D&D 5E Booming or Greenflame?

[Arial Black]

Booming or Greenflame?

My CoS PC has just hit level 2. She started as a fighter with TWF style using sabre & stiletto (scimitar & dagger). From the start she was designed to multiclass into warlock and thereafter be Ftr1/WarX, using hex to make TWF work.

I am going to choose prestidigitation as one of my two cantrips (for RP purposes), and I'm choosing between Booming and Greenflame blade for the other.

I already have vicious mockery (from the Devil's Tongue variant tiefling ability from SCAG), and I'll get eldritch blast when I hit Ftr1/War4 (the same time as I get the Warcaster feat).

Initially I didn't consider either SCAG cantrip, as using either denies me a bonus action off-hand attack, but then I realised that there will be rounds when I cannot or will not use my bonus action to make an off-hand attack (like when I only have one weapon in hand at the start of combat, or when I need to either cast or change the target of hex), and on those rounds I could make use of one of these two SCAG cantrips.

But which one, and why?​

 

[thecasualoblivion]

Booming or Greenflame?

My CoS PC has just hit level 2. She started as a fighter with TWF style using sabre & stiletto (scimitar & dagger). From the start she was designed to multiclass into warlock and thereafter be Ftr1/WarX, using hex to make TWF work.

I am going to choose prestidigitation as one of my two cantrips (for RP purposes), and I'm choosing between Booming and Greenflame blade for the other.

I already have vicious mockery (from the Devil's Tongue variant tiefling ability from SCAG), and I'll get eldritch blast when I hit Ftr1/War4 (the same time as I get the Warcaster feat).

Initially I didn't consider either SCAG cantrip, as using either denies me a bonus action off-hand attack, but then I realised that there will be rounds when I cannot or will not use my bonus action to make an off-hand attack (like when I only have one weapon in hand at the start of combat, or when I need to either cast or change the target of hex), and on those rounds I could make use of one of these two SCAG cantrips.

But which one, and why?​

Neither works with the Blade Warlock Invocation that lets you attack twice either, it bears saying.

The difference between the two is that Greenflame Blade is somewhat based off of intelligence(the splash damage is somewhat based on your Int mod), and that it's a choice of tanking/control(Booming) vs mild AoE(Greenflame). The choice between those lies either based on what you like best or what your party needs more.

 

[RulesJD]

Neither works with the Blade Warlock Invocation that lets you attack twice either, it bears saying.

The difference between the two is that Greenflame Blade is somewhat based off of intelligence(the splash damage is somewhat based on your Int mod), and that it's a choice of tanking/control(Booming) vs mild AoE(Greenflame). The choice between those lies either based on what you like best or what your party needs more.

Already replied to your post on the other forum, but point of fact:

GFB will be based off his Charisma modifier, not his Intelligence because he is a Warlock and gaining it as a Warlock cantrip.

 

[Arial Black]

Neither works with the Blade Warlock Invocation that lets you attack twice either, it bears saying.

True, but when Warcaster lets me cast a cantrip instead of making a single melee attack as my OA, then either cantrip would be better than a single attack.

 

[Ovinomancer]

True, but when Warcaster lets me cast a cantrip instead of making a single melee attack as my OA, then either cantrip would be better than a single attack.

Then you should consider what you'd like to do with your OA -- punish continued movement or put on immediate damage with a bit of splash? Your answer is your answer.

 

[famousringo]

Then you should consider what you'd like to do with your OA -- punish continued movement or put on immediate damage with a bit of splash? Your answer is your answer.

Warcaster requires that the spell target only the creature provoking the attack. GFB is arguably not even eligible, and if it is, you certainly can't hit a second target with the splash.

 

[Prism]

Booming blade is good when you are mobile, so moving in, attacking a lone creature and then moving back. Its also got a better damage type and is good when using as an opportunity attack with warcaster.

Green flame blade is better for frontline fighting where you are more static and more likely to be surrounded. Fire damage could possibly be a problem with some creatures

 

[feartheminotaur]

I play a lot of bladelocks, over half the 5e characters I've made, and I've love the SCAG cantrips. With this in mind, may I suggest... maybe neither?

Booming blade is good damage that scales well, and it helpful because it's a penalty for targets moving from your melee reach, but it's just a penalty; it doesn't stop them at all. Green-flame blade does good damage and scales well, but the damage is fire (easily resisted) and it's only one other creature.

Both are nice because they add to your weapon damage, but I like booming blade much better than green-flame because it's 1) an effect you don't get elsewhere vs more damage, 2) thunder is better than fire as a damage type, and 3) it's a damage double dip rather than spreading it out.

Lightning lure on the other hand does good damage, and is one of a handful of effects that forces movement toward you - which is where a bladelock wants their enemies. I've found lightning lure to be very useful for bladelocks (and eldritch knights or anyone with the sentinel feat), more so than either attacking cantrip, but that is subjective.

With the warcaster feat, green-flame blade falls well short of the other two. Great, more damage, woo-freaking-hoo. However, booming blade does double damage as the target provokes AoO (although disengage does negate it somewhat), and lightning lure stops the AoO provoking movement.

And the fourth cantrip....I also think that sword burst is better for a bladelock than eldritch blast (yeah, damage that's great if you take some invocations, blah blah blah). Blast doesn't work in melee range, which is where you're going to spend most of your combats, and sword burst is force damage too, negating one of the touted advantages of EB.

 

[Arial Black]

I play a lot of bladelocks, over half the 5e characters I've made, and I've love the SCAG cantrips. With this in mind, may I suggest... maybe neither?

Booming blade is good damage that scales well, and it helpful because it's a penalty for targets moving from your melee reach, but it's just a penalty; it doesn't stop them at all. Green-flame blade does good damage and scales well, but the damage is fire (easily resisted) and it's only one other creature.

Both are nice because they add to your weapon damage, but I like booming blade much better than green-flame because it's 1) an effect you don't get elsewhere vs more damage, 2) thunder is better than fire as a damage type, and 3) it's a damage double dip rather than spreading it out.

Lightning lure on the other hand does good damage, and is one of a handful of effects that forces movement toward you - which is where a bladelock wants their enemies. I've found lightning lure to be very useful for bladelocks (and eldritch knights or anyone with the sentinel feat), more so than either attacking cantrip, but that is subjective.

With the warcaster feat, green-flame blade falls well short of the other two. Great, more damage, woo-freaking-hoo. However, booming blade does double damage as the target provokes AoO (although disengage does negate it somewhat), and lightning lure stops the AoO provoking movement.

And the fourth cantrip....I also think that sword burst is better for a bladelock than eldritch blast (yeah, damage that's great if you take some invocations, blah blah blah). Blast doesn't work in melee range, which is where you're going to spend most of your combats, and sword burst is force damage too, negating one of the touted advantages of EB.

Thanks for the considered reply.

I took a good hard look at the other two SCAG cantrips, but in the end the reason I rejected them is because they are save-based rather than attack-based. Two reasons: I only get hex damage as the result of an attack roll (not a saving throw), and attack rolls get the benefit of advantage (quite common in my party) while saves do not.

 

[feartheminotaur]

True, the save can be an issue (which is why it's better on an Eldritch Knight w/ Eldritch Strike). I just really like lightning lure because it has an effect that isn't replicated anywhere else as opposed to just damage.

Anecdote: I'm currently playing a Ftr1/Bar2/War7 that has both booming blade and lightning lure, and it seems I use the latter a lot more. But with Warcaster...hmm...