Level Up (A5E) Opinion - Booming Blade? Greenflame Blade?

[Subtle Knife]

Hello, all!

So, polling the general A5E enthusiasts out there - do you think there is still a place for these and other damaging cantrips, within this modified rule set?

Philosophically - they’ve removed Hex, Hunter‘s Mark, other common damage-amplification options.

Thoughts?

Subtle Knife

 

[Steampunkette]

Philosophically... Hunter's Mark and Hex still exist. They're just made into class (Or Archetype for Hex) features instead of being widely available for anyone to use and do 1d4 instead of 1d6 but increase in damage as you level up.

But they've also added a bunch of martial arts and melee weapon spells of various levels like Arcane Muscles or Crushing Haymaker. And Feat Trees which allow you to turn your weapon's damage into elemental damage or do arcane smites, or use a less optimal attack like a vampire's bite to add extra damage and some healing to yourself.

It doesn't seem like their design philosophy is "Don't add damage to all attacks" but instead "Change the metrics of cost".

That said: I don't think any cantrip which adds 1d6 or more additional damage at level 1 is likely to be inline with their current balance design, simply because it's a constantly available effect. But something that gives you a 1 minute duration once per short or long rest of adding 1d6 additional damage to melee weapon attacks might be more in line with their balance design.

That said... some kind of cantrip that allows you to change damage types without increasing the damage would probably fit. Maybe something that changes the attack-stat to Intelligence instead of Strength would also be in-line with the metrics we're looking at.

 

[VanguardHero]

Maybe something that changes the attack-stat to Intelligence instead of Strength would also be in-line with the metrics we're looking at.

I always felt like o5e made it clear those were viable through like, Level 1 Hexblade or Druid's Shillelagh but kept it locked behind options you needed to cheese.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Philosophically... Hunter's Mark and Hex still exist. They're just made into class (Or Archetype for Hex) features instead of being widely available for anyone to use and do 1d4 instead of 1d6 but increase in damage as you level up.

But they've also added a bunch of martial arts and melee weapon spells of various levels like Arcane Muscles or Crushing Haymaker. And Feat Trees which allow you to turn your weapon's damage into elemental damage or do arcane smites, or use a less optimal attack like a vampire's bite to add extra damage and some healing to yourself.

It doesn't seem like their design philosophy is "Don't add damage to all attacks" but instead "Change the metrics of cost".

That said: I don't think any cantrip which adds 1d6 or more additional damage at level 1 is likely to be inline with their current balance design, simply because it's a constantly available effect. But something that gives you a 1 minute duration once per short or long rest of adding 1d6 additional damage to melee weapon attacks might be more in line with their balance design.

That said... some kind of cantrip that allows you to change damage types without increasing the damage would probably fit. Maybe something that changes the attack-stat to Intelligence instead of Strength would also be in-line with the metrics we're looking at.

I think that low level spells with similar names and themes, that make your attacks do a thing similar to the cantrip for the duration, would work.

 

[Timespike]

Hello, all!

So, polling the general A5E enthusiasts out there - do you think there is still a place for these and other damaging cantrips, within this modified rule set?

Philosophically - they’ve removed Hex, Hunter‘s Mark, other common damage-amplification options.

Thoughts?

Subtle Knife

So those specific spells really can't exist in A5E because they're not Open game Content.

However: look at Altered Strike which does get a damage bonus at higher levels, and several of us from the design team are also working on a third-party "more player-facing stuff" book, and I have a whole slew of weapon cantrips on my personal to-do list for that. (Both melee and archery ones, by the way!)

 

[Xethreau]

There is no mechanical reason why hex, booming blade, and the like can't be in your A5e game. They were not "removed" from A5e, they simply could not be reprinted due to technical reasons.

 

[Timespike]

There is no mechanical reason why hex, booming blade, and the like can't be in your A5e game. They were not "removed" from A5e, they simply could not be reprinted due to technical reasons.

Legal, not technical.