At 10th level, you can use your reaction to expend a spell slot to reduce one source of damage by 5*spell slot level. That's really not great. You could use a reaction and a 5th level slot to reduce damage by 25. This s okay if you're in an AoE I guess? Alternatively, you could use a reaction and a 1ST LEVEL SPELL SLOT to cast shield. I guess if your roughly 20 AC at that level isn't enough, even with shield, and it's just the one enemy, then MAYBE you should consider Song of Defense? But the damage that your enemies do at that level is just too high! The DMG says a CR 10 creature should do 63-68 damage per round (for an offensive CR of 10, I'm aware you can do less but have insane defense and be CR 10, or vice versa). If you're in the front and the thing rolls like an 18+ and hits, you're not going to be doing much with Song of Defense.
Frankly, I think that when this was written, someone forgot about this feature wizards have from 1st level called Spellcasting.
Damage reduction as a reaction may not be an ideal use of a spell slot, but it can also be the one thing that saves you from being knocked unconscious in a difficult encounter. If you only have 55hp, the difference between taking 63 damage and 38 damage is everything.
If you want another way to exploit this ability, you could find a way to get Armor of Agathys. Cast it at max level to get 25 temp hit points and deal 25 damage every time someone hits you. Use low level spell slots to reduce the damage and extend its duration.
Anytime you can use Shield, go for it. I view Song of Defense as a complementary ability for the situations that are save for half damage. Your AC doesn’t matter in those.
It's not the most optimal ability, but there are plenty of times when it will be more effective than casting Shield, Absorb Elements, or some other reaction.
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Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
It's actually really good, when you need it. The whole idea behind a blade singer is survivability through high ac. But if you get crit, you might end up one shot because of how few hp you have. The solution? Blow a spell slot to not get knocked down. You might need to blow a level 4 or 5 slots to prevent getting downed, but you might only need to blow a first level slot if you just need to shave off a few hp worth of damage. Yes, shield is better if it keeps your from getting hit. Absorb elements is likely better to prevent some elemental damage. But if it's physic? Or force? It might be worth blowing a spell slot to prevent it. It's situational, sure. But it's very useful in a pinch.
It is pretty good if you really want a melee focused tank bladesinger. YOu add it to your list of reactions which also include Silvery Barbs (for critical hits), shield (for non-critical hits) and absorb elements for elemental damage. SOD is not as useful as these but it gives you another option when one of these won't work. You can also use it to push down the concentration save required if you are holding on to protection from evil and good, blur or haste.
When I play melee focused bladesingers I don't use a whole lot of spell slots above 3rd level. Usually 4th and 5th level slots are used for false life (or Armor of Agathys if I have it) so I have extra slots often this can be a pretty good use of them and occasionally better than an absorb elements when it either won't work or you want to drive the damage to 0.
If you are playing a melee oriented character your hit points are essentially an expendable resource, probably the most important expendable resource and SOD gives you A LOT more of them to spend. If you consider it this way it is very powerful. If you only used spell slots for SOD and nothing else (which I don't recommend) you will more hit points to "spend" than any other character with the same constitution. This means you can take more damage than Paladin or Fighter or even Barbarian. Combine this with the fact you aren't get a hit a lot to start with and yes it can be very powerful.
It is not as useful if you are playing a more traditional back line wizard with some defensive options.
I think it is a lot better than the optimizer crowd gives it credit for.
It can adsorb damage when the hit is a crit and it can absorb damage when it would require a save. Is 1/2 damage from absorb elements better, sort of. But there are a lot of times when no damage is worth the spell slots vs 1/2 damage and a 1st level slot. And it covers all damage not just Acid, cold, fire, lighting, thunder. Necrotic and poison are pretty common as well. And on top of that since almost no one really does the 6-8 encounter thing, you got spells to burn by that level.
The way i look at it, lots of times a spell or other reaction would be a better option. But when you need it, you really need it. If the attack is high damage and is either a crit, or a element it doesn't protect against, if even with 1/2 damage you would go unconscious(especially if going to 0 has some extra rider), if you can't risk dropping concentration no matter how unlikely it is this is here to fill that gap. That is almost what the entire blade singer is about, other than the concentration help nothing is really making you a better wizard, or reinforcing a school of spells. What it does is cover the holes in your defense.
Unless I’ve created a monster like I did where my ac is a total of 29 without spells. In which case if he did manage to hit me decreasing that damage output is just hilarious and will annoy your dm 🤣
Unless I’ve created a monster like I did where my ac is a total of 29 without spells. In which case if he did manage to hit me decreasing that damage output is just hilarious and will annoy your dm 🤣
How did you manage 29 AC without spells?
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Unless I’ve created a monster like I did where my ac is a total of 29 without spells. In which case if he did manage to hit me decreasing that damage output is just hilarious and will annoy your dm 🤣
How did you manage 29 AC without spells?
It's not that hard with items. A +3 Studded Leather Armor with 20 DEX nets you 20 AC, Bladesong with 20 INT gets you to 25, the remaining 4 AC you can easily get from attunement items like a Defender sword and a cloak/ring of protection.
Heck you can get over 30 AC if you really tried by attuning a Staff of Power and holding it in your other hand.
So it requires at least two pieces of Very Rare to Legendary magic items to achieve.
Good gear makes things easy and simple, however you can achieve similar results on a budget. Use Mage Armor with 20 DEX for 18 AC, Bladesong with 20 INT for 23, get Duel Wielder feat for another +1, attune Bracers of Defense to bump it to 26 AC, add in a Ring and Cloak of Protection for 28 AC. If your setting allows then you can grab a race like Warforged for another +1 for a grand total of 29 AC with only Uncommon and Rare items.
So it requires at least two pieces of Very Rare to Legendary magic items to achieve.
At level 11+ it does not seem a stretch to have +3 studded leather a good magic sword and a cloak of protection.
That's highly GM dependent. I've been in level 11+ games three times in 5E and not once did anyone get even a single +3 magic weapon or suit of armor. It can happen but there's no guarantee that it will happen so making a claim that you can just build the character to get that result isn't exactly reliable.
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Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
So it requires at least two pieces of Very Rare to Legendary magic items to achieve.
At level 11+ it does not seem a stretch to have +3 studded leather a good magic sword and a cloak of protection.
That's highly GM dependent. I've been in level 11+ games three times in 5E and not once did anyone get even a single +3 magic weapon or suit of armor. It can happen but there's no guarantee that it will happen so making a claim that you can just build the character to get that result isn't exactly reliable.
Sure, but it was obvious they had to use good magic items to get there so its a campaign that gives people good magic items. but there are tons of other gear ways to get there as well. I've been in multiple published adventures where stats can get permanently increased through magic items or effects so through WOTC published campaigns i have seen 22s and 24s. So its entirely plausible for someone to have a 21-22 Ac before gear is even added. The only off one I think is the defender as its legendary and that is only off at low 10s, at level 17 which given the 29 AC is probably more likely than 10 or 11. And at 17 its not weird to have a legendary, as an aside. defender swords really shouldn't be a legendary given how many very rare items are more powerful. But they are so stuck on +s in design they overlook how powerful wands/staves, miscellaneous items are in comparison. A wand of fireballs is far more powerful than a defender sword at most levels of play people actually play at.(which would be fine if martials got gear like that put steel wind strike on a matial weapon, 6 charges recharge 1d6 charges at dawn) If someone wants to put all of their attainments towards Ac have at it. Its not that game breaking in comparison.
So it requires at least two pieces of Very Rare to Legendary magic items to achieve.
At level 11+ it does not seem a stretch to have +3 studded leather a good magic sword and a cloak of protection.
That's highly GM dependent. I've been in level 11+ games three times in 5E and not once did anyone get even a single +3 magic weapon or suit of armor. It can happen but there's no guarantee that it will happen so making a claim that you can just build the character to get that result isn't exactly reliable.
Well the super budget version still nets you at least 25 AC with no item or spell requirements which is still pretty solid. Although not having access to uncommon and rare items in a level 11+ campaign would be quite a rare occurrence unless it is a low magic setting.
So it requires at least two pieces of Very Rare to Legendary magic items to achieve.
At level 11+ it does not seem a stretch to have +3 studded leather a good magic sword and a cloak of protection.
That's highly GM dependent. I've been in level 11+ games three times in 5E and not once did anyone get even a single +3 magic weapon or suit of armor. It can happen but there's no guarantee that it will happen so making a claim that you can just build the character to get that result isn't exactly reliable.
Well the super budget version still nets you at least 25 AC with no item or spell requirements which is still pretty solid. Although not having access to uncommon and rare items in a level 11+ campaign would be quite a rare occurrence unless it is a low magic setting.
There's having access to Very Rare/Legendary items, and then there's having access to the Very Rare/Legendary items that fit your specific character build. Two different things.
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Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
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At 10th level, you can use your reaction to expend a spell slot to reduce one source of damage by 5*spell slot level. That's really not great. You could use a reaction and a 5th level slot to reduce damage by 25. This s okay if you're in an AoE I guess? Alternatively, you could use a reaction and a 1ST LEVEL SPELL SLOT to cast shield. I guess if your roughly 20 AC at that level isn't enough, even with shield, and it's just the one enemy, then MAYBE you should consider Song of Defense? But the damage that your enemies do at that level is just too high! The DMG says a CR 10 creature should do 63-68 damage per round (for an offensive CR of 10, I'm aware you can do less but have insane defense and be CR 10, or vice versa). If you're in the front and the thing rolls like an 18+ and hits, you're not going to be doing much with Song of Defense.
Frankly, I think that when this was written, someone forgot about this feature wizards have from 1st level called Spellcasting.
Damage reduction as a reaction may not be an ideal use of a spell slot, but it can also be the one thing that saves you from being knocked unconscious in a difficult encounter. If you only have 55hp, the difference between taking 63 damage and 38 damage is everything.
If you want another way to exploit this ability, you could find a way to get Armor of Agathys. Cast it at max level to get 25 temp hit points and deal 25 damage every time someone hits you. Use low level spell slots to reduce the damage and extend its duration.
Anytime you can use Shield, go for it. I view Song of Defense as a complementary ability for the situations that are save for half damage. Your AC doesn’t matter in those.
It's not the most optimal ability, but there are plenty of times when it will be more effective than casting Shield, Absorb Elements, or some other reaction.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
It's actually really good, when you need it. The whole idea behind a blade singer is survivability through high ac. But if you get crit, you might end up one shot because of how few hp you have. The solution? Blow a spell slot to not get knocked down. You might need to blow a level 4 or 5 slots to prevent getting downed, but you might only need to blow a first level slot if you just need to shave off a few hp worth of damage. Yes, shield is better if it keeps your from getting hit. Absorb elements is likely better to prevent some elemental damage. But if it's physic? Or force? It might be worth blowing a spell slot to prevent it. It's situational, sure. But it's very useful in a pinch.
I agree it's weak but like other people have stated it's far from useless...
I mostly look at as add a minor save my ass ability to make up for how awesome bladesinging is.
As bladesinging is really front loaded you'd expect the higher leveled abilities to be weaker to keep the subclass in line
This can also save you from getting Disintegrated or something like that where you can reduce the damage by a lot by burning a high slot and live.
It is pretty good if you really want a melee focused tank bladesinger. YOu add it to your list of reactions which also include Silvery Barbs (for critical hits), shield (for non-critical hits) and absorb elements for elemental damage. SOD is not as useful as these but it gives you another option when one of these won't work. You can also use it to push down the concentration save required if you are holding on to protection from evil and good, blur or haste.
When I play melee focused bladesingers I don't use a whole lot of spell slots above 3rd level. Usually 4th and 5th level slots are used for false life (or Armor of Agathys if I have it) so I have extra slots often this can be a pretty good use of them and occasionally better than an absorb elements when it either won't work or you want to drive the damage to 0.
If you are playing a melee oriented character your hit points are essentially an expendable resource, probably the most important expendable resource and SOD gives you A LOT more of them to spend. If you consider it this way it is very powerful. If you only used spell slots for SOD and nothing else (which I don't recommend) you will more hit points to "spend" than any other character with the same constitution. This means you can take more damage than Paladin or Fighter or even Barbarian. Combine this with the fact you aren't get a hit a lot to start with and yes it can be very powerful.
It is not as useful if you are playing a more traditional back line wizard with some defensive options.
I think it is a lot better than the optimizer crowd gives it credit for.
It can adsorb damage when the hit is a crit and it can absorb damage when it would require a save. Is 1/2 damage from absorb elements better, sort of. But there are a lot of times when no damage is worth the spell slots vs 1/2 damage and a 1st level slot. And it covers all damage not just Acid, cold, fire, lighting, thunder. Necrotic and poison are pretty common as well. And on top of that since almost no one really does the 6-8 encounter thing, you got spells to burn by that level.
The way i look at it, lots of times a spell or other reaction would be a better option. But when you need it, you really need it. If the attack is high damage and is either a crit, or a element it doesn't protect against, if even with 1/2 damage you would go unconscious(especially if going to 0 has some extra rider), if you can't risk dropping concentration no matter how unlikely it is this is here to fill that gap. That is almost what the entire blade singer is about, other than the concentration help nothing is really making you a better wizard, or reinforcing a school of spells. What it does is cover the holes in your defense.
Edit didn't notice this was a necro. sigh.
Unless I’ve created a monster like I did where my ac is a total of 29 without spells. In which case if he did manage to hit me decreasing that damage output is just hilarious and will annoy your dm 🤣
How did you manage 29 AC without spells?
Click ✨ HERE ✨ For My Youtube Videos featuring Guides, Tips & Tricks for using D&D Beyond.
Need help with Homebrew? Check out ✨ this FAQ/Guide thread ✨ by IamSposta.
Shield is a much more common reaction but there are uses of SOD.
It's not that hard with items. A +3 Studded Leather Armor with 20 DEX nets you 20 AC, Bladesong with 20 INT gets you to 25, the remaining 4 AC you can easily get from attunement items like a Defender sword and a cloak/ring of protection.
Heck you can get over 30 AC if you really tried by attuning a Staff of Power and holding it in your other hand.
So it requires at least two pieces of Very Rare to Legendary magic items to achieve.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Good gear makes things easy and simple, however you can achieve similar results on a budget. Use Mage Armor with 20 DEX for 18 AC, Bladesong with 20 INT for 23, get Duel Wielder feat for another +1, attune Bracers of Defense to bump it to 26 AC, add in a Ring and Cloak of Protection for 28 AC. If your setting allows then you can grab a race like Warforged for another +1 for a grand total of 29 AC with only Uncommon and Rare items.
At level 11+ it does not seem a stretch to have +3 studded leather a good magic sword and a cloak of protection.
That's highly GM dependent. I've been in level 11+ games three times in 5E and not once did anyone get even a single +3 magic weapon or suit of armor. It can happen but there's no guarantee that it will happen so making a claim that you can just build the character to get that result isn't exactly reliable.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Sure, but it was obvious they had to use good magic items to get there so its a campaign that gives people good magic items. but there are tons of other gear ways to get there as well. I've been in multiple published adventures where stats can get permanently increased through magic items or effects so through WOTC published campaigns i have seen 22s and 24s. So its entirely plausible for someone to have a 21-22 Ac before gear is even added. The only off one I think is the defender as its legendary and that is only off at low 10s, at level 17 which given the 29 AC is probably more likely than 10 or 11. And at 17 its not weird to have a legendary, as an aside. defender swords really shouldn't be a legendary given how many very rare items are more powerful. But they are so stuck on +s in design they overlook how powerful wands/staves, miscellaneous items are in comparison. A wand of fireballs is far more powerful than a defender sword at most levels of play people actually play at.(which would be fine if martials got gear like that put steel wind strike on a matial weapon, 6 charges recharge 1d6 charges at dawn) If someone wants to put all of their attainments towards Ac have at it. Its not that game breaking in comparison.
Well the super budget version still nets you at least 25 AC with no item or spell requirements which is still pretty solid. Although not having access to uncommon and rare items in a level 11+ campaign would be quite a rare occurrence unless it is a low magic setting.
There's having access to Very Rare/Legendary items, and then there's having access to the Very Rare/Legendary items that fit your specific character build. Two different things.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.