D&D 5E Suggested nerf to the Shield spell

Satyrn · Dec 27, 2018

Stalker0 said:
So...to actually help the OP instead of just telling them their wrong.

If you find Shield to be OP in your game, I think your house rule is a fine adjustment to reduce its power a bit.

Hey, I'm trying to help him, too, by encouraging him to consider how his players will react. Specially: They might be fine, in which case he should go ahead. But if it will piss them off, he shouldn't. And if he doesn't have a clue how they'll react, I haven't a clue what to suggest.

CrimsonCarcharodon · Dec 27, 2018

This doesn't seem like a problem with Shield so much as it seems a problem with refreshing everything at the end of every session. If your players want to blow all their spell slots on Shield, then that's offensive or utility spells that they're not casting. Up the difficulty of your encounters, give them good reasons to want to spend those spell slots in ways other than Shield. Have enemy mages Counterspell, target them with effects that force a save instead of an attack roll, use effects that don't damage them but have other effects, give them more skill challenge encounters.

Your players have found a playstyle that works with the way you're DMing. Change that up. Surprise them. Don't give them the same type of combat situation every time. Give them other ways to spend their reactions, too. "Oh, you cast Shield? Well, no attack of opportunity from you as the enemy gets out of melee range then." "You cast Shield, so you can't cast Feather Fall while this ledge crumbles beneath you. Better hope that Dex save is a good roll!"

Horwath · Dec 27, 2018

Gavin O. said:
But what if that isn't an option? (Due to campaign circumstances, we can't have stories that last longer than one session and our abilities refresh at the end of every session)

many abilities are broken if you have combat for few rounds per day.

It can't be helped. D&D is not meant to be played with few fights for 2 or 3 rounds each.
You can tweak shield spell, but as soon as you do that another thorn will stick out, and then another.

I'm sorry to say, but the spell is not broken, your gameplay is.

Try to do more challenges in a session or simply try to "save" the status of characters for 2 or 3 sessions if they are that short.

ad_hoc · Dec 27, 2018

Gavin O. said:
But what if that isn't an option? (Due to campaign circumstances, we can't have stories that last longer than one session and our abilities refresh at the end of every session)

You are playing entire adventures that have only 1 or 2 encounters? 5e is really not the game for that.

Alternatively stop having a long rest at the end of each session. Character sheets usually have a spot to mark off spells used. Use them. Our table has 1 long rest every 2-3 sessions.

Changing Shield won't do much for you. The entire game is designed around dungeon type adventures with short and long rests. All long rest classes are going to be far stronger than others and for combats to be challenging they will be very swingy. Either the party wipes the floor or they get TPK'd. The game really doesn't work with only an encounter or two per long rest.

Rabbitbait · Dec 27, 2018

If your players have designed their characters to be tanks, why punish them for that? I know it can be frustrating when you line up a very nasty baddie who then rolls badly and never hits because of the shield spell, but the players have sacrificed other abilities to be able to do that. Let them be the tank and have the glory of being on the front line every time soaking up the damage. while the other characters actually do the work that defeats them.

5ekyu · Dec 27, 2018

As others have pointed out, shield is a symptom not a cause. Honestly, at the levels involved I would be expecting bigger problems.

But if you move the shield decision to before hit, it's going to go away. They will move on to other options to spam like say mirtor image each from 2nd levels.

Immoralkickass · Dec 27, 2018

Why do you assume a player would use all their Level 1 slots only for Shield? As a player, that's hardly going to happen. Also, Shield does nothing when the attack roll is >5, or on a crit.

Still, you can always use some effect that prevents a target from taking reactions, like Shocking Grasp, Slow etc. Or apply conditions such as Blinded and Incapacitated.

cbwjm · Dec 27, 2018

Shield is pretty powerful for its level in that it can turn a hit into a miss, and provide protection for the rest of the round. Personally, I wouldn't change it for my games, but if I was going to I would probably make it similar to its earlier incarnations, that is, short duration AC boost. Rather that a flat AC bonus I would change it to a 1 Action cast time, a 1 minute duration, and have it provide an AC of 15 + dexterity modifier, or maybe a flat AC of 18. I prefer the former. This means that any heavily armoured eldritch knights probably won't gain much if any bonus. An arcane trickster likely would gain a higher AC, but lower that what they would otherwise gain with the current spell.

jgsugden · Dec 27, 2018

Bah! Healing spells are even more broken! They get to undue the damage *after* you've been hit! You can see how much damage they deal before you decide to undue it! (Sarcasm for those that have not had morning coffee yet).

Yes, Shield, like Fireball, Magic Missile, and a few other iconic spells, is INTENTIONALLY strong in a conditional way. However, it is not game breaking. It generally is likely to negate a hit - but not all hits. There are hits clearly too good to be stopped by it, and thers where you have to decide to risk whether the spell will stop the hit.

My high level wizard casts shield and absorb elements a lot, but not with every first level slot. My high level arcane knight used shield a lot, but also spent low level slots on jump and other utility spells to help him move and beat environmental challenges. It was useful for both, but requires no change.

DEFCON 1 · Dec 27, 2018

If I was to reduce the power/effectiveness of Shield, I probably would not do the idea you put forth-- keep the AC at +5 but make its use sometimes superfluous or unnecessary by asking the player to cast it before knowing whether or not it would do any good. All you need is 3 attacks in a row where they cast Shield and then the attack roll comes out that the creature wasn't going to hit anyway to really p.o. the player knowing that they "wasted" a spell slot.

Shield gives the character essentially "three-quarters cover" for the round (+5 AC). If it were me, I'd just change it to Shield giving the player "partial cover" (+2 AC) for the round. Essentially, the spellcaster has an actual shield made of force show up on their arm that they use as any warrior would. This change still allows the player to dictate when they want to use it (so they don't waste their slot) but the number of times the spell is applicable is reduced by 15% (3 attack roll points).

If it were me, that'd be my solution to the problem.

D&D 5E Suggested nerf to the Shield spell

Satyrn

First Post

CrimsonCarcharodon

Explorer

Horwath

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ad_hoc

(they/them)

Rabbitbait

Adventurer

5ekyu

Hero

Immoralkickass

Adventurer

cbwjm

Seb-wejem

jgsugden

Legend

DEFCON 1

Legend

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