Pact Cantrips in Ravenloft

[Guest 6801328]

I posted this in general but realized I should have put it here:

I just hit 3 on my warlock and am deciding which cantrips to take:

1. I'm assuming I'll be seeing lots of undead. Is there a good reason to take Sacred Flame? Or will EB just always be better (and I can take Chill Touch next level if I need to stop regeneration.)
2. I'll probably take Shillelagh. Useful and fun. Then later I could take Booming Blade, making it even cooler. With War Caster it would be awesome of AoO's.
3. Vicious Mockery: this is an Adventurer's League character so I don't know what debuffs the party will have.
4. Spare the Dying: ditto on basic cleric functions.
5. I could also just use a slot to increase my Warlock cantrips rather than waiting.
6. Anything else I haven't thought of?

 

[tsuyoshikentsu]

Thau. Ma. Tur. Gey.

The ability to shut a door at range alone is enough to make this cantrip one of the most versatile out there.

 

[Guest 6801328]

Agreed. I should have mentioned that I'm a Tiefling so I have Thaumaturgy.

 

[pdegan2814]

Well, I wouldn't worry about sacred flame, I was looking through the MM the other day and undead don't seem to have vulnerability to radiant damage anymore. I can't really comment on the rest.

Sacred Flame isn't just about radiant vs force damage, though. Sacred Flame is a Dex save vs an attack roll, and it ignores cover. If you're up against folks who like to duck behind things, or against something with a high AC but not all that nimble, Sacred Flame may come in handy.

 

[zaratan]

Guidance is always a great choice.

with warcaster and a whip (you don't need to be prof with this if you don't attack) you could spam EB. But if you go for Shillelagh you'll want BB and GFB.

thorn whip is usefull when your party have many area effect spells. You can use repealing blast to push or thorn whip to pull.

 

[pdegan2814]

thorn whip is usefull when your party have many area effect spells. You can use repealing blast to push or thorn whip to pull.

Battlefield control is fun. In the last session of my PotA game, we had a Druid cast Thorn Whip to pull an enemy through the square our Bard had cast Cloud Of Daggers in, then our Warlock used Repelling Blast to push that enemy back through the CoD square. Poor guy didn't stand a chance.

 

[zaratan]

Battlefield control is fun. In the last session of my PotA game, we had a Druid cast Thorn Whip to pull an enemy through the square our Bard had cast Cloud Of Daggers in, then our Warlock used Repelling Blast to push that enemy back through the CoD square. Poor guy didn't stand a chance.

yeah, my table take preatty serious party optimization. A moon druid grappler with spike growth or moon beam, a sorlock with hex giving desadvantage in check, repealing blast or thorn whip, a polearm master/sentinel fighter with trip attack don't letting the guy get out and a dissonant whisppers bard make things a little ridiculous when they can focus in the same enemy.

 

[Guest 6801328]

Question: The description for Green-Flame Blade says you use your spellcasting modifier for damage. If you have a magic item (e.g. "+1 Orb of the Warmage") that gives you +1/+1 for spell attack & damage, is that counted as part of your spellcasting modifier, or is it just your attribute bonus?

 

[zaratan]

Question: The description for Green-Flame Blade says you use your spellcasting modifier for damage. If you have a magic item (e.g. "+1 Orb of the Warmage") that gives you +1/+1 for spell attack & damage, is that counted as part of your spellcasting modifier, or is it just your attribute bonus?

I believe not. First because wand of war mage only add to +1 to "spell attack rolls", not damage. Second because the GFB text say "spellcasting ability modifier", so a magic item will only add damage to GFB if he add something like +1 to spellcasting ability modifier or spell damage.

 

[Guest 6801328]

Hmm...I thought it was +1/+1; I'll have to check the card (it's one of those Adventurer's League magic items).

But even if it is just +1/+0, your "spellcasting modifier" refers to your attack rolls, not your damage rolls (special circumstances like "Agonizing Blast" aside). So it's your attack roll bonus, not your damage bonus, that gets used for Green Flame Blade damage.