Intellect Fortress: Check Out the Big Brain on Bard

Usable By: Artificer, Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard

Spell Level: 3

School: Abjuration

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: 30 feet

Duration: Concentration, up to 1 hour

Components: V

For the duration, you or one willing creature you can see within range has resistance to psychic damage, as well as advantage on Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma saving throws.

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 4th level or higher, you can target one additional creature for each slot level above 3rd. The creatures must be within 30 feet of each other when you target them.

Review by Samuel West, Twitter: @CrierKobold

Many a megalomaniac fancies themselves the pinnacle of brilliance. MegaMind and Lex Luther are perfect examples; a misunderstood brilliant inventor with nothing but their wit going toe to toe with literal gods using nothing more than their brains. Intellect Fortress promises a bit of magic to help facilitate that concept. It brings to mind impenetrable mental defenses, providing refuge from any mental assault as none can equal YOUR intellect, right? Turns out that Intellect Fortress is an unbelievably boring effect that you can’t reliably fall back on, and when you can, it sometimes will just do nothing anyway. The name makes it sound cool, but at most tables, this spell is horrendous.

My main issue with Intellect Fortress is the text itself does functionally nothing new or exciting. If I’m getting a whole new book with a bunch of fancy new toys to shake up my D&D experience, advantage on saving throws doesn't get me excited, nor does resistance to one of rarest damage types in the game. We have dozens of effects that will do this kind of thing; make it interesting at least. Give me dice to roll, or some kind of mental contest. Just “oh hoh I’m resistant to the mind flayer’s mind blast damage” paired with some save bonuses is bland. This is a $50 book that’s half the length of the PHB. These spells need to be cooler than this.

Even in cases where you are making these saves, like most advantage on save effects, they’ll be best on characters with the lowest chances of success. You’ll want this on your barbarian or paladin going into a fight with a mind controlling entity, specifically to mitigate the chances of them falling under enemy control or being save or died from a Polymorph or Feeblemind. This is kind of the best case scenario, and even in it should they fail anyway, Intellect Fortress was cast and did nothing. You wasted your concentration and a spell slot for literally no outward changes to the game. Being able to cast a spell that does nothing feels so terrible it makes me second guess ever recommending some spells where this outcome can occur. The main difference is with some of the bananas broken save or dies like Polymorph, the outcome is so powerful it's worth the risk. In the case of Intellect Fortress, the instances where that risk is worth it are a handful of encounters per campaign. The rest of the time it's just rotting in your prepared spells, not being useful.

To make matters worse, the spell eats your concentration. You can only be using this reactively, and can’t even concentrate on something decently proactive while it's up. Should a minion hit you with a rock, you may have cast this spell to prevent their boss from mentally destroying your friends, only for you to be foiled by something nearly all encounters have in spades: damage. Its duration makes its intent seem to be over the course of an adventure, but what it does is niche enough that you might waste a slot and time casting this with the anticipation of needing protection on saves only to realize after the two puzzles and three encounters are over that not once did you need to make one of these specific saves. You could have been using concentration cantrips or damage boosting concentration spells like Haste; instead, you got to feel big brain for two seconds with a passing joke before forgetting the spell’s cast for the remainder of the session.

It's another spell that scales awkwardly with party size, as if you only have three party members, a 5th level slot caps out the utility of the spell. If you're in a larger group, while the spell technically improves as you go, the power of it becomes lessened. Needing to spend a 6th level slot to protect four people is horrendous, and is what the spell should be doing already. If you’re in a situation with mass fear, mind control, or disabling mental save or dies, you want as many people covered as possible to best get the CHANCE the spell does something. One per level just isn’t nearly enough when you start competing with higher level slots. 4th level up-casting would be my go to, specifically to ward me and the character most likely to fail these kinds of saves. Best be in a situation where damage isn’t readily incoming or face the likely outcome of dropping concentration, and again, casting a spell that does nothing.

Intellect Fortress doesn’t belong on your spell lists unless you adore the concept of the mental bastion of brilliance or are specifically about to fight a mind flayer. Even then, this spell will disappoint you regularly. It's the kind of spell that you’ll get to do something a few times a campaign, and the rest of the time just wish you hadn’t wasted the slot.

5e Spells

Intellect Fortress: Check Out the Big Brain on Bard