Booming/Green-Flame Blade: which attack mod is used?

[Unoriginal]

I think I'm missing something here, so any help would be appreciated.

The (new?) text for the Blade cantrips say you need to make a melee attack and hit for the spell to work. But at no point it is described as a melee spell attack, or as using your spellcasting star mod for the attack.

So are you just supposed to use your STR (DEX if using a Finesse weapon) mod?

I admit I'm confused by the number of people saying how great those cantrips are, if the above is accurate.

So, anyone knows what I'm missing/misunderstanding?

[Gignere]

I think I'm missing something here, so any help would be appreciated.

The (new?) text for the Blade cantrips say you need to make a melee attack and hit for the spell to work. But at no point it is described as a melee spell attack, or as using your spellcasting star mod for the attack.

So are you just supposed to use your STR (DEX if using a Finesse weapon) mod?

I admit I'm confused by the number of people saying how great those cantrips are, if the above is accurate.

So, anyone knows what I'm missing/misunderstanding?

It’s a melee attack so it uses whatever you normally use for a melee attack. Strength for most and if you have good dex and a finesse weapon dexterity.

It’s great for gishes not for pure casters. It stacks with sneak attack, BM dice, all the other melee goodies as well it’s why it’s considered so good.

[Unoriginal]

It’s a melee attack so it uses whatever you normally use for a melee attack. Strength for most and if you have good dex and a finesse weapon dexterity.

It’s great for gishes not for pure casters. It stacks with sneak attack, BM dice, all the other melee goodies as well it’s why it’s considered so good.

I can certainly agree to gishes having good attack stats, my confusion comes from seeing them suggested for regular casters (mostly Wizards).

[Gignere]

I can certainly agree to gishes having good attack stats, my confusion comes from seeing them suggested for regular casters (mostly Wizards).

It’s only suggested for bladesingers and if you agree with Shipiaozi’s style of wizard. I don’t, so I don’t recommend it with most wizard builds.

[Lunali]

I admit I'm confused by the number of people saying how great those cantrips are, if the above is accurate.

The reason they are great is because they don't use your spellcasting stat. They aren't for the character specialized in casting, they're for the character specialized in melee that dabbles in casting.

[Falconcry]

They can in some cases work off your spellcasting stat. Armorer artificer’s Thunder Gauntlets attack with Int or Shillelagh working off Wis/Cha. Hexblade’s hex warrior etc.

[Mercurias]

So are you just supposed to use your STR (DEX if using a Finesse weapon) mod?

YouÂ’re correct. You make a standard weapon attack, with whatever stat you use for said weapon, and then in the case of Green Flame Blade whatever your spell-casting modifier is can be factors into part of its damage.

YouÂ’re correct that a standard caster wouldnÂ’t have much use for the spell, but the spell also scales with level more than with your magic modifier, making it extremely nice for a character who only has one attack. My level 5 Arcane Trickster was sneak-attacking with an extra 1d8, then bonus action disengaging so the enemy would run after him and take an additional 2d8. If there were two enemies next to one another, I could spread the damage around if I thought my sneak attack was going to kill my first target and then deal 1d8+my int modifier (which was +2 at the time) to the adjacent enemy of my target. It adds a lot of oomph to what would normally be a normal 1d6+dex shortsword swing, and that can make gishes more effective.

Tanky Gish casters like EKs or Paladins can, at level 5, use it to make their one free opportunity attack on a fleeing enemy and turn it from a 1d8+Str long sword hit to a 1d8+str+3d8 damage from Booming Blade if the enemy keeps running. If the enemy stops to avoid the extra 2d8, then that tank has successfully prevented the enemy from leaving its side to swing at someone else.

For a free-use cantrip, thatÂ’s a lot of combat utility for melee characters.

[JackPhoenix]

They can in some cases work off your spellcasting stat. Armorer artificer’s Thunder Gauntlets attack with Int or Shillelagh working off Wis/Cha. Hexblade’s hex warrior etc.

While thematic, it's dubious if Thunder Gauntlets are valid weapons for BB/GFB by RAW (they technically don't have cost, as they are part of armor and not separate weapons), but you can also use magic weapons with Int through Battle Smith artificer.

[sithlordnergal]

That part of the text hasn't actually changed, its part of why a lot of people feel BB and GFB are OP cantrips. Sure, they're not amazing in the hands of a full caster since they use a normal attack stat like Dex and/or Strength, but they are amazing on GISH builds.

Things like Soradins with Quicken Spell can effectively get 3 attacks that they can Smite on by spending 2 Sorcery Points, or Rogues can add a lot more "omph" to their hits.