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Nerdarchy > Dungeons & Dragons  > Top 5 D&D Beyond Homebrew Illusion Spells for 5E D&D

Top 5 D&D Beyond Homebrew Illusion Spells for 5E D&D

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Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted explore the art of misdirection in the context of combat in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. Specifically they discuss useful spells from the illusion school of magic to deploy in 5E D&D battles. They identify three terrific illusion spells useful in combat out of 33 total in official 5E D&D sources. Whenever these sorts of videos come up I like to take a look at what the D&D Beyond community offers. There’s over 2,760 homebrew illusion spells in the DDB database so let’s get into it.

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5E D&D illusion spells

Fortunately DDB offers not only the same content filters for homebrew as they do for official content but there’s also additional ways to organize results. Views, adds and ratings reflect interaction from the DDB community about any of the spells, monsters, magic items, backgrounds, feats, races and subclasses users can create and share using the terrific digital tools there. Usually there’s some connection between those three and it’s fun to see the things scoring high across the board.

Top 5 DDB homebrew illusion spells by views

  • Shadow Clone. A 3rd level spell to create a nifty illusory duplicate with some fun applications in and out of combat.
  • Aarion’s Arcane Image. A 4th level spell to create a mobile magical sensor with your appearance you can use to perceive through and even cast spells through!
  • Hey! Over Here! A 2nd level spell to create multiple illusory duplicates with three specific activities they can each perform.
  • Glamour. A 4th level spell surrounding you with otherworldly beauty causing others to become charmed by merely looking at you.
  • Akrah’s Famous Facial. A 1st level spell I believe is a noodly representation of the Cinnamon Challenge?

Top 5 DDB homebrew illusion spells by adds

  • Bard’s Accompaniment. A 1st level spell creating an illusory backup band, which also grants advantage on Performance checks. Cool!
  • Ambush Prey. A 2nd level spell granting invisibility as long as you don’t move and if you attack from this concealment you deal extra damage. Again I say — cool!
  • Shadow Clone
  • Pre-/Post-Image. A 1st level spell packing tremendous power to increase AC, saving throws, to hit bonuses and DCs of your spells.
  • Hey! Over Here!

Top 5 DDB homebrew illusion spells by rating

  • Bard’s Accompaniment
  • Aarion’s Arcane Image
  • Shadow Clone
  • Hey! Over Here!
  • Ambush Prey

Clearly 5E D&D players like to employ illusion magic to create illusory duplicates of themselves to perform a variety of tasks! Shadow clone and Hey! Over here! show up on all three lists. Also noteworthy are the low levels of these spells, which feels right in line with how the majority of game play takes place in tiers one and two. Out of all the spells here I like ambush prey the most. It’s succinct and well written for one thing and for another it simply has a fun mechanic.

What are your favorite homebrew illusion spells from DDB? Are you a creator who shares your 5E D&D creations there? Do you have a favorite illusion spell to cast in combat? Sound off in the comments and of course, stay nerdy!

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Doug Vehovec

Nerditor-in-Chief Doug Vehovec is a proud native of Cleveland, Ohio, with D&D in his blood since the early 80s. Fast forward to today and he’s still rolling those polyhedral dice. When he’s not DMing, worldbuilding or working on endeavors for Nerdarchy he enjoys cryptozoology trips and eating awesome food.

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