Sapping Sting is a low-level spell that drains the energy of its target. ..
Sapping Sting Spell Details
You cast a spell that causes undead to rise from the dead.
The spell allows you to pick one creature within the spell’s thirty foot range.
The creature has to succeed on a Constitution saving throw or fall prone and take a d4’s worth of necrotic damage. Like all damage-based cantrips, the damage scales as you level up.
Who Gets It?
There is no definitive answer to this question as it depends on a person’s individual circumstances. ..
The dunamancy spell sip is one of the spells introduced in Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount. It allows the caster to drink a potion that causes a sting.
Unfortunately, only wizards who choose the Arcane Traditions of Chronurgy or Graviturgy can select it.
There is a sidebar in Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount that allows other classes and spellcasters to learn spells like sapping sting. Ultimately, it depends on whether or not you can convince your DM to let you learn it.
There are a few ways you might be able to get ahold of it. ..
The clerics of the Death Domain can cast one necromancy cantrip from any spell list. This doesn’t include the warlock’s Book of Ancient Secrets invocation.
Spell lists are a common tool for witches and warlocks. They can be found in many different books and online. ..
This loophole could be a huge loophole if it is not closed.
There is a spell list for dunamancy, and sapping sting is on it. ..
This toy is a great way to get your DM to let you have something they’re otherwise unwilling to let you have.
The Death Domain also requires DM approval. If your DM is willing to let you play a specialized ‘evil high priest’ subclass from the Dungeon Master’s Guide, they might be cool with you learning sapping sting.
Spellcasters have a lot of secrets. The magic initiate feat, for example, is a secret that all spellcasters can learn. This means that anyone can learn it, no matter their level.
Sapping Sting: Tips & Tricks
The prone condition is the most interesting function of this spell. ..
First, let’s take a look at the evidence. Then, we’ll make a decision.
Prone in Melee
Knocking an enemy creature prone comes with a lot of advantages, including the ability to control it completely.
If you’re within five feet of a prone creature, you have advantage on all attacks against it. Not only that, it has disadvantage on all attack rolls.
This is a great move if your party has a number of melee combatants and you want to give them an advantage for sneak attack. Melee rogues will love this because it gives them advantage for their sneak attack.
Paladins and barbarians will benefit from a change to Reckless Attack that reduces the risk of injuring themselves. ..
If you’re unlucky, a creature with Legendary Resistances might have to burn one if they fail the Constitution save. ..
Casting a cantrip to weaken the boss and burn its Legendary Resistances is excellent, since you’re not expending any resources to weaken the boss and protect its resistances. ..
You may not be able to (lots of powerful monsters have good Con saves). But it’ll still be useful against non-legendary monsters with weaker Con scores.
Athletics offers a great opportunity for anyone with a high bonus to receive checks. ..
Grappling
There’s a mechanic in D&D called grappling that lets you hold onto things with your hands.
The attacker must roll an Athletics check versus the target’s Athletics or Acrobatics check to make a grapple check.
If a creature succeeds on a check to Grapple an opponent, their speed is reduced by 0 for the rest of the turn. ..
Your foes will be more difficult to grapple, but they will also be smaller and less powerful.
If they have more than one attack, they can make multiple grapple checks, giving them several chances to lock a creature down.
When a creature is grappling you, they have a hard time standing up. You have to use half your movement to stand up from being grappled, and they’ll have a hard time halving 0. ..
That allows you to take down potentially annoying foes with a lot of movement. Especially ones that couldn’t be knocked prone normally with a shove attack.
Flying Creatures
Flying creatures are prone when they hit the ground, taking damage. ..
A flying creature that is knocked prone falls to the ground, hopefully onto something sharp or painful if it was knocked prone.
When a creature falls, it takes 1d6 bludgeoning damage for each ten feet it falls. The range of sapping sting is only thirty feet, but that’s still a potential 1d6 to 3d6 bludgeoning damage on top of the necrotic damage from the spell.
If you have some levels in sorcerer, you can pick up the Distant Spell metamagic. This allows you to double the range of a spell.
A fall from a height of sixty feet could inflict up to 21 damage on average. ..
If you’re worried about someone attacking you from the rear, you can use this as a defensive tactic. ..
Your only hope is to outrun them and make it to safety.
melee fighters find it frustrating when they can’t land a hit on an opponent due to the opponent’s superior ranged capabilities. ..
Ready lets you take the Ready action as a reaction to a trigger.
When a peryton gets within thirty feet of me, I feel a sense of dread and anxiety. ..
If a peryton swoops in, planning to use some or half of its movement to fly away after the attack, you can use this readied action to cast sapping sting.
If it wants to get out of being prone on its turn, it needs to use half of its movement.
With any luck, the trap will catch the peryton on the ground, in range of the now very happy melee characters.
If it had less than half its movement left, it might have to stay on the ground. ..
Truly Nasty Falls
What if you’re also flying on a plane?
Assuming you can hit a high-flying creature with the spell, you could potentially do the maximum amount of damage from falling in D&D: 20d6 bludgeoning damage.
That’s an average of about 70 damage. ..
Some DMs don’t like that the falling damage stops there, and choose to raise the ceiling on the maximum fall damage. But that’s individual to each DM’s play style. ..
However, we can still exploit this for more damage. ..
What if the flying creature falls into a molten lava field?
When you first enter lava on your turn, it deals 6d10 fire damage to you. There are also sharp rocks, boiling water, or other dangers to consider. ..
Assuming everything goes well and you drop a flying creature into a lava flow, you’re looking at an additional 70 bludgeoning damage and 33 fire damage on top of the necrotic damage sapping sting deals.
The potential bonus damage on a cantrip is a really nice deal.
You might not always be in the sky or on top of a volcano. But that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the great outdoors. ..
There are many ways to drop creatures into spells or zones that affect them. You could use sapping sting to drop a creature into a spell that affects a zone like Evard’s black tentacles or a wall of thorns.
Before you cross a spike pit, make sure you have the cantrip ready. ..
Spell Downsides
Sapping sting is a form of entomology that has some drawbacks, on top of potentially being pretty hard (or impossible) to learn. ..
Second, it casts a spell that affects all creatures within a certain radius. Third, it has the ability to polymorph into any creature within a certain radius.
That makes it a very conditional spell. If you want to cast it, you must first succeed on a roll of a d6.
This item is effective against smaller enemies or monsters with low Constitution scores.
The prone condition makes it difficult for creatures to fight effectively, which can lead to problems. For example, ranged attacks against a prone creature are made with disadvantage, making it difficult for the creature to defend itself.
A rogue or bow-wielding fighter who prefers to use a crossbow will not appreciate having a more difficult target they need to hit.
Some creatures have the ability to fly quickly, which makes them difficult to catch.
If a creature can hover, or is being held up by magic like the fly spell, it doesn’t fall when it gets knocked prone. Some creatures, like beholders, are simply immune to the prone condition.
Necromancers and other spellcasters who rely on knockdown effects to take down their foes are in for a surprise. These creatures are immune to the spell, reducing its effects to a bit of necrotic damage. ..
Some Final Thoughts
With those drawbacks, sapping sting can be a fun spell.
The Battle Master can knock a creature prone with a weapon attack, but only if the creature is Large or smaller.
The Open Hand monk has an easy-to-use prone ability, but it can only be done in melee.
Shove attacks are a common form of assault. ..
The prone condition is a spell-related injury that can be caused by other spells. To use a spell to cause the prone condition, you must have a spell slot for that spell.
Sapping Sting is a spell that has situational uses, but can be devastating if used in the right situation. ..
