D&D 5E Mystic Step as a Magical Secret

[Darkwing Duck]

At no point did I argue that a PC can always be prevented from getting into melee.

Assume, though, that you are at the rear of the party moving down a dungeon hallway (or in a 20x20 room or smaller). The party is ambushed from behind. Where are you going to go? Your own party is blocking you from moving back away from the ambush.
Or, what if you are in darkness or blinded?
Or, the enemy has already gotten itself mingled with your party?
There are plenty of examples where you survived the first round thanks to Shield, but now you're stuck on the front line because running or walking is too dangerous or just isn't possible. You need to think past the first round.

 

[Darkwing Duck]

In a way, the OP is theorycrafting like a tank. There are essentially two cases to consider: the average case, and the worst case. Sometimes the optimum for the average case is different than the optimum for the worst case.

As I see it, taking Misty Step is optimizing for the worst case, which is being caught in melee by multiple attackers. The average case probably involves avoiding melee, but deflecting the occasional ranged attack.

Usually, though, only tank-type characters bias towards worst-case thinking. This is because their worst case happens a lot more, and has far more serious consequences for their party. Theorycrafters for other roles tend towards average-case thinking.

Interesting idea. I might be "theory crafting like a tank." I believe that my Bard, as the most significant leader type in the party, has an incredibly important role and there are serious consequences should he fall down. He is Batman. He's not as strong as the other party members, but he is the largest force multiplier in making the rest of the party effective.

 

[mellored]

IMO, the biggest strength of misty step is not the rare combat movement. If that's your main concern, take 2 levels of rogue for disengage at-will, plus more expertise. Or command (flee), or dissonant whispers, or the mobility feat, or... plenty of other options.

But rather, misty steps best use is as an out of combat utility. Peer though a key hole, window, crack in a wall, past a jail cell, over a pit, up a wall, etc...

Though, nothing quite beats a grapple bard teleporting into the air, grappling a flying creature to knock it down, and then using feather fall to safely land on it. 3d6 damage is horribly weak for 2 spell slots, but it's worth it for the awesomeness.

 

[ad_hoc]

Though, nothing quite beats a grapple bard teleporting into the air, grappling a flying creature to knock it down, and then using feather fall to safely land on it. 3d6 damage is horribly weak for 2 spell slots, but it's worth it for the awesomeness.

Or skip the feather fall and equip a lance instead.

 

[Darkwing Duck]

IMO, the biggest strength of misty step is not the rare combat movement. If that's your main concern, take 2 levels of rogue for disengage at-will, plus more expertise. Or command (flee), or dissonant whispers, or the mobility feat, or... plenty of other options.

But rather, misty steps best use is as an out of combat utility. Peer though a key hole, window, crack in a wall, past a jail cell, over a pit, up a wall, etc...

Though, nothing quite beats a grapple bard teleporting into the air, grappling a flying creature to knock it down, and then using feather fall to safely land on it. 3d6 damage is horribly weak for 2 spell slots, but it's worth it for the awesomeness.

While I don't agree with the assertion that defensive spells are too narrowly focused to be recommended spell choices (because _some_ of them cover a broad range of defenses which are very commonly occurring in the game), I don't like single-purpose spells for those classes with a limited number of spells known per level (which is why my 5th level spell @ 9th is almost certainly going to be Animate Object).

Also, I really don't like full casters dipping into another class.

 

[n00b f00]

I'm in the camp that choosing a defensive spell is likely sub optimal for a backliner, it would come up to rarely to generally suggest. If that's what you want to do though it's not a terrible choice at all.

Though to me misty step's primary value, is that it can be used offensively, defensively, and for general exploration. Enemy archers plinking at you from some palisades? Bamf over there and slay those fools with your great axe. Fell off the back of a dragon mid flight, teleport to that rooftop before you get too fast. Orcs have surrounded you, wailed on you, and you're still standing, but don't want to disengage, misty step and fireball they're butts.

Now to me in that last situation misty step is also less viable as a defensive option than shield. 20 AC in 5e is dope, and plenty of chumps will have a hard time connecting such as those orcs who rushed you.

You can negate a lot of damage with it reactively, and from the situations you mention it sounds like a reactive spell would have been better.

That said the only one here who knows your table meta is you. If you often fight in areas where a 30 foot teleport would give you very defensive positioning, that 30 feet of normal movement will not. Such as teleporting up into a tree. Then go for it. I'm not there, only you are. Have fun.

 

[crashtestdummy]

Assume, though, that you are at the rear of the party moving down a dungeon hallway (or in a 20x20 room or smaller). The party is ambushed from behind. Where are you going to go? Your own party is blocking you from moving back away from the ambush.

You are, I hope, aware that your own party doesn't block you? That you're allowed to move through their squares? See page 191 of the PHB in the section "Moving Around Other Creatures". Their squares count as difficult terrain, but unless your party consists of more than two ranks of characters behind you or you have a reduced movement rate, you should be able to move 15' to the far side of the party and to safety using the Disengage action. There will be certainly circumstances where that's not possible (such as if you're going single file), but in most of those cases, the squishy character shouldn't be at the back, but in the middle.

Or, what if you are in darkness or blinded?

In which case you can't use Misty Step, either, since that requires that you be able to see where you're going to.

Or, the enemy has already gotten itself mingled with your party?
There are plenty of examples where you survived the first round thanks to Shield, but now you're stuck on the front line because running or walking is too dangerous or just isn't possible. You need to think past the first round.

I agree that there are plenty of scenarios where Shield isn't effective. There are also plenty of scenarios where Misty Step isn't effective, either. That doesn't make Misty Step useless -- it's still a quite useful spell. The decision that each player needs to make if they're choosing between the two is which set of scenarios are more likely to occur, given their DM. As I've been saying all along, both spells have their uses. It's the declaration that Shield isn't worth taking that I've been objecting to. When I hit 6th level, I'm actually leaning towards taking Misty Step because of the out of combat uses, but that doesn't blind me to the advantages that Shield presents. I just know that if I take Misty Step, the next encounter will involve archers shooting at my poor bard...

 

[Saeviomagy]

The alternative is a hypothetical where it's impossible for any enemy to get to you. I personally find that one less likely.

No, the alternatives are many and varied. Shield will usually save you from some fraction of damage. Misty step may save you from more or less. Plenty of times neither will be useful.

And I've never said Misty Step is bad. I've said that Shield has it's uses that are different to Misty Step. Misty Step doesn't replace Shield -- it addresses a different circumstance.

I absolutely agree with you there.

I agree that there are always battlefield features that you can take advantage of. So can the enemies. It's the notion that you can always have your squishy characters avoid being in melee that I have trouble with.

Positioning is helpful against all threats, not just melee.

The other thing that's not quantifiable is to what degree does Misty Step allow you to exit melee is a way that is superior to using the Disengage action (which doesn't use any resources).

Disengage uses one of the most important resources, your action.