I. Introduction
Magic within D&D dances along a fine line, charging into both the mystical and the mechanical in unison. We wield powers capable of lighting aflame entire forests and raising villages from ashes, but all without skipping a beat within the complex rhythms of spell slots, components, and intricate turn-based combat. Understanding this dance, especially for newer spellcasters, remains challenging. For every trumpeting fireball lies a myriad of notes less ear-catching, yet no less critical in their own ways.
Enhance ability resides within this quieter chorus of spells, not one to draw massive fanfare, yet, when fully embraced, capable of bolstering combat and roleplay alike. On the surface, a temporary buff granting advantage appears simple enough, leading some to underestimate its versatility. In truth, enhance ability serves as the Swiss army knife of spells, offering a myriad of uses, both within and beyond the realm of battle.
This guide shall serve as your doorway into the myriad intricacies of enhance ability, from understanding its origins and effects to creative applications across classes. We shall cut through the spell’s unassuming exterior to reveal the remarkable flexibility dwelling beneath. So gather your bat fur and owl feathers, dear reader, as we unravel enhance ability in all its multi-faceted glory!
II. Understanding Enhance Ability
Like a magician selecting the perfect trick, understanding enhance ability begins with comprehending the spell itself. The basics:
- 2nd level transmutation spell
- Casting time: 1 action
- Range: Touch
- Components: Verbal, somatic, material (fur or feather from a beast)
- Duration: Concentration, up to 1 hour
- Available to: Bard, cleric, druid, sorcerer, wizard + subclasses
By expending a 2nd level slot and fur/feathers, enhance ability empowers a creature you touch with magical fortitude until your concentration breaks or 1 hour passes. The enhancements align with the six ability scores – Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma. Upon casting, you imbue the target with one of the following options:
- Bear’s Endurance: Advantage on Constitution checks, plus 2d6 temporary hit points
- Bull’s Strength: Advantage on Strength checks, double carrying capacity
- Cat’s Grace: Advantage on Dexterity checks, no damage from 20 feet falls
- Eagle’s Splendor: Advantage on Charisma checks
- Fox’s Cunning: Advantage on Intelligence checks
- Owl’s Wisdom: Advantage on Wisdom checks
These enhancements directly improve ability checks associated with that score. For example, Cat’s Grace benefits Stealth, Acrobatics, and Sleight of Hand. Passive scores like Perception also improve when Owl’s Wisdom is cast.
The physical abilities – Strength, Dexterity, Constitution – offer additional benefits, while the mental enhancements purely augment checks for their ability. All, however, provide advantage, a powerful tool ensuring more frequent success.
As a 2nd level spell, enhance ability unlocks for full casters at 3rd level. Its 1 hour duration exceeds most combat encounters, offering lingering benefits if concentration holds. While verbal and somatic components necessitate speech and gesture, the material aspect simply requires mundane animal fur or feathers, avoiding costly components.
Concentration, however, merits caution. You cannot concentrate on multiple spells simultaneously, limiting enhance ability's usefulness during battles where concentration spells are preferred. Moreover, maintaining concentration becomes increasingly difficult as damage accrues. War Caster can mitigate this concern.
While niche, enhance ability’s remarkable flexibility empowers diverse applications when used creatively. Let us unravel where this humble spell truly shines.
III. Casting Enhance Ability
Enhance ability enjoys straightforward casting mechanics:
- Action Economy: Casting requires 1 action, allowing you to still move or take a bonus action. After casting, no action needed to maintain.
- Range & Targets: Range is touch, requiring you to physically touch the target. At higher levels, you can target additional creatures – 1 more for each slot level above 2nd.
- Duration: Lasts 1 hour without requiring concentration. Most DMs allow you to dismiss it earlier.
- Concentration: You must maintain concentration or the spell ends prematurely. Taking damage forces a Constitution save to retain concentration.
- Area of Effect: Single target spell. For multiple targets, upcast or cast sequentially using higher level slots.
As expected for a 2nd level spell, casting enhance ability remains simple in most regards. The touch range does require approaching your target, though the hour-long duration after casting reduces action economy issues. Concentration brings some risk of early termination, especially with damage-prone tanks or frontline warriors.
Creative casters, however, can stretch this spell’s versatility even further through clever preparation. Extend your reach through familiar-delivered touch spells or a spell-storing ring. Subtle Spell metamagic also eliminates verbal/somatic components for unnoticed casting.
With an hour's duration and no spell renewal needed, enhance ability empowers extensive dungeon delving or social encounters lacking short rests. Just ensure your concentration and components are sound beforehand.
IV. Classes That Can Cast Enhance Ability
While often overlooked, enhance ability enjoys wide class availability, including:
- Bard: With Jack of All Trades and spell versatility, bards appreciate this flexible buff. Combines well with party support options.
- Cleric: As divine buffers, clerics can bolster allies before or during battles. Also aids social interaction.
- Druid: Limited spell slots make this efficient buff appealing. Supports wild shape, summons, and animal interactions.
- Sorcerer: Metamagic like Subtle, Distant, and Twinned Spell augment its flexible applications.
- Wizard: With Ritual Caster, wizards can copy enhance ability from other lists. Buffs cover limited armor.
Additional Subclasses:
- Arcane Trickster (Enhances stealth and social infiltration)
- Paladin Oath of Glory (One of few available buffs)
- Ranger Horizon Walker (Boosts mobility and weapon attacks)
With only Paladins and Warlocks lacking access, enhance ability circulates widely. Bards, clerics, and druids can bolster teams before combat. Arcane classes like wizards and sorcerers benefit from buffing weaknesses. Creative subclasses further expand its utility through class synergies.
Enhance ability's ubiquity allows parties easy access. But ubiquity does breed familiarity, leading some to underestimate the remarkable benefits waiting beneath the surface…
V. Why Use Enhance Ability?
For veterans, enhance ability fades into the background, its subtle power overlooked. However, this unassuming spell brings three major benefits:
- Granting Advantage on Ability Checks
- Temporarily Improving Ability Scores
- Flexible Applicability Across Classes
1. Granting Advantage on Ability Checks
Advantage's impact escalates as levels and proficiency bonuses rise. By granting advantage, enhance ability provides:
- Insurance against critical skill check failures
- Increased odds of landing “impossible” DCs via 20s
- Greater success and degrees of success on average
- Cancellation of situational disadvantage
- +5 to relevant passive checks (critical for Perception!)
Advantage alone enhances skill reliability, helping your party dynamically adapt to challenges where specific proficiencies fall short.
2. Temporarily Improving Ability Scores
The Constitution, Strength, and Dexterity enhancements provide additional benefits:
- More hit points (Bear's Endurance)
- Higher carrying capacity (Bull's Strength)
- Mitigation of falling damage (Cat's Grace)
These temporarily shore up vulnerabilities, enabling reckless action with less risk. Few spells manipulate ability scores directly, giving enhance ability unique utility.
3. Flexible Applicability Across Classes
Thanks to broad class availability, parties enjoy extensive access to enhance ability compared to unusual spells. This flexibility empowers diverse applications:
- Rogues excel at Dexterity but may lack Constitution and Charisma
- Clerics and druids favor Wisdom but often suffer fragile armor
- Sorcerers wield potent spells via Charisma but lack martial finesse
Enhance ability patches these weaknesses on the fly. Such versatility ensures value across campaigns and parties.
In summary, enhance ability broadly improves critical skill checks, offers unique ability improvements, and empowers creative problem solving – all through a low-level and widely available spell.
VI. Enhance Ability in Combat
Despite its name, enhance ability underwhelms in combat relative to leveled casting options. Still, clever utilization unearths worthwhile applications:
Best Options:
- Bear's Endurance: Extra hit points keep squishy casters alive. Also boosts concentration saves.
- Cat's Grace: Initiative checks rely on Dexterity. Going first wins battles. Avoiding opportunity attacks also proves useful.
Situational Uses:
- Bull's Strength: Bolsters Strength-based grapplers or melee strikers hindered by heavy loads. Highly niche.
- Eagle's Splendor: Supports intimidation tactics, but options like Compelled Duel achieve similar ends.
- Fox's Cunning/Owl's Wisdom: Very limited combat value, though perception boosts against ambushes.
Concentration demands generally relegate enhance ability to before combat or on backline support units. Sustaining concentration to maintain a modest buff rarely justifies sidelining potent spells like Web or Hypnotic Pattern. Without impacting saves or attack rolls, other concentration options usually outshine it.
Yet when the circumstances align, enhance ability can shift odds favorably through improved initiative, accelerated grapples, and longer survival. The spell offers an easyOptimization option over ability score boosts for specific combat needs if sampled judiciously. Just avoid over-reliance.
VII. Creative Uses of Enhance Ability
While direct applications certainly exist, enhance ability's true potential lies within unconventional and creative applications that twist its flexibility to overcome unique obstacles and challenges. Each enhancement empowers creative problem solving:
Bear's Endurance:
- Maintain concentration against environmental hazards like lava or avalanches
- Endure inclement weather, difficult terrain, or forced marches
- Partake in drinking contests against dwarves and barbarians
- Increase breath holding capacity while underwater
- Gain confidence to withstand frightening ordeals like walking the plank or public speeches
Bull's Strength:
- Hurl boulders aside to open passages
- Transport captive creatures or large treasure hauls
- Allow a grappling ally to rapidly reposition enemies
- Wad through sticky floors and obstacles that limit movement
- Temporarily wear armor beyond your strength capacity
Cat's Grace:
- Walk narrow ledges and tightropes with ease
- Traverse difficult terrain demanding dexterity like thorn patches
- Pick pockets, disarm traps, and unlock doors reliably
- Escape your extra marital affairs unnoticed
- Swing from chandeliers and cling to ceilings like a circus performer
Eagle's Splendor:
- Move crowds with a rousing morale-boosting speech
- Negotiate better rates from unscrupulous merchants and traders
- Gather gossip and insights through enhanced conversation
- Impress nobles and royalty with grace, confidence, and eloquence
- Avoid a barroom brawl through quick wits and mediation
Fox's Cunning:
- Recall obscure knowledge to identify creatures, relics, and events
- Deduce puzzle solutions rapidly
- Spot inconsistencies during an interrogation
- Improvise tools or gadgets from available resources
- Outsmart opponents by exploiting logical flaws
Owl's Wisdom:
- Avoid surprise attacks by spotting ambushes early
- Treat wounds and diagnose illnesses effectively
- Decode encrypted missives and languages
- Determine the true intentions of an individual through careful observation
- Sniff out spies hiding within noble courts and guilds
And these represent but a taste of possibilities. With creativity, the forms enhance ability manifests are only limited by imagination itself. While niche situations exist where enhance ability outshines all other options, skillful DMs can invent opportunities specifically suited for their party's build.
The enhancements grow even stronger through multiclass combinations. A barbarian/rogue proficient in both stealth and athletics exploits Cat's Grace to new extremes. An eloquent cleric/bard makes the most of Eagle's Splendor during key social interactions. Experiment and adapt enhance ability to fit your party's capabilities. After all, creativity and flexibility represent this spell's greatest strengths.
VIII. When is Enhance Ability Not Ideal?
For all its boons, enhance ability still falls victim to misuse stemming from misunderstanding its limitations:
Concentration Dependency
As a concentration spell, enhance ability drops once you cast a stronger concentration option. Maintaining concentration also becomes difficult mid-combat when damage accrues rapidly. Enhance ability competes against your strongest crowd control, making it situational.
Overdependence on Advantage
Numerous class abilities like Faerie Fire or the Help action already grant advantage. Relying on enhance ability for advantage alone undervalues its additional ability improvements suited for niche scenarios.
Slow Cast Time
With a 1 action casting time, using enhance ability is difficult amidst raging battles where bonus actions hold more value. Quick buffs like bless outpace it.
Suboptimal Enhancement Choices
An Eagle's Splendor that goes unused or a Fox's Cunning neglected after immediate need represent wasted spell slots. Enhancements should align with upcoming challenges.
Does Not Impact Attacks or Saving Throws
Enhance ability only affects ability checks – not attacks or saves. Other spells prove better if these represent your needs.
While hardly useless, enhance ability is still just one spell among many options competing for limited slots and concentration. It truly thrives when creativity intersects with opportunity. Yet a keen eye can unearth these opportunities through thoughtful play and party synergy.
IX. Enhance Ability Compared to Other Spells
Enhance ability’s flexible applications sometimes obscure its similarities with other low-level buffing options. Understanding key differences helps identify ideal situations for each spell:
Enhance Ability vs. Guidance
As unlimited advantage seems potent, one might ask: Why ever cast enhance ability when guidance exists? The 1d4 certainly appears minor next to blanket advantage.
However, small differences hold major implications:
- Guidance is a reaction – enhance ability a full action
- Guidance lasts 1 minute – enhance ability lasts 1 hour
- Guidance grants a small bonus – enhance ability provides greater reliability
- Guidance serves a single roll – enhance ability aids repeated rolls
- Guidance occupies a cantrip – enhance ability uses a spell slot
In short, guidance offers a minor quick bonus to a single check while enhance ability provides a major boost over an extended period. Guidance suits occasional use, but enhance ability shines when reliability over time holds importance. If you expect multiple related checks, the spell slot provides superior and more flexible benefits. But guidance is still ideal for skill checks on a whim.
Enhance Ability vs. Invisibility
Invisibility seems to replicate enhance ability’s benefits for stealth and trickery purposes. Both last 1 hour and occupy concentration. Does invisibility render enhance ability redundant?
According to rules designer Jeremy Crawford, the answer is no! Despite both providing advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks, he confirms they still stack for incredible sneakiness.
Moreover, invisibility has limitations:
- Disrupted by attacking or casting most spells
- Requires hiding each turn to remain undetected
- Foiled by See Invisibility and true sight
- Does not boost other Dexterity abilities like Cat's Grace
When stealth is critical, both spells together turn rogues and tricksters into true ghosts. For broader dexterity boosts, enhance ability still holds unique utility alongside invisibility’s sneakiness.
X. Maximizing Enhance Ability's Impact
Mastering enhance ability, like any spell, demands experience and attentiveness. Follow these tips to maximize value:
- Communicate with Your DM – Let the DM know you have access to enhance ability. Ask them to help identify upcoming situations where you can benefit, and explain your character's motivations for using the spell.
- Pick Opportune Moments – Using the spell outside of combat or high-pressure situations gets the most impact. Apply it before entering dangerous areas.
- Align Enhancements With Challenges – A Fox's Cunning wasted on bashing down doors helps no one. Consider the trials ahead before selecting your enhancement.
- Enhance Your Weaknesses – Focus on improving ability scores where you lack modifiers or proficiencies to bolster your versatility.
- Maintain Concentration Diligently – Losing concentration early can ruin enhance ability's benefit. Use defensive tactics, ensure components are accessible, and keep concentration checks straightforward.
- Consider Twinned Spell Metamagic – Sorcerers can enable enhance ability on two targets simultaneously, doubling benefits.
- Communicate Intent to Allies – Tell allies your intent to use the spell and on what. Encourage them to also capitalize on it through cooperative actions.
Learning enhance ability's niche utility takes practice. But attentiveness to these best practices will maximize its impact over time.
XI. Conclusion
In closing, enhance ability enjoys well-deserved prestige not as a go-to combat ability, but as a versatile support tool. While its six enhancements appear straightforward, creative casters who tailor the spell to complement their party and upcoming challenges can take fullest advantage of this “Swiss army knife” of spells.
Enhance ability's effects are easy to underestimate until you grasp the nuances. Advantage scales excellently into late game as modifiers increase. The ability score improvements shore up weaknesses and enable unconventional solutions. And the broad class access encourages parties to creatively utilize enhance ability however best fits their needs.
This humble 2nd level transmutation will likely never match the raw damage of a well-timed fireball or the control offered by more potent options. Yet its availability enables plugging gaps in capabilities on the fly, making your party more versatile and resilient. Rather than a first-choice combat option, view enhance ability more as a toolbox filled with quirky potential awaiting an inquisitive mind to unlock its splendor.
