Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk is a new look on the Dungeons and Dragons beginner campaign by Wizards of the Coast, returning to Phandalin while adding a whole new second half. One of these new additions is Mind Crystals, powerful items that can manipulate magic similarly to the Sorcerer class feature Metamagic.
These crystals can come in handy in a pinch, but just like Metamagic they are not all created equally. Their usefulness will vary depending on your party composition, but there are some that will be much more useful to your current party of ninth level characters as you adventure towards the end.
7 Subtle
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Rarity |
Common |
|---|---|
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Official Description |
You cast the spell without any somatic or verbal components for this casting. |
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Location in Adventure |
One in Illithinoch |
Situational at best, Subtle Mind Crystals allow for a spell to be cast without a verbal or somatic component. While this may be handy for stealthy parties or mid-negotiation shenanigans, its usefulness drops significantly when in a pure combat setting, thanks to its lack of damage manipulation.
Depending on how you and your DM understand ‘holding,’ subtle may be more of a hindrance to your casters as they may need to have it taking up one of their two hands, which can cause it to lose some of its ‘subtly.’ Nevertheless, there are a few scenarios and party compositions that can find them useful.
6 Extended
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Rarity |
Uncommon |
|---|---|
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Official Description |
If the spell has a duration of 1 minute or longer, double the spell’s duration, to a maximum duration of 24 hours. |
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Location in Adventure |
Two in Illithinoch |
On paper, the Extended Mind Crystal sounds like a safe option thanks to its ability to double the duration of a spell. The only restriction is that the spell needs a duration of a minute, but that is also its weakness. Combat encounters rarely extend past the ten rounds necessary to exceed one minute (six seconds per round), so all combat-oriented spells don’t need the extension.
It can be really handy for buffs if you fear that you’ll be stringing together encounters or if your DM is keeping an eye on timers for things like Water Walk. It’s best for creative minds, but your mileage will vary.
5 Empowered
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Rarity |
Uncommon |
|---|---|
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Official Description |
When you roll damage for the spell, you can reroll up to three damage dice. You must use the new rolls. |
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Location in Adventure |
One in Illithinoch |
Empowered Mind Crystals allow you to re-roll up to three damage dice on a spell, giving a second chance on some possibly pitiful rolls. It’s perfect for spells that use higher damage dice that could roll low, such as d10s or d12s, increasing the damage possibilities on spells like upcasted Chromatic Orb or Sickening Radiance. It only works on the damage rolls, so make sure to hit the attack first before worrying about re-rolling.
While the original Metamagic version can roll more, this can patch up a high-level damage spell that was supposed to deal massive damage but came out short due to the cruel dice gods.
4 Distant
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Rarity |
Uncommon |
|---|---|
|
Official Description |
If the spell has a range of 5 feet or more and doesn’t have a range of self, the spell’s range increases by 100 feet. If the spell has a range of touch, its range becomes 30 feet. |
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Location in Adventure |
One in Illithinoch |
The most different when compared to Metamagic, Distant Mind Crystals allow for all touch-ranged spells to have a range of 30 feet while adding 100 feet extra to spells with a range of 5 feet. Its usefulness is tied to expanding on the reach of touch since the constant dungeon diving makes 130 feet range rarely possible.
As ninth-level players, there are many useful touch-ranged spells that would love to have range, from healing with Cure Wounds and Greater Restoration to resurrection with Raise Dead. You can hide an ally with Invisibility or Inflict Wounds on a flying target, giving this stone lots of possibilities.
3 Careful
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Rarity |
Uncommon |
|---|---|
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Official Description |
Choose up to three creatures affected by the spell. The chosen creatures automatically succeed on their saving throws against the spell. |
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Location in Adventure |
One in Tunnels of the Deep |
When in tight corridors, sometimes your wizard just wants to drop a fireball and endanger the party. Careful Mind Crystals can alleviate that fear as you select up to three creatures to automatically succeed the saving throw. This may still hurt your party, but it won’t be as bad as what it’ll do to your enemies.
It’s also the first crystal you find along the way to the fanatic HQ, which helps its usefulness. There may be some overlap if an Evocation Wizard is present who can shape their own spell without this crystal, but your other casters can appreciate not harming the party by accident.
2 Heightened
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Rarity |
Rare |
|---|---|
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Official Description |
Choose one creature affected by the spell. That creature has disadvantage on the first saving throw it makes against the spell. |
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Location in Adventure |
One* in Illithinoch (Roll Table Item ONLY) |
The ‘rarest’ Mind Crystal in the adventure is arguably the most deadly. Heightened allows for your next spell to automatically impose disadvantage on the targetted creature’s saving throw. This can turn the tide of a brutal boss fight, ensuring that your saving throw spells like Banishment can succeed with higher odds.
It only works on saving throws, so your spell attacks can’t use it, but with so many damage and utility spells that require saving throws, this is not a worry. Increasing the success of spells that can trivialize an encounter is always a boon for any party, and finding one of these crystals should be a priority.
1 Quickened
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Rarity |
Rare |
|---|---|
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Official Description |
You change the spell’s casting time to one bonus action for this casting. |
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Location in Adventure |
One in Illithinoch, one in Far Realm Rift |
Quickened is the only Mind Crystal to appear in two different locations in the adventure, and its unbelievable utility makes it the best of the batch by allowing you to turn any spell into one that uses a bonus action instead of an action. It’s the perfect Crystal for martial/caster mix classes that want to cast buffs or debuffs before going in for their attacks or pure casters just wanting to maximize their turn.
Action economy management is paramount to success at higher levels, and anything that allows you to manipulate it will always be useful, no matter who you are adventuring with.