So, Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden had a few new spells in it, but only one of the three is relevant to this thread. Blade of Disaster. It is a 9th level spell available to Wizards and any bard can pick it up with Magical Secrets. I haven't seen much discussion on the spell, which I think is quite good, and wanted to see what the community thought of it.
What do you think of the spell? Is it good? Is it actually worth taking and casting? I'd love to hear your comments below.
It definitely does massive damage - bonus action damage is pretty awesome since it stacks with everything the wizard would normally do for their action.
On the other hand, by the time you're getting 9th level spells... ...is it really that exciting to just add damage in combat? Dunno, really depends on what the campaign is like at that level.
As a ninth-level spell, this is competing with the likes of Meteor Swarm, True Polymorph, Psychic Scream, and obviously Wish. Wish and True Polymorph are absolute game changers that can bend the course of campaigns. Psychic Scream deals significant damage and can disable half an army for several turns via targeting the almost universally weak INT save, and Meteor Swarm can just erase that half an army. As well as the other half of the army. Does Blade of Disaster hold up?
Obviously no spell matches Wish or True Polymorph for overwhelming versatility and creative power. Those two spells are in a class of their own, so let's discard them for now.
Blade of Disaster vs. Psychic Scream: The Blade deals equivalent or better damage in a single turn to Psychic Scream within a single turn, and then deals that damage round over round. It doesn't have the enormous area coverage of Psychic Scream, but in many cases this isn't a huge drawback, and assuming the blade lasts its full duration it can hit the same number of targets as Scream. Technically twice as many, if it's perfectly positioned to donate each of its two attacks per turn to a different target. It just has to chase those targets down. And of course, the Blade deals catastrophic single-target round over round damage, which Psychic Scream cannot. Wizards have better options at lower levels for AoE coverage; much as I love Psychic Scream from a story/characterization perspective, I'd say the Blade is a better choice for one's spellbook/Secret than Psychic Scream.
Blade of Disaster vs. Meteor Swarm: This one's harder to judge, since the two spells have entirely different functions. Meteor Swarm has stupid colossal range, enormous area coverage, and throws more d6s than anything else in the game. It's the ultimate in "**** your henchmooks", as well as very evocative to cast. The Blade cannot hope to deal with as many targets as Meteor Swarm can...but the Blade does do much better against the henchmooks' Big Boss than Meteor Swarm does. You won't always get all your strikes, but when you do the Blade can easily accrue the same damage to a single target that a meteor would over a couple of rounds before pulling ahead. This feels campaign dependent - if your campaign has lots of armies and large-scale conflicts, take Meteors. If your game focuses more on epic duels against overwhelmingly powerful single critters, take the Blade.
Or, since you're a frickin' wizard, take them both. By level 20 you have eight chances to add a ninth-level spell to your spellbook for free. There's no reason for you to have to pick. Bards will have to get thrifty, but frankly a bard is going to take Wish and a high-level utility spell, not Blade of Disaster.
The real kicker, methinks, is that unlike most other ninth-level magic, the Blade is highly amenable to Hijinks. Note that there's no distance limit on the Blade - it starts within 60 feet of you and can only move 30 feet a turn, but it can exist at any distance away from you within those parameters. The blade can pass without fail through any barrier - this means that if you have a means of seeing through any such barriers yourself, you can assault an enemy from complete safety. The Blade's expanded crit range also makes advantage super important. A high elf wizard teaming up with a bard, druid or artificer to Faerie Fire a target or otherwise fish for Elven Accuracy Super Advantage can chop anything unable to escape the Blade of Disaster into sushi in very short order. I don't know what the chance of rolling an 18 or higher on six d20 is, but I imagine it's a whole lot higher than anything with a brain in its head is going to put up with for long.
What this honestly suggests to me is that the Blade of Disaster is almost more of an area denial spell than it is a raw damage spell. Anything dangerous enough to warrant the Blade's use is generally going to be smart enough to recognize the enormous threat the blade poses. Most such creatures will want to avoid being anywhere the Blade can get at them, which means you can use the Blade to push critters around and force them to abandon otherwise advantageous places. This is likely not a fantastic use of the highest level spell slot you've got, but depending on just how advantageous the spot you're trying to chase a critter out of is, it's not the worst use, either. It also means the Blade can kinda-sorta act as a watchdog for squishy casters in the back - anything that moves in to try and deal with the annoying spellthrowers in the back has to deal with Sweeney Todd In Spell Form trying to give them the worst shaving cuts. Again, perhaps not the greatest use of one's ninth-level slot, but few other spells can help protect their own concentration that way either, so perhaps not the worst.
Overall? It's no Wish or True Polymorph, but nothing ever is. For a spell your DM is actually likely to let you use without complaint, the Blade feels like what Mordenkainen's Sword should have been - a wizard asserting dominance over the fighter once and for all whilst saying "Quadratic. Muhfuggin'. Wizard." It's certainly a lot of fun to toy with, and it feels like an ultimate expression of War Wizardry or (eeuugh...) Bladesinging. A concentration spell that makes two melee spell attacks per turn for your ninth-level slot is never going to be a premier use of that slot...but careful examination of the spell seems to suggest it's hardly the worst use of it, either.
Nice review, Yurei. I agree with all the points. This spell definitely has its uses and niches where it can dominate certain creatures, especially with certain combinations.
Sorry, I should have thought of that. I've added it to the OP.
I don't know what the chance of rolling an 18 or higher on six d20 is, but I imagine it's a whole lot higher than anything with a brain in its head is going to put up with for long.
Edit: I'll trust Emmber's capabilities with statistics. I almost definitely did something wrong.
With Elven Accuracy a single attack has a 38.59% chance of being a critical if it can do so with an 18 or higher. With two attacks you have a 62.28% chance to get at least one critical (37.71% to get no criticals / 47.40% to get exactly one critical / 14.89% to get exactly two criticals).
I think it's really cool... I doubt I'll ever get access to it... But I if I ever do reach such a high level I'll most certainly pick it up. I've always been a lil sad I cant use spiritual weapon as a wizard so eventually getting a beefed up version is really neat :)
It is worth noting that it is a Conjuration spell, and higher level Conjuration School Wizards get unbreakable concentration on spells of their school. They would be the ones for whom I would consider this spell a priority 9th level pick. A lot of summon a magic-thing-you-create-to-do-ongoing-damage spells that arguably could be conjuration and take advantage of this subclass feature (like the very comparable Mordenkainen's Sword or Bigby's Hand) are actually evocation.
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So, Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden had a few new spells in it, but only one of the three is relevant to this thread. Blade of Disaster. It is a 9th level spell available to Wizards and any bard can pick it up with Magical Secrets. I haven't seen much discussion on the spell, which I think is quite good, and wanted to see what the community thought of it.
What do you think of the spell? Is it good? Is it actually worth taking and casting? I'd love to hear your comments below.
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
It definitely does massive damage - bonus action damage is pretty awesome since it stacks with everything the wizard would normally do for their action.
On the other hand, by the time you're getting 9th level spells... ...is it really that exciting to just add damage in combat? Dunno, really depends on what the campaign is like at that level.
Blade of Disaster (y u no tags, Third?) is...interesting.
As a ninth-level spell, this is competing with the likes of Meteor Swarm, True Polymorph, Psychic Scream, and obviously Wish. Wish and True Polymorph are absolute game changers that can bend the course of campaigns. Psychic Scream deals significant damage and can disable half an army for several turns via targeting the almost universally weak INT save, and Meteor Swarm can just erase that half an army. As well as the other half of the army. Does Blade of Disaster hold up?
Obviously no spell matches Wish or True Polymorph for overwhelming versatility and creative power. Those two spells are in a class of their own, so let's discard them for now.
Blade of Disaster vs. Psychic Scream: The Blade deals equivalent or better damage in a single turn to Psychic Scream within a single turn, and then deals that damage round over round. It doesn't have the enormous area coverage of Psychic Scream, but in many cases this isn't a huge drawback, and assuming the blade lasts its full duration it can hit the same number of targets as Scream. Technically twice as many, if it's perfectly positioned to donate each of its two attacks per turn to a different target. It just has to chase those targets down. And of course, the Blade deals catastrophic single-target round over round damage, which Psychic Scream cannot. Wizards have better options at lower levels for AoE coverage; much as I love Psychic Scream from a story/characterization perspective, I'd say the Blade is a better choice for one's spellbook/Secret than Psychic Scream.
Blade of Disaster vs. Meteor Swarm: This one's harder to judge, since the two spells have entirely different functions. Meteor Swarm has stupid colossal range, enormous area coverage, and throws more d6s than anything else in the game. It's the ultimate in "**** your henchmooks", as well as very evocative to cast. The Blade cannot hope to deal with as many targets as Meteor Swarm can...but the Blade does do much better against the henchmooks' Big Boss than Meteor Swarm does. You won't always get all your strikes, but when you do the Blade can easily accrue the same damage to a single target that a meteor would over a couple of rounds before pulling ahead. This feels campaign dependent - if your campaign has lots of armies and large-scale conflicts, take Meteors. If your game focuses more on epic duels against overwhelmingly powerful single critters, take the Blade.
Or, since you're a frickin' wizard, take them both. By level 20 you have eight chances to add a ninth-level spell to your spellbook for free. There's no reason for you to have to pick. Bards will have to get thrifty, but frankly a bard is going to take Wish and a high-level utility spell, not Blade of Disaster.
The real kicker, methinks, is that unlike most other ninth-level magic, the Blade is highly amenable to Hijinks. Note that there's no distance limit on the Blade - it starts within 60 feet of you and can only move 30 feet a turn, but it can exist at any distance away from you within those parameters. The blade can pass without fail through any barrier - this means that if you have a means of seeing through any such barriers yourself, you can assault an enemy from complete safety. The Blade's expanded crit range also makes advantage super important. A high elf wizard teaming up with a bard, druid or artificer to Faerie Fire a target or otherwise fish for Elven Accuracy Super Advantage can chop anything unable to escape the Blade of Disaster into sushi in very short order. I don't know what the chance of rolling an 18 or higher on six d20 is, but I imagine it's a whole lot higher than anything with a brain in its head is going to put up with for long.
What this honestly suggests to me is that the Blade of Disaster is almost more of an area denial spell than it is a raw damage spell. Anything dangerous enough to warrant the Blade's use is generally going to be smart enough to recognize the enormous threat the blade poses. Most such creatures will want to avoid being anywhere the Blade can get at them, which means you can use the Blade to push critters around and force them to abandon otherwise advantageous places. This is likely not a fantastic use of the highest level spell slot you've got, but depending on just how advantageous the spot you're trying to chase a critter out of is, it's not the worst use, either. It also means the Blade can kinda-sorta act as a watchdog for squishy casters in the back - anything that moves in to try and deal with the annoying spellthrowers in the back has to deal with Sweeney Todd In Spell Form trying to give them the worst shaving cuts. Again, perhaps not the greatest use of one's ninth-level slot, but few other spells can help protect their own concentration that way either, so perhaps not the worst.
Overall? It's no Wish or True Polymorph, but nothing ever is. For a spell your DM is actually likely to let you use without complaint, the Blade feels like what Mordenkainen's Sword should have been - a wizard asserting dominance over the fighter once and for all whilst saying "Quadratic. Muhfuggin'. Wizard." It's certainly a lot of fun to toy with, and it feels like an ultimate expression of War Wizardry or (eeuugh...) Bladesinging. A concentration spell that makes two melee spell attacks per turn for your ninth-level slot is never going to be a premier use of that slot...but careful examination of the spell seems to suggest it's hardly the worst use of it, either.
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I really feel that warlock should get it. It matches the entire hexblade/blade pact theme extremely well.
No clue why all of those new spells are wizard exclusive.
Because Wizards of the Coast has a bias toward certain classes.
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 really does, and it's not even subtle.
I've noticed that Warlocks don't get many direct damage spells, especially at higher levels.
A fool pulls the leaves. A brute chops the trunk. A sage digs the roots.
My Improved Lineage System
Thankfully, my DM is allowing my Hexblade to get this spell at level 17. There's no reason for them not to have it.
Also, Frost Fingers definitely should've been available to Sorcerers.
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
I mean WotC despises sorcerers, so not giving them completely obvious spells for them to get is pretty par for the course.
Nice review, Yurei. I agree with all the points. This spell definitely has its uses and niches where it can dominate certain creatures, especially with certain combinations.
Sorry, I should have thought of that. I've added it to the OP.
Edit: I'll trust Emmber's capabilities with statistics. I almost definitely did something wrong.
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
With Elven Accuracy a single attack has a 38.59% chance of being a critical if it can do so with an 18 or higher. With two attacks you have a 62.28% chance to get at least one critical (37.71% to get no criticals / 47.40% to get exactly one critical / 14.89% to get exactly two criticals).
Mega Yahtzee Thread:
Highest 41: brocker2001 (#11,285).
Yahtzee of 2's: Emmber (#36,161).
Lowest 9: JoeltheWalrus (#312), Emmber (#12,505) and Dertinus (#20,953).
It's a 9th level spell...... you'd hope it would be.
Mega Yahtzee Thread:
Highest 41: brocker2001 (#11,285).
Yahtzee of 2's: Emmber (#36,161).
Lowest 9: JoeltheWalrus (#312), Emmber (#12,505) and Dertinus (#20,953).
Yeah, it's competing with Meteor Swarm and Wish for the same spell slot, so it had better be devastating.
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.
I think it's really cool... I doubt I'll ever get access to it... But I if I ever do reach such a high level I'll most certainly pick it up. I've always been a lil sad I cant use spiritual weapon as a wizard so eventually getting a beefed up version is really neat :)
I really like that Warlocks and Sorcerers get access to it now. That will help my hexblade so much.
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
They do? Nice.
A fool pulls the leaves. A brute chops the trunk. A sage digs the roots.
My Improved Lineage System
Yeah, Tasha's Cauldron added it to both classes' spell lists.
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.
Yep. It fits extremely well for Hexblades and Shadow Sorcerers.
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
Its essentialy a Spiritual Weapon on Steroids.
Wich as an Warlock player i do not mind.
"Normality is but an Illusion, Whats normal to the Spider, is only madness for the Fly"
Kain de Frostberg- Dark Knight - (Vengeance Pal3/ Hexblade 9), Port Mourn
Kain de Draakberg-Dark Knight lvl8-Avergreen(DitA)
It is worth noting that it is a Conjuration spell, and higher level Conjuration School Wizards get unbreakable concentration on spells of their school. They would be the ones for whom I would consider this spell a priority 9th level pick. A lot of summon a magic-thing-you-create-to-do-ongoing-damage spells that arguably could be conjuration and take advantage of this subclass feature (like the very comparable Mordenkainen's Sword or Bigby's Hand) are actually evocation.