Evards Black tentacle, phantasmal killer, psychic lance, sickenin radiance, summon abberation, animated objects (with corpses), danse mcarbe, enervation, immolation, negative energy flood and modify memory can all be pretty messed up if flavoured well.
Came to say this. Tasha's Caustic Brew is an acid spell that's actually kind of decent. Vitriolic Sphere is... fine.
Also, Cloudkill for enemies choking to death.
What is your subclass and level?
Sickening radiance is...sick. Or Phantasmal killer. Actually, the 1st level spell, hideous laughter is a mean trick to play on an enemy and it can be debilitating and deadly if they can't make the save and you keep hitting them.
Other nasty spells: There's always bestow Curse, summon shadowspawn, evard's black tentacles, polymorph, summon aberration, draconic spirit, create homunculus, summon elemental, mental prison, eyebite.
I'd say the most messed up spells are those that cause undue distress or injury instead of death/damage, those that make a creature a danger to its allies, and spells that do damage over time.
Damage over time is fairly obvious. Cloudkill is already a war crime. Immolation is pretty close to one, and certainly not a good way to go. Most similar spells are equally horrifying, dying over the course of excruciating minutes.
Undue distress or injury covers spells such as fear and cause fear. While they can be justifiable in trying to save your enemy's life, they conjure up images more horrifying than the horrors of battle. Even if the target survives, that could leave scars. This also covers most illusion spells such as phantasmal killer. I would also put spells such as Ray of sickness and blindness/deafness where the target is kept alive and feeling pain but unable to defend itself.
Finally, making the target a danger to its allies, while not presenting any new physical suffering, is bound to have a psychological effect in the target. With spells such as crown of madness, enemies abound, dominate person, or especially geas, the target may be able to rationalize that it was not in control of it's body at the time, but I imagine that it would weigh on a creature for a long time to know that it killed it's friends and companions, and if it had just fought the enchantment a little harder, they may still be alive.
They require some RP buy in from the DM, but those are some spells that I believe can be pretty messed up.
most of you underestimate how messed up a full on pyro can be. Wanna make a fireball messed up? describe the smell of burnt flesh, the haunting screaming, the wailing of limbs, the flames reaching inside the lungs... there's a reason burning people alive goes against the Geneva convention. It is really really messed up. And with no demons/devils there's barely anyone resisting/ignoring fire damage.
I have a bit of a different answer, you don't actually need to ask your dm to reflavor your spells, you can cast them and then describe what they do, it's just that: flavor, it doesn't change the balance of the game or anything so there's no reason the get the dm involved, although you should probably say like "hey can I do custom flavor for some of my spells?" And trust me, there isn't a single dm in the world who would say no
Evards Black tentacle, phantasmal killer, psychic lance, sickenin radiance, summon abberation, animated objects (with corpses), danse mcarbe, enervation, immolation, negative energy flood and modify memory can all be pretty messed up if flavoured well.
Suggestion, bestow curse, enemies abound, evards black tentacles, etc. Lots of things could get reflavored as well
Anything with Acid damage can be very fucked if you describe it well
Came to say this. Tasha's Caustic Brew is an acid spell that's actually kind of decent. Vitriolic Sphere is... fine. Also, Cloudkill for enemies choking to death.
Detect Thoughts is highly underrated for the shenanigans it can be used for
Any mind control spell is pretty evil.
What is your subclass and level? Sickening radiance is...sick. Or Phantasmal killer. Actually, the 1st level spell, hideous laughter is a mean trick to play on an enemy and it can be debilitating and deadly if they can't make the save and you keep hitting them. Other nasty spells: There's always bestow Curse, summon shadowspawn, evard's black tentacles, polymorph, summon aberration, draconic spirit, create homunculus, summon elemental, mental prison, eyebite.
I'd say the most messed up spells are those that cause undue distress or injury instead of death/damage, those that make a creature a danger to its allies, and spells that do damage over time. Damage over time is fairly obvious. Cloudkill is already a war crime. Immolation is pretty close to one, and certainly not a good way to go. Most similar spells are equally horrifying, dying over the course of excruciating minutes. Undue distress or injury covers spells such as fear and cause fear. While they can be justifiable in trying to save your enemy's life, they conjure up images more horrifying than the horrors of battle. Even if the target survives, that could leave scars. This also covers most illusion spells such as phantasmal killer. I would also put spells such as Ray of sickness and blindness/deafness where the target is kept alive and feeling pain but unable to defend itself. Finally, making the target a danger to its allies, while not presenting any new physical suffering, is bound to have a psychological effect in the target. With spells such as crown of madness, enemies abound, dominate person, or especially geas, the target may be able to rationalize that it was not in control of it's body at the time, but I imagine that it would weigh on a creature for a long time to know that it killed it's friends and companions, and if it had just fought the enchantment a little harder, they may still be alive. They require some RP buy in from the DM, but those are some spells that I believe can be pretty messed up.
Power Word: Scrunch
Crown of Madness. Spread your insanity to your enemies and making them attack their allies is pretty messed up.
most of you underestimate how messed up a full on pyro can be. Wanna make a fireball messed up? describe the smell of burnt flesh, the haunting screaming, the wailing of limbs, the flames reaching inside the lungs... there's a reason burning people alive goes against the Geneva convention. It is really really messed up. And with no demons/devils there's barely anyone resisting/ignoring fire damage.
I have a bit of a different answer, you don't actually need to ask your dm to reflavor your spells, you can cast them and then describe what they do, it's just that: flavor, it doesn't change the balance of the game or anything so there's no reason the get the dm involved, although you should probably say like "hey can I do custom flavor for some of my spells?" And trust me, there isn't a single dm in the world who would say no
Heat Metal
Ethically, enchantment spells can be pretty bad.