D&D 5E (2014) Silvery Barbs, how would you fix it? Does it need fixing?

[ECMO3]

To be fair, in a fight they are pretty much similat.

No they are not. Even in a single fight it is 6 to 4 at 6th level. At 12th level it is 12 to 4 in a single fight. At 20th level it is 20 to 4 in a single fight.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

A wizard is nowhere near as good as a Monk.

A sixth level Monk can force four saves on one turn, or even more with feats and additionally there are very, very few enemies immune to Stunning Strike, while many legendary enemies are immune to save or suck Wizard spells and many have magic resistance.

Monks are so good at this that I have taken to giving most major bosses stun resistance to prevent the boss battle being trivial.

 

[darjr]

 

[Midas]

Redirect Notice

Silvery Barbs is a spell from Strixhaven that is a reaction to cast, forces a reroll, and then grants advantage.

ThinkDM says he’d ban the spell.

I’d rather find a way to fix it.

But how?

Just throwing out ideas so they may not be the most well thought out changes, but oh well.
I’d personally change it to 2nd level and remove the part of giving advantage to someone. affecting a saving throw as a reaction is still plenty good, and i feel people would still jump for this even with these alterations.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

View attachment 148274

Not sure how this was ever in question

 

[abirdcall]

A Psionic Sorcerer can cast Silvery Barbs with only 1 sorcery point rather than the regular 2 for a 1st level spell.

At level 7 they can cast it 11 times with just 1st level slots and sorcery points per long rest.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

An Order Domain Cleric that has Silvery Barbs (from being in Silverquill or through the Fey Touched feat) can use cast Silvery Barbs using a Cleric spell slot as a reaction to give an enemy disadvantage on some attack roll, ability check, or saving throw, then target an ally to give them advantage on their next attack roll, ability check, or saving throw, and then trigger Voice of Authority to allow that same ally to make an attack roll with advantage as their own reaction. With just a single 1st level spell slot.

Furthermore, if they're actually an Order Domain Cleric from the Quandrix college that takes the Fey Touched feat to get Silvery Barbs, in addition to all of that stuff listed above, they can cast Vortex Warp on a the enemy to teleport it up to that ally, force them to reroll the saving throw through Silvery Barbs if the succeeded on it, and then allow the Barbarian, or Paladin, or Rogue to make a melee weapon attack on them (potentially stacking smites, or sneak attack, or rage damage on the attack). Granted, this does take a 2nd level spell slot on top of the 1st level spell slot (and two reactions) to get to work, but it is still an effective combo and would be incredibly annoying if spammed by the players.

 

[Zardnaar]

Would need to see how the spell is worded.

They get disadvantage vs you and an advantage granting rider is a big upgrade over shield though.

 

[cbwjm]

Would need to see how the spell is worded.

They get disadvantage vs you and an advantage granting rider is a big upgrade over shield though.

Probably worth using mostly for saving throws, it might save you if you grant them disadvantage on an attack roll, but it's pretty early where enemies gain 2 or more attacks. Against attacks, shield is the better option.

 

[Raduin711]

It makes every spell that a spellcaster casts that requires a save better.

Unlike bonus action spells, there is no restriction on casting a spell and a reaction spell in the same turn. So now any save-or-die spells that are ordinarily risky to cast are now much deadlier, and more likely to be cast just for having Silvery Barbs in your repertoire. The same goes for spells that require an attack roll. Every wizard, sorcerer and bard should have this spell.

The advantage rider is just icing on the cake.

I would personally outright ban it, the base game has enough must-have spells as it is. If I had to keep it, I would make it a 4th level spell. Maybe 3rd. And this is taking into account that legendary resistance foils it.