In the hands of a Druid, it's not really that great. It's like having a weak cantrip in exchange for it doing force damage (the ignore all damage resistance and immunity kind of damage).

In the hands of a martial it's wildly overpowered.

• Wield a greatsword and a shield at the same time, while benefiting from the dueling fighting style, while benefiting from PAM.
• Optionally, you may choose to use wisdom instead of strength on your attacks and dump strength completely. (Remember, we don't let Dex users so much as touch a d10 melee weapon.)
• Ignore all damage resistance and immunity all of the time on all of your attacks. Guess you can save on that level 19 epic boon.

If you create an ability that is borderline useless in the hands of the class it's intended for, while at the same time being stupidly OP in the hands of literally anyone else, please don't do game design. If I wrote a bonus action cantrip that added 1d6 fire damage to my next attack it would be more balanced than this and I'd still be laughed off the stage.

Old shillelagh is reasonably good in the hands of a druid until level 11 where it immediately becomes obsoleted by other cantrips. Before then, 1d8+wis bludgeoning is better than Primal Savagery's 2d10 acid. You don't fix this by creating an OP weapon buff for other classes to poach.

(apologies for the math flood below.)
Lekkric70383 is right. It's not really the same, because the distribution is completely different.
WIth two dice, the probability is much higher for a roll of a 7 (1 in 6)  than a roll of a 12 (1 in 36), where a 12-sided die, all of the results are even. 

Here's why: There are six ways for two dice to add up to 7: 
Die A=1 and Die B=6
Die B=2 and Die B=5
Die C=3 and Die B=4
(etc) 

Here's a probability table 
Result/# of ways/probability as percentage:
2 1/36 (2.778%)
3 2/36 (5.556%)
4 3/36 (8.333%)
5 4/36 (11.111%)
6 5/36 (13.889%)
7 6/36 (16.667%)
8 5/36 (13.889%)
9 4/36 (11.111%)
10 3/36 (8.333%)
11 2/36 (5.556%)
12 1/36 (2.778%)

Quote from HammyxHammy >>

 Anyone arguing that Pole Strike gets overridden by Shillelagh is arguing in bad faith and there's no point arguing with them. And not just because Pole Strike is an activated ability, though that should be enough to tell you it's more specific than an active buff. There's actually a much better argument to be made in the RAW of the versatile property, as the versatile property doesn't interface with the weapons damage die and instead just says that attacks deal 1d8. If anyone argues this seriously though, save yourself the trouble and don't play with them.

 "In bad faith" is pretty harsh language for something as trivial as a discussion over a cantrip. At my table, I let all weapon buffs and features apply to the pole strike, regardless of the source: vicious weapon, elemental weapon, shillelagh, divine smite, whatever. A hit with a weapon is a hit with a weapon, tip to tail. It's fun for my players and in practical use there's no noticeable imbalance. But, if your DM is of a different opinion, have the good grace to accept the ruling and move on.

No the average of 1d12 is 6.5 and the average of 2d6 is 7. The max is the same but the min for 1d12 is 1 and for 2d6 is 2.

Quote from DallonChevalier >>

Quote from HammyxHammy >>

 Anyone arguing that Pole Strike gets overridden by Shillelagh is arguing in bad faith and there's no point arguing with them. And not just because Pole Strike is an activated ability, though that should be enough to tell you it's more specific than an active buff. There's actually a much better argument to be made in the RAW of the versatile property, as the versatile property doesn't interface with the weapons damage die and instead just says that attacks deal 1d8. If anyone argues this seriously though, save yourself the trouble and don't play with them.

 "In bad faith" is pretty harsh language for something as trivial as a discussion over a cantrip. At my table, I let all weapon buffs and features apply to the pole strike, regardless of the source: vicious weapon, elemental weapon, shillelagh, divine smite, whatever. A hit with a weapon is a hit with a weapon, tip to tail. It's fun for my players and in practical use there's no noticeable imbalance. But, if your DM is of a different opinion, have the good grace to accept the ruling and move on.

 I share this opinion. For most characters, we’re talking about investing two feats in Magic Initiate and Polearm Master to upgrade a single 1d4 bonus action attack. For most of your career, that’s a few points of damage per round, and in many combat rounds (including your first to cast Shillelagh) you’re using your bonus action for something else anyway. It’s not game breaking, and fun for a player who wants to spend their feats on a specific build.

Yes and no. The absolute maximum damage is the same but the minimum isn't. 2D6 damage can do no less than 2 damage, but a d12's minimum damage output is 1. So while the max damage potential of 2d6 and d12 is 12, one will always at least do 2 damage, the other won't. 

Warlock 1. Cha 17, Pact of the Tome for Shillelagh and Truestrike. 

Warlock 2. Agonizing Blast on Shillelagh and Truestrike.  My club damage is d8+3+3+3?

Yes or no?

Warlock 4. Warcaster. Cha 18

Warlock 5. Pact of the Blade, Thirsting Blade, I now have the option of d10+d6+4+4+4 Truestrike or two d10+4+4 attacks?
Celestial Warlock 6. Radiant Soul, my Truestrike does d10+d6+4+4+4+4... 

I believe this is roughly on par with just Eldritch Blasting.  

I've been looking at a Paladin/Warlock "1 big attack per round" build that uses the above in addition to Aasimar/Radiant Soul/double smite (double smite comes online at level 8).  At level 6 my damage spread is 18 to 32 for an average of ~25 with the option to drop some 5d8 smites.

Any insight is appreciated.

Warlock 1. Cha 17, Pact of the Tome for Shillelagh and Truestrike. 

Warlock 2. Agonizing Blast on Shillelagh and Truestrike.  My club damage is d8+3+3+3?

Yes or no?

Warlock 4. Warcaster. Cha 18

Warlock 5. Pact of the Blade, Thirsting Blade, I now have the option of d10+d6+4+4+4 Truestrike or two d10+4+4 attacks?
Celestial Warlock 6. Radiant Soul, my Truestrike does d10+d6+4+4+4+4... 

I believe this is roughly on par with just Eldritch Blasting.  

I've been looking at a Paladin/Warlock "1 big attack per round" build that uses the above in addition to Aasimar/Radiant Soul/double smite (double smite comes online at level 8).  At level 6 my damage spread is 18 to 32 for an average of ~25 with the option to drop some 5d8 smites.

Any insight is appreciated.

for some reason when this is rolling from D&D beyond digitally it's taking the force damage and the bludgeoning damage and adding them instead of being either or. 

the roller for this is bugged at the moment. it should be doing force OR bludgeoning damage but the values are being added together instead. 

The new Sage Advice published today clarifies specifically that the damage die for Polearm Master's bonus action attack remains a d4 even if Shillelagh is cast on the weapon in question: https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/dnd/sae/sage-advice-compendium#SAC-Spells-Shillelagh1

On the d12 vs 2d6, although the minimum and average are higher for 2d6, the range for a higher result is superior on a d12. You have a 3/12 or 25% chance of rolling a 10 or above on a d12, but only a 6/36 (2/12) or 16.6% chance of getting a 10 or higher on 2d6. A 9 or above is 33% on a d12, and still only 27.7% on 2d6. You finally break even at a result of 8 or higher, with both being 41.6%.

On low numbers, you have a 16.6% chance of rolling a 2 or less on a d12, but only an 8.3% chance of rolling 2 or less on 2d6. 

I feel like the 2d6 isn't necessarily more prized for being higher damage, but for being more consistently average. The d12 might be the superior choice for abilities that only let you reroll one of an attack's die.

Quote from HammyxHammy >>

In the hands of a Druid, it's not really that great. It's like having a weak cantrip in exchange for it doing force damage (the ignore all damage resistance and immunity kind of damage).

In the hands of a martial it's wildly overpowered.

• Wield a greatsword and a shield at the same time, while benefiting from the dueling fighting style, while benefiting from PAM.
• Optionally, you may choose to use wisdom instead of strength on your attacks and dump strength completely. (Remember, we don't let Dex users so much as touch a d10 melee weapon.)
• Ignore all damage resistance and immunity all of the time on all of your attacks. Guess you can save on that level 19 epic boon.

If you create an ability that is borderline useless in the hands of the class it's intended for, while at the same time being stupidly OP in the hands of literally anyone else, please don't do game design. If I wrote a bonus action cantrip that added 1d6 fire damage to my next attack it would be more balanced than this and I'd still be laughed off the stage.

Old shillelagh is reasonably good in the hands of a druid until level 11 where it immediately becomes obsoleted by other cantrips. Before then, 1d8+wis bludgeoning is better than Primal Savagery's 2d10 acid. You don't fix this by creating an OP weapon buff for other classes to poach.

Wow I must be missing something because so much is wrong with what you said...you can't wield a greatsword and a shield, since greatsword is 2h and not versatile which means it also wouldn't benefit from the dueling fighting style, and a greatsword also can't benefit from PAM since its not a reach weapon.

Quote from robkanlaf >>

Is potent spellcasting calculating correctly on this thing? As a lvl 8 druid, i have potent spellcasting from elemental fury. This is adding another +5 to the existing +5 from my spellcasting modifier. So is it really supposed to be a 1d10 + 10 on a cantrip?? That seems nutty.

 Came here to ask the same thing. Is this bugged, or is it really 1d10+10?

Potent spellcasting only applies to damaging cantrips. Shillelagh is not a damaging cantrip (isn't an attack roll and doesn't force a saving throw); it's a cantrip that modifies your weapon for a duration. Hitting with the weapon is still hitting with the weapon, not a cantrip spell attack. A shillelagh'd club should not get a bonus from Potent Spellcasting.

Quote from Travesty27 >>

Potent spellcasting only applies to damaging cantrips. Shillelagh is not a damaging cantrip (isn't an attack roll and doesn't force a saving throw); it's a cantrip that modifies your weapon for a duration. Hitting with the weapon is still hitting with the weapon, not a cantrip spell attack. A shillelagh'd club should not get a bonus from Potent Spellcasting.

Cool, thanks - and I'd agree with that logic. Unfortunate that the coding on Beyond defaults to adding it.

You can't roll 1 damage on a 2d6.

Quote from Danflorf_Bourndrimiur >>

Quote from HammyxHammy >>

In the hands of a Druid, it's not really that great. It's like having a weak cantrip in exchange for it doing force damage (the ignore all damage resistance and immunity kind of damage).

In the hands of a martial it's wildly overpowered.

• Wield a greatsword and a shield at the same time, while benefiting from the dueling fighting style, while benefiting from PAM.
• Optionally, you may choose to use wisdom instead of strength on your attacks and dump strength completely. (Remember, we don't let Dex users so much as touch a d10 melee weapon.)
• Ignore all damage resistance and immunity all of the time on all of your attacks. Guess you can save on that level 19 epic boon.

If you create an ability that is borderline useless in the hands of the class it's intended for, while at the same time being stupidly OP in the hands of literally anyone else, please don't do game design. If I wrote a bonus action cantrip that added 1d6 fire damage to my next attack it would be more balanced than this and I'd still be laughed off the stage.

Old shillelagh is reasonably good in the hands of a druid until level 11 where it immediately becomes obsoleted by other cantrips. Before then, 1d8+wis bludgeoning is better than Primal Savagery's 2d10 acid. You don't fix this by creating an OP weapon buff for other classes to poach.

 

Wow I must be missing something because so much is wrong with what you said...you can't wield a greatsword and a shield, since greatsword is 2h and not versatile which means it also wouldn't benefit from the dueling fighting style, and a greatsword also can't benefit from PAM since its not a reach weapon.

 He was saying it is like wielding a greatsword with a shield. Its a 2d6 weapon at its max one handed so dueling would work. 

Good to discuss about the damage scaling, but there Is another good thing here: No more concentration!

Now It can be combined with concentration spells (if nature cleric was in 2024 It would really benefit)