This may just be the most nerfed spell in dnd 5e. From 1st edition to fifth edition, Animal Friendship has taken players from Barry, king of the badgers to Barry, a guy who was nice to a badger once. What a shame.
Today we’re looking at Animal Friendship from the Player’s Handbook. Available to rangers, druids, bards, and nature domain clerics, animal friendship gives players the chance to make a beast their bud. Animal friendship is a first level enchantment spell and takes one action to cast. It also lasts a full 24 hours.
The spell requires verbal, somatic and material components with the material being, surprise, a morsel of food.
Sadly Animal Friendship is no longer as powerful as it used to be and from a recent poll, most DMs encourage players to not take this spell in their games.
To understand if this is the most nerfed spell, we need to take a look at the history (we’ll get into RAW after that).
Who Can Cast Animal Friendship in DnD 5e?
Available to Rangers, Druids, Bards, and nature domain clerics, animal friendship gives players the chance to make a beast their bud
What School of Magic is Animal Friendship From?
In DnD 5e, Animal Friendship is an Enchantment spell
What Makes Animal Friendship Nerfed in DnD 5e?
First Edition had it right, the effect of Animal Friendship was permanent, had rules around teaching the animal tricks, and took 6 rounds to cast. You could also have up to twice your level in hit dice number of animals. That’s a whole lil’ army of beasts! It also had mistletoe as a material component which is strange and only the Druid could cast. Badger army, confirmed.
In Second Edition they extended who could cast this spell, but said ope, this takes ONE HOUR now and added that you had to teach the tricks within three months, or the beast couldn’t learn it. Badger army, confirmed again with tricks!
Third Edition had it going in the right direction by reducing to an instantaneous action and bumped the trick number to three per each point of intelligence it possessed. Going the right direction! It even stated that the effect was non-magical! Badger army, still confirmed.
But then, in DnD 5e, they butchered this spell. No loyalty, no friendship, just the ability to convince a beast you mean it no harm. Gah, and it only lasts 24 Hours. GAH! AND you have to burn extra spell slots to affect more than one beast. So even if I cast it as a 9th level spell, I only get an agreement from 9 badgers that I am friendly!
So sad. From unending friendship to a meager 24 hours, Animal Friendship is ruined. Let’s look at the rest of it I guess.
This is an easy spell to abuse if you don’t understand the rules. Before we break it down further, drop your questions down in the comments below and we’ll see if the rest answers those queries.
We already know Animal Friendship is much more restricted than prior editions, but lets break down the rules as written.
What are the Rules As Written for Animal Friendship in DnD 5e?
This spell lets you convince a beast that you mean it no harm. Choose a beast that you can see within range. It must see and hear you. If the beast’s Intelligence is 4 or higher, the spell fails. Otherwise, the beast must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or be charmed by you for the spell’s duration. If you or one of your companions harms the target, the spell ends.
At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 2nd level or higher, you can affect one additional beast for each slot level above 1st.
This spell lets you convince a beast that you mean it no harm. Key word being “beast” here, a specific monster/creature designation.
Choose a beast that you can see within range. Must have line of sight and we see that word beast again. Good news is that means dinosaurs are in play.
It must see and hear you. Meaning you can’t be invisible and you must be using that somatic component of the spell.
If the beast’s Intelligence is 4 or higher, the spell fails. Auto fails in spells are a major downer, especially when the threshold is so low. 4 Intelligence or higher means you need it to be a beast with INT 1, 2, or 3. There are about 100 official beasts that are fluffy dumb dumbs, so this isn’t completely useless. And honestly, most of the dinosaurs are available.
Otherwise, the beast must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or be charmed by you for the spell’s duration. So best chances are the lower WIS beasts, so a Polar Bear might not be your best bet (int of 14), nor an almiraj (also INT of 14). If successful though congrats! And say it with me, what does it mean when a creature is charmed?
- A charmed creature can’t attack the charmer or target the charmer with harmful abilities or magical effects.
- The charmer has advantage on any ability check to interact socially with the creature.
Also, that means it might still attack the rest of your party? And if that’s the case, what good is it? Your party is going to have to defend themselves, excellent segue to the rest of RAW.
If you or one of your companions harms the target, the spell ends. Watch your area of effect spells, and be sure your party knows about your new-found friendship.
At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 2nd level or higher, you can affect one additional beast for each slot level above 1st. More furry frands for youuuu, but are you really going to burn a fifth level spell to maybe get past five wolves?
What are the Best Uses of Animal Friendship in DnD 5e?
Your best use of Animal Friendship is going to be against the high CR, low WIS beasts, and generally the last beast in combat.
In combat, if your sorcerer is getting blasted by a Hulking Crab, you might be able to get in between with Animal Friendship and then supplement that with Animal Handling to generally calm the creature. Positive here is that you have advantage on all ability checks during the duration.
Another use is when you’ve initiated combat, or a beast thinks you mean it harm, Animal Handling likely isn’t enough to change its mind (debatable), whereas animal friendship changes it for 24 hours if successful.
I could see this being valuable for the last animal in a pack for combat, though they will still want to attack other party members initially.
What’s The Difference Between Animal Handling and Animal Friendship in DnD 5e?
The answer to this is a classic “it depends.” As written, Animal Handling is for calming already domesticated animals like a mount or a pet, but many DMs myself included use Animal Handling checks with creatures out in the wild.
But, an unscientific poll had folks revealing that there really isn’t much use for the spell. Most DMs say that an Animal Handling check is likely enough to calm an animal.
Especially for those attuned to nature, why wouldn’t you let a Druid be able to calm other animals? Shattered Obelisk makes this even more true by writing into the module that a pack of wolves will let the party pass if they roll high, and only a DC10 if food is involved. A DC10 is nothing!
“A character who tries to calm the animals can make a DC 15 Wisdom (Animal Handling) check. On a successful check, the wolves allow all the characters to move throughout the room. If the wolves are given food, the DC lowers to 10.”
With so many DMs open to the Animal Handling skill being used in place of Animal friendship, this spell is likely only useful for overly aggressive or excessively dangerous beasts.
