Chromatic Orb - D&D 5th Edition Spell Book

These spell details for Chromatic Orb include everything you need to know for your game. I also have a list of the most important DnD Spells and other DnD reference info available for you on those respective pages.

Classes That Can Cast Chromatic Orb

Only the sorcerer and wizard may cast chromatic orb, within the player's handbook. Aesthetically, the chromatic orb spell fits very nicely in with D&D's most hardcore spell casting classes, though in all reality, the spell is not that powerful, so it is a bit surprising that it isn't available to the warlock, and maybe even the cleric.

As you'll see in the table below, chromatic orb doesn't stack up very well against other 1st-level evocation spells, primarily because there aren't many monsters in D&D that have damage type vulnerabilities.

Chromatic Orb Spell Effectiveness

Spell Damage

The table above compares chromatic orb to burning hands 5e, another 1st-level evocation spell, and to a fighter's average damage per round (prior to factoring in hit chance). As the fighter's damage is a very rough calculation, and burning hands is capable of hitting more than 3-targets (or fewer than 3-targets), the table only provides rough estimates, intended to help you determine each spell or attack's overall value in comparison to one another.

Chromatic Orb Usefulness

As you can probably guess (especially by looking at the table, above), chromatic orb's main value is intended to come from its ability to change damage type. Since enemies vulnerable to a damage type in D&D take double damage from an attack, the idea is to use chromatic orb against any monster with a vulnerability damage type that chromatic orb can deal.

However, the main problem with chromatic orb is that of the 6-damage types it can deal (acid, cold, fire, lightning, poison, or thunder), monsters in D&D are only vulnerable to 3-of them (cold, fire, and thunder). Of those 3-damage types, one of them - thunder - only has one monster  in the entire manual that's vulnerable (the earth elemental), meaning that thunder can sort of be excluded.

With all of that being said, spells like burning hands (as shown above) and even call lightning 5e are really better picks, unless perhaps you happen to be fighting either an earth elemental, or one of the 4-monsters vulnerable to cold damage. To be honest though, even if all of these negatives were not enough, chromatic orb - unlike burning hands and call lightning - does not deal half damage on a miss. If you miss, you miss entirely, dealing zero damage.

Despite all of that, if you do still want to cast chromatic orb, however, try using it in the following situations to still maximize its effectiveness.

• Cast chromatic orb against enemies with low AC. Since chromatic orb is a "ranged spell attack," and does not require a saving throw, the attack roll is made against the target's AC. So, the lower your target's AC, the more likely you are to hit with your spell.
• One of the best parts of chromatic orb is its 90-foot range, which is considerable. If you're going to cast the spell, at least try to launch it at your target from as far away as possible, to keep yourself safe from enemy attacks.
• Obviously, do your research on any enemies you're fighting. If it's a monster, do whatever you can to learn if it has any damage vulnerabilities. Also, be aware that your dungeon master may opt to give monsters a damage vulnerability of their choosing, so do any research needed in your RPG campaign to find out what damage type you should make your chromatic orb.

Chromatic Orb Resistances, Immunities, and Vulnerabilities

Just so you are aware, combining all of the damage types that chromatic orb can deal, there are 125-monsters with resistances to those damage types, 172-monsters with immunities, and only 14-monsters with vulnerabilities. So, if you come across those 14-monsters with vulnerabilities to cold, fire, or thunder damage, consider casting chromatic orb.

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Combine Chromatic Orb with the Following Spells

Though I really don't recommend chromatic orb, or overall think it's a very good spell, similar to chill touch 5e, there are a few spells you can cast to increase chromatic orb's effectiveness.

• Bless 5e: since chromatic orb is a ranged spell attack, your hit chance when casting it is based on the target's AC, and not a saving throw. Bless increases attack rolls by +1d4, giving it a clear bonus for chromatic orb's chance to hit.
• Haste 5e: though haste doesn't increase hit chance or damage, directly, it does provide affected characters with an extra action each round. If you have a lot of spell slots to burn, you could pump out quite a bit of damage, and quickly, by casting a second chromatic orb each round while hasted.

Chromatic Orb Counters

It's not often that I come across a spell in D&D that I feel needs a major buff, but chromatic orb just isn't very useful because of the lack of vulnerabilities present in the DnD monster manual. If more monsters had vulnerabilities, then chromatic orb would suddenly shoot up near the top of the list in terms of spell usefulness.

Anyways, with chromatic orb being what it is, though I usually provide this section for spells on their natural counters, with chromatic orb, I kind of feel like, "who cares?" If an enemy were to cast chromatic orb at me, I'd almost celebrate, because it's like they've wasted a spell slot. Instead of hitting my team with hellish rebuke 5e, they've opted for a much less powerful chromatic orb. That's a win, in my book.

However, if I had to counter chromatic orb, for some strange reason, then I would consider using one of the following spells to do so:

• Bane 5e: reduce your target's ranged spell attack hit chance by 1d4 with this valuable little spell.
• Cure Wounds 5e: I wouldn't exactly say that cure wounds is technically a "counter" to chromatic orb, but since it only damages one target, spells like this and aura of vitality 5e do negate its effects pretty nicely.
• Mage Armor 5e: since chromatic orb attacks against AC, if you can raise your AC with a spell like mage armor, this is an easy way to reduce your chances to be hit.
• Silence 5e: again, I feel like chromatic orb is not that concerning, so I probably wouldn't use silence on someone set on chromatic orb, but if I did, it would prevent them from casting the spell, altogether.

Chromatic Orb-Type Spells in Eternity TTRPG

One of the reasons I created the Eternity TTRPG Game System to begin with was because of spells like chromatic orb. In all honesty, I got tired of playing D&D when I realized how many spells sucked and certain classes weren't as good as others, just straight up. Everyone knows the wizard is, always has been, and probably always will be the best class. Maybe they're not always the most fun - and certainly not the easiest - but they are the best class.

In Eternity TTRPG, balance is one of the game's highest priorities, where every class is always viable both in and out of combat. Below, I've included an example spell that somewhat compares to chromatic orb as a quick way for you to check out the game, in case you're ever interested in trying out other TTRPG systems.