Vicious Mockery: Difference between revisions

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===[[Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition|5E]]===
===[[Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition|5E]]===
It's awesome because gives you an excuse to make a character who's just a nonstop fountain of schlocky one-liners, and the ability to kill the BBEG by insulting their mother. Even better, the clause about the target not needing to understand your language means that, if a bard is nearby, people in this world can suddenly have an emotion breakdown without even understanding why.
It's awesome because gives you an excuse to make a character who's just a nonstop fountain of schlocky one-liners, and the ability to kill the BBEG by insulting their mother. Even better, the clause about the target not needing to understand your language means that, if a bard is nearby, people in this world can suddenly have an emotion breakdown without even understanding why. Lastly the cantrip also gives the target disadvantage on it's next attack roll.


You could also slightly reflavor it into your character telling a joke that's so bad that it literally causes some of the victim's brain cells to Ragequit.
You could also slightly reflavor it into your character telling a joke that's so bad that it literally causes some of the victim's brain cells to Ragequit.


However, it's only 1d4 of damage, the lowest die of damage you can use in 5e. For comparison, ''Toll the Dead'' from Xanathar's uses a d8, but upgrades to a freaking ''d12'' if the target is missing even ''a single'' hit point. And to add insult to injury, the ''Frostbite'' Cantrip, also from Xanathar's, functions nearly identically to ''Vicious Mockery'', save that it uses a d6 instead of a d4. The advantages ''Vicious Mockery'' has over ''Frostbite'' is that the former doesn't have a somatic component and uses a damage type that isn't commonly resisted, but such things are rarely a consideration in normal gameplay anyway.
However, it's only 1d4 of damage, the lowest die of damage you can use in 5e. For comparison, ''Toll the Dead'' from Xanathar's uses a d8, but upgrades to a freaking ''d12'' if the target is missing even ''a single'' hit point. And to add insult to injury, the ''Frostbite'' Cantrip, also from Xanathar's, functions nearly identically to ''Vicious Mockery'', save that it uses a d6 instead of a d4. The advantages ''Vicious Mockery'' has over ''Frostbite'' is that the former doesn't have a somatic component and uses a damage type that isn't commonly resisted, but such things are rarely a consideration in normal gameplay anyway. The lack of a somatic component means that in theory the bard could hold weapons at the same time they cast, helping some bard Gish Builds, but most GM's don't pay hard core attention to spell component so it's not a real distinction.
 
A somewhat more serious advantage is the saving throw being wis rather then con, so that if your fighting something with a lot of hit points but is stupid the Mockery would do better, in fact Vicious mockery is one of only two cantrips that call on a save from a mental stat, the other being Toll the dead. This gives mockery a niche against people too dumb to understand your insulting them, but are tanky or dodgy enough that other cantrips could bounce off them and do no damage.

Revision as of 16:22, 20 June 2020

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"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."

– The spell's description in the 5E PHB


Vicious Mockery is a Bard Cantrip from Dungeons & Dragons that's tied with the class itself just because of how priceless it is. It's widely loved for it's incredibly memeable fluff, so much so that nobody seems to realize that the crunch sucks ass.

4E

Of course it's here as an at-will power. It's a pretty basic ranged attack, dependent on an implement and obviously reliant on Charisma to hit against an enemy's Will. Its damage is also respectable at a fixed 1d6+Cha damage and makes the target take -2 to attack rolls until the end of your next turn.

5E

It's awesome because gives you an excuse to make a character who's just a nonstop fountain of schlocky one-liners, and the ability to kill the BBEG by insulting their mother. Even better, the clause about the target not needing to understand your language means that, if a bard is nearby, people in this world can suddenly have an emotion breakdown without even understanding why. Lastly the cantrip also gives the target disadvantage on it's next attack roll.

You could also slightly reflavor it into your character telling a joke that's so bad that it literally causes some of the victim's brain cells to Ragequit.

However, it's only 1d4 of damage, the lowest die of damage you can use in 5e. For comparison, Toll the Dead from Xanathar's uses a d8, but upgrades to a freaking d12 if the target is missing even a single hit point. And to add insult to injury, the Frostbite Cantrip, also from Xanathar's, functions nearly identically to Vicious Mockery, save that it uses a d6 instead of a d4. The advantages Vicious Mockery has over Frostbite is that the former doesn't have a somatic component and uses a damage type that isn't commonly resisted, but such things are rarely a consideration in normal gameplay anyway. The lack of a somatic component means that in theory the bard could hold weapons at the same time they cast, helping some bard Gish Builds, but most GM's don't pay hard core attention to spell component so it's not a real distinction.

A somewhat more serious advantage is the saving throw being wis rather then con, so that if your fighting something with a lot of hit points but is stupid the Mockery would do better, in fact Vicious mockery is one of only two cantrips that call on a save from a mental stat, the other being Toll the dead. This gives mockery a niche against people too dumb to understand your insulting them, but are tanky or dodgy enough that other cantrips could bounce off them and do no damage.