D&D 5E Should I keep shield prepared on an enchantment Wizard with instinctive charm?

[ECMO3]

I have a Goblin Enchantment Wizard, current stats - S6 D14 C11 I20 W12 Ch14, 22hp. She has a 1-level dip in divine Soul, so she currently a Divine Soul 1/Enchantment Wizard 5.

She is mostly a back line character, occasionally moves to the front and tries hyp gaze and then disengages if she fails. She also hides as a bonus action a lot (she is proficient in stealth from background). Her only defenses are shield and mage armor, so her AC is not great even with shield.

When she turns 6th level Wizard she will get Instinctive Charm. I am wondering if it is worth keeping Shield. I can't really see her using it a lot since instinctive charm is usually going to be more effective at redirecting attacks and you make the decision on the roll with instinctive charm, so if you wait to see if the roll hits it is too late.

 

[Benjamin Olson]

I think it all depends on what percentage of the times you find yourself being attacked you are being attacked by a visible opponent within 30 feet, with the closest creature to it being someone you don't mind seeing hit, and you are only attacked a single time during that round. It also depends whether you are comfortable relying on a defense that becomes useless against a given creature for the rest of the encounter once they pass a save.

I don't think there is a universally correct answer because it depends so much on the playstyle of you and your DM.

Personally for me the ongoing protection until my next turn is the thing that always ends up sealing the deal for Shield against all competitors. If being targetted more than once in a single round is a very rare occurrence for your character than the calculus becomes fundamentally different.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

A lot of things are immune to charm, but then if you are on the back row, you hope attacks aren't coming your way anyway. It's really a case of, what would you put in that slot if not shield?

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

Instinctive Charm has a couple of drawbacks compared to Shield

• It only protects against a single attack, Shield protects against multiattacks and multiple attackers.
• Instinctive Charm will often redirect attacks to your allies. You need to be pretty careful with your positioning to be sure that a redirected attack can only target an enemy rather than an ally.

Conclusion: Instinctive Charm is pretty situational, Shield will be better most of the time.

 

[ECMO3]

I think it all depends on what percentage of the times you find yourself being attacked you are being attacked by a visible opponent within 30 feet, with the closest creature to it being someone you don't mind seeing hit, and you are only attacked a single time during that round. It also depends whether you are comfortable relying on a defense that becomes useless against a given creature for the rest of the encounter once they pass a save.

Personally for me the ongoing protection until my next turn is the thing that always ends up sealing the deal for Shield against all competitors. If being targetted more than once in a single round is a very rare occurrence for your character than the calculus becomes fundamentally different.

Thanks. I get what you are saying. I'm not sure I will use it a lot though. Mainly because I have to pass on the opportunity to use IC to wait to shield.

For me the being attacked only once is not a big discriminator because if you don't use instinctive charm you might not need to use shield and additionally shield might not work, especially with a low AC like this character has. Same with being protected for multiple attacks. If you have a high AC shield is very effective against multiple attacks. With a low AC not so much. There is a really good chance that the attack I did not use IC on will still beat my AC with shield and even if I successfully shield that first attack, it still might not really be effective protection for the rest of the round because my AC is not high enough to depend on it nullifying attacks. It might deflect a later attack but it probably won't. Obviously how many times you are being attacked comes into play, but if I am getting attacked more than twice we are in a really bad spot.

Considering my hit points it is almost always better for someone else to be hit, even an ally, and since I have both the lowest AC and lowest hps in the party redirecting to another party member is usually better than taking the attack myself.

 

[Clint_L]

I'm not 100% clear on why this is an either/or situation. However, given the way you describe your character, instinctive charm seems more on brand.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Considering my hit points it is almost always better for someone else to be hit, even an ally

You may find yourself running out of allies...

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

Considering my hit points it is almost always better for someone else to be hit, even an ally, and since I have both the lowest AC and lowest hps in the party redirecting to another party member is usually better than taking the attack myself.

While this may be true from a game optimization perspective, indirectly causing other characters to get hurt can cause a lot of friction in a party, both in-character and out-of-character. Make sure the other players are okay with your PC redirecting attacks to their PCs before you base your defensive strategy on Instinctive Charm.

 

[Bacon Bits]

For me it's simply the fact that once one creature saves, Instinctive Charm is done for the whole day. It's going to stop working sometime during the day. [Edit: This paragraph isn't correct; the ability only stops working on that one creature. But the rest of the post is just fine.]

By level 5, you should be able to prepare 10 Wizard spells, and when you add in the 2+1 that you know from Divine Soul, you've got an embarrassment of riches compared to most spellcasting characters. Spareing one for Shield shouldn't be a massive burden on a day you predict combat or adventuring.

I could see not taking Shield if your character is expected to be the healer of the group, but otherwise, I think it's just too good. Shield is just overwhelmingly potent, especially because it's unique in that it's a level 1 combat spell that remains just as powerful at level 20 as it is at level 1, meaning that it scales unusually well. It always gives +5 AC for a level 1 slot (meaning it gets cheaper as you gain levels). Since your AC typically scales from other sources, that means Shield scales with level without costing higher spell levels to do so.

 

[Stoutstien]

I'll go against the grain a little and say you could probably live without shield. Goblin wizards have a ton of as avoidance already and between Gaze and charm you have plenty of options if that fails.

Saying that wizards can prepare so many spells it would be difficult to not prepare it.