D&D 5E Booming Blade and Green-Flame Blade Nerfed in TCoE

[Iry]

Bladesingers with whips? It’s a corner case non-problem. If the ability had never been there in the first place to use whips, then no one would be screaming out because whips weren’t valid.

I heard lots of screaming from lots of people about those cantrips and reach weapons. Luckily there was a cludgy half-solution in Spell Sniper, which anyone could take if they had a single cantrip.

 

[jasper]

You brandish the weapon used in the spell’s casting and make a melee attack with it against one creature within 5 feet of you. On a hit, the target suffers the weapon attack’s normal effects and then becomes sheathed in booming energy until the start of your next turn. If the target willingly moves 5 feet or more before then, the target takes 1d8 thunder damage, and the spell ends.

This spell’s damage increases when you reach certain levels. At 5th level, the melee attack deals an extra 1d8 thunder damage to the target on a hit, and the damage the target takes for moving increases to 2d8. Both damage rolls increase by 1d8 at 11th level (2d8 and 3d8) and again at 17th level (3d8 and 4d8).
That is blooming blade.

 

[jasper]

Green Blade
You brandish the weapon used in the spell’s casting and make a melee attack with it against one creature within 5 feet of you. On a hit, the target suffers the weapon attack’s normal effects, and you can cause green fire to leap from the target to a different creature of your choice that you can see within 5 feet of it. The second creature takes fire damage equal to your spellcasting ability modifier.

This spell’s damage increases when you reach certain levels. At 5th level, the melee attack deals an extra 1d8 fire damage to the target on a hit, and the fire damage to the second creature increases to 1d8 + your spellcasting ability modifier. Both damage rolls increase by 1d8 at 11th level (2d8 and 2d8) and 17th level (3d8 and 3d8).

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Okay, so, Armourer's Thunder Gauntlets?

If the gauntlets that become the thunder gauntlets are worth at least 1sp, I think it would work. That would be cool with Booming Blade. Armorer/Bladesinger multiclasses may end up being fairly common.

 

[jmartkdr2]

You brandish the weapon used in the spell’s casting and make a melee attack with it against one creature within 5 feet of you. On a hit, the target suffers the weapon attack’s normal effects and then becomes sheathed in booming energy until the start of your next turn. If the target willingly moves 5 feet or more before then, the target takes 1d8 thunder damage, and the spell ends.

This spell’s damage increases when you reach certain levels. At 5th level, the melee attack deals an extra 1d8 thunder damage to the target on a hit, and the damage the target takes for moving increases to 2d8. Both damage rolls increase by 1d8 at 11th level (2d8 and 3d8) and again at 17th level (3d8 and 4d8).
That is blooming blade.

Is this (and the GFB post below) your rewrite?

If so, why have the limit at five feet rather than the weapon's reach?

Other than that I really like these - simple and no extra words to confuse things.

 

[Fauxbear]

The cantrips from SCAG are very powerful considering that they, at face value, can be used by any '1-attack' warrior to gain a respectable damage increase. And ontop of that the modifying factors mentioned above come into play. We all know that booming blade and green-flame blade are ported over from 4E's Swordmage. I think they were inserted into 5E as an addendum to the bladesinger, which is a little strange since the eldritch knight seems more like the swordmage of old, than the bladesinger does.

The new rule changes ties the cantrips even more to bladesingers, strengthening that design choice.

It is what it is, I suppose. Both cantrips still play a role for all 'weaker' melee characters (such as a cleric, wanting to have a decent melee attack) that looks to to add to their melee output through the Magic Initiate feat.

It doesn't actually help the bladesinger though. The strongest bladesinger build I can find is based around using shadow blade for the majority of the low levels of the game to give yourself a 3d8 psychic damage weapon. With the changes to the material on GFB and BB, you can no longer combine the two. SO now, you get to use a cantrip for extra attack, but if you're running shadow blade, it can't be one of those two.

 

[Weiley31]

Well I guess my players at my table are in trouble when I hand them the spell deck cards for those two cantrips: they still list 5 feet on em.

Oh well.

 

[TheSword]

Is this (and the GFB post below) your rewrite?

If so, why have the limit at five feet rather than the weapon's reach?

Other than that I really like these - simple and no extra words to confuse things.

If you allow booming blade on a reach weapon you can affect the target 10ft away to mean it can’t then move to attack you without taking damage. Particularly in combination with sentinel and Warcaster. Which was clearly not the intention of the writers of 5e

 

[jmartkdr2]

If you allow booming blade on a reach weapon you can affect the target 10ft away to mean it can’t then move to attack you without taking damage. Particularly in combination with sentinel and Warcaster. Which was clearly not the intention of the writers of 5e

Given the cost to pull that off (at least two feats, for example), especially for something not particularly effective (because most monsters that would actually be a threat can simply eat the damage), it seem to block fun much more effectively than it blocks cheese.

 

[TheSword]

Given the cost to pull that off (at least two feats, for example), especially for something not particularly effective (because most monsters that would actually be a threat can simply eat the damage), it seem to block fun much more effectively than it blocks cheese.

Two feats isn’t a big cost. You can have it at 4th level. Free attack every round and more extra damage than your fellows are getting on a base attack. No thanks. That’s fun for some people, not me.