Making Deafened more interesting?

[NiklasWB]

Hello all. I will be DMing again soon and I've created a custom cantrip for one of my players who has a Bard PC. It makes use of the Deafened condition and I wanted to get some input on the uses of Deafened in combat and if there is any way of making it more interesting.

The spell looks like this so far:


HARMONIC BLAST

Evocation Cantrip

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: 120 feet

Duration: Instantaneous

Components: Verbal or Somatic

Spell List: Bard

You weave together intricate chords of arcane energy and release a blast of concentrated sound and brilliant colors using your voice (verbal component), or your instrument (somatic component). Make a ranged spell attack against a creature or an object within range. On a hit the target takes 1d8 thunder damage and is Deafened until the end of its next turn.

At Higher Levels: The damage of the blast increases when you reach 5th level (2d8), 11th level (3d8) and 17th level (4d8).


Basically the spell is standard 1d8 cantrip with a Deafened rider. I used Ray of Frost and Vicious Mockery as a sort of benchmarks, but looking at it becomes quite quite apparent that Ray of Frost's rider (minus 10 feet of movement) is just plain better than Deafened, and Vicious Mockery, even with it's lower damage dice has a lot better rider (disadvantage on next attack) than Deafened.

So how would you go about making Deafened better/more interesting? The way I see it, being deafened has no real effect in 99% of scenarios in regular D&D combat. In some cases it can even be an advantage since you cannot be targeted by some spells while Deafened.

Or would you add another minor rider effect on the cantrip? Perhaps allow the spell to do either thunder OR radiant damage (sound and light?).

I really liked the idea of the cantrip sort of like being a concentrated flashbang, but giving the Blinded condition on a hit seems waaaaaay too good for a cantrip, while Deafened seems a bit underwhelming.

How would you go about doing this?

Looking forward to your input.

[Mith]

Doesn't Deafened giv disadvantage to spellcasters with verbal components? Not bad for an at will ability.

[nickl_2000]

Personally I would drop the condition rider completely, all conditions for this are either overpowered for a cantrip or pretty much useless. Instead go with an effect rider.

-They are woozy and disoriented causing them to lose focus and get disadvantage on concentration checks from the cantrip damage
-The shock wave from the blast pushes them back 5 feet
-The shock waves causes vibrations is metal armor making them have disadvantage on their next attack
-The vibrations from the music disorient them giving them disadvantage on dex saving throws until the beginning of the casters next turn (may be OP)

[nickl_2000]

Doesn't Deafened giv disadvantage to spellcasters with verbal components? Not bad for an at will ability.

Not in 5e, that was a 3e/3.5e thing. Now it does this

Deafened • A deafened creature can’t hear and automatically fails any ability check that requires hearing.

[Mith]

Not in 5e, that was a 3e/3.5e thing. Now it does this

Deafened • A deafened creature can’t hear and automatically fails any ability check that requires hearing.

Huh. Well I think that's a missed oppourtunity. The idea of forcing Concentration checks to make spells succeed seems more interesting to me, since I never see Deafened come up in play.

[nickl_2000]

Huh. Well I think that's a missed oppourtunity.

Yup, it really makes a PC causing the deafened condition pretty worthless in comparison to the other conditions.

[MaxWilson]

Not in 5e, that was a 3e/3.5e thing. Now it does this

Deafened • A deafened creature can’t hear and automatically fails any ability check that requires hearing.

For most creatures, that should mean that if you're heavily obscured by darkness or Fog Cloud or whatever, you're hidden (unseen and unheard) and very hard to target (they have to guess your location and attack blindly, at disadvantage).

Moreover, everyone in the whole party would be hidden.

So, combine this cantrip with a spell like Darkness and go kill some Ettins or trolls or something. Think of this as a Vicious Mockery that requires more setup but has a higher payoff.

Just watch out for monsters that can locate you by smell.

[Specter]

What deafened should do is hamper spellcasters in some way. Something like:
- Whenever you are deafened and attempt to cast a spell with verbal components, roll a d6. On a 1, the spell fails and the action is wasted.

[Mith]

What deafened should do is hamper spellcasters in some way. Something like:
- Whenever you are deafened and attempt to cast a spell with verbal components, roll a d6. On a 1, the spell fails and the action is wasted.

Instead of a different mechanic, I would go with Concentration 10 + spell level. This makes higher level spells more difficult to get off, and keeps with a mechanic we already have.

[NiklasWB]

Thank you all for your input.

It seems to me that the Deafened condition got a little bit too nerfed in 5e. I think I'm going to change this overall in my game, just to make it more flavorful. I also feel that having it just affect spellcasters (concentration checks), still makes it a bit too specific to be interesting for all enemies. I feel like a Deafened monster with no spellcasting should still suffer some sort of drawback (become rattled because it can no longer hear).

What do you guys think of this?

Deafened:

- A deafened creature can’t hear and automatically fails any ability check that requires hearing.
- A deafened creature's initiativ roll is retroactively reduced by 5, potentially changing the order where it gets to act during a round. This drawback remains even when it is no longer Deafened.
- A deafened creature has to make a Concentration check (DC 10) to be able to cast a spell with a verbal component, or else the action/bonus action/reaction and spell slot is wasted.

[No brains]

Deafened can be a buff in the instances where an enemy has an attack that you need to hear. What makes deafened interesting is figuring out ways to apply it to yourself.

[Vogie]

I like the idea of giving a spellcaster-specific condition.

How about

"Deafened creatures have disadvantage on Concentration checks" (increasing the "easier to surprise" concept); or,
"disadvantage on the next spell attack roll it makes before the end of its next turn" (Basically vicious Mockery for casters)

[ClearlyTough69]

How about giving pack tactics against deafened creatures, to reflect their lack of situational awareness in combat (advantage on your attack if the deafened target is within reach of your ally's melee weapon, and your ally is not incapacitated)?