Burning Hands 5e - D&D 5th Edition Spell Book

Burning Hands 5e
Burning Hands 5e Image

Burning Hands 5e Spell Effects

1st-level evocation


Casting Time: 1 action

Range: Self (15-foot cone)

Components: V, S

Duration: Instantaneous


As you hold your hands with thumbs touching and fingers spread, a thin sheet of flames shoots forth from your outstretched fingertips. Each creature in a 15-foot cone must make a Dexterity saving throw. A creature takes 3d6 fire damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.


The fire ignites any flammable objects in the area that aren't being worn or carried.


At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 2nd level or higher, the damage increases by 1d6 for each slot level above 1st.


All information on Burning Hands 5e comes from the DnD Player's Handbook.

Acid Splash 5e

Classes That Can Cast Burning Hands 5e

The following classes gain access to casting Burning Hands 5e as part of their normal class spell availability, within the Player's Handbook:


Burning Hands Spell Effectiveness

Damage 1st-Level Spell 2nd-Level Spell 3rd-Level Spell 4th-Level Spell 5th-Level Spell 6th-Level Spell 7th-Level Spell 8th-Level Spell 9th-Level Spell
Damage Dice 3d6 4d6 5d6 6d6 7d6 8d6 9d6 10d6 11d6
Average Damage 10.5 14 17.5 21 24.5 28 31.5 35 38.5
3-Target Damage 31 42 52 63 73 84 94 105 115
Average Fighter DPR 11 15 19 23 27 30.5 34 37.5 41

DPR

DPR indicates damage per round, but in this calculation, it does not account for hit chance. The intent of this table is to provide a roughly-accurate comparison between Burning Hands 5e damage and a fighter's damage per round, to compare. It's also worth noting that since Burning Hands 5e hits a 15-foot cone, it can certainly hit more (or less) than 3-targets at a time. Again, the numbers presented here are intended simply to provide an idea of how powerful the Burning Hands 5e spell may be.


Burning Hands 5e Usefulness

I have both been on the giving and receiving end of Burning Hands, and I can certainly say that when the spell is used properly, it can be absolutely devastating.

  • Obviously, Burning Hands 5e should primarily be cast on clusters of enemies. As you can see in the table above, hitting multiple targets with the spell can drastically raise the damage it deals.
  • Be sure to only cast Burning Hands 5e on targets who do not have fire damage resistance or immunities (below). Furthermore, try to maximize your usage of the spell on enemies with fire vulnerabilities.
  • Since Burning Hands only has an effect cast range of 15-feet, consider if you can actually kill enemies with the spell, rather than just damaging them. The reason is that if you cast on a large group, and many of them live, you probably become the main target for all of them, and being only 15-feet away, you won't have a lot of safety.


Fire Damage Resistances, Immunities, and Vulnerabilities

When using Burning Hands 5e, it's worth knowing ahead of time that in the DnD Monster Manual, there are 37 monsters with fire damage resistance, 40 monsters with fire damage immunity, and 9 monsters with fire damage vulnerability.


Surprisingly, of all damage types in the entire game, fire damage is the one that most monsters are vulnerable to, at 9. Meanwhile, there are 77 monsters in total that take reduced or no damage at all from fire, so be very cautious when casting Burning Hands. One of the worst things you can do as a spell caster in D&D is to waste a spell slot on a spell that deals reduced damage.



Combine Burning Hands with the Following Spells

Most spells in DnD 5e work even better in combination with other spells, effects, feats, and so on. Try combining Acid Splash 5e with some of these other effects.

  • Acid Splash 5e: this cantrip spell isn't one that you'd use in combination with Burning Hands. However, it does deal acid damage, so it's here to remind you that if you're facing an enemy with fire resistance or immunity, switch up your damage type.
  • Bane 5e: since bane reduced enemy saving throws by 1d4, it's a perfect way to make them more susceptible to your Burning Hands 5e spell.


Burning Hands 5e Counters

Hard counters to Burning Hands 5e are spells like Silence 5e, which prevent you from casting spells to begin with. If you know your enemy has silence, be very cautious around them, as you don't want to get locked out from spell casting.


There are also "soft counters" to Burning Hands, like Bless 5e and Haste 5e. Bless provides a +1d4 bonus to saving throws, while Haste provides advantage on Dexterity saving throws, making targets of these effects less likely to be hit from the full damage of Burning Hands.


Burning Hands-Type Spells in Eternity TTRPG

I created the Eternity TTRPG Game System about 15-years ago, and have been refining the game ever since. It's independently published, inspired by other great TTRPG systems, provides rules for having multiple game masters in your group, and features tactical gameplay in combat.


I've provided a spell example below that correlates pretty similarly to the Burning Hands 5e spell, if you want to see what another game like DnD looks like.

Pyromancer Class Icon

Pyromancer - Core Class Spell

Pyro Storm (Magic): up to 3 enemies in 4Range, -9Faith vs. Will, deals 1damage (deals 2damage to cryomancers). “Pyro Storm” cannot Double-Hit or give a Block.

Even if this Spell misses, you also gain

1 stack of “Inferno,” which gives you a chance to deal an additional 1damage with

certain pyromancer Spells. Stacks are not consumed when used, and you can gain up to 2 stacks. When casting “Pyro Storm,” roll d20. If you roll in the following values – based on your number of “Inferno” stacks – if your attack hits, you instead deal 2damage:

1 stack of “Inferno”: 19-20. 2 stacks of

“Inferno”: 17-20.

  • (Flames of the Abyss) -2Faith vs. Will.
  • (Magic of the Silver Lands) 8Range. You also have 8Range when casting this Spell, for Battle Duration.
  • (Elemental Fire) Every turn, Instantly cast this Spell with -12Faith vs. Will. Instantly casting “Pyro Storm” in this way does not give you an additional stack of “Inferno.” This Critical effect cannot Double-Hit or give a Block. 


Pyro Storm maxes out hitting 3-targets, whereas Burning Hands 5e can hit any number of targets in a small 15-foot cone area. However, otherwise, the spells are virtually the same. In Eternity TTRPG, characters can choose to cause their spells to "Critical," at-will, so Pyro Storm provides a few more players options, that way.


Every good RPG needs an area of effect fire damage spell.


Curious to learn more? Check out the Eternity TTRPG Core Game PDF!

Pyromancer - Core Class Spell

Pyro Storm (Magic): up to 3 enemies in 4Range, -9Faith vs. Will, deals 1damage (deals 2damage to cryomancers). “Pyro Storm” cannot Double-Hit or give a Block.

Even if this Spell misses, you also gain 1 stack of “Inferno,” which gives you a chance to deal an additional 1damage with

certain pyromancer Spells. Stacks are not consumed when used, and you can gain up to 2 stacks. When casting “Pyro Storm,” roll d20. If you roll in the following values – based on your number of “Inferno” stacks – if your attack hits, you instead deal 2damage:

1 stack of “Inferno”: 19-20. 2 stacks of “Inferno”: 17-20.

  • (Flames of the Abyss) -2Faith vs. Will.
  • (Magic of the Silver Lands) 8Range. You also have 8Range when casting this Spell, for Battle Duration.
  • (Elemental Fire) Every turn, Instantly cast this Spell with -12Faith vs. Will. Instantly casting “Pyro Storm” in this way does not give you an additional stack of “Inferno.” This Critical effect cannot Double-Hit or give a Block. 


Pyro Storm maxes out hitting 3-targets, whereas Burning Hands 5e can hit any number of targets in a small 15-foot cone area. However, otherwise, the spells are virtually the same. In Eternity TTRPG, characters can choose to cause their spells to "Critical," at-will, so Pyro Storm provides a few more players options, that way.


Every good RPG needs an area of effect fire damage spell.


Curious to learn more? Check out the Eternity TTRPG Core Game PDF!

Dice, Dungeons, Games & More - Eternity TTRPG



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Jacob Tegtman Eternity TTRPG Creator

Author - Jacob Tegtman

Dear reader, I hope you enjoyed this article. Tabletop gaming has been a passion of mine since I was 6 years old. I've played just about every game from Dungeons and Dragons to video games like Final Fantasy. These games have inspired me, made me laugh, made me cry, and brought me endless hours of enjoyment.


I started Eternity TTRPG - and the indie tabletop game that goes along with it (Eternity Shop) - to share my love of gaming with others. I believe that in our technology-driven age, tabletop games help bring a sense of magic and community back into our world.


If you love the site, please share it with others! I have lots of gaming-related material for you to peruse and use in your own gaming sessions. If you have any questions about the site or want to contribute, just send me a message using the "Contact" page, which you can find in the site's footer.

September 16, 2026
Transcribed content from our recent YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UteTnsp4yIE Transcription [00:00:00] Welcome back to the Eternity TTRPG YouTube channel, where I discuss different happenings in the tabletop role-playing universes, as well as talk about the game that my husband and I have been developing. So we've already gone over all of the races in the world of Eternity. Um, you know, your basics from human all the way down to espers and jaidori and treants, which are pretty neat races, if you ask me. Um, but we have not gotten to classes, right? So the classes that I wanted to start with is gonna be the first six classes that you're exposed to in Emanation, which is the card game that my husband and I came out with. So that is a combat TTRPG card game. And in this game, we show off six classes to start with, and we picked out the classes that we thought could showcase, um, a little bit of the creativity when it comes to Eternity, but also [00:01:00] some of your favorite classics that you would see in, like, D&D and other role-playing games. So to start that off, I'm actually gonna talk about the different types of classes first. So we have it split up into your casters, your, um, fighters, and your, like, spell casters, which is gonna be your crossover, a mix of the two. So the two fighters that we feature in the Emanation box is gonna be the assassin and the berserker. So the assassin is always, uh, bringing final memories for people. So since the Eternal Wars, they have been the masters of death who train to deliver a sudden death. So their main ability and what makes them the assassin is, of course, their ability to assassinate. Um, so they like to lay in shadows, build up their lethality, and then spend all of it to deal a final blow or a very, um, difficult blow, right? And then you think about your berserker, [00:02:00] and berserkers, they are furious and brutal. The more rage they have, the more power they have. And a berserker never feel, fears up-and-close encounters with anyone. So with the berserker, they are all about let me hit as much as possible, as hard as possible to as many people as possible, and that's kind of how the class was built with Emanation in mind. So the other thing about berserker to keep in mind, though, is that they are probab- they are the class that has the least health across the board when playing Emanation. So the goal is definitely, um, to get everybody before they get you. So may the rolls be in your favor. Eternity TTRPG has released a card game battler which emulates combat from the tabletop role-playing genre. Sparks of Eternity: Emanation is fast-paced, easy to learn, and features six classes from your favorite TTRPGs. [00:03:00] Each class deck comes with its own set of unique abilities which everyone plays at the same time so there's never any downtime at your table. Each turn, everyone's characters levels up, giving players access to even more options. If you're interested in taking a look, we have our sales page live now, packed with details. So moving on to your caster classes, that is gonna be your druid and summoner in Emanation. So the druid, of course, is gonna be a classic class that we see in a lot of ta- tabletop RPGs with your idea of shifting into different animals and working with the nature around you, right? The class lends itself to the Jadorian treant races because those were the protectors of the wild's floral fauna and the Tree of Life. Um, so a lot of your treants and Jadories are recommended to be druids. But that's just Eternity lore for you. The other caster class is gonna be the summoner. The [00:04:00] summoner was actually my first character in this um, world of Eternity, so it has a special place in my heart a little bit. But summoners are the gatekeepers of the world, and Through their portals, they can, like, pull different things out of these portals, um, and just, you know, summon them, use them, use their abilities. So they're definitely more of like a, "Hey, I'm gonna stay back here and send my summon in to do all the work." Um, they also take advantage of what's called a grand summoning. So rather than attacking every single turn in the game of Emanation, they're gonna take a turn to build up, and then on that next turn, they're gonna do something big. So they could, they could do, like, one damage to everyone or two damage to one person or a really big heal to themselves. So that makes them kind of fun, and it does have its trade-offs. So then the last two classes, which I also think are, um, really just I've [00:05:00] seen them in Eternity tabletop role-playing, so I don't know how they would translate to other tabletop role-playing games. And these are also going to be your spell fighters, and that is the Judge and the Oracle. So with the Judge, um, they are supposed to be the keepers of peace. They install law and order, and they're often acting as the accuser, judge, and jury. So it's, uh, definitely a play on law bringing and whatnot. So the Judge itself, when you're playing it in the world of Emanation, is that it defends itself as often as possible. But when it is not defending, it hits really hard. So it's definitely like another trade-off class. You go like every other turn, you want to do this to do that sort of thing. And it's also a really difficult class to actually target, um, so that's kind of a fun quirk with Judge. With [00:06:00] Oracle, Oracle is arguably the hardest class to play in the game of Emanation, um, just because of the different technicalities of it and how it interacts with everything else. I definitely think Oracle is best in a three or more player situation rather than a 1v1 situation because, like, some of the abilities with Oracle is better on a group. So, for example, they have an ability called Chains of Con-Condemnation, which basically it takes two characters at your choosing, two of your opponents, and chains them together. So if person A takes a hit and takes damage from something or someone, then the Oracle gets to roll for person B to see if person B will get hit as well. So chaining them together so that way they both take damage, and then the Oracle comes out on top. So that's definitely a really fun note about Oracle and the class that it [00:07:00] is. So I know this was a quick rundown of these six classes that you find in Emanation, and like I said, some of them do translate to other tabletop role-playing games because sometimes you can't just, you know, change the classics, right? But we can still put our spins on them and see how it goes. Anyway, um, let me know in the comments which class you would really like to play, and if you wanna see more of the classes, always check out the website. You can always check out the game. Um, let us know your thoughts and comment, like, subscribe. We will catch y'all next time.
September 9, 2026
Transcribed content from our recent YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ytddTkKJQQ Transcription [00:00:00] Welcome back to Eternity TTRPG YouTube channel, where I talk about different happenings in the tabletop role play universe, as well as the role play game that my husband and I have been creating and we recently released our first product of. So this go around, I am going to finish up the Crooked Moon races. There are quite a few in the Crooked Moon universe, so it's taken a while to get through them, but I have three left, and those three we're gonna cover. So I have the Deepborn, Azureborn, and Bogborn. Now, the theme with Crooked Moon is that they're all horror related in a way. They give you an eerie feeling, um, they're kind of like our worst nightmares put into D&D, right? So to jump right in with that, we're gonna go with the Deepborn first. So think of the Deepborn as a sea monster, for lack of a better term, right? So you have this eldritch knowledge that they're using, and [00:01:00] because they're, like, Deepborn and in the sea, there's a lot of things about them that human races wouldn't understand. So you get to really take this idea of understanding and knowing and kind of run with it, and it's almost like whatever you say in the campaign is true because you're just this cosmic being of sorts that gets to decide what's true about your race, right? Um, another way that I think of them is kind of alien-ish or there was, um, a Netflix movie that came out recently that I would think of them as. Um, it was a really neat movie, like, this, um, family got stuck inside their house because of these water beings. Recommend it. But continuing on, they're just super creepy and could be really fun to play because of how creepy they are, right? Because they're always gonna have this, um- kind of gibberish going on in their brain that they're probably spewing out because of the eldritch knowledge that they have. Um, not to mention being sea monsters, they're gonna be [00:02:00] amphibious, so you're gonna have that water to land going on. You're gonna have maybe some dark vision available, so that could be a really neat play, never having to need the light. Um, but could that also play against you? Like not needing to be in the light, maybe you're fearful of it as your character. Kind of a cool idea. Um, other character ideas is, um, what if your Deepborn character was absolutely terrified of the ocean even though they're able to breathe underwater and basically come from the sea? Um, other thing that I've already touched on is that they kind of hear these whispers in gibberish from eldritch, that eldritch knowledge, um, and it can be a lot of like the, "Whoa, what was that? Did you guys hear that?" And they could just be always feeding the campaign in that way. Um, other thing is like treating things that are not normal by human standards as [00:03:00] completely normal. Um, these incomprehensible like cosmic entities could be really cool. Um, and the other thing is like the Deepborn could genuinely not understand why their behavior is so disturbing to the party. So super fun. I think that could be a really cool take on it, any of those ideas that you could go with. I just like the idea of a sea monster kind of thing because I think I always thought, you know, the ocean is very unexplored. Um, it's definitely the last wonders of the world, right? 'Cause we can't go as deep as we'd like to in it, and it would just be cool to get to experience that as a sea creature. Eternity TTRPG has released a card game battler which emulates combat from the tabletop role-playing genre. Sparks of Eternity: Emanation is fast-paced, easy to learn, and features six classes from your favorite TTRPGs. Each class deck comes with [00:04:00] its own set of unique abilities, which everyone plays at the same time, so there's never any downtime at your table. Each turn, everyone's characters levels up, giving players access to even more options. If you're interested in taking a look, we have our sales page live now, packed with details. Moving on to the Azure Born. So the Azure Born is a prophetic harpy-like sky dweller. Okay, so when I hear prophetic, we're definitely thinking about a character that knows the future, knows what's gonna happen, and they're just like, they can always get a glimpse of the fate and how it's going to affect them. Now, the play that I would like with this is, yes, they can see the future, but obviously the decisions you make in the campaign can change the future they see. So that could be really cool as an NPC even to have, like, this sky-dwelling harpy that plays the prophet, gives all these things that could happen, tells you how the campaign ends, and if you as the campaign [00:05:00] doesn't like that ending, just make the decisions to change it, right? Now, as a character that you can play, right, they could be desperately trying to prevent what they've seen, um, or they could even lie about the visions that they see, so that way their prophetic ability isn't even real to everyone else, um, because they know what's going to happen. They, uh, could also have a personality where they're second-guessing every decision they make because they don't wanna make the wrong one because they've already seen what happens, right? And maybe they like that outcome, so they're like, "Well, how do I get that outcome? Maybe this is right. Maybe this is wrong. I don't know." So that could be just really fun in a character with that prophetic side of things. So last one I want to hop into was the Bog Born, and the Bog Born is your swamp-dwelling creature.[00:06:00] Um, I also think of it as like a mega swamp tank kind of guy, right? So I think of Avatar: The Last Airbender with these swamp benders when they make that giant swamp vine creature that's taking all the hits from the Fire Nation, and it just keeps regenerating. So it's like a giant tank for the army. And that is absolutely what I see when I think of this because they do have that regeneration, and they're very, you know, in tune with the swamps. So that's really fun to think of. And with that, it brings out the idea of if I'm this regenerative swamp creature, Can I be taken out? Maybe that's the whole premise of their character and how you role play this character is, "I'm gonna get into every fight possible and see just how much I can take." So it definitely brings in a different dynamic into the [00:07:00] party because if you do have a character like that, how is the party gonna react to you? Is the party going to have the same mentality? Will they constantly be pulling you back from that, um, mindset? So I don't know, maybe. With all of that going on, I think the other thing is all of the, all of these characters have a different idea when it comes to the future and fate and how to handle it, right? So the Deepborn always having this whispering knowledge in their ear. It's always this question of if the whispers are true, and maybe they're always trying to find out if they're true. The Azureborn, they know what's true, but they don't know how to get to it. And the Bogborn is like, "All I know is I'm gonna be a tank and go at this," right? So overall, they're super fun. I think you can definitely see where you can take these, uh, races. Um, and as I said earlier in the video, this [00:08:00] does round out, um, all of the Crooked Moon races. You can check in past videos to see what they were covered, what we talked about, how they are. Um, moving forward, I wanna be looking at the different classes available to you, um, specifically in Crooked Moon and specifically in the game that my husband and I have been creating. Um, so as always, like, comment, subscribe, and we'll catch you next time. Thanks. Bye.
September 4, 2026
Transcribed content from our recent YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DP5OwjeAVBE Transcription [00:00:00] Welcome back to Eternity TTRPG YouTube, where I go over things going on in the tabletop role-playing community, um, from D&D to Crooked Moon to other games that we see. And this might be, for me, my most exciting one that I've gone over to date. Um, we have some very exciting news. I know if you've watched our channel in the past couple weeks, in the past couple months, um, you've seen videos talking about this card game, Battler, and we even did, um, a bit of an interview style talking about this game and its origin story and why it's so important to us. And the short version of that is my husband has been working on a tabletop role-playing game for 30 years at this point, you know, since he was a boy. And now here we are at the point where we have [00:01:00] something manufactured, published, and ready to sell, and it showed up at our doorstep this week. So we had this 750-pound pallet with 28 boxes of our game show up. Here it is. Sparks of Eternity Emanation. It is here. It is just-- It's better than, you know, we imagined it would be with just... It's just amazing. You know? You always talk about these things happening and these dreams coming true and, like, making a product. And to finally have it is an amazing experience. So, you know, we of course took the time this week to revel in that a little bit and, you know, we took the pictures. We [00:02:00] did the time lapses of everything. We just-- We got to see our dream come true this week. And, you know, this was his dream first, and I got to join in with it. And especially in the past year, um, this game was, you know, an idea from me, and he made it come true with his game. And it's just been a great experience getting to work together on it and play test it and everything. So let's go ahead and get into what is in the box. The guide, of course, you know, the how-to manual, how to play, what everything is, what all the symbols mean. And then of course you have the credits on the back with our artist on there as well as, you know, my husband and I's name, which is pretty incredible getting our name on something. And then you go into the box, and you get to see that there are six dice because it is a six-player game. [00:03:00] It can be up to six players, and you can obviously have more if you have more of the, um, uh, class decks. And then you have your life sparks, the red and the yellow, the red depicting, um, five hit points and the yellow depicting one. So, you know, some characters will start with that five hit points, and some will start with six or seven. And then I've seen hit points get all the way up to twenty-one if the healing ends up going super well. And then jumping into each of the classes that you see in this box, you are going to have the judge, the druid, the oracle, the, um... Oh, gosh You have all these different classes that we decided to put into what is considered the base game. And that is just amazing to see all of this artwork and getting it put together. And then on top of all [00:04:00] that, you have, um, the different effect cards. So your dazed, your blinded, your charmed, um, as well as some additional rules and details and your turn overviews to help you with the, like, getting going and your different turns. So that way you don't have to reference the how-to guide as often, the, um, instruction manual as often. So between my husband and I, because, you know, we've been play testing this for a year at this point, it has been a full calendar year, we have gotten to the point where we can play games in under 10 minutes. Um, however, this does state that it can take up to 30 when you are just learning this game. Um, of course, when you're just learning, you take a little more time with your turns and making sure everybody understands what is going on. Because the goal is to get to play faster [00:05:00] and to dive into this world a little bit quicker, you know? You want to be able to really enjoy this class that you're taking a part of and understand like, hey, this is why the druid is the druid. The druid gets to use these different shapes, the wolf and the griffin, to do more powerful attacks. Whereas the assassin, of course, has different things to help his assassin hit harder and guarantee that it hits and it can't be blocked. Um, so there's just all these little nuances about what you're playing with to see how it goes. So, you know, it's here. We are getting the final touches on everything for shipping, getting the sales page up, um, getting, you know, the different tiers because we are gonna offer a couple different things. Like, yes, we do have the box game, [00:06:00] but we also have a PDF version that has other classes available that you can just print off at home without having to have the box. Um, the other thing is we're looking at putting together a higher tier that is gonna have the box itself, but also a dedicated art book with all of the art that, um, has been used, we intend to use, that our artist has done. And there are a few other things with that tier that you're just gonna have to check out. But with all of that being said, we should be available to ship these within the next week. So we're gonna put that link below and if you don't mind waiting just a little bit longer, you can go ahead and order. However, once we get past this first week, we are gonna be shipping on a more regular schedule and we're excited to see the, uh, demand that these games will have. Of course, we have family and friends that want to see this, but we also want to grow the community with everyone else. So any support that you want to [00:07:00] give is greatly appreciated and it helps us achieve our dreams further and hopefully we can support others on their dreams. Um, so with that, comment, like, subscribe, let us know how we're doing. If you have any questions on the game, please let us know. And if you really would like to, please, uh, hit that button to order now. Thanks so much. Bye.
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