Tasha’s Caustic Brew: Line ‘em Up
Usable By: Artificer, Sorcerer, Wizard
Spell Level: 1
School: Evocation
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Self (30-foot line)
Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute
Components: V, S, M (a bit of rotten food)
A stream of acid emanates from you in a line 30 feet long and 5 feet wide in a direction you choose. Each creature in the line must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw or be covered in acid for the spell’s duration or until a creature uses its action to scrape or wash the acid off itself or another creature. A creature covered in the acid takes 2d4 acid damage at start of each of its turns.
At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot 2nd level or higher, the damage increases by 2d4 for each slot level above 1st.
Review by Sam West, Twitter:@CrierKobold
Lines are my favorite. Cones are pretty cool too, don’t get me wrong, but I go HARD for a good line spell. Tasha’s Caustic Brew is just what the doctor ordered.
An AOE damage spell for sorcerers, artificers, and wizards immediately competes with Burning Hands, so we have to ask: can Tasha’s Caustic Brew out damage Burning Hands? Surprisingly, the answer is yes, but only sometimes. That’s exactly where I want my 1st level damage area of effect spells to start!
At minimum, creatures in a 30 ft. line make a Dex save, and on a failure take 2d4 damage. That will happen. Their turn will start if they fail, they’ll take 2d4 damage, then they’ll have a choice: waste an action to stop the damage, or keep taking the damage. In your position, both outcomes are excellent for a 1st level spell. 4d4 damage is just shy of 3d6 from a Burning Hands, while a creature wasting its action to end the effect gives your team a major action advantage. If three or more creatures make either choice, you’re very happy with the outcome.
This then leads to why I love lines so much: getting more than three creatures in this line can be hard. Often you’ll have to hit friends or throw yourself into danger to get the most out of Tasha’s Caustic Brew, and that risk/reward gameplay leads to really fun decisions. You get complex choices that make you care about positioning, your allies’ positioning, and where enemies are in a way a lot of sphere or square spell effects just don’t. That’s a major upside for me despite making the spell actively quite a bit worse.
Burning Hands will be way more consistent than this, and usually out damages this by a good deal. If you ever get 6d4 damage on more than one creature, you’re getting your money’s worth. If you ever eat just two or three actions with it, it’s excellent. The only bad outcomes in the early tier are when they save and nothing happens, which is a bummer. If you like being the area of effect damage dealer and are sick of spamming Burning Hands in the early tier, or you just want to challenge yourself a bit more and play with some new toys, Tasha’s Caustic Brew is a blast.
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