D&D 5E Blade Ward cantrip

[abaddon880]

Hello.

Maybe I am missing something, but isn't this cantrip useless?

"Gives you resistance to bludgeoning/piercing/slashing damage from weapons until the end of your next turn."

It looks like a dodge action is better than this, and everyone can use.

I am avoiding making house rules, but I think this cantrip would usable if it was like this:

Gives you resistance to bludgeoning/piercing/slashing damage from weapons.
Duration: one minute (concentration).
If you take any damage, this spell is finished.

Another option would be putting it as a level one spell, with casting time: bonus action.

What do you guys think?

The math fails for what you think is wrong with this cantrip. The first thing to consider is what disadvantage actually does for D&D. The second is to consider who is using this spell (wizards with low AC and hitpoints). First, disadvantage doesn't change the odds of success or failure by much. It's easiest to start like this failure and failure = failure, failure and success = failure and success and success = success. Now while that might suggest that the chance of success is somewhere around 34%, The reality is assuming this enemy has an average hit bonus and the player has a relatively low AC (+5 for enemy to hit, AC12 for PC wizard) then the necessary roll for success is anything above 7 which means that each die has a 65% chance of being a success. Dodging really isn't better. I'm not sure when this was posted but the text also reads that it lasts until the end of your next turn which also makes it more advantageous. The enemy still needs to hit you and even if he does you only take 1/2 damage from the most common forms of damage. If a person takes disadvantage but hits because he rolled above a 7 on both die then taking the full damage is much more dangerous. Yes, it's not a great spell. Cantrips really aren't supposed to be. It's better than most the wizards today casting offensive magic cantrips when their weapon is probably a better choice and more likely to cause a greater average of damage. Advantage and Disadvantage are awesome as they mean we don't have to negate pc (or npc) abilities with made up random modifiers that generally become inconsistent over time as different dms will perceive each challenge differently and bad dms will try to use such rules to hinder pcs from interacting in the story. The thing to remember though is that advantage and disadvantage have a lot to do with perception. Two chances to fail or two chances to succeed seem pretty good but in the long run the actual odds of the roll are much more significant. If it's a 19 to hit. Advantage won't make it so you have a 66% chance of success. It feels good but the odds still changed very little.

 

[Caliban]

You guys are nuts. Bladeward is wonderful on the right build or the right situation. My favorite use is on a Fighter1/Warlock X build when you are doing a dungeon crawl and are in "Kick the door in" mode. In this case, the character has Heavy Armor Mastery and the Armor of Agathys spell. The whole idea is to protect the temp HP from Armor of Agathys.

Cast Bladeward, open the door and step in. If nothing is on the other side, nothing is lost. If there is a group of mooks on the other side, they can take free hits until they figure out it's a bad idea. (Say your Armor of Agathys is the 2nd level version, so 10 hp. With bladeward and Heavy Armor mastery if they do 4 points or less you take 0 damage, but they take 10 pts of cold. If they hit you for 10 hp, you take 3 hp and they still take 10pts of cold damage.)

I've had a pure tiefling warlock use it to help deal over 70 pts of damage in one round - a bulette was underground but we knew it was about to surface. Bladeward while it was underground. Take the hit when it comes up (damage reduced by bladeward and absorbed by existing temp hp from fiend pact), then on her next turn cast Armor of Agathys (15 tmp hp) and move away from it. Bladeward is still in effect (last until the END of your next round). The bulette hits for 30 (reduced to 15) - warlock takes 0 damage, the bulette takes 15. Then uses her reaction to cast Hellish Rebuke (tiefling racial) - bulette fails the dex and takes another 20 points of fire. Safely out of melee, she uses her bonus action to Hex the bulette and then hits it twice with Eldritch blast for another 35 points. (She rolled well on damage.)

I've often used it in conjunction with Armor of Agathys to move through an enemy formation - forcing them to ignore me or eat a lot of damage if they take their AoO's.

It's definitely situational, but the situations aren't that rare.

 

[Ahglock]

For wizards not great. The first few levels it might come in handy here and there. Eventually your leveled spells make it worthless as its small benefit is only better than nothing. But on the right classes and builds its not bad. Feels right for a cantrip to me.

 

[mellored]

If you are hit 60% of the time, and take the dodge action, you will be hit 36% of the time = 40% less damage on average.
If you are hit 40% of the time, and take the dodge action, you will be hit 16% of the time = 60% less damage on average.
Bladeward, no matter what your current AC, will be 50% less damage. Guaranteed (baring magic weapons).


But given that to-hit scales faster then AC doesn't, heavy armor and shield will be below 50% at high levels.

Of course, people rarely take the dodge action. So a slightly improved dodge action that takes up a cantrip slot is still mostly, but not completely, useless.

Best use would be if you wanted to be "hit" for some reason. Like armor of agathys.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

If you are hit 60% of the time, and take the dodge action, you will be hit 36% of the time = 40% less damage on average.
If you are hit 40% of the time, and take the dodge action, you will be hit 16% of the time = 60% less damage on average.
Bladeward, no matter what your current AC, will be 50% less damage. Guaranteed (baring magic weapons).

Magic Weapons, and poison, and breath weapons, and spells, you mean.

Dodge makes you essentially immune to critical hits (unless you get grappled/restrained/etc. which cancels your Dodge) and gives you advantage on your Dex saves.

There's a ton of differences between Dodge and Blade Ward when you sit down and start thinking it through. As mentioned upthread by Caliban, Armor of Agathys (and/or Fire Shield) synergy is probably the single funnest difference between them, but there are many others.

-Max

 

[jaelis]

Wonder if it would be too good if it plain granted immunity to weapon damage instead. Maybe just to the first attack before your next turn.

 

[Ahglock]

Wonder if it would be too good if it plain granted immunity to weapon damage instead. Maybe just to the first attack before your next turn.

Probably a bit too good. A lot of creatures only have one attack like a ogre. Being able to nullify that can trivialize encounters. I'm not sure that fits the role of a cantrip.

 

[Jediking]

Yes there are a few corner cases where this cantrip might be useful, but it is still a horrible spell.

Mending, Magic Stone, Friends, Spare the Dying, True Strike, Control Flames, Gust, Shape Water, Mold Earth.
From my personal experience, all of these cantrips are very situational and could be seen as terrible. Or if someone plans around them they could be really useful, but they aren't really anyone's go-to action.

For Blade Ward, they could offer protection against running through a known trap or ambush. If you are being chased or running away or are hiding from archers, it can be useful. Especially if you know you will be eating opportunity attacks for two turns, it will last through both. I don't think it is anything amazing, but I like the options it can open and see it as comparable to other cantrips.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

Mending, Magic Stone, Friends, Spare the Dying, True Strike, Control Flames, Gust, Shape Water, Mold Earth.
From my personal experience, all of these cantrips are very situational and could be seen as terrible. Or if someone plans around them they could be really useful, but they aren't really anyone's go-to action.

As an aside, I don't know of any amount of advance planning that can make True Strike really useful. Every time you think you have a potential use for it, you discover a new restriction that stops it from being useful in that scenario.

Mold Earth, on the other hand, is amazing for a ranged-heavy party. If you thought it was amazing that the Romans dug themselves a new fort every night... a PC with Mold Earth can dig himself a new fort in minutes, single-handedly, complete with trenches and earth berms for partial cover. Who wants a cantrip that can excavate 342 lb. of dirt per second? Yes, please, I'll take one of those.

 

[Diamabel]

In my game, changed Blade Ward to: Bonus action, gain resistance to the first instance of non magical B/P/S damage.


5th seems kinda lacking in bonus actions/reactions, IMO... this type of change seemed like a good fit.