BLADE WARD Abjuration Cantrip (Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard) Casting Time: Reaction, which you take in response to a visible creature targeting you with a melee attack Range: Self Components: V, S Duration: Instantaneous
You trace a sigil of warding, imposing Disadvantage on the creature’s attack roll against you.
Silvery Barbs and Shield are problematic lvl 1 spells and now we get this as cantrip. It's super potent and I can't see a reason why anyone who learns it wouldn't pick it. For many classes and situations there is almost no cost attached since you can use it reactively. In most turns you will not have anything competing with your reaction as caster anyway.
In the video it was also mentioned that the range increases with your level, but that's missing in the actual PDF, maybe since Silvery Barbs at that point would just be "1 advantage attack" for a level 1 slot.
BLADE WARD Abjuration Cantrip (Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard) Casting Time: Reaction, which you take in response to a visible creature targeting you with a melee attack Range: Self Components: V, S Duration: Instantaneous
You trace a sigil of warding, imposing Disadvantage on the creature’s attack roll against you.
Silvery Barbs and Shield are problematic lvl 1 spells and now we get this as cantrip. It's super potent and I can't see a reason why anyone who learns it wouldn't pick it. For many classes and situations there is almost no cost attached since you can use it reactively. In most turns you will not have anything competing with your reaction as caster anyway.
In the video it was also mentioned that the range increases with your level, but that's missing in the actual PDF, maybe since Silvery Barbs at that point would just be "1 advantage attack" for a level 1 slot.
What are your thoughts?
Silvery Barbs gives advantage to someone as well.
Shield gives a +5 to your AC until the start of your next turn and gives immunity to Magic Missile.
That being said I think damage reduction against attacks would be better. Like it starts at 1d6 then 1d8 at 5th, 1d10 at 11th, and 1d12 at 17th.
Would be good protection vs a Critical hit if it was a reaction to being attacked (Attack Roll) and not just targeted. (Before an attack roll). Target is about to hit you. I use Blade ward. He rolls a 3 and a 5. and now I may not take any reactions.
With Silvery Barbs and Shield I know if it will help.
Would be good protection vs a Critical hit if it was a reaction to being attacked (Attack Roll) and not just targeted. (Before an attack roll). Target is about to hit you. I use Blade ward. He rolls a 3 and a 5. and now I may not take any reactions.
With Silvery Barbs and Shield I know if it will help.
That's a good point about needing to it before being actually hit!
The lack of reaction-based other interactions will still mean you will most likely spam this every round (if you are targeted).
It's better as Resistance to the damage from the attack, so that it doesn't just negate hits, or critical hits altogether.
I think better still would be the original effect (resistance to all (not just one) bludgeoning, piercing, slashing damage from attacks in a round) and either make it last until the END of your NEXT turn, or make it a Bonus Action and require Concentration while it is active.
Because yes, as a Reaction, you'll almost always use it as a free once per round disadvantage on a physical attack that would otherwise have hit you. Not "way too powerful," but still probably overpowered, since it doesn't use your BA/A action economy, and casters don't have that many uses for their Reactions (don't typically do OAs).
I don't think so. If you're a caster getting into melee either something has gone wrong or you planned for it. Since shield is frequently picked as a caster (along with counterspell) it's now competing with those since you only get 1 reaction until your next turn(?). So now you have to choose between just disadvantage on the attack roll and not using a spell slot, or waiting to see if it hits and using a spell slot to cast Shield. And then you're stuck if you wanted to cast counterspell later. Finally, at later levels you're going to have better things to do anyway, so this helps out at the early levels. Melee get decent AC from the start, but casters are screwed in the first couple levels that way, so this gives them a chance at more survivability I think, until they get more HP and better spells and stuff later on.
As a cantrip, I don't find it to be too much. Will be interesting to see what it does in the hands of one of our more um, peculiar players, lol.
She can always be relied on to do things one doesn't expect.
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From the wording it doesn't seem to me that you can do this after seeing the dice roll. I think you have to use it right after it is announced that they are going to attack you, but before the die is rolled. So it doesn't nullify a critical, nor is it like a shield, or anything like that.
I think it's a good cantrip. But I don't think it's broken.
Blade Ward is against a single attack, and is handled before attack resolution, not after, so it's... okay but not amazing?
depends, from an action economy point of view, it's unlikely casters will get opportunity attacks and usually aren't good at them anyway, so it's making use of a resource that would only be used for say... counterspell? From an action economy point of view, it's very powerful.
It's not Silvery Barbs because it only affects a melee attack roll that targets you before the resolution of the roll. It's basically letting you take the Dodge action against a single melee attack.
Personally, I'd rather keep the resistance to Bludgeoning, Slashing, and Piercing rather than impose disadvantage; but that's probably too good for a cantrip as a reaction. Imposing disadvantage is good early game where AC and Hit Bonuses are more equal and most monsters only attack once, but late game monster hit bonuses usually scale faster than a caster's AC unless your DM is pumping you full of gear. So even with disadvantage you're likely to be hit, whereas resistance to damage maintains value.
The average caster shouldn't be in range for this to be useful. So it's still a utility pick/panic button rather than a staple pick. There are a lot of competitive cantrips, and it's good to see this one brought into consideration.
It's not Silvery Barbs because it only affects a melee attack roll that targets you before the resolution of the roll. It's basically letting you take the Dodge action against a single melee attack.
Personally, I'd rather keep the resistance to Bludgeoning, Slashing, and Piercing rather than impose disadvantage; but that's probably too good for a cantrip as a reaction. Imposing disadvantage is good early game where AC and Hit Bonuses are more equal and most monsters only attack once, but late game monster hit bonuses usually scale faster than a caster's AC unless your DM is pumping you full of gear. So even with disadvantage you're likely to be hit, whereas resistance to damage maintains value.
The average caster shouldn't be in range for this to be useful. So it's still a utility pick/panic button rather than a staple pick. There are a lot of competitive cantrips, and it's good to see this one brought into consideration.
Spending your action to cast a cantrip that gives you resistance to Bludgeoning, Slashing, and Piercing is wasting it in the vast majority of possible scenarios. That's why almost no one used this cantrip. With the new changes it's much more interesting, and will possibly be seen in many spellcaster builds that go into melee. Even on other spellcasters as a safety measure. It's true that, as the monsters have more attacks and a better bonus, they lose effectiveness. But it's a cantrip, and one that doesn't pretend to be anyone's bread and butter. In my opinion it is fine. It's a good cantrip, and it does the job it should do.
As a side note, I find curious how the comments have gone from "it's broken" to "it sucks." I think there's a bit of overreactions here. It's a cantrip that is okay, that will have its place in many spell lists, but that won't break the game or be a must for anyone either.
This will definitely be going on my Fey-Bladelock, it's a not bad use of a reaction that a Warlock can't really use (with exception of Hellish Rebuke, but a Pact Slot is pricey) effectively until higher levels. Can likely be lost at later levels, but it's nice to see a defensive option worth considering.
You lose the attack of opp, but if you're a bladelock the monsters prolly aren't running past you anyway.
depends, from an action economy point of view, it's unlikely casters will get opportunity attacks and usually aren't good at them anyway, so it's making use of a resource that would only be used for say... counterspell? From an action economy point of view, it's very powerful.
I mean, even at high levels single attacks usually only do something like 30 damage and applying disadvantage averages around a 20% hit chance reduction, so it's maybe preventing 6 damage per cast? It's better to be able to use a reaction than not so if you have nothing else to do with your reaction it's good, but it's probably worse than resistance -- resistance is only 12.5% but save effects are usually more individually dangerous than attacks.
Silvery Barbs and Shield are problematic lvl 1 spells and now we get this as cantrip. It's super potent and I can't see a reason why anyone who learns it wouldn't pick it. For many classes and situations there is almost no cost attached since you can use it reactively. In most turns you will not have anything competing with your reaction as caster anyway.
In the video it was also mentioned that the range increases with your level, but that's missing in the actual PDF, maybe since Silvery Barbs at that point would just be "1 advantage attack" for a level 1 slot.
What are your thoughts?
Silvery Barbs gives advantage to someone as well.
Shield gives a +5 to your AC until the start of your next turn and gives immunity to Magic Missile.
That being said I think damage reduction against attacks would be better. Like it starts at 1d6 then 1d8 at 5th, 1d10 at 11th, and 1d12 at 17th.
Would be good protection vs a Critical hit if it was a reaction to being attacked (Attack Roll) and not just targeted. (Before an attack roll). Target is about to hit you. I use Blade ward. He rolls a 3 and a 5. and now I may not take any reactions.
With Silvery Barbs and Shield I know if it will help.
Are monsters able to crit again? I lost track.
Edit: Answered.
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Pretty sure they dropped the changes to crits, yeah.
That's a good point about needing to it before being actually hit!
The lack of reaction-based other interactions will still mean you will most likely spam this every round (if you are targeted).
It's better as Resistance to the damage from the attack, so that it doesn't just negate hits, or critical hits altogether.
I think better still would be the original effect (resistance to all (not just one) bludgeoning, piercing, slashing damage from attacks in a round) and either make it last until the END of your NEXT turn, or make it a Bonus Action and require Concentration while it is active.
Because yes, as a Reaction, you'll almost always use it as a free once per round disadvantage on a physical attack that would otherwise have hit you. Not "way too powerful," but still probably overpowered, since it doesn't use your BA/A action economy, and casters don't have that many uses for their Reactions (don't typically do OAs).
Bastions and Cantrips - Unearthed Arcana - Sources - D&D Beyond (dndbeyond.com)
I don't think so. If you're a caster getting into melee either something has gone wrong or you planned for it. Since shield is frequently picked as a caster (along with counterspell) it's now competing with those since you only get 1 reaction until your next turn(?). So now you have to choose between just disadvantage on the attack roll and not using a spell slot, or waiting to see if it hits and using a spell slot to cast Shield. And then you're stuck if you wanted to cast counterspell later. Finally, at later levels you're going to have better things to do anyway, so this helps out at the early levels. Melee get decent AC from the start, but casters are screwed in the first couple levels that way, so this gives them a chance at more survivability I think, until they get more HP and better spells and stuff later on.
Just my 2c.
Blade Ward is against a single attack, and is handled before attack resolution, not after, so it's... okay but not amazing?
As a cantrip, I don't find it to be too much. Will be interesting to see what it does in the hands of one of our more um, peculiar players, lol.
She can always be relied on to do things one doesn't expect.
Only a DM since 1980 (3000+ Sessions) / PhD, MS, MA / Mixed, Bi, Trans, Woman / No longer welcome in the US, apparently
Wyrlde: Adventures in the Seven Cities
.-=] Lore Book | Patreon | Wyrlde YT [=-.
An original Setting for 5e, a whole solar system of adventure. Ongoing updates, exclusies, more.
Not Talking About It / Dubbed The Oracle in the Cult of Mythology Nerds
From the wording it doesn't seem to me that you can do this after seeing the dice roll. I think you have to use it right after it is announced that they are going to attack you, but before the die is rolled. So it doesn't nullify a critical, nor is it like a shield, or anything like that.
I think it's a good cantrip. But I don't think it's broken.
depends, from an action economy point of view, it's unlikely casters will get opportunity attacks and usually aren't good at them anyway, so it's making use of a resource that would only be used for say... counterspell? From an action economy point of view, it's very powerful.
Last we saw Counterspell was rather heavily nerfed, too. Does seem like this could become a fairly staple pick.
A way for a caster to waste a reaction. You spend a reaction before you know if it was worth it to spend the reaction.
It's not Silvery Barbs because it only affects a melee attack roll that targets you before the resolution of the roll. It's basically letting you take the Dodge action against a single melee attack.
Personally, I'd rather keep the resistance to Bludgeoning, Slashing, and Piercing rather than impose disadvantage; but that's probably too good for a cantrip as a reaction. Imposing disadvantage is good early game where AC and Hit Bonuses are more equal and most monsters only attack once, but late game monster hit bonuses usually scale faster than a caster's AC unless your DM is pumping you full of gear. So even with disadvantage you're likely to be hit, whereas resistance to damage maintains value.
The average caster shouldn't be in range for this to be useful. So it's still a utility pick/panic button rather than a staple pick. There are a lot of competitive cantrips, and it's good to see this one brought into consideration.
Spending your action to cast a cantrip that gives you resistance to Bludgeoning, Slashing, and Piercing is wasting it in the vast majority of possible scenarios. That's why almost no one used this cantrip.
With the new changes it's much more interesting, and will possibly be seen in many spellcaster builds that go into melee. Even on other spellcasters as a safety measure.
It's true that, as the monsters have more attacks and a better bonus, they lose effectiveness. But it's a cantrip, and one that doesn't pretend to be anyone's bread and butter.
In my opinion it is fine. It's a good cantrip, and it does the job it should do.
As a side note, I find curious how the comments have gone from "it's broken" to "it sucks." I think there's a bit of overreactions here. It's a cantrip that is okay, that will have its place in many spell lists, but that won't break the game or be a must for anyone either.
This will definitely be going on my Fey-Bladelock, it's a not bad use of a reaction that a Warlock can't really use (with exception of Hellish Rebuke, but a Pact Slot is pricey) effectively until higher levels. Can likely be lost at later levels, but it's nice to see a defensive option worth considering.
You lose the attack of opp, but if you're a bladelock the monsters prolly aren't running past you anyway.
I mean, even at high levels single attacks usually only do something like 30 damage and applying disadvantage averages around a 20% hit chance reduction, so it's maybe preventing 6 damage per cast? It's better to be able to use a reaction than not so if you have nothing else to do with your reaction it's good, but it's probably worse than resistance -- resistance is only 12.5% but save effects are usually more individually dangerous than attacks.
At first blush I thought it was really strong, but it being melee only and working on only one attack does mitigate that.
The ability to negate a crit is really nice though, and is functionality that even Shield doesn't confer.