Sunbeam: Aren’t You a Little Ray of Sunshine?
Usable By: Cleric, Druid, Sorcerer, Wizard
Spell Level: 6
School: Evocation
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Self (60-foot line)
Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute
Components: V, S, M (A magnifying glass)
A beam of brilliant light flashes out from your hand in a 5-foot-wide, 60-foot-long line. Each creature in the line must make a Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, a creature takes 6d8 radiant damage and is blinded until your next turn. On a successful save, it takes half as much damage and isn’t blinded by this spell. Undead and oozes have disadvantage on this saving throw.
You can create a new line of radiance as your action on any turn until the spell ends.
For the duration, a mote of brilliant radiance shines in your hand. It sheds bright light in a 30-foot radius and dim light for an additional 30 feet. This light is sunlight.
Review by Sam West, Twitter: @CrierKobold
Do you need to blast brilliant beams of benevolence that burn away the bastards berating your beloved party? Are you troubled by tiresome troglodytes trampling towards your temptatious territory? As a child, did you get a kick out of it when you shined a light at your siblings eyes to annoy them? If so, you might love Sunbeam!
Sunbeam will work great in groups where fights are numerous and grindy. Functionally, it upgrades your action that normally would be spent on a cantrip to firing out a radiant Lightning Bolt that blinds things it hits. Numerically, we’re looking at an upgrade of only a d8 or two over cantrips cast while at a higher level, but with the massive upside of hitting sixty foot lines and afflicting a round long blind.
Spells that alter your action can be challenging to use effectively for many. If you’re only going to be going through a few encounters per long rest, the likelihood of actually wanting to spend your action over multiple turns firing out Sunbeams goes way down. Chain Lightning can reliably hit three creatures that don’t need to be lined up, and is dealing more damage in the single instance of the spell cast and it won’t commit future actions to get value from it. If you’d rather be spending your actions casting more spells, which will typically out damage your Sunbeam action, you’re better off without.
Concentration is also a pretty tall order. Summoning magic, especially the new stuff from Tasha’s, offers powerful options that deal solid damage without even consuming your action, often lasting longer than the single minute making it potentially last three or four fights for your slot. You could be concentrating on an extra damaging force that’s great in games with numerous encounters, and maintain the flexibility of having your action. Sunbeam does come with the major upside of hitting larger areas, plus it comes with a blind, but the cost of your action is a massive cost that matters more the fewer total actions you’ll get to take between rests.
I personally adore Sunbeam, as it realizes a metal fantasy of firing out lasers built to liquify undead. I think if you’re playing at a table aiming for optimized explosive combats, you might find this spell tiring and kind of boring after the third or fourth cast, and may feel like you’re falling behind the others. If you are cool with spending action after action doing the same thing, though, and just want a little change up round to round, Sunbeam is an excellent choice.
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