LogFAQs > #896787672

shadowsword87 posted...

Check out the Green-Flame Blade and Sword Burst cantrips, it's much more fun :D

Mmm... ehh.

Sword Burst is useful as a centered area-effect attack that is also a cantrip (which was a niche sorely lacking before, though Infestation and Thunderclap have also come along since then), but it's more useful for a spellcaster who is getting crowded and wants to potentially thin the crowd (which is honestly a position your spellcaster should never be in in the first place) than it is a spell that's really going to benefit a strong melee build. You're probably generally better off casting the cantrip "Hit With Sword" IMO.

(Or to put it another way, you're supposed to be the Defender or Striker, not the Controller)

As for Green-Flame Blade, it's neat in a thematic way and all (and as an in-joke reference to Star Wars and/or Penny Arcade), but it's a melee-based spell, and I generally hate those (though in a melee build, it would fit better than it does pure spellcaster - and it might be a neat toy for a Hexblade Warlock). I tend to steer clear of anything that requires a melee attack (like Shocking Grasp) or spells that involve concentration unless it's too thematically fitting for a character to NOT take it (like, say, giving Shocking Grasp to a Storm Sorcerer).

But both spells fail the greatest test of all for me. Cantrips are the spells I'm mostly likely to devote more to flavor than utility, because I'm a narrative crazy person. And neither really fits my Paladin build in my mind.

Plus, like I said, most of the reason I originally thought about multiclassing to Sorcerer in the first place was almost entirely just to get Prestidigitation and Mending for character flavor. I just like the idea of a robe/clothing/leather armor-based Paladin who is overly fashion-conscious about what their outfit looks like, and thus half their magic is devoted to keeping it clean and pristine.

(Though to be fair, my Elf Sorcerer/Paladin would get 5 cantrips anyway - 4 from Sorcerer, and 1 Wizard cantrip from Elf. Albeit a shittier cantrip from Elf, because it casts with Int, and as mentioned, Int is the dump stat. Of course, that's kind of negated when you realize spells like Light, Mage Hand, Mending, and Prestidigitation don't actually require rolls in the first place...)



shadowsword87 posted...

So, here's how it works:
You get an ability score improvement, which are two unique +1's that you can put into any ability score including doubling them up on a stat. If you want to get rid of those two +1's, you can instead take a feat, which some of those feats actually give you a +1 to a stat.
So kind of yes, kind of no.

Yeah, so like I said, you're giving up the entire Ability Score Improvement (and both points you get from it), rather than simply giving up one of the two +1s.

Tangentially on this subject, do you think it's generally better to take the Ability Score Improvement or a Feat (if there's a Feat available that compliments your build)? Feats obviously improve you in specific ways or give you more fun abilities to play with, but boosting stats can improve you in multiple ways (including ones that aren't immediately obvious).

I know it seems like a lot of online players always go for the Feat, but a lot of online players are also horrifically suboptimal.


---

"Wall of Text'D!" --- oldskoolplayr76
"POwned again." --- blight family