Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Eldritch Knight cantrips

Once an Eldritch Knights achieves War Magic at level 7, I think that True Strike (as revised below) and Blade Ward become good choices for cantrips.  Here are my reasons why:

By level 5, an Eldritch Knight can attack twice with his attack action.  That means 2 attack rolls and 2 damage rolls in 1 round of combat; and consequently, 4 attack rolls and 4 damage rolls in 2 rounds of combat.  I will continue to discuss my reasoning within the context of two rounds of combat.

By virtue of War Magic, an Eldritch Knight can use Blade Ward with the following effect:  3 attack rolls and 3 damage rolls in 2 rounds of combat, plus resistance against bludgeoning, piercing and slashing damage for those two rounds.

Here is how I would revise the True Strike cantrip:

True Strike
On Until the end of your next turn, you gain advantage on your first attack rolls against the target, provided that this spell hasn’t ended.

I believe that this revision would not provide an added benefit to most wizards; however, an Eldritch Knight, by virtue of War Magic, would benefit from this revision as follows: 6 attack rolls and 3 damage rolls in 2 rounds of combat.

Thus, an Eldritch Knight with both True Strike (as revised below) and Blade Ward would have 3 meaningfully different combat options:

i) Normal Attack Option: 4 attack rolls and 4 damage rolls in 2 rounds of combat;

ii) Defensive Attack Option: 3 attack rolls and 3 damage rolls in 2 rounds of combat, plus resistance against bludgeoning, piercing and slashing damage for those two rounds; and

iii) Precise Attack Option: 6 attack rolls and 3 damage rolls in 2 rounds of combat.

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