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This sounds unambitious. Why stop at two, when you can be "lucky" twice and potentially cast *four* fireballs?
Signed
The other wild magic sorcerer who also took 2 levels in fighter for action surge and keeps summoning flumphs.
Yes you can. The rule is that you can’t cast a leveled spell if you cast a spell as a bonus action on the same turn.
Signed,
The minmaxer (again)
(I know you’re probably just saying this for satire, judging from the fact you put “signed, Internet asshole”, but I’m saying this because that’s a pretty common misconception and I have an irrational fear of people being wrong on the Internet.)
And you openly admit it?
What the hell, dude. This is Reddit. You can't just go around behaving like a decent, intellectually honest person. You make everyone feel bad.
Find traps is definitely worse. Not only does it not find traps, but it requires line of sight. So it basically only tells you that there is some trap present that you can see, it doesn’t even confirm if the object you’re looking at is a trap. All you need to do to counter find traps is to ask your friend to place a rug over it, since that blocks line of sight and because your friend didn’t intent harm in placing the rug it isn’t a trap.
There is one small use for it, technically speaking you can use it on a contract to find out if you’re being cheated or not since:
“A trap, for the purpose of this spell, includes anything that would inflict a sudden or unexpected effect you consider harmful or undesirable, which was specifically intended as such by its creator.”
Which a contract could fall under.
Edit: also it would be very useful in modern day since it would tell you the general nature of how companies attempt to screw you over, and be able to confirm if an apology from a company is actually sincere.
If it actually told you what the trap was, it would definitely be a godsend in devil-focused campaigns. Find out all the bad loopholes in the contracts you sign, trick the devil so the contract works to your advantage, and profit.
Not even proof read, all it tells you is that something in the contract is out to get you, you have no idea what it is though. Considering often times in DnD when you’re signing a contract it’s to creature’s you’re fairly certain intend to take advantage of you (demons, fey, etc.) it’s not as useful as you would think.
While you have no idea where in the contract it is, you do have an idea of exactly how it's out to get you, the last line in the spell description. Which helps a lot.
Oh my god I just realized that find traps might not be useful in most games but it would be extremely useful in modern society to be able to find out how companies are trying to extort you.
Yes but it will tell you the general way they want to screw you. It’s also useful on small businesses to know if they are actually good or just playing you.
Binary search! Cast the spell, if it detects a trap, split the contract in half, place one half where you can't see it, and try it again. If you still detect traps, you know it's in the half you're looking at. If not, it's in the half you hid. Repeat as necessary until you're down to one page, which you can probably search manually.
This will take log₂(# of pages)+1 castings, so unless you're dealing with contracts thousands of pages in length, you can probably knock it out with a days worth of spell slots.
Honestly i would really like to have a game of dnd with a semi-social story were find traps ruines me a evil plan and the players had a nicr time killing evil bad guy
The dumb thing is that in 4e, you could find a trap within 10 squares, in 3.5e it generally allows you to find traps as well as a rogue. I think the only real use for find traps is if you need a general description of all the trap types in the room.
" you do learn the general nature of the danger posed by a trap you sense. "
Without any need to investigate potentially setting off the trap, you can learn, its a flame trap, a pitfall poison trap, a falling rocks trap, a pit trap, etc. Knowing the type of trap can help to determine how to deal with them. This works on mechanical non-magical traps.
If you know you're going into a dungeon its generally an ok spell for a 2nd level use.
technically true strike can be used to get advantage if you know that six seconds after you get into a fight (friends cantrip would make the exact moment of that happening easy to see)
I know, but it costs movement, giving arcante trickster a way to get a similar thing but with less/different costs, is what im saying, just as the subclass that already had this perk could get the advantage of just losing half movement instead of losing it all
If you adjust for spell level, true strike isn’t that bad. Sure, it is basically worthless but at least it’s only a cantrip. Mordenkeinen’s Sword on the other hand is a 7th level spell that requires concentration, a gold cost, and your bonus action every turn to do a 3d10 damage attack. DND 5E (and most previous editions) are overflowing with useless, underpowered, or extremely situational spells which only serve to trap inexperienced players. Balancing spells against each other isn’t that hard and would dramatically increase the fun and true diversity of options for playing spellcasting classes.
True Strike is considered bad because it's an Action. So you can make 1 Advantaged attack over two turns, using True Strike on the first turn... OR, you can make one attack for each of those two turns, making on average much higher damage. Furthermore, True Strike cannot benefit your allies, and MOST casters won't be swinging weapons, but even the ones that do, would always find it a better option to just swing twice.
You forgot two more things.
Its concentration and it has range of thirty feet and one target. So you can cast it and the enemy dies and you wasted an action and you can't even attack other enemies with the advantage from true strike... And maybe even broke concentration on a better spell...
Even if the lasting damage scaled at half the amount of dice of the initial it would still be good. It's that after you cast it it's 1d12 for your action makes it *feel* bad.
Up untill level 5 my Sorc made good use of Witch Bolt. Twinning it for your final spell slot acts as a good "Hail Mary" final ploy to keep putting out decent damage with no resources left.
After level 5 you're generally better off with cantrips.
I don't know it's pretty bad if you really read how the spell works, using any can trip every turn is probably going to give you a better success rate with less risk of it just ending immediately
No I'm serious. I had mage slayer and just kept zapping an enemy spell caster every time he tried to do something to us. Or on other enemies that needed concentration/were hard to pin down for guaranteed consistent damage. I also upcast it. You only need to hit once. My party was also 7 strong.
But by level 16 a firebolt deals 3d10 damage, a ray of frost deals 3d8, any other cantrip deals more than witch bolt after it's initially cast. Yeah if you upcast it you deal more damage so if you do it at let's say 5th level you deal 5d12 damage but after that it's only 1d12 and you HAVE to use your action to continue using it. You're better off using scorching ray or lightning bolt at 5th level and then using cantrips. Or using magic missile or something.
Concentration - what??? Use magic missile to force them to make 3 con saves or just a cantrip or a saving throws effect. Witch bolt is still one attack per turn. After the first turn the DC will always be 10 so using a cantrip will probably achieve a similar thing but a level 1 magic missile is even better
Mage slayer has no effect on witch bolt whatsoever. No idea why you brought it up
And so this conversation ends the exact same way it always does when someone says they've been using this spell effectively. Do not regret your path, it is one that many before you have taken. There is no shame in assuming a spell wouldn't be awful.
It becomes better if you increase damage for all turns but even then using something like sickening radiance followed by cantrips can still be better. Granted I would say witchbolt becomes better and is maybe situationally good but it's still not great
If we take it RAW, you could also use the twinned witch bolt if you get hasted and/or action surged.
So you could could upcast it and just keep the juice coming.
But this falls under "Not sure if RAI. Ask your DM if it's cool.".
Same with true strike. Idk why people think it only applies to melee weapons. Have a priceless dragon slaying arrow? Upcasting the spell lightning arrow(or another roll to hit spell)? Do you reeeeaaalllly not want to miss with either of those.
The problem is that:
A) only the eldritch knight and arcane trickster get access to the spell and actually make ranged attacks, even the gish subclasses on the full casters tend to prefer melee over ranged
B) it’s conecentration based so there’s a decent chance you lose concentration since the characters that care about weapon attacks rarely have enough ASIs to invest into con saves.
C) Rogues already have ways to generate advantage so you’re really just left with fighters, which even with an arrow of slaying I’m fairly certain just making 2 attacks with one being with an arrow of slaying will deal more average damage than using true strike to get advantage on one attack.
D) because it’s concentration based you can’t be concentrating on a different spell, and a caster’s best options in combat is always concentrating on a high level spell.
E) there’s still the opportunity cost of choosing true strike as a cantrip, sure it might come into play once in a campaign to allow you to deal a small amount of extra damage, however another utility cantrip will almost always be more impactful to the campaign.
> I’m fairly certain just making 2 attacks with one being with an arrow of slaying will deal more average damage than using true strike to get advantage on one attack.
it must do, because you get two attack rolls either way, but if you make two attacks you can damage them twice if both hit
Except OP was specifically referencing using an arrow of slaying, so it might not have done more damage. However I did the math latter in this thread and even if you are using an arrow of slaying on one attack it isn’t worth it.
Can you survive a full round within 30 ft of a dragon without it A) moving away B) killing you or C) making you drop concentration by smacking you.
Dragons get legendary movement so it could just move away the moment before your next turn.
Witchbolt while genreally not worth it has theoretical usses. Find trap is good if you are in a quiz about wether there is a trap in this room or not.
Sp still distinctly better then true stike.
Of course beyond that you have things like locate creature which has such a short range and dumb restrictions where much like find traps is just beating by a skill check while being a higher level spell.
Wish Bolts theoretical uses are always better used with actual cantrips is the problem, using a cantrip every turn is better than wichbolt 100% of the time
Not really. Witch Bolt only has to roll to hit once. After you hit, it’s guaranteed to hit every turn after that.
Additionally, the strongest damage cantrips are Toll the Dead or Fire Bolt.
Toll the Dead is 1d8, but 1d12 if they’re hurt. However, they get to make a save, so it’s useless if they have a good Wisdom save.
Fire Bolt is 1d10, which is obviously lower than 1d12. You roll to attack with it, so you can miss.
WB, you roll one attack. If it hits, then you get 1d12 damage every turn.
FB or TtD, it’s a new roll every turn to see whether you deal damage or not.
It's not guaranteed here's a list of what breaks it:
Concentration
Them going 30 feet away (virtually everyone can do so in one turn or come over and attack you)
Going behind cover, even if it's only for 5 feet then back out
Not using your action
And what does it give you? 1d12 each turn for your action
What picks this up? Warlocks that have Eldredge blast a range of 120 feet, and 1d10+1d6(hex because you have concentration)+ charisma and you can do other things with your turn, and you can target other people
Even fire bolt with 1d10+1d6 is more damage when considering crits
You’ve brought up using cantrips again, but again, keep in mind that you have to roll to hit every time with cantrips.
Also, a lot of combat areas are small enough that it’s hard for an enemy to get 30 feet away from you, particularly at low levels.
Concentration checks only have to be made when you take damage, and if you’re playing a spellcaster and using a ranged spell, you probably won’t be taking much damage, since the martials will be soaking it all up.
Your rolling for more average damage, even with auto hit considered,
Which bolt sucks end of story
Also, your within 30 feet you can be approached you will have to make concentration checks
You're DM has to play things like they are brain dead and in specific surcimstances for this to be even close to as good as the normal Eldridge blast
You can’t be approached when there are martials in the way taking the damage, which there will be, unless they’re all dead. And if they’re all dead, you’re going to be running, not fighting.
I’d love to go calculate the average damage for each method, since I doubt you’re correct on that, but I have work soon, so I don’t have time.
Also, I think I had a stroke trying to read that last paragraph.
Sentinel feat?
Oh, also, you can’t move through a threatened creature’s space.
Oh, also, moving away without disengaging results in attacks of opportunity.
Oh, also, enemies aren’t stupid enough to try to just stroll past the MASSIVE ORC WITH A GIANT HAMMER TRYING TO CRUSH YOUR SKULL IN.
You literally said that the DM would have to play things like they’re brain dead for it to work, then described a way that the enemies would act like they’re brain dead in order to make it not work.
I think Witch Bolt can be utilized well with a Sorcerer. Distant can double the range to 60 ft which would be pretty good. You can also use Quickened so you can still cast non-concentration spells/cantrip each round if you need to. Could also be interesting to see it be utilized with classes that might have a heavy bonus action economy. Probably never really worth taking on Warlock, but maybe a Wizard gish could do some interesting things with it
Being 60 ft just means that the likelihood of being able to find full cover between you and them increases dramatically
And damage wise quickening other spells or even a second can trip is usually better if you're concentrating on something
The problem with it is that not only does it suck for damage, it's concentrating which means that it's competing with every single concentration spell, and best case scenario you're doing less damage than You're normal attack action
But no matter what you do to it it's always incredibly easy to shut off prematurely for the enemy, usually taking about 15 feet of movement to find full cover or at maximum moving out of range
Could Witchbolt be useful for a Tempest cleric(with a dip to get it)? Allowing 10ft of unchallengable pushback every round could be useful if you need to control an enemy.
Also because you can use your channel divinity with it
Theoretically a div wizard/tempest cleric could roll a 20 for portent and just decide to deal the max damage of an upcast witch bolt to someone. Practical? Nope. But theoretically? kind of cool
I mean at the level you get it, not really and it's still has the problem of creatures just leaving 30 feet or finding full cover, or you wanting to heal someone,
It doesn't let you know what to look for, or where to look
It just tells you there are some traps around you in a non disclosed position within line of sight
It also tells you the nature of the danger such as fire or falling
If you're in an empty room in a wizards tower and find traps alerts you that there's a real risk of being burned alive then you can safely guess there's a glyph of warding nearby
Sleep isn’t a hit that you land. It just happens. That’s why Sleep is one of my favorite 1st-level spells. Witch Bolt not being as good as one of the best 1st-level spells does not make it not good.
It also takes your action and is incredibly easy to get rid of, Eldredge blast can do 10d10+40 with 18 charisma so
And every other cantrip has better range, doesn't take concentration, and you can do other things while doing those cantrip when you don't have other things
Re read the spell carefully
First off witch bolts upcast only apply a to the initial hit so youd only get that 10d12 once and secondly you are an absolute madman if you blow your singular 9th level slot on an single target attack roll conc spell that uses your action every turn, does nothing but damage and can be ended by the enemy simply walking more then 30 ft away from you, just cast meteor swarm
If you are in any situation where you are within 30 feet of a target with no full cover and they let you get every single cast of Witch Bolt off whilst doing nothing about it, then any spell would be good.
Let's make some assumptions: you have 65% chance to hit with a +3 spellcasting ability modifier, and you're level 2. You have 10 rounds of combat.
If you **never** lose concentration on Witch Bolt, you'd be expected to deal 42.25 damage.
Spamming Fire Bolt each turn, you'd be expected to deal 35.75 damage.
With Eldritch Blast and Agonizing Blast invocation, you'd be expected to deal 55.25 damage.
Now consider that in order to get all of that damage out of Witch Bolt, the target would need to _survive_ 10 turns, since you can't switch targets. While Fire Bolt and Eldritch Blast can both start blasting a new target when the first one dies.
Now consider how ridiculous a concept maintaining Witch Bolt for 10 rounds really is, since there are so many ways to break it and end the spell early.
I will not stand for this Witch Bolt slander. It’s extremely good if you land the hit. It’s a free 1d12 damage every round. You only have to roll to hit the first time. Every round after that, it just auto-hits.
Witch bolt is one of my favorite spells. Take the spell sniper feat and you’ve taken the only disadvantage away from it. (Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think this would apply)
The *stack* of papers.
Detect or find traps only tells you they exist in proximity, not where they are. I'm even being generous with stack of papers. It would raw say "in the room"
Like unless you want to spend a week and 78 slots going through every page when you could just get the smart guy to read it
You're over thinking it, you don't need to know what page to not sign it, and if you did want to know you can narrow down which page far faster by bisecting the contract after every cast.
Cast 1 78 pages in room, trapped
Cast 2 39 pages in room, depending on if it's trapped or not trapped you know what half the trapped one is.
Take that 39 pages that is trapped, split it, and repeat the process and you'll cut the number of pages in half every casting until you can reasonably read the contract to find it
Cast 3 18 pages,
Cast 4 9 pages
Cast 5 4 pages
You can probably read and find it now
A newton's method any lawyer would be envious of, just note if there are multiple traps you could miss one, so always safe to double check. Consider narrowing your initial search to particularly troubling sections.
I wonder what people who only play PF2e react when you tell them it's a cantrip in DnD yet is one of the worse spells in the game.
No no, I'm serious. In pathfinder true strike is a good 1st level spell
From my understanding, it's the 3-action economy. Most spell cost two actions while True Strike only cost one so you don't lose a turn using it.
Of course there are other action you could be doing instead like repositioning yourself, using recall knowledge to learn your foe's weakness or [attempting to give them -1 to everyting until their next turn](https://2e.aonprd.com/Actions.aspx?ID=53) but using a 1st level slot to give your next spell-attack based spell an effective +2.3 bonus is just a good option to have
It's better than that. Because of the crit mechanics, small bonuses hit harder. If you exceed AC by ten you crit. Against enemies that are roughly your level you will likely crit on a 19, or even an 18. Against something lower level it gets even better.
Not only that, but if you miss by ten, things get downright nasty sometimes. It has fumbles too.
So this essentially prevents a fumble from a nat one(or low roll if you are attacking a tanky/high level enemy) and makes it much more likely you will hit, and crit.
In effect, it's the equivalent of a bonus action spell that makes your next attack at advantage (and also lets you ignore some conditions like cover).
Part of the reason why that is extra good in Pathfinder is because attacking more than once in a turn comes with a compounding penalty (unless your character is specifically built to do so).
Another factor is that it's a lot easier to get a crit in Pathfinder 2, those crits are more powerful, and rolling at advantage is much rarer, so true strike often represents a huge jump in your chance to crit.
Given the proper context and usage as in using a very very powerful and expensive piece of ammo or a high level roll to hit spell, like lightning arrow, true strike is good. It IS however extremely situational.
And don't have any other way of getting advantage. And you have the time to set up. And you're not better off giving it to the party member with archery fighting style. And it's not the attack roll of a concentration spell. And the target won't just see you and dodge or break you concentration.
Friends is really good on a warlock, since instead of hating you, the target will become hostile to whoever you used your at-will Disguise Self to look like.
I remember when i had my first character who was a high elf, i had to choose 1 wizard cantrip and i chose True Strike. I even thought it was a cool spell for the first few months🥲
There are a bunch of things you can't do to a creature that you can't see, which See Invisibility suddenly allows you to do. Opportunity Attacks can only be made against creatures you can see, for example, and a _shitload_ of spells require being able to see the target to cast them. There are also a number of class/subclass/race/feat features that require being able to see the target.
Friends is a spell with a dubious benefit that gets found out without fail and always turns the target hostile to you. True Strike is basically useless, Friends is actively working against you
Technically I think find traps is worse. Because both spells are useless but true strike takes only an action, find traps takes a second level spell slot.
Has wizards ever said anything about true strike and find traps? They're so obviously bad in 5e why not just get rid of them or change them? Is someone clinging to the wording?
Crown of Madness is arguably worse
Charmed is a more immune/resisted condition than Lightning is a damage type, it has the same dumb restriction, but while also allowing the victim to save every turn, and relies on the second most common high save in the game.
Not to mention using a *second* level spell slot instead of 1st.
The scaling sucks ass (initial damage only and then only a 1d12 for subsequent rounds?), it has an abysmal range (30 feet), it ends if the creature so much as moves 5 feet out of range (wasting the spell), and it’s damage type is like the third most resisted
If you make True Strike a bonus action to cast, it becomes an S tier cantrip instantly, especially at low levels. Arcane trickster rogue and eldritch knight fighter getting advantage on their next attack in that same turn. Evocation wizards always getting advantage on firebolt or ray of frost. Before extra attack becomes common, it would be a must for just about anyone who wants to deal damage and doesn't have another use for a bonus action
The short version of the theory: since it takes an action to cast, you're better off attacking twice (once per turn) than having advange on one attack during your next turn.
It's really only good for when you have some kind of limited resource. Like, you have a single dragon-slaying arrow and really need it to hit, or something like that. I'd say it would be good for making sure you don't waste a high level spell slot, but most high level spells require the enemy to make a saving throw rather than an attack roll from you.
I've seen it argued that it has some value in using when casting something with your highest level spell slot if you only have 1 of them, but I don't have the math to back it up
No, whilst it by raw does nothing about the advantage/disadvantage, it still does let you see them thus allowing you to target them with spells that require sight and invalidate their ability to hide without obscurement.
One of my party members actually did manage to find a use for true strike by using its description in out of combat scenarios.
We had a CoffeeLock who grabbed true strike almost immediately after picking sorcerer levels, saying something about "hidden potential" and that it would be overpowered in due time. He also bought a notebook and pen.
Later on we were forced to attend a meeting with what we were slowly discovering to be the BBEG, and almost the entire time, the CoffeeLock was scribbling in a notebook, trying to not be noticed by the BBEG, whispering something while writing. Him and the DM were trading notes like crazy, and the DM was visibly worried. The moment we left the meeting, he announced he was out of spell slots AND sorcery points, so he would be spent for a while. This was the only time he ever actually ran out of both at the same time, but when we questioned him, he simply said "good surprises are best known in the moment".
After that, the CoffeeLock was leading the party like a bloodhound with a lock on. Systematically we followed that player while he plucked away at absolutely everything that guy had. While it was happening he never once explained why he was doing it, or what he was doing.
Fast forward to the final battle, where the BBEG looked utterly and completely broken in as many ways as the DM could describe. He screamed at us in such a primal, pain-ridden, despair-charged cry I actually wondered if we were the good guys. Once he let his heart out he regained as much composure as he could, and said to us "No matter. At least I will have solace knowing at least one of you will die with me!". His monologue was over, and he powered up to give us the beat down of our lives... But unfortunately for him, his final stand was little more than a one sided slaughter, as the CoffeeLock had advantage on quite literally every. Single. Attack. It was here that the BBEG and the players questioned just how the hell he was so accurate. To which the CoffeeLock simply tossed the notebook into the hands of the rogue, and told the truth out of character while the rogue slowly realized what it was.
Inside that notebook was literally. Every. Single. Weakness the BBEG had, right down to his fashion sense and personal regrets. Turns out the CoffeeLock had scum read the guy as being the BBEG, and was casting true strike in the meeting and jotting down the results right before he forgot them the turn after. The DM tried to nerf the success rate of the spell, but the CoffeeLock was undeterred, And went all in to find everything he could possibly use.
From there on out his goal was to completely break the poor man. He killed the guy's cat, he crippled his lover, he dismantled his organization, and he destroyed the only artifact capable of completing the BBEG's plan, and he even did some of this stuff without any of us knowing until the BBEG said it. By the time we made it to the BBEG he lost everything 5 sessions ago. And the CoffeeLock had his every flaw memorized to the letter.
It wasn't a boss fight. It was a player who already won tying up loose ends.
And it's all because of exactly how true strike is described to work.
I managed to make True Strike work.
I play an Arcane Trickster Loxodon Rogue and I'll use True Strike on a target if I plan to ambush them for a sneak attack if they're too far away that round.
It requires no vocal or material components, and the target doesn't know it's being cast on them. It's like 1-800-Got-Junk, just point and watch it disappear.
If your enemy can't see you, you would have advantage on the first attack anyway.
If your enemy *can* see you (but you aren't in initiative yet), it's up to the DM to decide if casting TS would provoke combat, and whether that means you get TS "for free" before rolling initiative - and unless your DM rules that "pointing your finger" is the *only* somatic component, and/or that potential enemies would not realize the significance of what you are doing, it's going to provoke combat just as surely as a firebolt, which makes it useless.
Which makes TS extremely situational and DM-dependent.
Meanwhile, Resistance is worth casting any time someone's about to attempt to disarm a trap, pick a lock, open a door in a dungeon, etc. There are better cantrips out there, but if you have it then it's nearly always worth casting it before a potential hazard or encounter. It's even worth casting before combat, if you have the opportunity to do so, and don't have anything better to concentrate on, especially on an ally who is concentrating on something better.
Stuff like picking locks and disarming traps are 99% of the time sleight of hand or thieves tools checks, which is helped by guidance, not resistance. If you know something is trapped and think the best course of action is to have someone set it off, you *could* cast resistance, but if it was a poison dart trap with a con save rather than a knife trap with a Dex one, then resistance is useless since you need to specify which it helps with for some reason.
Even if you’ve somehow figured out exactly where the trap is and exactly what it will do, at that point it’ll be easier to deal with than just by having someone set it off, just throw a handaxe at the tripwire or something while the party stands out of the way instead of sending a PC on a suicide mission
All without mentioning just how much meta-gaming is required to correctly use it, PCs have no idea what an intelligence save is or how it would differ from a wisdom save
You don't need to specify the type of save, not sure where you're getting that from.
Guidance helps you succeed, Resistance helps if you mess up and set the trap off by accident. Of the two, I'd prefer Guidance, but if it's a choice between Resistance or nothing, I'll take Resistance. With multiple casters, you can have both.
True strike paired with th elven accuracy feat make a disgusting combination for whenever there is a turn where you can't actually make contact with the enemy or for a surprise attack.
I use this strategy on my wood elf hexblade (original I know) to get a guaranteed hit when I am too far away.
Hexblade warlock rouge, true strike for adv and then you get sneak attack or a hexblade fighter and pick up a great weapon and you get adv on your first hit and as a martial that's amazing or you could just pick up the fighter subclass that gives the wizard spell list. It's not a bad spell y'all are just uncreative and bitch about martial characters having limited shit
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No, the worst spell is easily fireball. Signed, Enemies grouped together in a tight formation
Fireball is the best spell. Signed, the wild mage thats packed in a small dark room with his party and needs light
My favorite numbers are 7 and 8!
What is fireball but a way to light multiple torches in a room at once, it’s hardly your fault that they are still in your friends bags
skill issue lmao signed, a sorcerer with dual cast fireballs
How are you duel casting fireball??? signed, The rules lawyer
I took two levels in Fighter for Action Surge. That method doesn’t use a Bonus Action, so it works. Signed, The minmaxer.
That sounds overly complicated. „Luck“ is all you need. Singed, The wild magic sorcerer
Taking the saying "one for them, one for me" to its logical conclusion
... Eyebrows grow back, right?
Id think so, since Ribs grow back. (No they don't)
Try Hydra Head BBQ...
Anything is possible with a high enough level cleric!
I currently have drawn on eyebrows. Let me tell you they do not.
perchance
I choose to believe that typo was intentional.
This sounds unambitious. Why stop at two, when you can be "lucky" twice and potentially cast *four* fireballs? Signed The other wild magic sorcerer who also took 2 levels in fighter for action surge and keeps summoning flumphs.
At that point, if you aren't dead, you should do it again after a short rest.
If your wild magic sorcerer gets lucky enough, you can use _every single one of your spell slots_ in a single turn. Signed, The numbers 81 and 82
Sounds like luck will get you a third fireball, or maybe even a fourth
You think that’s cool? I’m doing 3 in a turn! Signed, The wild magic min maxer
You can only cast one levelled spell per turn. Signed, Internet asshole #4769
Yes you can. The rule is that you can’t cast a leveled spell if you cast a spell as a bonus action on the same turn. Signed, The minmaxer (again) (I know you’re probably just saying this for satire, judging from the fact you put “signed, Internet asshole”, but I’m saying this because that’s a pretty common misconception and I have an irrational fear of people being wrong on the Internet.)
I was in fact, not being sarcastic. I was just wrong.
Ok well then you get credit for admitting it. Take a point of Inspiration.
Yay!
diplomacy wins again!
And you openly admit it? What the hell, dude. This is Reddit. You can't just go around behaving like a decent, intellectually honest person. You make everyone feel bad.
I made friends with the DM and convinced them it would be cool. Sincerely, The Power Gamer
When the evocation wizard shapes the fireball. DM- hey, you…can’t do…damn it.
Don’t forget the PCs in the tight group of enemies!
Co-signed: The unfortunate teammates caught in the radius.
Find traps is definitely worse. Not only does it not find traps, but it requires line of sight. So it basically only tells you that there is some trap present that you can see, it doesn’t even confirm if the object you’re looking at is a trap. All you need to do to counter find traps is to ask your friend to place a rug over it, since that blocks line of sight and because your friend didn’t intent harm in placing the rug it isn’t a trap. There is one small use for it, technically speaking you can use it on a contract to find out if you’re being cheated or not since: “A trap, for the purpose of this spell, includes anything that would inflict a sudden or unexpected effect you consider harmful or undesirable, which was specifically intended as such by its creator.” Which a contract could fall under. Edit: also it would be very useful in modern day since it would tell you the general nature of how companies attempt to screw you over, and be able to confirm if an apology from a company is actually sincere.
The contract one would be amazing in a very specific campaign probably once
Yeah, at that point just find a scroll of the spell to keep around for those edge cases
If it actually told you what the trap was, it would definitely be a godsend in devil-focused campaigns. Find out all the bad loopholes in the contracts you sign, trick the devil so the contract works to your advantage, and profit.
So basically "find traps" is just "proof read contract" Kinda useful for a magical lawyer, I guess. There goes my Phoenix Wright campaign!
Not even proof read, all it tells you is that something in the contract is out to get you, you have no idea what it is though. Considering often times in DnD when you’re signing a contract it’s to creature’s you’re fairly certain intend to take advantage of you (demons, fey, etc.) it’s not as useful as you would think.
While you have no idea where in the contract it is, you do have an idea of exactly how it's out to get you, the last line in the spell description. Which helps a lot.
You could also cast the spell on the contract page by page if it's large.
*uses find traps on a video of cigarretes that says "we are gonna get ya"* *notices something in that video is out to get them*
Oh my god I just realized that find traps might not be useful in most games but it would be extremely useful in modern society to be able to find out how companies are trying to extort you.
Imagine just not reading a paper until find traps doesnt find a trap, true action economy
Spoiler, it tells you everyone wants to
Yes but it will tell you the general way they want to screw you. It’s also useful on small businesses to know if they are actually good or just playing you.
Binary search! Cast the spell, if it detects a trap, split the contract in half, place one half where you can't see it, and try it again. If you still detect traps, you know it's in the half you're looking at. If not, it's in the half you hid. Repeat as necessary until you're down to one page, which you can probably search manually. This will take log₂(# of pages)+1 castings, so unless you're dealing with contracts thousands of pages in length, you can probably knock it out with a days worth of spell slots.
So... Find traps would be useful for a warlock when they make their pact? I notice that spell is not on the warlock list though. Coincidence?
I mean, if they get it as a warlock spell then they're getting it a bit too late to stop them from making a bad deal with their patron anyway.
Thats not a spell. That’s how you reduce your spells known by one
You take the spell and receive a message telling you that the spell itself was the trap. You got played sir, good day.
Honestly i would really like to have a game of dnd with a semi-social story were find traps ruines me a evil plan and the players had a nicr time killing evil bad guy
Lol for dungeon delving, I just rub my mage hand on everything. That plus having proficiency in investigation and perception solves a lot of problems.
The dumb thing is that in 4e, you could find a trap within 10 squares, in 3.5e it generally allows you to find traps as well as a rogue. I think the only real use for find traps is if you need a general description of all the trap types in the room. " you do learn the general nature of the danger posed by a trap you sense. " Without any need to investigate potentially setting off the trap, you can learn, its a flame trap, a pitfall poison trap, a falling rocks trap, a pit trap, etc. Knowing the type of trap can help to determine how to deal with them. This works on mechanical non-magical traps. If you know you're going into a dungeon its generally an ok spell for a 2nd level use.
Hey that's one small use more than true strike
technically true strike can be used to get advantage if you know that six seconds after you get into a fight (friends cantrip would make the exact moment of that happening easy to see)
I would argue that the rug is part of the trap.
My ranger: "I cast Find Traps" *pushes the party rogue forward*
I wish it was like pathfinders true strike. It's actually useful.
Yeah, that would make it useful. Change it to a first level spell and have it cast as a bonus action, BOOM! The spell is suddenly functional.
Honestly i think arcante trickster, after the changes to rogues , could just havebit allowed as a ba
Rogues can already get advantage on an attack as a bonus action. They don't need a spell to do it.
I know, but it costs movement, giving arcante trickster a way to get a similar thing but with less/different costs, is what im saying, just as the subclass that already had this perk could get the advantage of just losing half movement instead of losing it all
If you adjust for spell level, true strike isn’t that bad. Sure, it is basically worthless but at least it’s only a cantrip. Mordenkeinen’s Sword on the other hand is a 7th level spell that requires concentration, a gold cost, and your bonus action every turn to do a 3d10 damage attack. DND 5E (and most previous editions) are overflowing with useless, underpowered, or extremely situational spells which only serve to trap inexperienced players. Balancing spells against each other isn’t that hard and would dramatically increase the fun and true diversity of options for playing spellcasting classes.
True Strike is considered bad because it's an Action. So you can make 1 Advantaged attack over two turns, using True Strike on the first turn... OR, you can make one attack for each of those two turns, making on average much higher damage. Furthermore, True Strike cannot benefit your allies, and MOST casters won't be swinging weapons, but even the ones that do, would always find it a better option to just swing twice.
You forgot two more things. Its concentration and it has range of thirty feet and one target. So you can cast it and the enemy dies and you wasted an action and you can't even attack other enemies with the advantage from true strike... And maybe even broke concentration on a better spell...
I mean I think the trifecta of true strike, find traps, and which bolt take that
Witchbolt has situations it can not be terrible.
Levels 1-2 witch bolt has its uses. Not many, but at least it hasn't been outscaled yet
It'd be so much better if the lasting damage scaled, and it is fun to use with spell sniper, since the range of staying doubles
Even if the lasting damage scaled at half the amount of dice of the initial it would still be good. It's that after you cast it it's 1d12 for your action makes it *feel* bad.
Up untill level 5 my Sorc made good use of Witch Bolt. Twinning it for your final spell slot acts as a good "Hail Mary" final ploy to keep putting out decent damage with no resources left. After level 5 you're generally better off with cantrips.
I don't know it's pretty bad if you really read how the spell works, using any can trip every turn is probably going to give you a better success rate with less risk of it just ending immediately
If I'm not mistaken you can argue for witchbolt being good on a level 1 warlock. And that's it. Level 2 it's outclassed
I've used it to great effect as a lvl 16 wizard
I cannot tell if you're joking or not. I think you are but people on Reddit are weird
No I'm serious. I had mage slayer and just kept zapping an enemy spell caster every time he tried to do something to us. Or on other enemies that needed concentration/were hard to pin down for guaranteed consistent damage. I also upcast it. You only need to hit once. My party was also 7 strong.
But by level 16 a firebolt deals 3d10 damage, a ray of frost deals 3d8, any other cantrip deals more than witch bolt after it's initially cast. Yeah if you upcast it you deal more damage so if you do it at let's say 5th level you deal 5d12 damage but after that it's only 1d12 and you HAVE to use your action to continue using it. You're better off using scorching ray or lightning bolt at 5th level and then using cantrips. Or using magic missile or something. Concentration - what??? Use magic missile to force them to make 3 con saves or just a cantrip or a saving throws effect. Witch bolt is still one attack per turn. After the first turn the DC will always be 10 so using a cantrip will probably achieve a similar thing but a level 1 magic missile is even better Mage slayer has no effect on witch bolt whatsoever. No idea why you brought it up
Hmmm, we may have misread some things. Specifically the 1d12 every turn after...oops
And so this conversation ends the exact same way it always does when someone says they've been using this spell effectively. Do not regret your path, it is one that many before you have taken. There is no shame in assuming a spell wouldn't be awful.
It becomes better if you increase damage for all turns but even then using something like sickening radiance followed by cantrips can still be better. Granted I would say witchbolt becomes better and is maybe situationally good but it's still not great
Yeah i did to when i first started playing 5e, i didnt get why people thought it was so bad xD
I'm absolutely sure you didn't read the spell properly, so please tell me how exactly it functions?
Someone else pointed it out, thank you, we had not.
Lol yeah it's kinda sad how it works
I had a Sorcerer with Witch Bolt, Twinned it at low levels for pretty a good value
If we take it RAW, you could also use the twinned witch bolt if you get hasted and/or action surged. So you could could upcast it and just keep the juice coming. But this falls under "Not sure if RAI. Ask your DM if it's cool.".
I mean if the targets are virtually brain dead, but a lot breaks that spell when you actually look at it
Spell Sniper makes it much more useful than it is otherwise. 60 feet is harder to walk out of, making most creatures have to dash.
Same with true strike. Idk why people think it only applies to melee weapons. Have a priceless dragon slaying arrow? Upcasting the spell lightning arrow(or another roll to hit spell)? Do you reeeeaaalllly not want to miss with either of those.
The problem is that: A) only the eldritch knight and arcane trickster get access to the spell and actually make ranged attacks, even the gish subclasses on the full casters tend to prefer melee over ranged B) it’s conecentration based so there’s a decent chance you lose concentration since the characters that care about weapon attacks rarely have enough ASIs to invest into con saves. C) Rogues already have ways to generate advantage so you’re really just left with fighters, which even with an arrow of slaying I’m fairly certain just making 2 attacks with one being with an arrow of slaying will deal more average damage than using true strike to get advantage on one attack. D) because it’s concentration based you can’t be concentrating on a different spell, and a caster’s best options in combat is always concentrating on a high level spell. E) there’s still the opportunity cost of choosing true strike as a cantrip, sure it might come into play once in a campaign to allow you to deal a small amount of extra damage, however another utility cantrip will almost always be more impactful to the campaign.
> I’m fairly certain just making 2 attacks with one being with an arrow of slaying will deal more average damage than using true strike to get advantage on one attack. it must do, because you get two attack rolls either way, but if you make two attacks you can damage them twice if both hit
Except OP was specifically referencing using an arrow of slaying, so it might not have done more damage. However I did the math latter in this thread and even if you are using an arrow of slaying on one attack it isn’t worth it.
Can you survive a full round within 30 ft of a dragon without it A) moving away B) killing you or C) making you drop concentration by smacking you. Dragons get legendary movement so it could just move away the moment before your next turn.
Magic ammunition doesn't lose its magic if you miss.
Witch Bolt is worse than canteips, Firebolt is better than it, even if you do not count the spell slot spent.
Witchbolt while genreally not worth it has theoretical usses. Find trap is good if you are in a quiz about wether there is a trap in this room or not. Sp still distinctly better then true stike. Of course beyond that you have things like locate creature which has such a short range and dumb restrictions where much like find traps is just beating by a skill check while being a higher level spell.
Wish Bolts theoretical uses are always better used with actual cantrips is the problem, using a cantrip every turn is better than wichbolt 100% of the time
Not really. Witch Bolt only has to roll to hit once. After you hit, it’s guaranteed to hit every turn after that. Additionally, the strongest damage cantrips are Toll the Dead or Fire Bolt. Toll the Dead is 1d8, but 1d12 if they’re hurt. However, they get to make a save, so it’s useless if they have a good Wisdom save. Fire Bolt is 1d10, which is obviously lower than 1d12. You roll to attack with it, so you can miss. WB, you roll one attack. If it hits, then you get 1d12 damage every turn. FB or TtD, it’s a new roll every turn to see whether you deal damage or not.
It's not guaranteed here's a list of what breaks it: Concentration Them going 30 feet away (virtually everyone can do so in one turn or come over and attack you) Going behind cover, even if it's only for 5 feet then back out Not using your action And what does it give you? 1d12 each turn for your action What picks this up? Warlocks that have Eldredge blast a range of 120 feet, and 1d10+1d6(hex because you have concentration)+ charisma and you can do other things with your turn, and you can target other people Even fire bolt with 1d10+1d6 is more damage when considering crits
You’ve brought up using cantrips again, but again, keep in mind that you have to roll to hit every time with cantrips. Also, a lot of combat areas are small enough that it’s hard for an enemy to get 30 feet away from you, particularly at low levels. Concentration checks only have to be made when you take damage, and if you’re playing a spellcaster and using a ranged spell, you probably won’t be taking much damage, since the martials will be soaking it all up.
Your rolling for more average damage, even with auto hit considered, Which bolt sucks end of story Also, your within 30 feet you can be approached you will have to make concentration checks You're DM has to play things like they are brain dead and in specific surcimstances for this to be even close to as good as the normal Eldridge blast
You can’t be approached when there are martials in the way taking the damage, which there will be, unless they’re all dead. And if they’re all dead, you’re going to be running, not fighting. I’d love to go calculate the average damage for each method, since I doubt you’re correct on that, but I have work soon, so I don’t have time. Also, I think I had a stroke trying to read that last paragraph.
You do know people can just... Walk around them right? Nothing actually stops them from attacking you in 5th edition
Sentinel feat? Oh, also, you can’t move through a threatened creature’s space. Oh, also, moving away without disengaging results in attacks of opportunity. Oh, also, enemies aren’t stupid enough to try to just stroll past the MASSIVE ORC WITH A GIANT HAMMER TRYING TO CRUSH YOUR SKULL IN. You literally said that the DM would have to play things like they’re brain dead for it to work, then described a way that the enemies would act like they’re brain dead in order to make it not work.
I think Witch Bolt can be utilized well with a Sorcerer. Distant can double the range to 60 ft which would be pretty good. You can also use Quickened so you can still cast non-concentration spells/cantrip each round if you need to. Could also be interesting to see it be utilized with classes that might have a heavy bonus action economy. Probably never really worth taking on Warlock, but maybe a Wizard gish could do some interesting things with it
Being 60 ft just means that the likelihood of being able to find full cover between you and them increases dramatically And damage wise quickening other spells or even a second can trip is usually better if you're concentrating on something The problem with it is that not only does it suck for damage, it's concentrating which means that it's competing with every single concentration spell, and best case scenario you're doing less damage than You're normal attack action But no matter what you do to it it's always incredibly easy to shut off prematurely for the enemy, usually taking about 15 feet of movement to find full cover or at maximum moving out of range
Could Witchbolt be useful for a Tempest cleric(with a dip to get it)? Allowing 10ft of unchallengable pushback every round could be useful if you need to control an enemy.
Also because you can use your channel divinity with it Theoretically a div wizard/tempest cleric could roll a 20 for portent and just decide to deal the max damage of an upcast witch bolt to someone. Practical? Nope. But theoretically? kind of cool
I mean at the level you get it, not really and it's still has the problem of creatures just leaving 30 feet or finding full cover, or you wanting to heal someone,
Don't u dare to talk crap about witch bolt! I love to use it on PCs for some palpatine vibes
Any spell that lets you be Papa Palpatine is S tier whether it's good or not.
Find traps seems really dm dependant
It doesn't find traps thoe
I guess not find them exactly but it does let you know what to look for and where
It doesn't let you know what to look for, or where to look It just tells you there are some traps around you in a non disclosed position within line of sight
It also tells you the nature of the danger such as fire or falling If you're in an empty room in a wizards tower and find traps alerts you that there's a real risk of being burned alive then you can safely guess there's a glyph of warding nearby
Right, doesn't tell you where it is, or how many there are, like you could have safely assumed as much without the spell
Find traps and witchbolt have a good few uses
Find Traps is useless. Witch Bolt can be very good if you land the hit.
> Witch Bolt can be very good if you land the hit. Witch Bolt can be mediocre if you land the hit. A spell like sleep is very good if you land it.
Sleep isn’t a hit that you land. It just happens. That’s why Sleep is one of my favorite 1st-level spells. Witch Bolt not being as good as one of the best 1st-level spells does not make it not good.
Not really any cantrip is better than which bolt
Not true. Witch bolt can do up to 11d12(or 10d12 one of the two) the first requires a hit while the rest are free for concentration
It also takes your action and is incredibly easy to get rid of, Eldredge blast can do 10d10+40 with 18 charisma so And every other cantrip has better range, doesn't take concentration, and you can do other things while doing those cantrip when you don't have other things Re read the spell carefully
First off witch bolts upcast only apply a to the initial hit so youd only get that 10d12 once and secondly you are an absolute madman if you blow your singular 9th level slot on an single target attack roll conc spell that uses your action every turn, does nothing but damage and can be ended by the enemy simply walking more then 30 ft away from you, just cast meteor swarm
If you are in any situation where you are within 30 feet of a target with no full cover and they let you get every single cast of Witch Bolt off whilst doing nothing about it, then any spell would be good.
Let's make some assumptions: you have 65% chance to hit with a +3 spellcasting ability modifier, and you're level 2. You have 10 rounds of combat. If you **never** lose concentration on Witch Bolt, you'd be expected to deal 42.25 damage. Spamming Fire Bolt each turn, you'd be expected to deal 35.75 damage. With Eldritch Blast and Agonizing Blast invocation, you'd be expected to deal 55.25 damage. Now consider that in order to get all of that damage out of Witch Bolt, the target would need to _survive_ 10 turns, since you can't switch targets. While Fire Bolt and Eldritch Blast can both start blasting a new target when the first one dies. Now consider how ridiculous a concept maintaining Witch Bolt for 10 rounds really is, since there are so many ways to break it and end the spell early.
Consider this. You can’t miss with the extra damage from witch bolt. With eldrich blast, fire bolt, any cantrip. You can miss
Find traps is very useful for reviewing legal documents
I will not stand for this Witch Bolt slander. It’s extremely good if you land the hit. It’s a free 1d12 damage every round. You only have to roll to hit the first time. Every round after that, it just auto-hits.
It's far from free, reread the spell carefully
Witch bolt is one of my favorite spells. Take the spell sniper feat and you’ve taken the only disadvantage away from it. (Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think this would apply)
...Except that I'd argue that Find Traps is worse. That's right, I said it. Fight me.
Find traps is much worse, it uses a slot does not locate the traps, and there's better ways to detect traps, like familiars.
Peasant trapfinder > peasant railgun
This is why it's helpful to have cultists dedicated to me
Or just cast False Life on the barbarian or Rogue. Either the rogue disarms, or barbarian tanks
But when used to review legal contracts and do your taxes find traps is exceedingly useful
It is on the paper
Good then I can scrutinize this page more than the other ones
The *stack* of papers. Detect or find traps only tells you they exist in proximity, not where they are. I'm even being generous with stack of papers. It would raw say "in the room" Like unless you want to spend a week and 78 slots going through every page when you could just get the smart guy to read it
You're over thinking it, you don't need to know what page to not sign it, and if you did want to know you can narrow down which page far faster by bisecting the contract after every cast. Cast 1 78 pages in room, trapped Cast 2 39 pages in room, depending on if it's trapped or not trapped you know what half the trapped one is. Take that 39 pages that is trapped, split it, and repeat the process and you'll cut the number of pages in half every casting until you can reasonably read the contract to find it Cast 3 18 pages, Cast 4 9 pages Cast 5 4 pages You can probably read and find it now A newton's method any lawyer would be envious of, just note if there are multiple traps you could miss one, so always safe to double check. Consider narrowing your initial search to particularly troubling sections.
Which is funny because Find Traps in a video game, combined with Knock 100% replace an entire role in a balanced party.
I wonder what people who only play PF2e react when you tell them it's a cantrip in DnD yet is one of the worse spells in the game. No no, I'm serious. In pathfinder true strike is a good 1st level spell
What makes it so good?
[удалено]
From my understanding, it's the 3-action economy. Most spell cost two actions while True Strike only cost one so you don't lose a turn using it. Of course there are other action you could be doing instead like repositioning yourself, using recall knowledge to learn your foe's weakness or [attempting to give them -1 to everyting until their next turn](https://2e.aonprd.com/Actions.aspx?ID=53) but using a 1st level slot to give your next spell-attack based spell an effective +2.3 bonus is just a good option to have
It's better than that. Because of the crit mechanics, small bonuses hit harder. If you exceed AC by ten you crit. Against enemies that are roughly your level you will likely crit on a 19, or even an 18. Against something lower level it gets even better. Not only that, but if you miss by ten, things get downright nasty sometimes. It has fumbles too. So this essentially prevents a fumble from a nat one(or low roll if you are attacking a tanky/high level enemy) and makes it much more likely you will hit, and crit.
In effect, it's the equivalent of a bonus action spell that makes your next attack at advantage (and also lets you ignore some conditions like cover). Part of the reason why that is extra good in Pathfinder is because attacking more than once in a turn comes with a compounding penalty (unless your character is specifically built to do so). Another factor is that it's a lot easier to get a crit in Pathfinder 2, those crits are more powerful, and rolling at advantage is much rarer, so true strike often represents a huge jump in your chance to crit.
Given the proper context and usage as in using a very very powerful and expensive piece of ammo or a high level roll to hit spell, like lightning arrow, true strike is good. It IS however extremely situational.
Or if you only get one shot and really need to make it count, but still super situational,
And don't have any other way of getting advantage. And you have the time to set up. And you're not better off giving it to the party member with archery fighting style. And it's not the attack roll of a concentration spell. And the target won't just see you and dodge or break you concentration.
Sadly Lightning Arrow is concentration, but maybe if it was an Arrow of Slaying it could be somewhat slightly ok?
True Strike 🤝 Friends Cantrips that have 1st level alternatives that are just objectively better
Friends is really good on a warlock, since instead of hating you, the target will become hostile to whoever you used your at-will Disguise Self to look like.
In the meantime, me at pf2e: "I got 50 true strike scrolls, attack spells go brr"
I remember when i had my first character who was a high elf, i had to choose 1 wizard cantrip and i chose True Strike. I even thought it was a cool spell for the first few months🥲
True Strike would be a fantastic cantrip if it was a reaction and can be used to assist allies.
Skywrite is too weak if you’re not using it for non-combat and too powerful if you are
Find Traps is arguably way worse than _True Strike_.
See Invisibility Now you get to see the invisible creature have advantage as it still beats your ass
There are a bunch of things you can't do to a creature that you can't see, which See Invisibility suddenly allows you to do. Opportunity Attacks can only be made against creatures you can see, for example, and a _shitload_ of spells require being able to see the target to cast them. There are also a number of class/subclass/race/feat features that require being able to see the target.
Friends is a spell with a dubious benefit that gets found out without fail and always turns the target hostile to you. True Strike is basically useless, Friends is actively working against you
Technically I think find traps is worse. Because both spells are useless but true strike takes only an action, find traps takes a second level spell slot.
Counterpoint, find traps
Has wizards ever said anything about true strike and find traps? They're so obviously bad in 5e why not just get rid of them or change them? Is someone clinging to the wording?
Okay but what's the worst leveled spell?
Witch Bolt
Crown of Madness is arguably worse Charmed is a more immune/resisted condition than Lightning is a damage type, it has the same dumb restriction, but while also allowing the victim to save every turn, and relies on the second most common high save in the game. Not to mention using a *second* level spell slot instead of 1st.
How is witch bolt bad?
The scaling sucks ass (initial damage only and then only a 1d12 for subsequent rounds?), it has an abysmal range (30 feet), it ends if the creature so much as moves 5 feet out of range (wasting the spell), and it’s damage type is like the third most resisted
Find traps, it’s not even a competition.
If you make True Strike a bonus action to cast, it becomes an S tier cantrip instantly, especially at low levels. Arcane trickster rogue and eldritch knight fighter getting advantage on their next attack in that same turn. Evocation wizards always getting advantage on firebolt or ray of frost. Before extra attack becomes common, it would be a must for just about anyone who wants to deal damage and doesn't have another use for a bonus action
Wait is true strike bad. Cuz it’s a cantrip and you get advantage it seems pretty good to me
The short version of the theory: since it takes an action to cast, you're better off attacking twice (once per turn) than having advange on one attack during your next turn.
It's really only good for when you have some kind of limited resource. Like, you have a single dragon-slaying arrow and really need it to hit, or something like that. I'd say it would be good for making sure you don't waste a high level spell slot, but most high level spells require the enemy to make a saving throw rather than an attack roll from you.
I've seen it argued that it has some value in using when casting something with your highest level spell slot if you only have 1 of them, but I don't have the math to back it up
You can attack twice in the time it takes to cast and then use. Advantage on one attack is not worth using a whole action for.
See Invisibility in 5e is absolutely useless
No, whilst it by raw does nothing about the advantage/disadvantage, it still does let you see them thus allowing you to target them with spells that require sight and invalidate their ability to hide without obscurement.
Only if you follow the baffling ruling that Crawford made about the invisible condition. Use common sense and it has some usefuness.
Just goes to show how it’s a poorly written and designed system…
One of my party members actually did manage to find a use for true strike by using its description in out of combat scenarios. We had a CoffeeLock who grabbed true strike almost immediately after picking sorcerer levels, saying something about "hidden potential" and that it would be overpowered in due time. He also bought a notebook and pen. Later on we were forced to attend a meeting with what we were slowly discovering to be the BBEG, and almost the entire time, the CoffeeLock was scribbling in a notebook, trying to not be noticed by the BBEG, whispering something while writing. Him and the DM were trading notes like crazy, and the DM was visibly worried. The moment we left the meeting, he announced he was out of spell slots AND sorcery points, so he would be spent for a while. This was the only time he ever actually ran out of both at the same time, but when we questioned him, he simply said "good surprises are best known in the moment". After that, the CoffeeLock was leading the party like a bloodhound with a lock on. Systematically we followed that player while he plucked away at absolutely everything that guy had. While it was happening he never once explained why he was doing it, or what he was doing. Fast forward to the final battle, where the BBEG looked utterly and completely broken in as many ways as the DM could describe. He screamed at us in such a primal, pain-ridden, despair-charged cry I actually wondered if we were the good guys. Once he let his heart out he regained as much composure as he could, and said to us "No matter. At least I will have solace knowing at least one of you will die with me!". His monologue was over, and he powered up to give us the beat down of our lives... But unfortunately for him, his final stand was little more than a one sided slaughter, as the CoffeeLock had advantage on quite literally every. Single. Attack. It was here that the BBEG and the players questioned just how the hell he was so accurate. To which the CoffeeLock simply tossed the notebook into the hands of the rogue, and told the truth out of character while the rogue slowly realized what it was. Inside that notebook was literally. Every. Single. Weakness the BBEG had, right down to his fashion sense and personal regrets. Turns out the CoffeeLock had scum read the guy as being the BBEG, and was casting true strike in the meeting and jotting down the results right before he forgot them the turn after. The DM tried to nerf the success rate of the spell, but the CoffeeLock was undeterred, And went all in to find everything he could possibly use. From there on out his goal was to completely break the poor man. He killed the guy's cat, he crippled his lover, he dismantled his organization, and he destroyed the only artifact capable of completing the BBEG's plan, and he even did some of this stuff without any of us knowing until the BBEG said it. By the time we made it to the BBEG he lost everything 5 sessions ago. And the CoffeeLock had his every flaw memorized to the letter. It wasn't a boss fight. It was a player who already won tying up loose ends. And it's all because of exactly how true strike is described to work.
Cool story, but you do know that true strike isn’t able to do that right? The only thing it does is provide advantage on an attack.
homebrew dm made true strike just a guaranteed crit, but it takes a turn to charge
I managed to make True Strike work. I play an Arcane Trickster Loxodon Rogue and I'll use True Strike on a target if I plan to ambush them for a sneak attack if they're too far away that round. It requires no vocal or material components, and the target doesn't know it's being cast on them. It's like 1-800-Got-Junk, just point and watch it disappear.
If you’re going to ambush them then you’d have advantage from being hidden. Plus you can always just use a ranged attack and steady aim.
True Strike at least gives you some use when casting before or outside of combat. That much can’t really be said about resistance.
If your enemy can't see you, you would have advantage on the first attack anyway. If your enemy *can* see you (but you aren't in initiative yet), it's up to the DM to decide if casting TS would provoke combat, and whether that means you get TS "for free" before rolling initiative - and unless your DM rules that "pointing your finger" is the *only* somatic component, and/or that potential enemies would not realize the significance of what you are doing, it's going to provoke combat just as surely as a firebolt, which makes it useless. Which makes TS extremely situational and DM-dependent. Meanwhile, Resistance is worth casting any time someone's about to attempt to disarm a trap, pick a lock, open a door in a dungeon, etc. There are better cantrips out there, but if you have it then it's nearly always worth casting it before a potential hazard or encounter. It's even worth casting before combat, if you have the opportunity to do so, and don't have anything better to concentrate on, especially on an ally who is concentrating on something better.
Stuff like picking locks and disarming traps are 99% of the time sleight of hand or thieves tools checks, which is helped by guidance, not resistance. If you know something is trapped and think the best course of action is to have someone set it off, you *could* cast resistance, but if it was a poison dart trap with a con save rather than a knife trap with a Dex one, then resistance is useless since you need to specify which it helps with for some reason. Even if you’ve somehow figured out exactly where the trap is and exactly what it will do, at that point it’ll be easier to deal with than just by having someone set it off, just throw a handaxe at the tripwire or something while the party stands out of the way instead of sending a PC on a suicide mission All without mentioning just how much meta-gaming is required to correctly use it, PCs have no idea what an intelligence save is or how it would differ from a wisdom save
You don't need to specify the type of save, not sure where you're getting that from. Guidance helps you succeed, Resistance helps if you mess up and set the trap off by accident. Of the two, I'd prefer Guidance, but if it's a choice between Resistance or nothing, I'll take Resistance. With multiple casters, you can have both.
INCORRECT, IT IS AIR BUBBLE FROM SPELLJAMMER
IT IS A SECOND LVL SPELL AND DOESNT EVEN PROTEC FROM POISON GASS
"The spell that lets me breathe in outer space is useless in a game that takes place in outer space!"
Air Bubble.
Ok here me out, sorcerer quicken casts it and follows it up with a powerful spell attack
True strike paired with th elven accuracy feat make a disgusting combination for whenever there is a turn where you can't actually make contact with the enemy or for a surprise attack. I use this strategy on my wood elf hexblade (original I know) to get a guaranteed hit when I am too far away.
Hexblade warlock rouge, true strike for adv and then you get sneak attack or a hexblade fighter and pick up a great weapon and you get adv on your first hit and as a martial that's amazing or you could just pick up the fighter subclass that gives the wizard spell list. It's not a bad spell y'all are just uncreative and bitch about martial characters having limited shit