Vicious Mockery: Insult to Injury
Usable By: Bard
Spell Level: 0 (cantrip)
School: Enchantment
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 60 feet
Duration: Instantaneous
Components: V
You unleash a string of insults laced with subtle enchantments at a creature you can see within range. If the target can hear you (though it need not understand you), it must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or take 1d4 psychic damage and have disadvantage on the next attack roll it makes before the end of its next turn.
This spell's damage increases by 1d4 when you reach 5th level (2d4), 11th level (3d4), and 17th level (4d4).
Review by Sam West, Twitter:@CrierKobold
Class specific cantrips are pretty rare. They tend to serve a specific function to make that class feel a certain way. Druidcraft and the other class specific cosmetic cantrips all help sell the fantasy of the respective class; in Druidcraft’s case, you bring life to the world around you, becoming one with nature. What makes bards feel like bards, then? Why ridicule so sharp and witty it literally kills the recipients!
Vicious Mockery defines the identity of the bard class; you’re a charismatic support whose wit alone can inspire friends to greatness and bring enemies down to groveling. With one cantrip, you take the horrifying undead monstrosity and suddenly make it self conscious about its tongue; so what if it's hanging out? Who would mention that? That’s so mean!
There are next to no other spells that get the same reaction out of your friends than this, too; everyone is going to remember the time you killed the young red dragon with a scathing one liner about their belly.
Beyond being fun to cast and a flavor win, before Frostbite, it was the defining support cantrip. It offers disadvantage on a creature’s next attack, something you’d normally need to commit entire actions to, and pairs it with damage. Any damage, even just a d4, can take a monster from living to dead. That matters tremendously when you’re in a position where you want to help your teammates. Vicious Mockery’s damage makes it something that can mitigate health loss from your friends, and simultaneously contribute to whittling down enemy hit points or removing a weakened creature from the fight entirely.
As a bard, one of the first and most core features to playing your character is bardic inspiration. Vicious Mockery pairs perfectly with it; you empower allies and weaken enemies in the same round. You can feel impactful without needing to spend spell slots by having moderately helpful tools mixed together. In other caster classes, you’re heavily incentivized to only use cantrips when absolutely necessary; for bards who want to be spending spell slots out of combat to empower their charisma checks and enact elaborate performances and schemes, having a default cantrip that has a major impact on combat outside of damage can help you feel like you’re contributing to a fight every round, regardless of how many spell slots you have left.
Vicious Mockery is great. It encourages and rewards teams coordinating and working together, something 5e desperately needs more of. If you’re a bard, this is an iconic option for a reason; I’d recommend it to every bard out there. Take Vicious Mockery. It's worth it.
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