D&D 5E Overrated Wizard Spells

[Gadget]

Why do you keep talking about 'credentials'? Its not like you can have a certified degree in D&D. D&D is not competitive by nature, so it can't be compared to poker or MTG.

I'm not @ad_hoc, but the point here is Treantmonk is being appealed to as an "Expert" or authority in arguments in this very thread; and he is really no such thing. He is certainly not a beginner, and he has taken a lot of time and effort to post his opinions on various things D&D related, some of which I and many others agree with, but that does not make him an "expert"; or at least not in the sense that simply stating: "Treantmonk says X" wins any arguments as an ultimate appeal to authority.

 

[Cap'n Kobold]

Perhaps a better explanation (or knowing me I'll add more confusion).

The spells are really for two different concepts.
Shield is to prevent death
Mage Armor to prevent being hit.

In your scenario of getting attack 3 times a day, if I have shield I don't care if I get hit as long as it doesn't kill me. If I think it is going to kill me than I use Shield. So a Shield user while getting attacked 3 times a day really only cares about the ONE attack. So really they are just preventing one attack (in the case of this scenario).

A person in Mage Armor doesn't want to be hit--that's why it lasts eight hours. If a person with Mage Armor gets attacked 3 times they are hoping they don't get hit any of the 3 times. That's why they cast the spell in the first place.

It's a different mentality. A shield only user's primary concern is preventing the hit that kills. I mean sure, I don't want to get hit. But I didn't pick up shield in an attempt to prevent every attack against me. That's Mage Armor.

The issue there is that a caster does not know how many attacks they will be the target of in a day.
Not using up slots on casting Shield until they are low enough on HP that the next hit will kill them is a bad strategy because Shield is not guaranteed to actually prevent that hit. (Particularly if you are not combining it with Mage Armour or similar.)

You need to start spending slots on casting Shield to try to stop hits well before your HP gets to critical levels.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I'n my experience, if a caster goes down it is because of one big hit, not accumulated nicks. So they need to try and keep hp full and not get hit at all.

 

[5ekyu]

I'n my experience, if a caster goes down it is because of one big hit, not accumulated nicks. So they need to try and keep hp full and not get hit at all.

In my experience it's not just one big hit that takes down casters. It's most often a little accumulated damage, a big hit and then a sudden shortage of healing.

Then again, a fireball followed by chill touch on a seriously hurt target is a seriously evil thing.

 

[ccs]

In reply to the very 1st post....

Cause if you really want to pay a 2 spell tax for something that shouldn't happen, you'd be the dumb wizard.

Hmm. My DM must not have gotten that memo.

So you keep picking spells that work for you, & I'll keep picking spells that work for me in the games I play in.

 

[BigBadDM]

Hmm. My DM must not have gotten that memo.

So you keep picking spells that work for you, & I'll keep picking spells that work for me in the games I play in.

It's all tongue and cheek.