Hello magic casters of all shapes and sizes! Welcome to my spellbook and thank you so much for tuning into the 31st episode of our first level spell series. Today we are going to be taking a look at one of the best ranger spells. Hands down, may i introduce to you with great honor and esteem ensnaring strike spell 5e as per mentioned usable exclusively by the ranger class and it is found in the players handbook. With all that hype out of the way let’s take a look at the mechanics we can better understand the way the spell works.
Table of Contents
Mechanics
- Casting Time: 1 Bonus action
- Range: Self
- Duration: 1 Minute (Concentration)
- At Higher Levels: Add 1d6 per spell slot above 1st
- Components: Verbal
- School: Conjuration
Your cast time will be a 1 bonus action so really good stuff there. The range is self, the duration is a whole minute and it is concentration based. The components are just verbal and the school unsurprisingly is conjuration.
The effect at a glance is as followed: After hitting a creature with a weapon attack, vines surround the target. The target makes a strength save vs your spell casting DC, on a fail they become restrained. Large creatures have advantage on the save. On a success the vines shrivel away.
The target takes 1d6 piercing damage at the start of its turns. The target or another creature can use their action to remove the vines, with an another strength save. Perfect! that being said let’s look at the full description here.
Description
At the very next time being a Ensnaring Strike spell you do hit a creature with a weapon attack before the end of this spell, and also a writhing mass of thorny vines would be appear at a point of impact and even the target must be succeeded on a Strength saving throw or else it should be restrained by the magical vines until the end of the spell. Actually, a large or a larger creature has an advantage on this saving throw. But if the target will be succeed on that saving throw, then the vines shrivel away.
Because of restrained by this spell, the target takes 1d6 piercing damage at the start of each of its turns. Actually, a creature restrained by the vines or else one that can be touched the creature can use its action for making a strength check which is against your spell save DC. So on a success, the target has been freed.
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At Higher Levels:
If you cast this spell by using the spell slot of 2nd level or higher and the damage increases by 1d6 for each slot level above 1st.
Wowzers! a ton of stuff to unpack there as a matter of fact. First and foremost it might be worth noting from a thematic standpoint that the vines shoot forth from where the target is hit not from the ground and this is important for a little bit later on but i think it makes really cool sense thematically you dash open or you swing open and every swing an opponent and it opens a wound and from that wound- the vine shoot out and wrap around them. I just love the visual behind it. It is super cool stuff.
The larger creatures have a disadvantage makes sense honestly. It’s great you can affect them though. You can get pretty creative with this as i’m sure you might imagine and i’ll get into that a little bit later too. So the restraint condition is kind of broken down where the target that’s restrained has zero speed. Any attacks against them have advantage and their attacks have disadvantage and they also have disadvantage on dex saves which is pretty standard, makes sense. With that all the way let’s take a look at the alternative uses here.
Alternative Uses
So as it doesn’t imply has to be a melee attack you can actually use this with ranged weapons as well and i really think that’s where this show in all honesty. That being said! you can also use it to prevent an opponent from running away or from a chase scene from starting.
Alternatively because the vines shoot from the point of contact and not from the ground you can essentially use this to drop flying targets relatively easily and something that i realized during the writing this article was that has size requirement doesn’t have a cap on it.
Now what that means to you individuals out there who are familiar with the sentinel feat combo and the ways to use that properly. It essentially lets you drop dragons. I think that’s a very cool they still take the falling damage. But it makes it very clear that the restraining condition has a speed of zero and that includes fly speed. So i think that’s particularly interesting, you can also use this on absurdly large enemies such as the tarasque which i think would be absolutely hilarious.
That being said! trusts have a massive strength modifier but if you have the lucky feat, you know you might just be able to catch yourself at arrest. I love that great visual.
Attributes Of Ensnaring Strike Spell 5E
| Casting Time | 1 bonus action |
| Range | Self |
| Components | V |
| Duration | Concentration, up to 1 minute |
| Level | 1 |
| School | conjuration |
| Classes | Ranger |
| Name | Ensnaring Strike |
Conclusion
That being said! if you have any alternative uses for Ensnaring Strike or any crazy build concepts or stories revolving around this spell, i’d really like to hear it down in the comments beneath. As always you guys aren’t absolutely no way to listen to and hear from and i really hope this community continues to grow. That being said i hope everyone has a great day and as always happy spell-casting.
