Blade Ward/True Strike Replacements

[nickl_2000]

These are generally thought of as trap options, so I was looking at re-writing them to actually be an option worth considering.

Blade Ward
Abjuration Cantrip
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Self
Components: V, S
Duration: 1 round

You extend your hand and trace a sigil of warding in the air. Until the start of your next turn, you have resistance against bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage dealt by weapon attacks. Additionally, when you are hit with an attack you reflect back damage equal to your caster mod to the creature that hit you.


True Strike
Divination Cantrip
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 30 feet
Components: S
Duration: Conc. 1 round
You extend your hand and point a finger at a target in range. Your magic grants you a brief insight into the target’s defenses. Until the end of your next turn, you gain advantage on all your attack rolls against the target.

[Phhase]

Hmm, not bad. These are some fairly elegant solutions. The True Strike one needs some playtesting to see how much it really changes, though it seems interesting. The Blade Ward one is pretty cool, but what if the reflected damage was based on how much damage was resisted? You could build a reflect tank, but you'd need to multiclass and it's a pretty cool idea besides.

Edit: also, may I be the first to compliment your awsome subclass sig? Those are hilarious.

[nickl_2000]

Hmm, not bad. These are some fairly elegant solutions. The True Strike one needs some playtesting to see how much it really changes, though it seems interesting. The Blade Ward one is pretty cool, but what if the reflected damage was based on how much damage was resisted? You could build a reflect tank, but you'd need to multiclass and it's a pretty cool idea besides.

I considered doing reflected damage based on the damage that you resisted. However, it actually gets pretty high for the damage in the higher tiers of play.

To do that it would need to have a reaction to reflect damage to keep it sane. Otherwise, you could be reflecting silly amounts back doing more damage than all other characters.


In general I wanted to keep it pretty simple, which is why I did it the way I did.


True strike is going to be best for a Valor bard, EK, or sorlock who can quicken true strike and then seriously machine gun or some EBs

[Phhase]

That's true, but don't enemy health pools get pretty big too? And sorcerers generally don't want to be in melee range tanking huge swings owing to range and low HD. Iunno, you may have already run the numbers.

[nickl_2000]

That's true, but don't enemy health pools get pretty big too? And sorcerers generally don't want to be in melee range tanking huge swings owing to range and low HD. Iunno, you may have already run the numbers.

Honestly, I would never be expecting that a sorcerer would be using a spell like this, even in it's new form. I would expect to see these spells used by Valor Bards, Sword Bards, Hexblades, EKs, and possibly Bladesingers.

[Marcotix]

I considered doing reflected damage based on the damage that you resisted. However, it actually gets pretty high for the damage in the higher tiers of play.

To do that it would need to have a reaction to reflect damage to keep it sane. Otherwise, you could be reflecting silly amounts back doing more damage than all other characters.


In general I wanted to keep it pretty simple, which is why I did it the way I did.


True strike is going to be best for a Valor bard, EK, or sorlock who can quicken true strike and then seriously machine gun or some EBs

I think this version may be the winner- Its a powerful disincentive to attack the creature. Slap on a range maximum and potentially allow it to be cast on others and you could make it into a level 1-2 spell.


The other thing I was considering was making it a bonus action when you take the dodge action on your turn.