I have a player/DM ask me if I thought that a Bard/Sorcerer ability combined with a spell could work. In question are the Bard's(college of whispers) Psychic Bladesability combined with the Sorcerer's Shadow Blade spell. Is there any reason these would not work together? He's building an NPC for his game and wants this to be on the up and up. So regardless of the fact I told him if it worked thematically for an NPC it's fine, he's worried about RAW.
I think it's more of the fact he's thinking about running this in my game and wants my approval first.
TLDR: Is the combined use of the College of Whispers ability Psychic Blades work with the spell Shadow Blade?
Psychic Blades just requires weapon attacks, and Shadow Blades creates a weapon, so attacks made with it are weapon attacks and not spell attacks. There’s nothing stopping them from working together.
That said, I understand that this DM is new, but they’re very much looking at this the wrong way. NPCs and monsters do not follow the same rules as player characters. The Monster Manual is full of features and abilities that either work differently than the PC features they’re modeled on or just straight up aren’t available to PCs at all. When it comes to building monsters and NPCs, RAW is very literally “do whatever you want as long as it’s fun for the players.”
Shadow Blade creates a weapon, and Psychic Blades can be activated on (successful) weapon attacks. There is no conflict.
They can (both) work with effects such as Booming Blade or Green-Flame Blade too. Still no conflict. One spell creates a weapon, then, on any subsequent turn, you can use one of the two spells that require you to make a melee attack with a weapon, and if that hits, you can activate the bard's trait.
Keep in mind that a bard could potentially pick up shadow blade as a magical secret if they really want to ... you would not need the sorcerer levels unless you wanted them.
Also, it is fine to build NPCs using PC rules if you want to since it offers up a bit of consistency but there is no requirement to do so. NPCs can have abilities and capabilities that aren't available to PCs so the DM should not be too worried about creating NPCs that fit the "rules". On the other hand, it is usually a good idea to be able to answer WHY an NPC has a special ability in case it comes up in game. The DM can always say "because I said so" but that is less narratively satisfying that saying the ability was granted by a diety, a patron, finding lost lore or a magic item. In game explanations for special abilities make the game hang together with greater consistency.
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Hola all!!
I have a player/DM ask me if I thought that a Bard/Sorcerer ability combined with a spell could work.
In question are the Bard's(college of whispers) Psychic Blades ability combined with the Sorcerer's Shadow Blade spell. Is there any reason these would not work together? He's building an NPC for his game and wants this to be on the up and up. So regardless of the fact I told him if it worked thematically for an NPC it's fine, he's worried about RAW.
I think it's more of the fact he's thinking about running this in my game and wants my approval first.
TLDR: Is the combined use of the College of Whispers ability Psychic Blades work with the spell Shadow Blade?
Psychic Blades just requires weapon attacks, and Shadow Blades creates a weapon, so attacks made with it are weapon attacks and not spell attacks. There’s nothing stopping them from working together.
That said, I understand that this DM is new, but they’re very much looking at this the wrong way. NPCs and monsters do not follow the same rules as player characters. The Monster Manual is full of features and abilities that either work differently than the PC features they’re modeled on or just straight up aren’t available to PCs at all. When it comes to building monsters and NPCs, RAW is very literally “do whatever you want as long as it’s fun for the players.”
I see no reason they wouldn't work together.
Shadow Blade creates a weapon, and Psychic Blades can be activated on (successful) weapon attacks. There is no conflict.
They can (both) work with effects such as Booming Blade or Green-Flame Blade too. Still no conflict. One spell creates a weapon, then, on any subsequent turn, you can use one of the two spells that require you to make a melee attack with a weapon, and if that hits, you can activate the bard's trait.
Thank you.
And this is pretty much what I had told him. "don't build a PC, build a monster."
Keep in mind that a bard could potentially pick up shadow blade as a magical secret if they really want to ... you would not need the sorcerer levels unless you wanted them.
Also, it is fine to build NPCs using PC rules if you want to since it offers up a bit of consistency but there is no requirement to do so. NPCs can have abilities and capabilities that aren't available to PCs so the DM should not be too worried about creating NPCs that fit the "rules". On the other hand, it is usually a good idea to be able to answer WHY an NPC has a special ability in case it comes up in game. The DM can always say "because I said so" but that is less narratively satisfying that saying the ability was granted by a diety, a patron, finding lost lore or a magic item. In game explanations for special abilities make the game hang together with greater consistency.