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Spells: the Good, the Bad, and the Downright Orcish Grandmother
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<blockquote data-quote="Hawk Diesel" data-source="post: 7117591" data-attributes="member: 59848"><p>Here are my attempts to fix some of the spells that have been described as poor:</p><p></p><p><strong>Blade Ward</strong></p><p><em>Abjuration cantrip</em></p><p>Casting Time: 1 action</p><p>Range: 30 feet</p><p>Components: V, S</p><p>Duration: 1 round</p><p></p><p>You extend your hand and trace a sigil of warding in the air. Until the end of your next turn, you or one willing creature within range has resistance against bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage dealt by weapon attacks.</p><p></p><p><em>Reasoning:</em> By giving it range and allowing it to target allies, it is now a support cantrip. It is no longer relegated merely to gish builds, and can be a solid pick for casters that want to stand in the back while their tanks go to town.</p><p></p><p><strong>Ray of Enfeeblement</strong></p><p><em>2nd-level necromancy</em></p><p>Casting Time: 1 action</p><p>Range: 60 feet</p><p>Components: V, S</p><p>Duration: 1 minute</p><p></p><p>A black beam of enervating energy springs from your finger toward a creature within range. Make a ranged spell attack against the target. On a hit, the target deals only half damage with weapon attacks until the spell ends.</p><p></p><p>At the end of each of the target’s turns, it can make a Constitution saving throw against the spell. On a success, the spell ends.</p><p></p><p><em>Reasoning:</em> I removed the concentration component, because that seemed to be a pretty big sticking point given the fact that it requires a successful spell attack, and the target gets a Con save every round. But I also simplified it by making it apply to all weapon attacks. Regardless of how dexterous a person might be, if you are suddenly weakened, you aren't going the be firing or finessing as well.</p><p></p><p><strong>True Strike</strong></p><p><em>Divination cantrip</em></p><p>Casting Time: 1 action</p><p>Range: 120 feet</p><p>Components: S</p><p>Duration: 1 round</p><p></p><p>You extend your hand, sensing the odds and probabilities and bending them in favor of you and your party. Choose yourself or one ally within range. Until the end of your next turn, all attacks made by the target of this cantrip are made at advantage.</p><p></p><p><em>Reasoning:</em> I mentioned this spell in an earlier post, but just to bring more attention to it and to consolidate my updated spells, I'm including it again. First of all, giving the cantrip range and allowing it to target allies rather than enemies makes it much more valuable as a support cantrip, as with the updated Blade Ward above. In addition, now this cantrip has the potential to scale like other cantrips, since it can affect multiple attacks. When your fighter gets access to more attacks (or if you do as an Eldritch Knight/Other Gish Build) this cantrip does better. Additionally, it can also work with attacks of opportunity. Suddenly True Strike turns from the worst cantrip, to one that is actually a reasonable strategic choice, especially for support casters.</p><p></p><p><strong>Witch Bolt</strong></p><p><em>2nd-level evocation</em></p><p>Casting Time: 1 bonus action</p><p>Range: 120 feet</p><p>Components: V, S, M (a twig from a tree that has been struck by lightning)</p><p>Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute</p><p></p><p>A beam of crackling, blue energy lances out toward a creature within range, forming a sustained arc of lightning between you and the target. Make a ranged spell attack against that creature. On a hit, the target takes 3d6 lightning damage, and on each of your turns for the duration, you can use your bonus action to deal 3d6 lightning damage to the target automatically. The spell ends if you use your bonus action to do anything else. The spell also ends if the target is ever outside the spell’s range or if it has total cover from you.</p><p></p><p>At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 2nd level or higher, the initial damage increases by 2d6 for each slot level above 1st.</p><p></p><p><em>Reasoning:</em> The damage continues to be inline with a 2nd level upcast Witchbolt (though slightly lower). But given the change of making the spell a bonus action to cast and maintain and increasing the range to make it harder for targeted enemies to escape, it seemed reasonable to increase the base level of the spell to 2nd level at minimum. In comparison to spiritual weapon, spiritual weapon does less damage, but can switch targets, does not require concentration, and utilizes force damage. Additionally, Spiritual Weapon can crit any round it is used, whereas Witch Bolt can only crit on the first round it's used. Overall, I feel these spells are comparable and bring Witch Bolt into a realm of usefulness.</p><p></p><p>Also with Witch Bolt, I kept in the original language that only the initial damage increases when upcast using higher level spell slots. Given the base damage to 3d6, I felt this was appropriate.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Hawk Diesel, post: 7117591, member: 59848"] Here are my attempts to fix some of the spells that have been described as poor: [B]Blade Ward[/B] [I]Abjuration cantrip[/I] Casting Time: 1 action Range: 30 feet Components: V, S Duration: 1 round You extend your hand and trace a sigil of warding in the air. Until the end of your next turn, you or one willing creature within range has resistance against bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage dealt by weapon attacks. [I]Reasoning:[/I] By giving it range and allowing it to target allies, it is now a support cantrip. It is no longer relegated merely to gish builds, and can be a solid pick for casters that want to stand in the back while their tanks go to town. [B]Ray of Enfeeblement[/B] [I]2nd-level necromancy[/I] Casting Time: 1 action Range: 60 feet Components: V, S Duration: 1 minute A black beam of enervating energy springs from your finger toward a creature within range. Make a ranged spell attack against the target. On a hit, the target deals only half damage with weapon attacks until the spell ends. At the end of each of the target’s turns, it can make a Constitution saving throw against the spell. On a success, the spell ends. [I]Reasoning:[/I] I removed the concentration component, because that seemed to be a pretty big sticking point given the fact that it requires a successful spell attack, and the target gets a Con save every round. But I also simplified it by making it apply to all weapon attacks. Regardless of how dexterous a person might be, if you are suddenly weakened, you aren't going the be firing or finessing as well. [B]True Strike[/B] [I]Divination cantrip[/I] Casting Time: 1 action Range: 120 feet Components: S Duration: 1 round You extend your hand, sensing the odds and probabilities and bending them in favor of you and your party. Choose yourself or one ally within range. Until the end of your next turn, all attacks made by the target of this cantrip are made at advantage. [I]Reasoning:[/I] I mentioned this spell in an earlier post, but just to bring more attention to it and to consolidate my updated spells, I'm including it again. First of all, giving the cantrip range and allowing it to target allies rather than enemies makes it much more valuable as a support cantrip, as with the updated Blade Ward above. In addition, now this cantrip has the potential to scale like other cantrips, since it can affect multiple attacks. When your fighter gets access to more attacks (or if you do as an Eldritch Knight/Other Gish Build) this cantrip does better. Additionally, it can also work with attacks of opportunity. Suddenly True Strike turns from the worst cantrip, to one that is actually a reasonable strategic choice, especially for support casters. [B]Witch Bolt[/B] [I]2nd-level evocation[/I] Casting Time: 1 bonus action Range: 120 feet Components: V, S, M (a twig from a tree that has been struck by lightning) Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute A beam of crackling, blue energy lances out toward a creature within range, forming a sustained arc of lightning between you and the target. Make a ranged spell attack against that creature. On a hit, the target takes 3d6 lightning damage, and on each of your turns for the duration, you can use your bonus action to deal 3d6 lightning damage to the target automatically. The spell ends if you use your bonus action to do anything else. The spell also ends if the target is ever outside the spell’s range or if it has total cover from you. At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 2nd level or higher, the initial damage increases by 2d6 for each slot level above 1st. [I]Reasoning:[/I] The damage continues to be inline with a 2nd level upcast Witchbolt (though slightly lower). But given the change of making the spell a bonus action to cast and maintain and increasing the range to make it harder for targeted enemies to escape, it seemed reasonable to increase the base level of the spell to 2nd level at minimum. In comparison to spiritual weapon, spiritual weapon does less damage, but can switch targets, does not require concentration, and utilizes force damage. Additionally, Spiritual Weapon can crit any round it is used, whereas Witch Bolt can only crit on the first round it's used. Overall, I feel these spells are comparable and bring Witch Bolt into a realm of usefulness. Also with Witch Bolt, I kept in the original language that only the initial damage increases when upcast using higher level spell slots. Given the base damage to 3d6, I felt this was appropriate. [/QUOTE]
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