Flame Blade Boon?

[Unoriginal]

What would you think of a Boon allowing the recipient to cast Flame Blade once per short rest, which the PCs can obtain by succeeding a special quest?

[nickl_2000]

I mean honestly it's kind of meh. It requires an action to make a 3d6 attack and requires concentration. On a 2 attack character they are strictly better off using their regular attacks. A rogue can't make a sneak attack with it. For a non-caster, what would the spell attack bonus be based on?

Now, were you to offer something the ability to cast flame blade with no concentration requirement it would be worth it for certain characters.

[Mikal]

What would you think of a Boon allowing the recipient to cast Flame Blade once per short rest, which the PCs can obtain by succeeding a special quest?

I'd say I'd rather have a flametongue.

[cutlery]

I mean honestly it's kind of meh. It requires an action to make a 3d6 attack and requires concentration. On a 2 attack character they are strictly better off using their regular attacks. A rogue can't make a sneak attack with it. For a non-caster, what would the spell attack bonus be based on?

Now, were you to offer something the ability to cast flame blade with no concentration requirement it would be worth it for certain characters.

I'd look at Shadow Blade and reflavor that as fire. It works as a simple weapon the wielder is proficient with, so it doesn't interfere with extra attack, taking the attack action to trigger bonus actions, etc.

[Jerrykhor]

When i play a druid, i used Flame Blade once. Felt the damage was pretty low for a level 2 spell. Did some calculations, and found out it has an average damage of 10.5, while Shillelagh has 8.5 (18 wisdom). Which means it only beat Shillelagh by 2 damage, but it costs concentration and a level 2 slot.

Flame Blade is crap. If your player knows this, he will probably just thank you to not sound like an ungrateful prick, but never use it unless he ran out of torches or something.

[sithlordnergal]

I'll be honest, I'm with everyone else. You're better off giving them a Flametongue of some sort instead of that sort of Boon.

Flame Blade is a bad spell, and kind of always has been. It does super low damage, it doesn't use the attack action, it doesn't benefit from your modifiers, it takes up concentration, and it deals Fire damage, which is commonly resisted. It also isn't considered a "weapon", so anything that requires a Weapon to be used, such as Sneak Attack, Smite, certain Feats, and Dual Wielding, cannot be used with it.

About the only use I can think of is that a Druid can use it in Wild Shape...but even then they have Shillelagh. Why use Flame Blade, which requires Concentration and a hand to use, when you have Shillelagh, which requires a hand to use but doesn't require Concentration.

As a player I wouldn't say no to such a boon, because a free spell is a free spell, but I also wouldn't really consider it a "Boon" per say, and I doubt I would ever use it.

If you do wanna give them a cool spell that lets them summon a weapon they can attack with, go with a Shadow Blade Boon. It does slightly less base damage than Flame Blade, but with a few big differences. It lets you use your attack action, it lets you add your ability modifiers, it deals Psychic damage, and it is considered a Light, Finesse Weapon. Meaning martial classes can apply whatever tricks they have, like Sneak Attack or Smite, to it.

[Tanarii]

I think it's power depends on how often the PC expects to be caught unarmed/without spells.

[sithlordnergal]

I think it's power depends on how often the PC expects to be caught unarmed/without spells.

I mean...even then its use is going to be limited to martial characters that don't have weapons. Most cantrips don't require Material Components, and will do just as well as Flame Blade does as soon as you hit level 5. And even the few spells that don't do as much damage as Flame Blade, such as Vicious Mockery, Chill Touch, ect. generally have a powerful rider that makes up for the lack of damage.

So really, this Boon will only be used if the characters find themselves captured, lost all their gear, and the martial players have classes that can't summon their weapon back at will. That's an extremely narrow situation right there.