I’ve recently jumped into a game of Dragonlance despite the fact that all I know of D&D stems from Solasta & the old Neverwinter Nights games. I came to play an Elf Fighter that I want to subclass to Echo Knight. The GM was so friendly to let me rethink my choice of cantrip, which I humbly seek to be advised on. My current favourite is Booming Blade, which I find mixes well with the ability to move out of the current melee by switching with the echo. It also scales in damage the same way I’d receive extra attacks, so I won’t be missing out on much damage in my view. What would you choose, and why?
A fighter using Booming Blade means not benefiting from its Extra Attacks. It's nice at low level, but replacing 1 or 2 of your swings with some damage if you hit is situational.
See this analysis.
There are utility cantrips. For use in combat I'd pick a ranged damage spell and Mind Sliver is only Verbal so no need to free a hand up.
sounds cool! My GM also gave me your consideration - I don't profit from more attacks, which is true, but! I'm only using a longsword and shield, so I do D8s of damage, which is also how Booming Blade scales, so I'm "only" missing out on the +4 Strength Bonus (currently).
Plus I intent to regularly make use of the extra damage Booming Blade gives by disengaging via echo. At least in my mind.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to be smarter than what you suggest (I can't - I'm a noob), I just use the opportunity to check wether my plan would work in the first place.
Have you considered prestidigitation or minor illusion?
They’re my two favorite spells on the game. Usually if I’m playing a spellcasting with access to them I’ll grab at least one, if not both. Message and Mending are some follow up favorites. Guidance is mechanically very powerful and spammable, assuming you can stay out of earshot of unassuming NPCs you want to haggle with.
Prestidigitation is basically a very small, very localized Wish spell and can do nearly anything if you have creativity. Cleaning and soiling is good for role play, preventing disease (if you all track that sort of stuff), warming and cooling is good for role play as well. Everyone loves their cold drinks to stay frosty after all. You can also summon real small trinkets that are smaller than the palm of your hand. Want some sunglasses for walking away from an explosion?
Minor illusion can do much the same, but in a larger area. I’ve found it to be a solid choice for distracting enemies based on the situation. Once, we were being accosted by cannibalistic fish men, and I used minor illusion to conjure a fish man’s severed head near the party to distract them for a round. You can also create (some) cover using minor illusion, so the ranger or rogue can shoot their bow or crossbow with ½ or ¾ cover pretty much anywhere. This could work if you too if you’re at a range. Approaching an enemy with ranged weapons and they’re more than your walking speed away?
Walk 30 feet toward them, creat a 5 foot tall boulder, and stick yourself behind it and potentially gain +2 to +5 AC or be untargetable unless they see through the illusion.
Edit: the cover will only be useful if you have a decent spellcasting modifier and/or the creatures you’re fighting don’t have blind/truesight/tremorsense. I can’t find the rules offhand, but I believe seeing through illusions requires an investigation check of 10 + your spellcasting modifier to see through. So if you’re using Intelligence to cast you may only have a DC of 9-11 as a fighter, and many passive investigations can see through the illusions.
I once used prestidigitation to create a fart near some goblins to distract them when we unexpectedly walked into a room full of them. They started arguing and fighting about who did it and we ran away.
Thanks both of you (I hope @[email protected] sees this answer directed at him, too) .
You do seem to have a lot of fun with Prestidigitation^^ We have a kender bard and a highelf mage in the party, both very attuned to mockery, so I believe my GMs sanity might be endangered if the Fighter starts something like that as well^^
I do have an Intelligence of 14 mind you, I'm not dumb, just ugly (CHA 9)^^ I can use the echo as cover, but more cover is always better, right? even more so as it's my duty to protect my spellcasting brother. He's rather feeble but very smart - he can see through the cover that the goblins think is solid.
Consider a non-combat cantrip. You are a fighter and generally have a more optimal solution in combat using your class features.
Maybe something that fits the theme of your class:
Mage hand - fits the echo knight theme of making a spectral hand to grab light things or pull levers.
Minor illusion - more illusions and distractions, or mock up a battlefield diagram to share your plan.
Message - battlefield commander ability to silently share plans before an attack
Mending - maintain your own gear
Prestidigitation - cleanup after battle, cool your undershirt on a hot day in armor, warm your coffee at night, start the campfire, show people a palm sized replica of your target/enemy.
Pick something that encourages roleplay out of combat. Give yourself some reason to engage in the downtime action between fights. It will hopefully give you a richer experience.
These are great & specific suggestion, you're awesome. Really like the battlefield map or message option which I would never have thought of. Superb fit for a military background.
Booming Blade's damage scaling is the same as Toll the Dead, but with a smaller damage die.
However, since its effect depends on a weapon hit instead of the elf spellcasting ability (intelligence), I suspect it will proc more often than Toll the Dead for most melee Fighters. Seems like a good choice if you want to your cantrip to be for combat.
On the other hand, since a fighter has plenty of weapons for doing damage, you might consider picking a utility cantrip instead. How often you use it would depend on your play style and DM, of course, but in my experience, all it takes is a little imagination to get tremendous value from utility cantrips.
Here are someone else's thoughts on the wizard/elf cantrips. Keep in mind that they're probably considered in the context of a wizard casting them, rather than a fighter, but the points noted there are worth considering regardless.
I totally forgot to think about utilities, thanks. also the site is awesome, thanks for that as well.
We have a kender bard and a highelf mage in the mix already, so I think they'll be much better at creative magic use and I don't want to "overdo" it (I heard magic in Dragonlance is rather rare).
My Inteligence is 14 though, mind you.^^ It's that dangerous middleground where you feel smarter than many (and like to show it), but aren't anywhere near the really smart people. Roleplay potential yay!
I'm a total noob without any knowledge other than the computer games mentioned. I also used some kind of character builder, not sure if from R20 or D&D beyond - which also had a limited list. I chose shield, which isn't a good choice if you want your Bonus action for other stuff like being someplace else^^
Booming Blade or Green Flame Blade are the best for Fighter in combat since they use your weapon stats to attack. You could also choose something not for combat since you will already be very good at combat anyway, and fighters usually don't have as much utility outside of fights. Good utility cantrips are Mage Hand, Mold Earth, Shape Water, Prestidigitation, Minor Illusion, and Mending. Those are in no particular order but Mold Earth and Shape Water are my personal favourites.
I did not think of that, thanks. Prestidigitation sound really fun, but since we have a kender Bard and a Highelf mage in the party already, I believe there will be a great lot of magic shennanigans going on without me chipping in.
Presto is really weak imo, and there are a few great spells that Bards don't get access to. Plus, because of concentration rules, it always helps to have more casters in the party.