D&D 5E Guiding Bolt too good for a level 1 cleric spell?

It is only marginally better and by 5th level the wizard is the clear master of spell damage. My only overarching thought here in this thread is that the wizard is not the clear master of spell damage at levels 1-4. You could make a case the cleric is equal if not marginally better in this one aspect at levels 1-4.
 

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It is only marginally better and by 5th level the wizard is the clear master of spell damage. My only overarching thought here in this thread is that the wizard is not the clear master of spell damage at levels 1-4. You could make a case the cleric is equal if not marginally better in this one aspect at levels 1-4.

I disagree. The majority of the damage, especially at low level, are from cantrips and the wizard is simply better in that area. Also, when facing more than one opponent, the wizard's damage output increases a lot.
 
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Really? Wow, we played that wrong a lot.

yeah... it's a close blast 3

close: it starts touching the caster
blast: it emanates in one direction (and then fills out to make a square in that direction)
3: for 3 squares

If it were a burst, it would emanate in all directions (making a 7x7 square donut around the caster)

I absolutely hate(d) their burst/blast terminology. The words are too close, with only 2 of 5 letters changed. Thankfully, we're moving on to the future!
 


The thing with Guiding Bolt is that it's a single-target attack with a to-hit roll. In other words, even though the average damage is pretty good, the variance per fight is very big. When you miss, it does nothing and if you needed the damage, you are in trouble. If you didn't need the damage, it really doesn't matter too much which spell you use.

I much prefer spells like Thunderwave or Burning Hands that are save for half and targets 2+ enemies. With the way spell slots are used, you should have a good AoE like one of those two, and a secondary single target spell like Magic Missile for when you only have one target. I would prefer MM, because of the utility it can provide when you have 1+ enemies at very low hp.

My decision three would look something like this:
  1. Can I hit 2+ enemies with Thunderwave/Burning hands?
    1. Yes: Use it
    2. No: Magic Missile, targetting:
      1. Very low hp mobs
      2. Big Bad guy that's hard to hit
 

Even against a single target burning hands should out damage guiding bolt because it always does at least half damage. Against 2 or more enemies it blows it out of the water.

Against single targets the fact that magic missile always hits will tend to put it ahead against most enemies. At 1st level many enemies won't survive a single casting of either spell, making the one that auto-hits especially a no-brainer. The advantage provided by guiding bolt only starts to be useful once you run into enemies that can easily survive a 4d6 hit.

Of course there are also other 1st level wizard attack spells that we have not seen final versions of.
 

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