True Strike: Truly Garbage

Usable By: Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard

Spell Level: 0 (cantrip)

School: Divination

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: 30 feet

Duration: Concentration, up to 1 round

Components: S

You extend your hand and point a finger at a target in range. Your magic grants you a brief insight into the target’s defenses. On your next turn, you gain advantage on your first attack roll against the target, provided that this spell hasn’t ended.

Review by Sam West, Twitter:@CrierKobold

“Just you wait, ogre, I’m going to hit you, I’m going to hit you so good just you wait I’m going to hit you so hard you’ll feel it into next week, I’ll hit you so hard you’re ogre-lings’ ogre-lings are going to feel it, I’m going to- UMPH!” - Jared, the bard, getting smashed by an ogre club while casting True Strike

True Strike is the kind of spell that promises a fantasy, then fails to deliver on it spectacularly. To understand why this spell is superbly terrible, let's pretend you’re a wizard who might want to cast it! Presumably, you are trying to go with some kind of wizard that likes to hit things with weapons; otherwise, True Strike would do nothing. On your turn, you’re presented with a choice: attack the thing within movement distance of you now, or get advantage on an attack against them next turn. In this instance (and most instances you’d look to cast True Strike) you’re forgoing an attack to make another attack slightly better. In the meantime, while you’re making a single weapon attack with advantage once, your party rogue has gotten two sneak attacks off and keeps hiding with their cunning action, your monk friend has punched six different enemies over two rounds, and the group’s sorcerer has fired off at least two cantrips that will certainly do more damage, or maybe even cast two 1st level or higher spells that have a HUGE impact on the fight.

The reality of True Strike, even in situations where you’d think it’d be decent, is that there are always better things to do than this. If you’re getting to use it as a bonus action, sure, I guess it's fine, but consider what other cantrips you’d probably rather be using as a bonus action if that’s the option available to you. Green Flame Blade and Booming Blade both come with entire attack rolls on their own; if you’re trying to be a hybrid sword and spell type character, both of those will help deliver that fantasy. True Strike won’t.

If this lasted a minute, maybe it’d be something you’d think about picking up to cast before a fight breaks out. With it eating your concentration (making no other concentration spells function if you want to use this), requiring your target to be within 30 feet of you when you cast it, and its duration being just a single round, you can’t even really cast this prior to a fight. You’d need to be in one; and if you’re in one, just make an extra attack roll. If you’re going to try to beat somebody to death with a quarterstaff, try to beat them to death with a quarterstaff. Don’t wait around casting True Strike. Friends don’t let friends try True Strike: not even once.

5e Spells

True Strike: Truly Garbage