to stand up for the duration. A creature with an Intelligence score of 4 or less isn’t affected.
At the end of each of its turns, and each time it takes damage, the target can make another Wisdom saving throw. The target has advantage on the saving throw if it’s triggered by damage. On a success, the spell ends.
Review by Sam West, Twitter:@CrierKobold
I adore the flavor of Hideous Laughter; a bard telling a joke so funny it magically puts a creature on the floor literally rolling around laughing is just delightful. I will always be peeved that this is also a wizard spell, but I guess its origin is from Tasha who’s some kind of witch or wizard so it slips onto their spell list as well. Regardless of flavor, though, Hideous Laughter is the caster’s first introduction to save or dies, and for its cost of just a 1st level slot can showcase the power of incapacitating a creature for a few rounds.
At its worst, this spell does nothing. You cast it, the creature passes the save. The end. At its best, this spell deletes an enemy creature for a full minute. As 5th edition is a game with combat centrally balanced around actions, denying a single entity of your choice the ability to take actions is a massive boon. If a DM plans an encounter with one particularly threatening beast supported by a group of smaller ones, incapacitating the main threat can trivialize the encounter entirely. If the werewolf alpha is howling so loud with fits of laughter it can’t lead the ambush, the pack is going to be far easier to pick apart. Mechanics like pact tactics are designed to give monsters tactics encouraging using multiples to gain advantages; removing one of the threats can remove all the power these features are intended to give to the enemy team.
What makes this a save or die I think you should even consider in the mid to higher levels is how it knocks the target prone. Setting up a fight where you incapacitate a giant this way means should you deal with their allies fast enough, every melee character is going to be getting advantage on their attack rolls on it, even if the laughter ends from some damage up until it can spend its next turn getting up. Plus, creatures with 30 ft. move speeds who fail the save only once still will have to spend movement getting up, meaning even in situations where they’re only briefly laughing they still are wasting turns dashing to engage or dodging and waiting. The prone condition is a super interesting element of the spell that opens its utility up a lot, and encourages groups to coordinate together. When should you cash in the spell for advantage on a bunch of attack rolls? Should you cast Hideous Laughter just to knock a creature prone sometimes? Should everyone space back a few feet if possible to force the laughing creature to burn a dash? All of these questions make a seemingly simple spell dynamic.
Hideous Laughter having just a 30 ft. range does put a bit of a damper on it, as does its intelligence requirement. This balancing factor can really help DMs who are tired of the bard or wizard consistently getting their lead monster out of a fight for the first couple rounds. There is a clear shut off valve here, and there will be plenty of baddies who will be able to entirely ignore this as encounters grow in scope and scale.
If you want to know what all the fuss is about over save or dies, Hideous Laughter is your crash course. Be prepared to spend 1st level slots and have no outcome occur; that is a real outcome that happens with these kinds of effects. When it does land, it can have a huge impact, and can be used in a variety of interesting ways for a super cheap cost.
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