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.
That's a really good point! Thanks for pointing this out. This is a really good spell for Conjurers to concentrate now. That actually makes me want to play one now. . .
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I was looking into an Assassin/Wizard build, and if you stop Assasin at 3, by 20 you can get Blade of Disaster. Since this is the one 9th level spell that you make an attack with you can auto crit on your first round. Obviously you need to surprise the enemy, but it still sounds like a fun use of the spell for me.
Well, I guess it would work since the Assassinate ability doesn't specify that it's limited to weapon attacks (rather surprising), but trying to build for something you're not getting until 20th level... what are you doing before then?
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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.
Other spells that use attack rolls. Steel wind strike, scorching ray. Stuff like that. But thats also just for the first round, otherwise normal wizard stuff with some rogue skills mixed in. Possibly Bladesinger and using shadow blade with sneak attack damage. I'm still work shopping it a bit. I just thought it was an interesting combination when I came across it looking at spells that use attacks for an opening salvo.
Checks out. Though it occurs to me that if you went with warlock instead of wizard for this build, you could really cheese out Eldritch Blast even further. At 20th level you could EB and Black Blade of Disaster for a total of six attacks in one round.
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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.
My question is how does the opponent fight a blade of disaster. It seems pretty deadly if there is no defense against it, other than AC. It is guaranteed 40 attacks in a 10 round period with no way of stopping it.
two melee spell attacks with the blade, each one against a creature, loose object, or structure within 5 feet of the blade
As a bonus action on your turn, you can move the blade up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space you can see and then make up to two melee spell attacks with it again.
My question is how does the opponent fight a blade of disaster. It seems pretty deadly if there is no defense against it, other than AC. It is guaranteed 40 attacks in a 10 round period with no way of stopping it.
two melee spell attacks with the blade, each one against a creature, loose object, or structure within 5 feet of the blade
As a bonus action on your turn, you can move the blade up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space you can see and then make up to two melee spell attacks with it again.
It's concentration, so most spellcasters who cast it would be vulnerable to losing concentration via damage. for the Conjuration Wizards, you also lose concentration automatically if you become incapacitated or killed, so spells and effects that do so would work. A large effect that forces a concentration save without damage would also work, per the PH
Ninth-level spells are supposed to be Big Heckin' Deals. When somebody pulls the trigger on their ninth-level spell, they're expecting it to be a game changer.
That said? The usual anti-spell defenses work here. Counterspell it, Dispel it. Pound the caster into meat sauce. In this case simple movement speed is itself a defense - if you're never within thirty feet of the blade, it can never catch up to you and turn you into human(oid) lasagna. I mentioned that in my more in-depth post six months ago - Blade of Disaster is more of an area denial spell than a direct damage spell against highly intelligent foes, since the best defense against it is to not be within its reach. Whether or not the caster uses that to their advantage or not is up to them, but it remains the best way to avoid getting Disaster'd.
I think people are ignoring some of the multiclass potential here, when combined with three levels of assassin rogue. Hide and then ambush before a battle. Two crits, guaranteed (as long as you hit in the first place).
Assassin 3/Hexblade 17 seems pretty good in the meantime, it comes online at level 8 when you pick up third level warlock spell slots and can get eldritch smite. (I theorycrafted a vuman rogue with warlock initiate for eldritch blast, an aoe cantrip, and hex. First two levels rogue, then first level as warlock, followed by rogue 3 and then 16 levels of warlock). Also, assassinate works with Eldritch Blast in RAW.
Hide and then ambush before a battle. Two crits, guaranteed (as long as you hit in the first place).
Incorrect. You still need to beat the target in initiative - as soon as that target has taken its turn (regardless of being surprised and thus not being able to do anything on its turn), it's no longer surprised.
That aside, "hide and ambush before a battle" isn't always an option, and at 20th level certainly easier said than done.
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I am playing Dungeon of the Mad Mage and took this on my sorcerer. I managed to get critical hit on Halaster with it and did a little over 140 damage with a single bonus action. It was a pretty fun spell to use overall as well. Thematically, it's just really cool to create a blade out a planar rift and wreck people with it.
Though there is certainly a bias towards classes like 5e's wizards, I think that the specific reason here is the in story implications within RotFM. Don't want to get into super details, but it is very much tied to wizards within the narrative and I can see the reasons why it was limited.
My DM pulled off a Wall of Force bubble around my level 18 illusionist and was very surprised when I pulled out the blade of disaster from my repertoire.
Thanks for protecting me while I whittle away at your boss monster! Luckily for me that DM isn’t the type to take being outplayed by his players personally.
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That's a really good point! Thanks for pointing this out. This is a really good spell for Conjurers to concentrate now. That actually makes me want to play one now. . .
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
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I was looking into an Assassin/Wizard build, and if you stop Assasin at 3, by 20 you can get Blade of Disaster. Since this is the one 9th level spell that you make an attack with you can auto crit on your first round. Obviously you need to surprise the enemy, but it still sounds like a fun use of the spell for me.
Well, I guess it would work since the Assassinate ability doesn't specify that it's limited to weapon attacks (rather surprising), but trying to build for something you're not getting until 20th level... what are you doing before then?
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.
Other spells that use attack rolls. Steel wind strike, scorching ray. Stuff like that. But thats also just for the first round, otherwise normal wizard stuff with some rogue skills mixed in. Possibly Bladesinger and using shadow blade with sneak attack damage. I'm still work shopping it a bit. I just thought it was an interesting combination when I came across it looking at spells that use attacks for an opening salvo.
Checks out. Though it occurs to me that if you went with warlock instead of wizard for this build, you could really cheese out Eldritch Blast even further. At 20th level you could EB and Black Blade of Disaster for a total of six attacks in one round.
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.
My question is how does the opponent fight a blade of disaster. It seems pretty deadly if there is no defense against it, other than AC. It is guaranteed 40 attacks in a 10 round period with no way of stopping it.
two melee spell attacks with the blade, each one against a creature, loose object, or structure within 5 feet of the blade
As a bonus action on your turn, you can move the blade up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space you can see and then make up to two melee spell attacks with it again.
Blade of Disaster is concentration. So they fight it - by fighting you.
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It's concentration, so most spellcasters who cast it would be vulnerable to losing concentration via damage. for the Conjuration Wizards, you also lose concentration automatically if you become incapacitated or killed, so spells and effects that do so would work. A large effect that forces a concentration save without damage would also work, per the PH
Finally, antimagic field would work
Ninth-level spells are supposed to be Big Heckin' Deals. When somebody pulls the trigger on their ninth-level spell, they're expecting it to be a game changer.
That said? The usual anti-spell defenses work here. Counterspell it, Dispel it. Pound the caster into meat sauce. In this case simple movement speed is itself a defense - if you're never within thirty feet of the blade, it can never catch up to you and turn you into human(oid) lasagna. I mentioned that in my more in-depth post six months ago - Blade of Disaster is more of an area denial spell than a direct damage spell against highly intelligent foes, since the best defense against it is to not be within its reach. Whether or not the caster uses that to their advantage or not is up to them, but it remains the best way to avoid getting Disaster'd.
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Not much more to be said that already has been. : )
I will say... I am curious about having “Blade of Disaster” with a Conjuration Wizard.
Conjuration Wizard’s can’t lose concentration on their conjuration spells, so...the Blade will keep going until the Wizard falls.
Pretty nice.
I think people are ignoring some of the multiclass potential here, when combined with three levels of assassin rogue. Hide and then ambush before a battle. Two crits, guaranteed (as long as you hit in the first place).
Assassin 3/Hexblade 17 seems pretty good in the meantime, it comes online at level 8 when you pick up third level warlock spell slots and can get eldritch smite. (I theorycrafted a vuman rogue with warlock initiate for eldritch blast, an aoe cantrip, and hex. First two levels rogue, then first level as warlock, followed by rogue 3 and then 16 levels of warlock). Also, assassinate works with Eldritch Blast in RAW.
Incorrect. You still need to beat the target in initiative - as soon as that target has taken its turn (regardless of being surprised and thus not being able to do anything on its turn), it's no longer surprised.
That aside, "hide and ambush before a battle" isn't always an option, and at 20th level certainly easier said than done.
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I had a warlock cast forcecage on my monk, then used blade of distaster to end her in two rounds. It was pretty ridiculous
This might be a good upgrade for spiritual weapon on an Arcana cleric as well.
True, although if you already had spiritual weapon, it makes more sense to choose a different 9th level spell.
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I am playing Dungeon of the Mad Mage and took this on my sorcerer. I managed to get critical hit on Halaster with it and did a little over 140 damage with a single bonus action. It was a pretty fun spell to use overall as well. Thematically, it's just really cool to create a blade out a planar rift and wreck people with it.
this is very true
Though there is certainly a bias towards classes like 5e's wizards, I think that the specific reason here is the in story implications within RotFM. Don't want to get into super details, but it is very much tied to wizards within the narrative and I can see the reasons why it was limited.
My DM pulled off a Wall of Force bubble around my level 18 illusionist and was very surprised when I pulled out the blade of disaster from my repertoire.
Thanks for protecting me while I whittle away at your boss monster! Luckily for me that DM isn’t the type to take being outplayed by his players personally.