Sacred Flame

[fRaNtIc]

What the hell is this garbage cantrip for?

[Makkura]

Originally posted by fRaNtIc:

Originally posted by Mintiper:

maybe you use it on the wrong enemy type?

Must be, I wasn't fighting anything undead or unholy, just regular warmbloods. Though they had very low DEX stat, so at least it should hit.

They still can succesfully throw their saving throw. Adhering to the core rules that'd mean their DC for that is 8 + your wisdom mod + proficiency bonus, where proficiency bonus is a value between +2 and +6 depending on your level.

[The1Kobra]

It uses a save instead of an attack roll.
Which does have it's own mechanics.
You can get advantage on attack rolls which greatly increases to-hit chances. You can't do the same for spells with saving throws.
Still, there are some enemies with high AC and lower saving throws. It also doesn't suffer from disadvantage.
In most cases, I find weapons to be more reliable. But well, I do think that cantrips (with some exceptions like eldritch blast) are supposed to be weaker than weapon attacks to compensate for the casting.
There have been times I've used vicious mockery on my bard rather than shooting.

[RoboSauce]

A funny side note, in the forums there was a thread called "Great game but ruined by" and the next thread is "sacred flame" lol. Sacred flame is garbage even in table top, but is pretty much the only offensive cleric cantrip.

[Spudcake]

It's there to make you waste your action.
It's not going to hit anything, but atleast you make a pretty puff at the enemy position.

[quinner281]

Originally posted by Syzygy:

Originally posted by quinner281:

It’s two different things. The cantrip causes the enemy to make a DEX saving throw to avoid damage. The bow causes the enemy to make an AC save to avoid damage. Two completely different checks.

You don't make an AC "save", making a save means you have to make a roll against either an opposing roll or an opposing attack stat. AC is the reverse of that. It's a static number that the aggressor must roll against.

Apologies. I should have worded it as an attack roll, with AC being the damage mitigation factor.