The reality is, a level dip to take pact of the blade is mostly not a problem, because pact of the blade isn't actually very good. There's only one case where it causes a real issue, and that's not really a problem with pact of the blade -- the problem is that Aura of Protection is wildly overpowered, and thus something that lets a paladin attack with Charisma is going to create balance issues. The solution is to nerf Aura of Protection.
This is where I think you two are missing some crucial context/nuance. Hexadin isn't broken merely because it lets you make Cha-SAD attacks; Hexadin is broken because it lets you attack with Cha without having to give up any effectiveness in terms of your weapon from both melee and long range, and that includes either Eldritch Blast itself (120ft range) scaling perfectly even if all you take is that tiny dip in Warlock, or going Hexbow with IPW so you can attack from 150ft range with Sharpshooter. The UA Bladelock already fixed both of these issues.
2017 Hexblades could combine Cha to hit with PAM + Elven Accuracy and utilize all three; THAT'S what put them over the top. With UA Blade Pact, at best you're going to have a longsword or rapier or maybe a warhammer; PAM doesn't even work with staffs or spears anymore because they're not Heavy. All the things that made Hexadin such an eyeroll build have been completely kneecapped in One, you don't need to nerf it any further.
Fair point. Honestly, I'm pretty much certain that this limitation of weapons usable for Pact of the Blade was introduced as WotC's attempt at reducing the attractiveness of the dip, but as a result it hampered bladelocks just as hard as it did the exploit builds. They're kind of making warlocks more of a gish, but not quite. If this stays, and I hope it doesn't, I'll really miss playing a Hexblade wielding Hazirawn...
Because you don't need more than 14 DEX or 13 STR, simply put. As a Paladin, if you can do CHA > CON & STR = 13, you're pretty set over all, since CHA is going to give a stronger Aura of Protection and just make your spellcasting stronger overall.
For a Ranger you can similarly do WIS > CON & DEX = 14 and you've got a higher AC, Mage Armour is quickly out-paced by magic armour and a half-plate already has you at 17AC with +2 DEX. Mage armour, with DEX+2 and Half-Plate +1, you've got the same 18 AC that you can get with Mage Armour +5 CON. This means your spellcasting is stronger, spells like Faerie Fire, have a higher Save DC. Overall it's not as good for Ranger as it is for Paladin and Sorcerer, but it still enables you to go SAD much more easily. Since you only need to worry about WIS and CON once your DEX is 14. Paladin definitely gets alot stronger with CHA, more so with Aura of Protection, so not having to worry about STR is pretty strong for Paladin when you can give a +5 to all saves, not just for you but also allies in range.
Subclasses also generally play into it when they use the secondary ability too, for Paladin, Devotion Paladin gets +CHA to attack rolls while Sacred Weapon is active and now Sacred Weapon is a bonus action in the UA, meaning it's actually useful. This means a Devotion Paladin with a Pact Weapon does an attack roll of 1d20 + CHA + CHA + PB + other bonuses, which is very high!
I'll be blunt, I rejoiced at the death of coffeelock, and now I want hexadin dead, too. That combo is stupidly powerful while making no sense in the story. Just take 13 Str for heavy armor and you're set, you're fully SAD now, with an aura of +5 to all saving throws, easy. Google any "broken builds for DnD" guide and the hexadin is in top three, guaranteed.
13 Str or 14 Dex isn't "decent", it's what you can easily get at character creation, and you won't even have to invest beyond that.
This is where I think you two are missing some crucial context/nuance. Hexadin isn't broken merely because it lets you make Cha-SAD attacks; Hexadin is broken because it lets you attack with Cha without having to give up any effectiveness in terms of your weapon from both melee and long range, and that includes either Eldritch Blast itself (120ft range) scaling perfectly even if all you take is that tiny dip in Warlock, or going Hexbow with IPW so you can attack from 150ft range with Sharpshooter. The UA Bladelock already fixed both of these issues.
2017 Hexblades could combine Cha to hit with PAM + Elven Accuracy and utilize all three; THAT'S what put them over the top. With UA Blade Pact, at best you're going to have a longsword or rapier or maybe a warhammer; PAM doesn't even work with staffs or spears anymore because they're not Heavy. All the things that made Hexadin such an eyeroll build have been completely kneecapped in One, you don't need to nerf it any further.
I don't dispute that it's broken because of all those issues, but the level dip still allows Paladin to more effectively stat itself out which only a single level delay on class features, which still remains extremely powerful for Paladin. However the bigger issue as I pointed out, isn't Paladin, it's the sorcerer multiclass who can bonus action green-flame/booming blade and then attack twice to get three attacks in a single round. The main thing this cantrip change would fix is the use of these cantrip spells that require you to have a weapon in hand to make the attack already.
Honestly, I hope the solution to this problem is that GFB & BB are simply removed from One D&D. IMO those cantrips have always been a terrible addition to the game because they single-handedly make spellcasters comparable to martials in long-term resourceless combat effectiveness. It only take a little bit of optimization from there to put the caster over the top and make them better at sustained melee damage than martials which is a major cause of the martial-caster divide that is really hurting the game.
Remember that Warlock now has access to the Shield spell, Mage armour spell and Medium armour, so it can still have a fair AC without DEX or STR. While pact weapon does limit itself to melee weapons now, it does benefit thrown weapons, which means you can be just behind the front line and toss tridents from 20 foot away for 1d8 damage. If you're multiclassing from a Paladin, for a STR of 13 you can get everything but plate, if you're multiclassing from a ranger you only need a DEX of 13, a DEX of 14 gets you the full AC of medium armour, without feats. So it still dramatically reduces the MAD parts of those classes when multiclassing from the multiclass requirements to begin with.
The broken part from 5E was the ability to use spells like Green Flame Blade or Booming Blade as a bonus action to get an additional attack when multi-classing with Sorcerer. If you go Dragonic Sorcerer then you had an AC of 13+DEX, in the UA this is now an AC of 10+CHA+DEX while still getting access to the shield spell. While you can't dump DEX, you really don't need it to be that high.
With Hexblade, the Socerer multi-class can even Eldritch Smite on that bonus action to knock down large or smaller creatures to switch their main action to another green-flame or booming blade since it's advantaged, currently there is no Eldritch Smite but then Eldritch Smite was XgtE and so it's not impossible that returns as an issue here.
Okay... none of this seems like a problem in need of a "solution" to me.
14 Dex and 14 Con - most Warlocks will be aiming for those stat points anyway, Blade Pact or not. (Or 15 Str/14 Con for plate-wearers.)
Go with Mage armor instead - that's 13+Dex, so you'll want even more than 14 Dex for it to be worthwhile in melee. Shield makes you a lot better off than say a Rogue - and eats your reaction and limited spell slots if you're relying on it heavily.
Blade Pact can be thrown now - that's great especially since it gets Cha to damage too, but 20ft isn't exactly keeping you safe from melee for the vast majority of monsters, they can just walk up and slap you anyway. It's a nice option to have but it isn't a material change, if you really want to avoid the front line or deal with ranged fliers you're back to Eldritch Blast.
I'm just not seeing how Blade makes you so SAD that it becomes a problem. Is it better than 2014 Bladepact, sure, but will it warp the game somehow (even to the degree that Hexblade did) - I'm just not seeing it.
Hexadins absolutely warped the game. They make paladins utter indestructible without significantly hampering their damage. Try creating a challenging but fair combat encounter for this level 9 party:
Level 9 Eloquence Bard - AC 14 (Studded Leather +2 Dex), HP 66, Saves: -1, +6, +2, 0, +1, +9 Level 9 Ranger - AC 17, HP 75, Saves: +3, +9, +2, 0, +3 Level 9 Wizard - AC 20 (Mage Armour + Shield), HP 57, Saves: -1, +2, +2, +9, +5, 0 Level 9 Pally-lock - AC 25 (Plate + shield + Shield), HP 75+45 Lay on Hands, Saves: +7, +5, +7, +4, +8, +13;
You can't. Either the Pallylock never feels threatened or the monsters will one-shot the Bard or Wizard.
One solution: your pact weapon does not benefit from any extra attacks gained through other class features. That would mean it's at least a 5 level dip for someone to become SAD and could open up a wider variety of weapons for warlocks to use without needing to worry so much about 1 level dips.
Hexadins absolutely warped the game. They make paladins utter indestructible without significantly hampering their damage.
Yeah, but that's mostly a paladin problem, not a hexblade problem. If aura of protection didn't scale with charisma, no-one would care that you could attack with your spellcasting stat.
If someone is concerned about Pact of the Blade being a typical 1 level dip to attack with a casting stat, then they should also be concerned about the UA for character creation allowing Magic Initiate - Primal to pick up Shillelagh cast with CHA, WIS, or INT. That is easier to pick up instead of 1 level of Warlock for Pact of the Blade.
Personally, I would rather Shillelagh appear on all the spell lists (Primal, Divine, Arcane) for simplicity. Because there will always be complicated ways (Magical Secrets, Pact of the Tome, etc) to get access to Shillelagh, there might as well be a straightforward way for new players to access it.
If someone is concerned about Pact of the Blade being a typical 1 level dip to attack with a casting stat, then they should also be concerned about the UA for character creation allowing Magic Initiate - Primal to pick up Shillelagh cast with CHA, WIS, or INT. That is easier to pick up instead of 1 level of Warlock for Pact of the Blade.
Personally, I would rather Shillelagh appear on all the spell lists (Primal, Divine, Arcane) for simplicity. Because there will always be complicated ways (Magical Secrets, Pact of the Tome, etc) to get access to Shillelagh, there might as well be a straightforward way for new players to access it.
As mentioned Shillelagh has the drawback of allowing only 2 weapons, club and quarterstaff.
But change it to Druid class spell if bother someone.
Hexadins absolutely warped the game. They make paladins utter indestructible without significantly hampering their damage.
Yeah, but that's mostly a paladin problem, not a hexblade problem. If aura of protection didn't scale with charisma, no-one would care that you could attack with your spellcasting stat.
It's two issues one is Aura of Protection, the other is the ability to stack Shield and heavy armour/shields. One D&D isn't doing anything for the former and making the latter even worse.
It's two issues one is Aura of Protection, the other is the ability to stack Shield and heavy armour/shields. One D&D isn't doing anything for the former and making the latter even worse.
That's always been a weird one, it really should be limited to unarmored only so it only stacks with mage armor and a limited set of other items (bracers of defense etc.). The benefit of wearing armour is a higher passive AC, and a solid AC progression since a lot of magic armour doesn't require attunement.
This would introduce an awkward spot for medium armor warlocks for whom armor of shadows might be better short-term, but the armour is still saving an invocation.
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It's two issues one is Aura of Protection, the other is the ability to stack Shield and heavy armour/shields. One D&D isn't doing anything for the former and making the latter even worse.
That's always been a weird one, it really should be limited to unarmored only so it only stacks with mage armor and a limited set of other items (bracers of defense etc.). The benefit of wearing armour is a higher passive AC, and a solid AC progression since a lot of magic armour doesn't require attunement.
This would introduce an awkward spot for medium armor warlocks for whom armor of shadows might be better short-term, but the armour is still saving an invocation.
Agreed. Shield should only add +5/be castable if the target is unarmored.
If someone is concerned about Pact of the Blade being a typical 1 level dip to attack with a casting stat, then they should also be concerned about the UA for character creation allowing Magic Initiate - Primal to pick up Shillelagh cast with CHA, WIS, or INT. That is easier to pick up instead of 1 level of Warlock for Pact of the Blade.
Personally, I would rather Shillelagh appear on all the spell lists (Primal, Divine, Arcane) for simplicity. Because there will always be complicated ways (Magical Secrets, Pact of the Tome, etc) to get access to Shillelagh, there might as well be a straightforward way for new players to access it.
Magic Initiate in OneD&D is an absolute disaster, but slightly less bad than the 1-level Warlock dip for Pact of the Blade. But I'll get back to that later.
Shillelagh isn't nearly as broken as Pact of the Blade because it has a 1 minute duration and is a BA spell. On paper this doesn't look that expensive but having played a druid with Shillelagh it really is. Because it means if you are a primary caster you are giving up the ability to cast a levelled spell as a Action in order to cast Shillelagh, and if you are going for a gish-playstyle you are giving up the ability to cast a BA spell like Spiritual Weapon or Healing Word as well as sacrificing your ability to use 99% of magic weapons in the game to do so. Shillelagh has been available via a druid dip, Nature Cleric, Magic Initiate, or Book of Ancient Secrets for a while now, but these limitations (primarily the action economy cost) has prevented it from being a common feature of optimization builds. 5e Magic Initiate is also sufficiently limited by the fact that the 1st level spell is only castable once per long rest and other feats are so good for weapon users that it is a significant cost to have to take MI, and a Druid dim destroys your ability to use decent armour. This is why in 5e Shillelagh is not easily available for gishes.
Now then OneD&D Magic Initiate is an utter disaster. Since it is a 1st level feat there is far less opportunity cost to take it since it only has to out-compete other 1st level feats for any particular build, which I believe it does for nearly every build it's just less obvious b/c we are used to thinking of it as bad because of the limitations in 5e so the update felt just like a quality of life improvement rather than an utterly game-breaking shift. The easiest way to show how it is broken is to look at our optimal options for each class:
Wizard - Magic Initiate (Primal) : Resistance/Guidance/Shillelagh, Healing Word - That limitation on the Pact of the Blade that no Intelligence option? Not really an issue b/c Wizards can grab Shillelagh along side the best support cantrip in the game and the best healing spell in the game. Bladesinger will be SAD and be able to BA Healing Word each round to optimize their action economy while still dishing out their cantrip + attack. Plus they can pick up Resistance to buff their concentration saves.
Bard - Magic Initiate (Arcane) : Firebolt, Chill Touch, Shield - Bards need not be squishy anymore, even with the school limitation on their spells it is trivial for them to pick up Shield and decent attack cantrips either with MI or with a one-level Warlock or Sorcerer dip (though Warlock also gets you better armour and SAD weapons so you'll go for that over either other option).
Sorcerer - Magic Initiate (Primal): Resistance/Guidance/Shillelagh, Healing Word - Again that limitation that Arcane fullcasters lack support? Forget about it they can pick up the best support cantrips plus the best healing spell in the game at level 1, and all they give up is the option to grab armour as a feat instead.
Warlock - Magic Initiate (Divine): Resistance/Guidance/Spare the Dying, Thunderous Smite - Want a Bladelock with a DPR to rival a Paladin? No problem just pick up Thunderous Smite at level 1 with its decent scaling with your spell slots while likewise buffing your concentration and ability checks with the support cantrip pair. Alternatively, you might want Spare the Dying instead to have your familiar endlessly pick up your downed allies.
Cleric - Magic Initiate (Arcane): Firebolt, Mage Hand/Minor Illusion, Shield - Everyone gets to break bounded accuracy in One D&D! Combo that Heavy armour, shield, Shield for AC 25 at 1st level.
Druid - Magic Initiate (Arcane): Firebolt, Mage Hand/Minor Illusion, Shield - Sad your WS is squishier than a blob of jello? Not to worry the developers balanced it around assuming you are taking this feat at 1st level so you're casting Shield every round while in WS. Because why wouldn't you? Druid AC has always been an issue, so you're definitely picking this up. Add it on top of a Warlock-1 dip for your missing Medium Armour proficiency and a free familiar so you can use your Channel Nature for something else instead.
...
Every One D&D optimized party will see everyone playing a half/full caster where everyone has Healing Word and Shield, a majority have Guidance/Resistance and Firebolt/Chill Touch and everyone is SAD with maximized spell DC and mediocre physical stats.
It's two issues one is Aura of Protection, the other is the ability to stack Shield and heavy armour/shields. One D&D isn't doing anything for the former and making the latter even worse.
Unknown. They've mentioned that they want to adjust over and under performing spells, but that hasn't been the focus of any of the current playtests (there are some fairly simple fixes, such as making shield grant AC 18 instead of +5 AC, which is totally fine for low level wizards but makes it useless to stack).
It's two issues one is Aura of Protection, the other is the ability to stack Shield and heavy armour/shields. One D&D isn't doing anything for the former and making the latter even worse.
Unknown. They've mentioned that they want to adjust over and under performing spells, but that hasn't been the focus of any of the current playtests (there are some fairly simple fixes, such as making shield grant AC 18 instead of +5 AC, which is totally fine for low level wizards but makes it useless to stack).
There is lots of ways they could fix Shield: 1) change it so you gain +2 AC as a 1st level spell, that increases to +3 as a 2nd level spell, +4 as a 3rd level spell and +5 as a 4th level spell. 2) change it so it can only be used if you are not wearing armour. 3) change it to a fixed AC 4) change it so it only lasts until the end of the current turn rather than a full round. 5) change it to a Wizard exclusive spell that scales with your wizard levels (like EB for Warlock).
But unlike other 'problem' spells that we've already seen a possible nerf for come out with the classes that spell is most associated with, we've seen no indication they will change Shield.
If someone is concerned about Pact of the Blade being a typical 1 level dip to attack with a casting stat, then they should also be concerned about the UA for character creation allowing Magic Initiate - Primal to pick up Shillelagh cast with CHA, WIS, or INT. That is easier to pick up instead of 1 level of Warlock for Pact of the Blade.
Personally, I would rather Shillelagh appear on all the spell lists (Primal, Divine, Arcane) for simplicity. Because there will always be complicated ways (Magical Secrets, Pact of the Tome, etc) to get access to Shillelagh, there might as well be a straightforward way for new players to access it.
As mentioned Shillelagh has the drawback of allowing only 2 weapons, club and quarterstaff.
But change it to Druid class spell if bother someone.
If an exclusive cantrip was made for the druid class, it would undoubtedly need a great improvement, perhaps scalable to the druid level, because except in emergencies when the enemy is stuck, the druid does not want to be melee.
But I don't think it should be something exclusive, and as you mentioned this cantrip has enough limitations already.
But unlike other 'problem' spells that we've already seen a possible nerf for come out with the classes that spell is most associated with, we've seen no indication they will change Shield.
To be fair it's not really a problem for the classes or sub-classes that we've seen so far, it's more of a problem for things like Eldritch Knight (which hasn't been updated yet) or multi-classing; it's not a problem on Sorcerer, Warlock or Wizard in isolation, and if it's a problem on other classes thanks to the new Magic Initiate feats than that's more of a problem with the Magic Initiate feats at this point, and those are in a separate playtest document.
It's good to discuss it now though because it means whenever they do release a larger spell-rebalancing playtest document, we can mention shield if it's been omitted. I like the idea of having shield become a fixed AC, maybe scaled to the level it's cast at, as this would make it a far more predictable and limited boost. It might need some further wording so it doesn't just function as a minimum (to which you can still add shield of faith and such)?
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But unlike other 'problem' spells that we've already seen a possible nerf for come out with the classes that spell is most associated with, we've seen no indication they will change Shield.
To be fair it's not really a problem for the classes or sub-classes that we've seen so far, it's more of a problem for things like Eldritch Knight (which hasn't been updated yet) or multi-classing; it's not a problem on Sorcerer, Warlock or Wizard in isolation, and if it's a problem on other classes thanks to the new Magic Initiate feats than that's more of a problem with the Magic Initiate feats at this point, and those are in a separate playtest document.
It's good to discuss it now though because it means whenever they do release a larger spell-rebalancing playtest document, we can mention shield if it's been omitted. I like the idea of having shield become a fixed AC, maybe scaled to the level it's cast at, as this would make it a far more predictable and limited boost. It might need some further wording so it doesn't just function as a minimum (to which you can still add shield of faith and such)?
Well it's a dual problem of the Magic Initiate Feat and the Lightly Armoured Feat (which allows Sorcerers & Wizards to get medium armour + shield proficiency as a 1st level feat).
I am seriously thinking about simply removing multiclass, and let characters use their base class + subclass + background + feats to attune. For this many limitations for feats would be removed, i.e. for the fighting styles remove the requisite to be a Warrior type.
By this way you can attune acceptably well a character based on its class, like getting a fighting + weapon mastery for a caster, or magic initiate and others for martial, etc. If you want a mid-point, simply get a half-caster and attune.
Noticed that many issues comes from "easy intrusions" in another "domains" (not talking only about spells). And already played games that use the system mentioned, and D&D with backgrounds and feats I think it can achieve something similar.
Also, if you dislike other "intrusions", like getting Shillelagh so easily, simply remove also the magic domain intrusion, changing the Magic Initiate (domain) by Magic Initiate (your domain). Or if you feel that is too extreme, convert some spells to class type, like the mentioned one.
There is lots of ways they could fix Shield: 1) change it so you gain +2 AC as a 1st level spell, that increases to +3 as a 2nd level spell, +4 as a 3rd level spell and +5 as a 4th level spell. 3) change it to a fixed AC
I think those are the two better options. But if you do #1, I might say have it scale with every 2 slot levels. +2 for 1st level slot, +3 for 3rd, +4 for 5th, +5 for 7th (and that's the maximum).
But I think fixed AC is probably the best. Having it set to 19 would make it slightly interesting to classes that have heavy armor, but not game breakingly interesting. But it would still be very compelling to Wizards and the like, even if they have Mage Armor going. And it would also fall into line with how most other basic AC spells evolved into 5e.
5) change it to a Wizard exclusive spell that scales with your wizard levels (like EB for Warlock).
If it went that route, I would add Sorcerer to it, not just Wizard.
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Thrown but with auto-returning property.
The reality is, a level dip to take pact of the blade is mostly not a problem, because pact of the blade isn't actually very good. There's only one case where it causes a real issue, and that's not really a problem with pact of the blade -- the problem is that Aura of Protection is wildly overpowered, and thus something that lets a paladin attack with Charisma is going to create balance issues. The solution is to nerf Aura of Protection.
Fair point. Honestly, I'm pretty much certain that this limitation of weapons usable for Pact of the Blade was introduced as WotC's attempt at reducing the attractiveness of the dip, but as a result it hampered bladelocks just as hard as it did the exploit builds. They're kind of making warlocks more of a gish, but not quite. If this stays, and I hope it doesn't, I'll really miss playing a Hexblade wielding Hazirawn...
Honestly, I hope the solution to this problem is that GFB & BB are simply removed from One D&D. IMO those cantrips have always been a terrible addition to the game because they single-handedly make spellcasters comparable to martials in long-term resourceless combat effectiveness. It only take a little bit of optimization from there to put the caster over the top and make them better at sustained melee damage than martials which is a major cause of the martial-caster divide that is really hurting the game.
Hexadins absolutely warped the game. They make paladins utter indestructible without significantly hampering their damage. Try creating a challenging but fair combat encounter for this level 9 party:
Level 9 Eloquence Bard - AC 14 (Studded Leather +2 Dex), HP 66, Saves: -1, +6, +2, 0, +1, +9
Level 9 Ranger - AC 17, HP 75, Saves: +3, +9, +2, 0, +3
Level 9 Wizard - AC 20 (Mage Armour + Shield), HP 57, Saves: -1, +2, +2, +9, +5, 0
Level 9 Pally-lock - AC 25 (Plate + shield + Shield), HP 75+45 Lay on Hands, Saves: +7, +5, +7, +4, +8, +13;
You can't. Either the Pallylock never feels threatened or the monsters will one-shot the Bard or Wizard.
One solution: your pact weapon does not benefit from any extra attacks gained through other class features. That would mean it's at least a 5 level dip for someone to become SAD and could open up a wider variety of weapons for warlocks to use without needing to worry so much about 1 level dips.
Yeah, but that's mostly a paladin problem, not a hexblade problem. If aura of protection didn't scale with charisma, no-one would care that you could attack with your spellcasting stat.
If someone is concerned about Pact of the Blade being a typical 1 level dip to attack with a casting stat, then they should also be concerned about the UA for character creation allowing Magic Initiate - Primal to pick up Shillelagh cast with CHA, WIS, or INT. That is easier to pick up instead of 1 level of Warlock for Pact of the Blade.
Personally, I would rather Shillelagh appear on all the spell lists (Primal, Divine, Arcane) for simplicity. Because there will always be complicated ways (Magical Secrets, Pact of the Tome, etc) to get access to Shillelagh, there might as well be a straightforward way for new players to access it.
As mentioned Shillelagh has the drawback of allowing only 2 weapons, club and quarterstaff.
But change it to Druid class spell if bother someone.
It's two issues one is Aura of Protection, the other is the ability to stack Shield and heavy armour/shields. One D&D isn't doing anything for the former and making the latter even worse.
That's always been a weird one, it really should be limited to unarmored only so it only stacks with mage armor and a limited set of other items (bracers of defense etc.). The benefit of wearing armour is a higher passive AC, and a solid AC progression since a lot of magic armour doesn't require attunement.
This would introduce an awkward spot for medium armor warlocks for whom armor of shadows might be better short-term, but the armour is still saving an invocation.
Former D&D Beyond Customer of six years: With the axing of piecemeal purchasing, lack of meaningful development, and toxic moderation the site isn't worth paying for anymore. I remain a free user only until my groups are done migrating from DDB, and if necessary D&D, after which I'm done. There are better systems owned by better companies out there.
I have unsubscribed from all topics and will not reply to messages. My homebrew is now 100% unsupported.
Agreed. Shield should only add +5/be castable if the target is unarmored.
Magic Initiate in OneD&D is an absolute disaster, but slightly less bad than the 1-level Warlock dip for Pact of the Blade. But I'll get back to that later.
Shillelagh isn't nearly as broken as Pact of the Blade because it has a 1 minute duration and is a BA spell. On paper this doesn't look that expensive but having played a druid with Shillelagh it really is. Because it means if you are a primary caster you are giving up the ability to cast a levelled spell as a Action in order to cast Shillelagh, and if you are going for a gish-playstyle you are giving up the ability to cast a BA spell like Spiritual Weapon or Healing Word as well as sacrificing your ability to use 99% of magic weapons in the game to do so. Shillelagh has been available via a druid dip, Nature Cleric, Magic Initiate, or Book of Ancient Secrets for a while now, but these limitations (primarily the action economy cost) has prevented it from being a common feature of optimization builds. 5e Magic Initiate is also sufficiently limited by the fact that the 1st level spell is only castable once per long rest and other feats are so good for weapon users that it is a significant cost to have to take MI, and a Druid dim destroys your ability to use decent armour. This is why in 5e Shillelagh is not easily available for gishes.
Now then OneD&D Magic Initiate is an utter disaster. Since it is a 1st level feat there is far less opportunity cost to take it since it only has to out-compete other 1st level feats for any particular build, which I believe it does for nearly every build it's just less obvious b/c we are used to thinking of it as bad because of the limitations in 5e so the update felt just like a quality of life improvement rather than an utterly game-breaking shift. The easiest way to show how it is broken is to look at our optimal options for each class:
Wizard - Magic Initiate (Primal) : Resistance/Guidance/Shillelagh, Healing Word - That limitation on the Pact of the Blade that no Intelligence option? Not really an issue b/c Wizards can grab Shillelagh along side the best support cantrip in the game and the best healing spell in the game. Bladesinger will be SAD and be able to BA Healing Word each round to optimize their action economy while still dishing out their cantrip + attack. Plus they can pick up Resistance to buff their concentration saves.
Bard - Magic Initiate (Arcane) : Firebolt, Chill Touch, Shield - Bards need not be squishy anymore, even with the school limitation on their spells it is trivial for them to pick up Shield and decent attack cantrips either with MI or with a one-level Warlock or Sorcerer dip (though Warlock also gets you better armour and SAD weapons so you'll go for that over either other option).
Sorcerer - Magic Initiate (Primal): Resistance/Guidance/Shillelagh, Healing Word - Again that limitation that Arcane fullcasters lack support? Forget about it they can pick up the best support cantrips plus the best healing spell in the game at level 1, and all they give up is the option to grab armour as a feat instead.
Warlock - Magic Initiate (Divine): Resistance/Guidance/Spare the Dying, Thunderous Smite - Want a Bladelock with a DPR to rival a Paladin? No problem just pick up Thunderous Smite at level 1 with its decent scaling with your spell slots while likewise buffing your concentration and ability checks with the support cantrip pair. Alternatively, you might want Spare the Dying instead to have your familiar endlessly pick up your downed allies.
Cleric - Magic Initiate (Arcane): Firebolt, Mage Hand/Minor Illusion, Shield - Everyone gets to break bounded accuracy in One D&D! Combo that Heavy armour, shield, Shield for AC 25 at 1st level.
Druid - Magic Initiate (Arcane): Firebolt, Mage Hand/Minor Illusion, Shield - Sad your WS is squishier than a blob of jello? Not to worry the developers balanced it around assuming you are taking this feat at 1st level so you're casting Shield every round while in WS. Because why wouldn't you? Druid AC has always been an issue, so you're definitely picking this up. Add it on top of a Warlock-1 dip for your missing Medium Armour proficiency and a free familiar so you can use your Channel Nature for something else instead.
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Every One D&D optimized party will see everyone playing a half/full caster where everyone has Healing Word and Shield, a majority have Guidance/Resistance and Firebolt/Chill Touch and everyone is SAD with maximized spell DC and mediocre physical stats.
Unknown. They've mentioned that they want to adjust over and under performing spells, but that hasn't been the focus of any of the current playtests (there are some fairly simple fixes, such as making shield grant AC 18 instead of +5 AC, which is totally fine for low level wizards but makes it useless to stack).
There is lots of ways they could fix Shield:
1) change it so you gain +2 AC as a 1st level spell, that increases to +3 as a 2nd level spell, +4 as a 3rd level spell and +5 as a 4th level spell.
2) change it so it can only be used if you are not wearing armour.
3) change it to a fixed AC
4) change it so it only lasts until the end of the current turn rather than a full round.
5) change it to a Wizard exclusive spell that scales with your wizard levels (like EB for Warlock).
But unlike other 'problem' spells that we've already seen a possible nerf for come out with the classes that spell is most associated with, we've seen no indication they will change Shield.
If an exclusive cantrip was made for the druid class, it would undoubtedly need a great improvement, perhaps scalable to the druid level, because except in emergencies when the enemy is stuck, the druid does not want to be melee.
But I don't think it should be something exclusive, and as you mentioned this cantrip has enough limitations already.
To be fair it's not really a problem for the classes or sub-classes that we've seen so far, it's more of a problem for things like Eldritch Knight (which hasn't been updated yet) or multi-classing; it's not a problem on Sorcerer, Warlock or Wizard in isolation, and if it's a problem on other classes thanks to the new Magic Initiate feats than that's more of a problem with the Magic Initiate feats at this point, and those are in a separate playtest document.
It's good to discuss it now though because it means whenever they do release a larger spell-rebalancing playtest document, we can mention shield if it's been omitted. I like the idea of having shield become a fixed AC, maybe scaled to the level it's cast at, as this would make it a far more predictable and limited boost. It might need some further wording so it doesn't just function as a minimum (to which you can still add shield of faith and such)?
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Well it's a dual problem of the Magic Initiate Feat and the Lightly Armoured Feat (which allows Sorcerers & Wizards to get medium armour + shield proficiency as a 1st level feat).
I am seriously thinking about simply removing multiclass, and let characters use their base class + subclass + background + feats to attune. For this many limitations for feats would be removed, i.e. for the fighting styles remove the requisite to be a Warrior type.
By this way you can attune acceptably well a character based on its class, like getting a fighting + weapon mastery for a caster, or magic initiate and others for martial, etc. If you want a mid-point, simply get a half-caster and attune.
Noticed that many issues comes from "easy intrusions" in another "domains" (not talking only about spells). And already played games that use the system mentioned, and D&D with backgrounds and feats I think it can achieve something similar.
Also, if you dislike other "intrusions", like getting Shillelagh so easily, simply remove also the magic domain intrusion, changing the Magic Initiate (domain) by Magic Initiate (your domain). Or if you feel that is too extreme, convert some spells to class type, like the mentioned one.
I think those are the two better options. But if you do #1, I might say have it scale with every 2 slot levels. +2 for 1st level slot, +3 for 3rd, +4 for 5th, +5 for 7th (and that's the maximum).
But I think fixed AC is probably the best. Having it set to 19 would make it slightly interesting to classes that have heavy armor, but not game breakingly interesting. But it would still be very compelling to Wizards and the like, even if they have Mage Armor going. And it would also fall into line with how most other basic AC spells evolved into 5e.
If it went that route, I would add Sorcerer to it, not just Wizard.