I play Pathfinder, so this is a new one to me. Am I understanding this right? It's a bubble shield, with no weaknesses, that lasts 8 hours, that nothing can get inside (not even if it were covered in lava), but objects and characters can freely pass out of? So, does that mean people inside can use ranged attacks all they want, without anything being able to attack them? And this is a level three spell?!
Yea, that seems crazy broken.
Edit: Now I see why I haven't heard of it even though it's also in Pathfinder, it is WAY toned down in PF. DnDs version is insane.
It's also a ritual spell, so it does not even cost a spell slot of you have extra time, and wizards don't need to prepare spells to cast them as rituals.
It's basically "Yeah this is a safe camp spot for a long rest".
There's an argument that ghosts can pop up from underneath it. The exact wording is "around and above you"; it doesn't specify below.
I played a game once where this issue popped up, and the ultimate decision of the DM was that it does block from below as well. Which I think is a reasonable take of the intent of the spell, but a more rules lawyery DM could say otherwise.
Counter spell has been the most valuable spell in my spell book by far. That spell literally turns the tide of battles.
What is the use for plant growth? I've seen it, but it always seemed underwhelming based on the description, so I've never used it. Especially since it can gimp your melee teammates as well as the enemies.
I feel that they can't just jump out of it, as that basically just nullifies the spell entirely, I generally imply the plants are actually grabbing people.
As for pulling out their crossbows, at level 5, enemies are already begining to move from humanoids with equipment to unique creatures. A wereboar or ettin for example doesn't have any RAW ranged weapons.
The spell is also absolutely amazing to pair with another Spellcaster with consistent AOE damage such as moonbeam or ideally sickening radiance or cloudkill. That's the real army killer as once the spell is up, you can take cover and let them be microwaved while they can't reasonably counter you.
You'll run into the same power with every spell that limits creatures movement, and I'd say for a 4th level spell, that movement limitation is about right.
I guess your success with such strategies is going to be heavily dependent on whether the enemies can leap out or not. Any reasonably intelligent creature with enough strength is going to jump right out. Having plant growth restrain them so they can't jump is the real power, plus how wide it is. Something like grease is good if they fail their athletics check, but otherwise they'll just leap out and its value is gone. Now it's a hindrance to everyone on the field, including your party.
Really depends. In the game I DM for some monsters have killed or almost killed themselves trying to get out of plant growth. A dumb creature like a troll would hurt itself. Even a smarter creature is now stuck and unable to come into melee range