I have a question about the booming blade. I am fairly new to D&D and have not played a spellcaster before. It says that it takes 1 action to cast it on myself and then lasts until the start of my next turn, does this mean that after I cast it I no longer have an action left to use it as my character does not have a bonus action?
Booming Blade uses the "cast a spell" action, but the spell also has you making a weapon attack during the casting and resolution of the spell. So you casting the spell causes you to make a weapon attack with a bonus action. This does matter eventually if you reach level 5+ when martial characters get extra attack, which isn't compatible with the spell. At lower levels though unless you are trying to dual wield it is just functionally a better basic weapon attack.
Booming Blade uses the "cast a spell" action, but the spell also has you making a weapon attack during the casting and resolution of the spell. So you casting the spell causes you to make a weapon attack with a bonus action. This does matter eventually if you reach level 5+ when martial characters get extra attack, which isn't compatible with the spell. At lower levels though unless you are trying to dual wield it is just functionally a better basic weapon attack.
Not quite, the melee weapon attack is made as a part of the Cast a Spell action, so your Bonus Action is not required and is still available for other uses.
Not quite, the melee weapon attack is made as a part of the Cast a Spell action, so your Bonus Action is not required and is still available for other uses.
I never said it required a bonus action at all? You are correct in that the entire thing only requires the main action.
I'm sorry if I misunderstood you. When you said that "casting the spell causes you to make a weapon attack with a bonus action" I thought that you were suggesting that the melee weapon attack that is a part of Booming Blade required your Bonus Action.
Thank you for the replies, I believe that clears things up for me, as my character does not have a bonus action I was concerned that I had made an error by choosing that spell and that I wouldn't be able to use it.
Thank you for the replies, I believe that clears things up for me, as my character does not have a bonus action I was concerned that I had made an error by choosing that spell and that I wouldn't be able to use it.
By the way, you may be misunderstanding how Bonus Actions work. It's not so much that your character has a Bonus Action; rather that there are actions which might be available to your character that are performed as a Bonus Action rather than as an Action. For example, with Two Weapon Fighting, which is available to any character, you may make a melee weapon attack with a light weapon in one hand as a Bonus Action, so long as you have taken the Attack action to use a melee weapon attack with a light weapon held in the other. You have posted in the Warlock sub-forum, a number of Warlock spells can be cast as Bonus Actions, such as Hex, so they can be cast without using your Action.
You could, for example, cast Hex on an opponent as a Bonus Action, then cast Booming Blade as your Action, and then make the melee weapon attack that forms part of Booming Blade, which, if it succeeds, will enjoy the benefits of the Hex spell you had cast earlier on your turn, all on the same turn. You need to be aware that the rules do not permit you to cast a leveled spell (ie, a non-Cantrip) as a Bonus Action, and another leveled spell as an Action on the same turn, but a Cantrip, like Booming Blade, and a leveled spell, like Hex, is fine.
I did not know this, that is super helpful and explained very well, thank you
You are welcome. I should have added that you may take only one Bonus Action on your turn, so if more than one are available to you, you need to choose among them. So you would not be able to, for example, cast Hex and engage in Two Weapon Fighting on the same turn, as that would require two Bonus Actions.
I have a question about the booming blade. I am fairly new to D&D and have not played a spellcaster before. It says that it takes 1 action to cast it on myself and then lasts until the start of my next turn, does this mean that after I cast it I no longer have an action left to use it as my character does not have a bonus action?
Just to add on top of MiddleAgedNoob's excellent answer on actions, but I think the part that maybe confused you is that the effect that lasts until the start of your next turn is only if you hit your target when you cast booming blade.
Basically you cast booming blade as your action, which lets you make one (and only one) attack with the weapon, if you hit, your target takes extra damage (at higher levels) and an effect is applied to them. If they then move before your next turn, they take even more damage, great if you can move away from them somehow without taking opportunity attacks in return.
For example, Misty Step enables you to straight up teleport away, and it's a bonus action so you can do that in addition to your Booming Blade attack, which makes it a fun combo, though you can only do it so many times.
And as a sidenote, I really wish Wizards of the Coast hadn't named both the act of attacking an "attack", and also given us the Attack action as one of several ways to do it and with the same damn name. It would save so much understandable confusion. 😂
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Thank you for the replies, I believe that clears things up for me, as my character does not have a bonus action I was concerned that I had made an error by choosing that spell and that I wouldn't be able to use it.
By the way, you may be misunderstanding how Bonus Actions work. It's not so much that your character has a Bonus Action; rather that there are actions which might be available to your character that are performed as a Bonus Action rather than as an Action. For example, with Two Weapon Fighting, which is available to any character, you may make a melee weapon attack with a light weapon in one hand as a Bonus Action, so long as you have taken the Attack action to use a melee weapon attack with a light weapon held in the other. You have posted in the Warlock sub-forum, a number of Warlock spells can be cast as Bonus Actions, such as Hex, so they can be cast without using your Action.
You could, for example, cast Hex on an opponent as a Bonus Action, then cast Booming Blade as your Action, and then make the melee weapon attack that forms part of Booming Blade, which, if it succeeds, will enjoy the benefits of the Hex spell you had cast earlier on your turn, all on the same turn. You need to be aware that the rules do not permit you to cast a leveled spell (ie, a non-Cantrip) as a Bonus Action, and another leveled spell as an Action on the same turn, but a Cantrip, like Booming Blade, and a leveled spell, like Hex, is fine.
Forgive me if you knew all this already.
Excellent explanation. However, a bit of clarification about the bonus action spell rule. It doesn't matter whether you cast a leveled spell or a cantrip as a bonus action; if you cast any spell as a bonus action and want to cast a spell as an action too on the same turn, that spell you cast as an action must only be a cantrip. Conversely, if you cast a leveled spell as an action, you cannot cast any spell as a bonus action on the same turn.
This is why, for sorcerers with quickened spell - let's say they're trying to cast fireball and fire bolt on the same turn, for example - they would quicken the fireball rather than the fire bolt. If they quicken the fire bolt, they can only cast a cantrip as their action and therefore can't cast fireball on that turn. But if they quicken the fireball, they can still only cast a cantrip as their action, which is fine because they were only planning on casting fire bolt anyway. (Yes, I know this is the warlock forum, but sorcerer made for a good example.)
Not quite, the melee weapon attack is made as a part of the Cast a Spell action, so your Bonus Action is not required and is still available for other uses.
I never said it required a bonus action at all? You are correct in that the entire thing only requires the main action.
But you did. I get that was not your intention though.
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I have a question about the booming blade. I am fairly new to D&D and have not played a spellcaster before. It says that it takes 1 action to cast it on myself and then lasts until the start of my next turn, does this mean that after I cast it I no longer have an action left to use it as my character does not have a bonus action?
Booming Blade uses the "cast a spell" action, but the spell also has you making a weapon attack during the casting and resolution of the spell. So you casting the spell causes you to make a weapon attack with a bonus action. This does matter eventually if you reach level 5+ when martial characters get extra attack, which isn't compatible with the spell. At lower levels though unless you are trying to dual wield it is just functionally a better basic weapon attack.
Not quite, the melee weapon attack is made as a part of the Cast a Spell action, so your Bonus Action is not required and is still available for other uses.
I never said it required a bonus action at all? You are correct in that the entire thing only requires the main action.
I'm sorry if I misunderstood you. When you said that "casting the spell causes you to make a weapon attack with a bonus action" I thought that you were suggesting that the melee weapon attack that is a part of Booming Blade required your Bonus Action.
Thank you for the replies, I believe that clears things up for me, as my character does not have a bonus action I was concerned that I had made an error by choosing that spell and that I wouldn't be able to use it.
By the way, you may be misunderstanding how Bonus Actions work. It's not so much that your character has a Bonus Action; rather that there are actions which might be available to your character that are performed as a Bonus Action rather than as an Action. For example, with Two Weapon Fighting, which is available to any character, you may make a melee weapon attack with a light weapon in one hand as a Bonus Action, so long as you have taken the Attack action to use a melee weapon attack with a light weapon held in the other. You have posted in the Warlock sub-forum, a number of Warlock spells can be cast as Bonus Actions, such as Hex, so they can be cast without using your Action.
You could, for example, cast Hex on an opponent as a Bonus Action, then cast Booming Blade as your Action, and then make the melee weapon attack that forms part of Booming Blade, which, if it succeeds, will enjoy the benefits of the Hex spell you had cast earlier on your turn, all on the same turn. You need to be aware that the rules do not permit you to cast a leveled spell (ie, a non-Cantrip) as a Bonus Action, and another leveled spell as an Action on the same turn, but a Cantrip, like Booming Blade, and a leveled spell, like Hex, is fine.
Forgive me if you knew all this already.
I did not know this, that is super helpful and explained very well, thank you
You are welcome. I should have added that you may take only one Bonus Action on your turn, so if more than one are available to you, you need to choose among them. So you would not be able to, for example, cast Hex and engage in Two Weapon Fighting on the same turn, as that would require two Bonus Actions.
Just to add on top of MiddleAgedNoob's excellent answer on actions, but I think the part that maybe confused you is that the effect that lasts until the start of your next turn is only if you hit your target when you cast booming blade.
Basically you cast booming blade as your action, which lets you make one (and only one) attack with the weapon, if you hit, your target takes extra damage (at higher levels) and an effect is applied to them. If they then move before your next turn, they take even more damage, great if you can move away from them somehow without taking opportunity attacks in return.
For example, Misty Step enables you to straight up teleport away, and it's a bonus action so you can do that in addition to your Booming Blade attack, which makes it a fun combo, though you can only do it so many times.
And as a sidenote, I really wish Wizards of the Coast hadn't named both the act of attacking an "attack", and also given us the Attack action as one of several ways to do it and with the same damn name. It would save so much understandable confusion. 😂
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.
Excellent explanation. However, a bit of clarification about the bonus action spell rule. It doesn't matter whether you cast a leveled spell or a cantrip as a bonus action; if you cast any spell as a bonus action and want to cast a spell as an action too on the same turn, that spell you cast as an action must only be a cantrip. Conversely, if you cast a leveled spell as an action, you cannot cast any spell as a bonus action on the same turn.
This is why, for sorcerers with quickened spell - let's say they're trying to cast fireball and fire bolt on the same turn, for example - they would quicken the fireball rather than the fire bolt. If they quicken the fire bolt, they can only cast a cantrip as their action and therefore can't cast fireball on that turn. But if they quicken the fireball, they can still only cast a cantrip as their action, which is fine because they were only planning on casting fire bolt anyway. (Yes, I know this is the warlock forum, but sorcerer made for a good example.)
But you did. I get that was not your intention though.