The true strike cantrip is a bad terrible cantrip. Here's what the spell has going for it:

1. It requires only somatic components. (That's actually pretty great for when you're hidden or caught in a silence spell.)
2. It requires your concentration until the end of your next turn. (Not a deal breaker, but it does limit when you can use it.)
3. It gives you advantage on your next attack roll you make against one creature on your next turn. (Wouldn't it have just been better to attack twice? Cast hold person? Knock them prone with the Shove action? Take the Hide action?)

I've come across many revisions to this notorious cantrip. Some of the most common solutions are the following:

• Change the casting time to a bonus action.
• Gain advantage on all attack rolls against the target until the end of your next turn.
• Drop the concentration component entirely.

I've decided to approach this problem from a different approach. In my opinion, the worst part about the cantrip is that if you miss your shot, you'll have wasted two actions essentially doing nothing. So, my redesign of the true strike cantrip includes the following goals:

1. Locked-On. Make it difficult, but not impossible to miss your target.
2. Glancing Shot. Unless you roll a critical failure, the cantrip needs to provide some meaningful benefit.
3. Fair Play. The target must have an easy, but costly way of countering the cantrip (such as taking the Dodge action).

With those ideals in mind, here's the rework I've come up with:

TRUE STRIKE

Divination Cantrip

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: 30 feet

Components: S

Duration: Concentration, up to 1 round

You extend your hand and point a finger at a target in range. Your magic grants you a brief insight into the target’s defenses.On your next turn, your first attack against the target is made with advantage. If both attack rolls would hit, treat the attack as a critical hit. If both attack rolls would miss but you didn't roll a natural 1, the target takes half the attack’s damage (if any) but suffers no additional effects from the attack.

What do you think about this revised cantrip? Would you use it in your own campaign? What else would you change to make this cantrip more viable?

Ehh... I think the save-for-half aspect kinda goes against the spirit of cantrips. In addition to making the spell feel needlessly complex (the beauty of 5e is that it's generally very straightforward), the "advantage, except, unless" block gives you almost guaranteed damage without spending a resource. Every other damage cantrip in existence is either roll-to-hit or save-negates, and even though True Strike theoretically balances out the effect by having it occur over two turns, my gut feeling is that cantrips should never offer unavoidable damage.

This doesn't really make True Strike any less niche, either. Two attacks are always better than a single attack with advantage, and if you're out of range or something, you could just take a damage cantrip instead. Advantage on one attack next turn is almost never the best option to spend your action on, in my experience.

Could make it a booming blade/gfb effect, as part of the spell you make a melee attack.

Helpful to magic initiate rogues, spellblade types with only 1 main attack

Maybe increase weapon die dmg on Cantrips periodic upgrades i.e. dagger d4 dmg until 5, then d6 until 11, d8 until 17, then finally d10

I agree it's too complicated. A more simple rider could probably still work, though:

You extend your hand and point a finger at a target in range. Your magic grants you a brief insight into the target’s defenses.On your next turn, your first attack against the target is made with advantage. If the advantaged attack would hit, treat the attack as a critical hit instead.

I also like the idea of true strike being used to connect an attack against someone you really struggle to hit. If I can only hit you on a natural 21, having advantage doesn't help me much. Whereas adding my proficiency bonus to the attack roll would be amazing, especially if I can get advantage through other means. Might need to be twice the proficiency bonus, or maybe plus a constant value (e.g. prof+1 or prof+2) - I'm not sure of the right numbers off the top of my head. It wouldn't be in your standard rotation, but could be a niche spell to pull out under the right circumstances.

Thematically, I want to combine those two aspects together: "You. I'm going to get you back for that. I'm going to make you taste my axe. And it's going to hurt." Even if I'm outclassed, I can still do that much by combining my action this turn with my action next turn. Increased chance to hit, increased damage. Not enough to use it every other round (except maybe in very niche circumstances), but enough to be useful.

True Strike is a connundrum. I feel it is underpowered as it is, but all of the suggested changes I have seen made to it (and I have seen quite a few) end up making it extremely powerful for a cantrip. My personal favorite is to change it to a bonus action and make it a level 1 spell.

This was my best attempt to fix it, for what it’s worth.

https://www.dndbeyond.com/spells/421057-strike-true

Quote from TexasDevin >>

True Strike is a connundrum. I feel it is underpowered as it is, but all of the suggested changes I have seen made to it (and I have seen quite a few) end up making it extremely powerful for a cantrip. My personal favorite is to change it to a bonus action and make it a level 1 spell.

I'm actually of the opposite impression; I think True Strike (and Blade Ward) are unfairly maligned cantrips as they require a bit of effort to figure out the best way to use them. Part of the problem is that people think "great, free advantage", then they realise they're only attacking every other turn and lose interest, but actually there are a lot of useful cases for True Strike (and Blade Ward), but they're not immediately obvious, and aren't for every character build:

• Opening Strike: Yes, losing an attack every other turn is bad, so don't use it once combat has begun, use it immediately before combat starts, guaranteeing advantage on your first attack! This can allow you to get an important first strike in, ideally one with a further debilitating effect, that can really stack the odds in your favour as the fight begins, it's also ideal for an Arcane Trickster who can't guarantee a proper surprise attack. For example, if you're in a tense (but not yet combat) confrontation with an enemy, you could just let your DM know you're keeping True Strike going so if combat does begin you've got advantage for that first turn.
• Haste: If someone else in your party casts Haste on you, you can use True Strike every turn and still attack, again useful for an Arcane Trickster, but also useful for a Cleric who only gets one attack per turn anyway, and can still use their bonus action to do other things. For the non-Rogue cases, people will want to say "why attack with advantage when you could attack twice?" but this follows into the next point:
• When it Really Matters: Not all attacks are created equal, and some are more costly than others. In particular, spells, as True Strike applies to any attack, not just weapon attacks. If you're a spellcaster and you're going to have to burn a high level spell slot, or you're running low on slots and need every one to count, then sometimes it may be better to burn a turn if it means the difference between a spell working, or failing miserably. This also applies to some combat abilities which can only be used a finite number of times per rest, some of which have to be declared before rolling to hit; sometimes it's going to be better to conserve those for when you can (almost) guarantee a hit.
• No Targets (Yet): If you're fighting in a building or other environment where targets can be blocked off by a doorway, corridor etc. then why run forward to attack when you can just sit where you are, safe behind cover, casting True Strike until the enemies come to you and you can hit them with advantage?

I feel like I'm forgetting one or two, but yeah, I actually think True Strike is a great little cantrip, same with Blade Ward, but you really have to think about how you can use it; it's not useful for every character, but then that's true of many spells, so it always amazes me that these two cantrips get so much hatred, and are in nearly every "top 10 worst D&D spells" lists when real stinkers (like Maze) get ignored. True Strike and Blade Ward are just cantrips FFS, and when you can get the most out of them, they're absolutely brilliant.

Thanks for your thoughtful post, Haravikk. I would like to look at a few of your examples in detail.

1. Are you suggesting you could cast it when you catch an enemy by surprise? If so, then yes I can see the benefit of using it in this situation. Or are you suggesting you cast it before battle even kicks off and initiative is rolled? If the latter, then I can only ever see that being viable if you are the one who kicks off combat to begin with. Very situational, but valid uses.
2. I didn't think it would work with haste since the description for True Strike specifies you get advantage on the next turn.
3. I think of this as the classical use for True Strike. And it also has good cinematic effect.
4. This is valid, though I think you're just as well off redying an attack.

I don't really take issue with what you are saying. I just disagree with your conclusion on the overall usefulness of True Strike.

Quote from TexasDevin >>

Thanks for your thoughtful post, Haravikk. I would like to look at a few of your examples in detail.

1. Are you suggesting you could cast it when you catch an enemy by surprise? If so, then yes I can see the benefit of using it in this situation. Or are you suggesting you cast it before battle even kicks off and initiative is rolled? If the latter, then I can only ever see that being viable if you are the one who kicks off combat to begin with. Very situational, but valid uses.
2. I didn't think it would work with haste since the description for True Strike specifies you get advantage on the next turn.
3. I think of this as the classical use for True Strike. And it also has good cinematic effect.
4. This is valid, though I think you're just as well off redying an attack.

I don't really take issue with what you are saying. I just disagree with your conclusion on the overall usefulness of True Strike.

 For the Haste scenario, it would have to go like this-> Haste Action- Attack, Normal Action- True Strike. That's still trading 3 attacks for 2 attacks.  Which would mean that it's best use is on a hasted EK7/rogueX that can attack with the haste action with advantage securing the sneak attack and having a higher crit chance followed by a War Magiced True Strike/attack combo. The sneak attack makes up for the lost damage from the extra attack, but it still feels like there is a cost that comes from that type of build that might be more than the spell is worth. It also doesn't work if the Haste action has to come after the action since the new true strike would override the old one. 

Quote from TexasDevin

Are you suggesting you could cast it when you catch an enemy by surprise? If so, then yes I can see the benefit of using it in this situation. Or are you suggesting you cast it before battle even kicks off and initiative is rolled? If the latter, then I can only ever see that being viable if you are the one who kicks off combat to begin with. Very situational, but valid uses.

People forget that a cantrip is a spell that you can endlessly re-cast; some DMs might disallow it, but RAW you can just endlessly cast True Strike if you want to (and can give a reason why you would be). For example if you're squaring up to a corrupt city guard, and think they could strike at any moment, you might keep that finger pointed at them until things kick off.

This is one of the reasons I think Blade Ward is undervalued; if you're somewhere with danger of an ambush or traps (at least the stabby/crushy kind you can argue are weapons) then why wouldn't you have your hand up muttering a warding incantation the entire time you're wandering around, just in case?

I didn't think it would work with haste since the description for True Strike specifies you get advantage on the next turn.

Not on the turn you first do it (unless you already cast it previously as per point 1), but from the second turn onwards you can keep chaining True Strike + extra attack as long Haste remains active to have advantage every time.

Update: Got ninja'd by Jhfffan; but just to clarify, True Strike works on your first attack of the next turn, so it doesn't matter what order the Haste action comes. You also don't have to sacrifice two of three possible attacks (regular + haste + two-weapon), as the Hasted action is still a regular Attack action  so can still trigger two-weapon fighting, it just doesn't allow more than one attack as part of the haste action. For a Rogue I'd say getting sneak attack every turn is more valuable than a third attack, especially at later levels when your sneak attack damage will far exceed your regular damage.

I don't really take issue with what you are saying. I just disagree with your conclusion on the overall usefulness of True Strike.

To be clear, I'm not saying True Strike or Blade Ward are especially great cantrips, but for the kinds of combos they do work with they're actually very good for cantrips, which is why they're kind of weird. Sure, many characters will be better off just taking a damage cantrip, as anyone can find a use for that, but for the builds where it works, I think it works well enough that it can actually be a solid pick.

Oh, I remembered one of the other cases that I forgot, which is of course Sorcerers; quickened spell metamagic (cast True Strike as a bonus action) means you can setup advantage while still doing something else, which means for sorcerers it's also a useful one, especially with bigger spells where casting True Strike for two sorcery points is going to use far fewer sorcery points than trying to cast the same spell twice (if you even can). This kind of overlaps with my 3rd point, but sorcerers are uniquely able to make use of True Strike (and Blade Ward) where others have difficulty.

I acknowledge there is an extremely narrow scope of a scenario where there is a degree of upside to using true strike. However even in that scenario, I'm not convinced the upside exceeds the far simpler and more direct route of attacking with each action. Even with haste.

Quote from TexasDevin >>

I acknowledge there is an extremely narrow scope of a scenario where there is a degree of upside to using true strike. However even in that scenario, I'm not convinced the upside exceeds the far simpler and more direct route of attacking with each action. Even with haste.

 The problem is that you have to a) build around the spell to make it shine or b) accept that your choice to take it has an opportunity cost of some other more useful spell. I guess that c) be so intent to make all your leveled spell attacks hit so that you don't waste spell slots that you're willing to give creatures an extra round to deal damage would also have to be on the table. It's fine to take it as long as you like the flavor and don't mind that it's suboptimal in most situations. 

I still like it for a character that is kiting another creature, especially if that creature has superior speed to reduce the effectiveness of Dash.

Quote from TexasDevin >>

I acknowledge there is an extremely narrow scope of a scenario where there is a degree of upside to using true strike. However even in that scenario, I'm not convinced the upside exceeds the far simpler and more direct route of attacking with each action. Even with haste.

Thing is, these aren't mutually exclusive; spellcasters with cantrips get at least two choices up front, but will get more later on. If your spell list includes the good damage cantrips like Fire Bolt, Eldritch Blast, or Toll the Dead then absolutely take those, and take an "opposite" if you can (you want one attack spell and one save spell, ideally of different elements). But not every class can do that, or has access to good choices; Bards for example only get Vicious Mockery, which is okay, but it's more fun for the RP than its actual combat potential.

You probably won't see the most benefit to True Strike until you get additional cantrips, when sneak attack has levelled up a few times, or you get access to more powerful attack spells or finite-use attack abilities. My point is that it's unfairly maligned as bad when actually I think it works for what it is; there are loads of spells in D&D that have very niche use-cases, including other cantrips; I love Prestidigitation, Thaumaturgy and Minor Illusion, but they're almost always useless in combat, and hard to use right even outside of combat, but I'll still take all of them anyway 😉

For straight up bad spells you need to look at 6th level onwards, there are some really, really bad spells. Especially many of the ones that are supposed to be upgraded versions of earlier spells, but never actually exceed them, like Maze as I mentioned earlier, which is worse than Banishment in nearly every circumstance for a much, much higher cost.

Lose concentration and have it be advantage on the "next attack you make against the target before the end of your next turn".

It will be useful if you want to ensure that advantage, and isn't going to be OP by using as a bonus action/same turn, unless a sorc - but that benefit is limited by using up their sorc points for quicken spell.

Or it's concentration, duration is 1 minute, advantage to all attacks but ends if you successfully hit the target.

 I would give it 60 range.  Keep concentration.  I like the crit if both rolls hit OR just give it a +2 to the next attack roll.  If the later, let the bonuses go up +1 with cantrip level (+3 at 5th level, +4 at 11th level, +5 at 17 level). 

You could also make it change the CRIT range for next attack instead of a bonus to attack. (Crit on 19 and 20, crit on 18-20 at level 5, crit on 17-20 at level 11, crit on 16-20 at level 17.)  I wouldn't do this but the idea is fun to consider.

It is a cantrip.  If you would miss on advantage, you just rolled badly.  It shouldn't be auto damage. It is the same as missing on two normal attacks.

If people are determined to "fix" True Strike, I'd say the best changes would be something like:

• Extend concentration to one minute.
• Instead of simple advantage, have it grant a re-roll for the next attack that misses that did not have advantage; so effectively eliminates disadvantage, or grants retroactive advantage on a regular attack, making it a bit more like Lucky and with the usual caveat that you must use the second roll (i.e- does not stack with Lucky).

This doesn't meaningfully change what it's actually good for, but instead changes it from being a "setup for a specific followup attack" to being a "give me Lucky for maybe one attack, if I need it".

This is the same basic "fix" I'd propose for Blade Ward, except that it just needs the one minute concentration and clarification that it only lasts one round once triggered within that minute. In both cases, if you need them often then you still need to re-cast them every other round (or use Haste, quickened spells etc.), otherwise they become more like limited safety net actions you cast at the start of combat (or just before, if you can). Should be a relatively minor boost in terms of actual strength (i.e- the combos I've mentioned earlier don't really get any stronger) but would make them both easier for anyone to use, without becoming a no-brainer compared to damage cantrips.

I wound up making my own version in the style of combat cantrips like GFB or Booming Blade.

Neo Strike

My suggested one:

TRUE STRIKE

Divination Cantrip

Casting Time: 1 bonus action

Range: 30 feet

Components: S

Duration: 1 round

You extend your hand and point a finger at a target in range. Your magic grants you a brief insight into the target’s defenses. On your next turn, your first attack against the target is made with advantage.

If the target leaves the spell range before this attack the spell ends. 

Dont like the miss and take half damage, doesnt make sense.

Love the idea that you hit with both rolls it is a critical hit. 

Good stuff

make it a bonus action,

make it a saving throw if the target succeed nothing happens, if it fails you get advantage.

what kind of saving throw? I don't know but that is how i would do it.