Balancing some broken cantrips

[kelnas]

Not sure this is worth the trouble, but I've been toying with the idea of houseruling some cantrips to make them more viable options (or in the case of guidance less mandatory). Any thoughts on these?

Blade Ward -- It becomes a concentration cantrip that if it is up grants +3 AC against the first non-magic weapon attack made against the caster. It is dispelled regardless of whether the attack hits or misses. Takes an action to cast. I think this makes this a viable cantrip choice, sort of a "mage armor light" that gives the user an alternative to always having mage armor up (albeit dependent on not having anything better to concentrate on heading into combat and being willing to gamble on not getting attacked frequently during a combat - it's just a cantrip). Doesn't stack with mage armor or anything that mage armor wouldn't stack with.

True Strike - This becomes an indefinite length (i.e. not one turn) concentration cantrip that if still up grants a flat +2 to the first attack roll made by the caster. Needs to be recast to work again after that first attack roll, regardless of hit or miss, and still takes an action to cast. The idea is that it can now be cast ahead of combat and maintained until used (assuming there is nothing better to concentrate on), but obviously had to be depowered from an auto-hit in that case.

Guidance - Don't want to nerf this too much since it is already concentration, but thinking house rule would be that no person can benefit from this more than once per long rest.

Spare the Dying - Also adds +1d4 to the amount healed the next time the recipient is healed hit points (e.g. after a rest that grants a hit die healing, receiving a healing spell or potion, etc.). But the healing boon only works on someone that is at zero hp when it is cast (and multiple castings would not stack). WIthout a real benefit this seems a cantrip that nobody takes given the low DC of the skill check.

 

[Xeviat]

I think blade ward and true strike are fine; they're for set ups. Blade Ward can be useful to get by a trap or to soak up some Opportunity Attacks that you know you're going to get. If monsters were more interesting, I could see it coming up with things like telegraphed wind up attacks. True Strike is good for using before a higher level attack roll spell, and can up average damage by more than just attacking with a cantrip could.

Guidance is fine; it's a form of "Aid Another". Help is better than Guidance in many situations.

I'd support a little healing buff to Spare the Dying; as is it's a cantrip (worth half a feat?) to not have to make a single kind of a skill check (a skill is 1/3rd of a feat), so it doesn't really match up.

 

[dmnqwk]

I think it's a shame Blade Ward isn't a 1st level Reaction spell, like Shield.

Guidance is fine, people abusing it out of combat is the only issue. If you feel people are consistently abusing it, simply make them take perception checks every time they go to use it when you think metagaming is involved! (I mean a DM can ask for a perception check any time they fancy until players realise they need to stop metagaming on using the spell, such as routine trap checking, and to save it for important times they feel the 1d4 would matter).

Spare the Dying should be a bonus action, but that's about it really. If it was a bonus I think it'd be very useful indeed, without breaking the game or the power level of cantrips.

True Strike is weak, until you realise when you can abuse it. It's absolutely fine as it currently is.

 

[Hawk Diesel]

I really like the idea of Blade Ward as a 1st level reaction spell. I might use that.

Before reading this thread, I always felt True Strike to be underpowered and didn't understand it's utility. But now it one of those "duh" moments when you realize it's to be paired with spells or once per day type attacks.

As for spare the dying, I like the bonus action idea. But I'm also wondering if it might scale up similarly to the damage dealing cantrips. Maybe at level 5 it also heals 2 HP, at level 11 it heals 4 HP, and at level 17 it heals 6 HP.

The only problem I see with this is the potential for abuse outside combat. So maybe you can add that if you ever heal more HP than you have class levels, you take on one level of exhaustion. So for example, if a level 5 cleric heals 12 HP using Spare the Dying, they have 2 levels of exhaustion.

 

[bedir than]

A simpler tweak to a "leveling" version of Spare the Dying would be to say that the hit points are only granted to a creature at zero hit points.

 

[Hawk Diesel]

That is a much better way of limiting the cantrips outside combat.

 

[Li Shenron]

I am ok with the default version of these cantrips except maybe Guidance, but overall these house rules look good to me!

Guidance is fine, people abusing it out of combat is the only issue.

That's what I worry about. It's not the same thing as Help, because IMHO you can easily limit the use of Help depending on the situation, meaning that you can always come up with a reason why Help doesn't work giving the current circumstances. It's much harder to say no to an actual spell.

Of course Guidance is more a theoretical problem for most gaming groups. Until a savvy player notices that there is no reason not to cast it for every out-of-combat check.

Before reading this thread, I always felt True Strike to be underpowered and didn't understand it's utility. But now it one of those "duh" moments when you realize it's to be paired with spells or once per day type attacks.

Same here For weapon attacks it's hardly ever useful, but for spells it becomes a very valid tactical choice (without being overpowered).