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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Neonchameleon" data-source="post: 9409032" data-attributes="member: 87792">The majority of characters have Darkvision anyway. If they already have it (because they aren't humans) then no it doesn't. Not even close at first level.I'm not saying that Shield is the best first level spell for a wizard. I'm saying that Shield is comparable to Strength of the Grave for a first level wizard. If you think that Shield is not the best way of using a first level spell slot for a wizard I'd agree. And if Shield is about as strong as Strength of the Grave that means that Strength of the Grave is also not worth a first level spell slot.Shield even cast as shield (not as another first level spell on the grounds that prevention is better than cure) has a major advantages over Strength of the Grave. It negates the entire hit rather than leaving you in a situation where you can take no more than a papercut. As a minor advantage it can fend off more than one attack. (And the "disadvantage" of Shield requiring a reaction may be more important at higher levels but is pretty trivial at first level).So with Shield having a big advantage over Strength of the Grave I'm saying that Strength of the Grave isn't worth much more than a cast of the shield spell. Which benchmarks it. An extra casting of Sleep is better than either.As for "relying on cantrips for most of their spell power", you only need one combat cantrip. The sorcerer is relying on cantrips for their out of combat spell power - but the wizard gets rituals as well. And here the wizard has an overwhelming advantage.Tell me you don't understand statistics without telling me you don't understand statistics. There are two legitimate ways of saying Shield's chance of success and you are wrong in both of them.<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The first is that Shield adds five to your already 12-ish AC. If someone needed a six to hit (so 75%) then Shield would mean that they now needed an 11 (so 50%). It would therefore prevent 33% of hits.  This is the appropriate way of working out the effectiveness of something like Mage Armour</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The second is that you only cast Shield when you've seen the attack roll. If Shield wouldn't work then ... don't cast Shield. Shield therefore has a 100% reliability of negating a full hit on the times you use it.</li> </ul>You are just wrong. The most effective use of a first level spell at high levels is Silvery Barbs to force an enemy to reroll a successful saving throw. It's effectively casting the spell again. Only after that are the defensive spells key, and preventing yourself from going down (especially with a sorcerer hp and armour) should be a priority as you can't protect others or stand them back up if you're unconscious. And of them Absorb Elements is probably stronger at high level than Shield (way too much elemental damage from spells and things like Dragon Breath flying around) - and as you note Shield isn't great without Mage Armour or an equivalent.So we have five top tier first level spells, of which four are on the sorcerer spell list already. And the sorcerer only gets four first level spell slots to cast them from. And a tenth level Divine Soul knows only eleven spells plus one other first level spell from the class.Is Healing Word great? Definitely. Is it one of the best first level spells in the game? Yes. Is it an entirely defensible choice on power grounds for a Divine Soul sorcerer to not take Healing Word? Yes; you only have so many spells known and only so many first level slots to go around. The Divine Soul will probably have Healing Word because that is part of the power fantasy of the Divine SoulFrom this I've learned that you play even supposedly Int 20 monsters as complete idiots. Orcus has Chill Touch cast at seventeenth level as a cantrip and one he can use a legendary action to cast. And Chill Touch, of course, prevents healing. The only reason your party was able to beat Orcus through spamming Healing Word is because he was busy committing suicide-by-adventuring-party.You get to cast two spells in a day as a first level divine soul.Prevention is better than cure. And DW is a fight ender. If you're in a many on one beatdown it absolutely does match Sleep.And this is part of why the Aberrant Mind is so good. For the cost of a first level slot and one sorcery point you can Hideous Laughter 2 enemies. And on the second foe the Hideous Laughter is every bit as good as Hold Person because you can only focus fire one target at once so you just leave them to laugh.Ooh. One spell. You're playing with about ten across the offensive magic, defensive magic, exploration, and social groups.  As opposed to ten split across five levels.Yikes! You really don't know how to play a warlock, do you? There was a very good reason that all the once a day as a spell slot casts simply got swept straight into the trash by OneD&D and not a thing of value was lost. And Mage Armour is a straight up waste of an invocation on a class that has light armour proficiency. (False Life at will is a decent use of an invocation at low level but it doesn't scale so should be traded out for something that does).A better example of what to do with an Invocation is Disguise Self At Will. That's way better than being able to just cast it once because you can do Bugs Bunny level quick change shenanigansAnd what did it cost them? Everything else. Your sorcerer at this point is pure glass cannon with the lowest hit points in the game, no armour, the lowest hit points in the game, and a tiny spell list.The thing about how the warlock plays is that Invocations take the place of the lower level spell slots. You get fewer of them for utility (unless you're a tome lock and the DM is generous with scrolls when you can out-ritual a wizard because you can borrow cleric and even paladin rituals)And again this cost them everything else. Meanwhile the warlock can probably cast six to nine fifth level spells and have decent hit points, some armour, a pact boon, and a collection of invocations that should be significantly stronger than cantrips.So you've never played with a game that either (a) had breakfast after getting up or (b) set watches overnight? You might never have played with a group that bothered to claim them as rests but they've been there. It;s simply that only the warlock would bother to claim them.No. "My idea" relies on knowing how and when to cast hex. That it's a glorified first level spell - and its upcast is good because of how it interacts with rest mechanics enabling a warlock to cast it essentially for free. And because you're casting it for free and because it's a glorified first level spell you don't have to be too worried about letting it drop. Hex, from level 5 onwards, isn't a full spell. It's something you use to soak a slot you wouldn't otherwise have used so you can clean out the chaff fights more easily. It provides the equivalent of a sorcery point per casting of Eldritch Blast - but you shouldn't be previous about it (and some builds never cast it at all).If you're smart you aren't casting or even learning Shadow of Moil because it's a bad spell thanks to horrible action economy. You can't use it from stealth because it makes a mess, and if you're casting it in turn one you're being foolish. Someone rating Shadow of Moil is one of my tests for whether someone's a pure theorycrafter.</blockquote>

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