iserith
Magic Wordsmith
It works fine if you read the feats after three glasses of Jameson.
But anyway, shillelagh still works.
Use case for Blade Ward?
- Thread starter Otterscrubber
- Start date
It works fine if you read the feats after three glasses of Jameson.
But anyway, shillelagh still works.
I didn't think to include that possibility in my analysis. Excellent point that I completely overlooked.
jgsugden
Legend
It lasts until the end of your next turn. Casting it the round before combat begins allows you some benefits for the first round if you charge in and attack - especially for a hexblade or a fighter type that took Magic Initiate. The best use of this I've seen was on a human variant monk that took hex, minor image and blade ward. She'd hex enemies from a distance, cast blade ward, and then engage on the following turn.
Arial Black
Adventurer
It's a totally useless spell...
....and then I found a use for it.
My current PC is built around armour of agathys while taking half damage while Raging. He started out Bar 1, then took War 5 (fiendish bladepact), is now taking it up to Bar 3/War 5, and then warlock all the way.
The usual tactic is to cast a pre-asskicking fireball and then Rage and move through mooks hoping to get attacked. But what if the baddies are sniping from across a chasm or something? Sure, I've got a bow, but I really want to get up close and personal. So I misty step to them.
The trouble is that I can't cast spells while Raging, so I cannot Rage first and then misty step. Nor can I misty step and then Rage on the same turn because they are both bonus actions.
Solution? Cast blade ward as my action and then misty step as a bonus action. I'll take half damage while they take 15 cold every time they hit me. If there are enough survivors, then on my next turn I can Rage and attack twice with my soul-sucking magical greatsword.
Good times.
So, finally (and unexpectedly), a use for blade ward. I took both it and misty step at War 4.
....and then I found a use for it.
My current PC is built around armour of agathys while taking half damage while Raging. He started out Bar 1, then took War 5 (fiendish bladepact), is now taking it up to Bar 3/War 5, and then warlock all the way.
The usual tactic is to cast a pre-asskicking fireball and then Rage and move through mooks hoping to get attacked. But what if the baddies are sniping from across a chasm or something? Sure, I've got a bow, but I really want to get up close and personal. So I misty step to them.
The trouble is that I can't cast spells while Raging, so I cannot Rage first and then misty step. Nor can I misty step and then Rage on the same turn because they are both bonus actions.
Solution? Cast blade ward as my action and then misty step as a bonus action. I'll take half damage while they take 15 cold every time they hit me. If there are enough survivors, then on my next turn I can Rage and attack twice with my soul-sucking magical greatsword.
Good times.
So, finally (and unexpectedly), a use for blade ward. I took both it and misty step at War 4.
CapnZapp
Legend
You haven't missed anything. It's useless.I'm trying to figure out when this spell would ever be useful. The only times I can think of are if you are trying to run away from a fight or trying to run into a melee fight against ranged opponents and need to reduce damage taken while you close. But even in those cases most of the time the action would be better spent moving more to either get away or get close.
With a 1 action casting time, it removes my ability to do damage that round, while only reducing the incoming damage (of weapon attacks only) by 50%. This seems like a net win for the other guy(s). 100% reduction in my dps, only 50% reduction to incoming dps, with limitations on that even. With most monster hit points exceeding that of a PC, this makes it even more of a bad idea as dragging out a fight typically works in the monsters favor.
Yet I seem to see threads on here that talk of using blade ward on the regular, and I'm trying to figure out how/why that would ever be a good idea. Educate me please.
Perhaps to help win a slapping contest? Or ferret-legging? Remember ferret-legging?
Just dodge instead, and pick another spell.
This presumes that you have a high enough Armor Class that dodging actually appreciably reduces the odds that an enemy will hit you.
If you're looking for a spell you can cast every round and have it be just as effective every time you cast it, then yes, Blade Ward (probably) isn't for you.
Here's another example of how Blade Ward can be more effective than Dodging, taken from this Reddit thread:
Eldritch Knight's War Magic feature allows an EK, starting at level 7, to cast a cantrip and make a weapon attack as a bonus action. In a situation where you wish to focus on defense, casting Blade Ward and then attacking will still allow you to contribute damage to the fight while Dodging will not.
Just because a spell is simple doesn't mean it's generally useful, but just because a spell isn't generally useful doesn't make it worthless.
--
Pauper
ad_hoc
(they/them)
Here is an example from an actual game. There have been others, usually people Dodge because they don't have Blade Ward. It doesn't happen often but it doesn't happen rarely either.
A Hill Giant charges in and hits the Sorcerer (Blade Ward is quite good on both Sorcerers and Tome Warlocks as they have plenty of Cantrips). Now, the Sorcerer has a few options.
She can Disengage, but then the Hill Giant can easily follow. Maybe it lets the Fighter get an OA but that isn't a big deal. Even if she gets away the giant will still be taking his attacks and likely either severely hurting or knocking someone out.
She can cast a Cantrip at the giant, but then that won't boost the party's damage much as it is just a Cantrip vs Sneak Attack, 2 attack action etc.
She can cast a spell, but she is running low on good spells and doesn't want to run out fighting against just 1 CR 5 creature when more danger may be lurking.
She can Dodge, or if she has it, cast Blade Ward. Dodging isn't great because her AC isn't very high and if the giant hits twice she is just as dead. Blade Ward however, barring a critical hit, will all but guarantee she will survive to the next round and she won't have used up any spells.
Ultimately she cast a cantrip which didn't impact how many rounds it took to fell the giant. She was clobbered in the next round. The party revived her, one party member got hit fairly hard and they took the giant down as some Orogs led by a Shaman showed up. Weakened by the giant, it was a tough fight.
Blade Ward, like other cantrips, is there when the caster wants to conserve spell slots. It isn't amazing. It may even not be useful every session, but many cantrips are like that. I put it in the category of spells like Feather Fall. Not very useful most of the time, but when you want it, you want it. There are a lot of cantrips I would put below Blade Ward.
A Hill Giant charges in and hits the Sorcerer (Blade Ward is quite good on both Sorcerers and Tome Warlocks as they have plenty of Cantrips). Now, the Sorcerer has a few options.
She can Disengage, but then the Hill Giant can easily follow. Maybe it lets the Fighter get an OA but that isn't a big deal. Even if she gets away the giant will still be taking his attacks and likely either severely hurting or knocking someone out.
She can cast a Cantrip at the giant, but then that won't boost the party's damage much as it is just a Cantrip vs Sneak Attack, 2 attack action etc.
She can cast a spell, but she is running low on good spells and doesn't want to run out fighting against just 1 CR 5 creature when more danger may be lurking.
She can Dodge, or if she has it, cast Blade Ward. Dodging isn't great because her AC isn't very high and if the giant hits twice she is just as dead. Blade Ward however, barring a critical hit, will all but guarantee she will survive to the next round and she won't have used up any spells.
Ultimately she cast a cantrip which didn't impact how many rounds it took to fell the giant. She was clobbered in the next round. The party revived her, one party member got hit fairly hard and they took the giant down as some Orogs led by a Shaman showed up. Weakened by the giant, it was a tough fight.
Blade Ward, like other cantrips, is there when the caster wants to conserve spell slots. It isn't amazing. It may even not be useful every session, but many cantrips are like that. I put it in the category of spells like Feather Fall. Not very useful most of the time, but when you want it, you want it. There are a lot of cantrips I would put below Blade Ward.
Otterscrubber
First Post
It's a totally useless spell...
....and then I found a use for it.
My current PC is built around armour of agathys while taking half damage while Raging. He started out Bar 1, then took War 5 (fiendish bladepact), is now taking it up to Bar 3/War 5, and then warlock all the way.
The usual tactic is to cast a pre-asskicking fireball and then Rage and move through mooks hoping to get attacked. But what if the baddies are sniping from across a chasm or something? Sure, I've got a bow, but I really want to get up close and personal. So I misty step to them.
The trouble is that I can't cast spells while Raging, so I cannot Rage first and then misty step. Nor can I misty step and then Rage on the same turn because they are both bonus actions.
Solution? Cast blade ward as my action and then misty step as a bonus action. I'll take half damage while they take 15 cold every time they hit me. If there are enough survivors, then on my next turn I can Rage and attack twice with my soul-sucking magical greatsword.
Good times.
So, finally (and unexpectedly), a use for blade ward. I took both it and misty step at War 4.
Ok, I can get on board with this plan. Really only useful for the first round of combat, if you get the drop on them. But does a great job sucking up the alpha strike and dishing out some non-trivial paybacks in the form of instant karma.
Still not seeing a use for Blade Ward after round #1 or in a fight where the PCs don't get a surprise round or several rounds to buff themselves ahead of time. Have to agree with CapnZapp in most cases.....
iserith
Magic Wordsmith
Blade Ward gets used every round in the build I discussed upthread.
I think the expectation that any given spell must be useful in all or most situations is not a productive expectation to have. Sometimes it'll be useful, sometimes it won't be, sometimes you can create decent builds around them.
ad_hoc
(they/them)
Here's a question: Do you think Dodge is also useless?
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