Ha while you were Chaining Lightning and Disintegrating Polymorphs, I studied THE ARTS

don't call me when the Barbarians are at your Gates

I mean, just look at their example. Level 17+ for the math? Holy shiiiiiit. At levels 15+, you're basically living legends that are about to start conquering kingdoms singlehandedly and fighting gods. That's not "a talented musician," that's the dude who leads month long rave parties that brings in all the nobility's children and starts a religion that is then used with said children to start coups in the continental region.

Ignoring the actual rules and mechanics is basically step one in almost every "isn't this goofy" D&D anecdote.

Not only is it not "decent damage" (even the buff it got in 5.5 just brings it from "the worst" to "poor"), it's also not a subtle thing you can just drop on someone unsuspectingly.

Spellcasting for an attack is an obvious aggressive action, which means an initiative roll comes first to see if you even manage to get it off before they clock you. It's also not like everyone around just shrugs and lets you go about your business because all you did was hurl an insult. You attacked someone with an offensive spell, the response is exactly the same as if you threw a firebolt at them

The flavor of insulting someone to death is fun, I'll grant that, but there's nothing special about Vicious Mockery mechanically that makes it immune to initiative order or people noticing what you're doing.

It got buffed to a d6 in 5.5e

But then again, with this math they're talking about 5e, so your point stands

Wall of force lasts 10 minutes, just saying

I can't imagine surviving 55 rounds of combat against a dragon. Are people thinking this is a video game or something where you can just simply not take damage from a dragon if you're skilled enough or something?

Ermmm actually ☝️🤓 you don't roll when casting Vicious Mockery, the target does, so the best case scenario for the caster would be the target rolling a natural 1.

I love Tom Cardy with every ounce of my being. I assume that's what that link is lmao. But I found this BG3 animation for the song and it instantly became my favorite. Evidently the insane looking one in this isn't the Durge. It's Tav. The other Dragonborn looking terrified is the Durge which leads to my favorite comment on that. "The Durge may kill people but he just witnessed the most horrifying thing in existence. A perfectly normal DnD player."

Enjoy.

The Gag with "15 days" and the hands kills me every time.

New hit: Love Letter to a Dungeon Master.

I love this video, but I genuinely upset at ruining the story and not taking it seriously 😭

3 comments are on this thread and each one has a different video for that Tom Cardy song.

I love it.

I give up on gaming and am leaving to become a mountain hermit.

This is an absolutely insane take. Vicious Mockery is the the least damaging cantrip (or like bottom three). Further, it's a cantrip, something players are supposed to be able to easily without resource consumption. Expecting a player to come up with unique insults every time they cast this is stupid and exhausting. Also, the reason it's "as effective as power word kill on common folk" is because common folk are weak and meant to weak. They're not heroes.

Spell casters using cantrips is akin to fighters making normal attacks, swinging a sword.

So are you going to nerf every class similarly?

Bard

Vicious Mockery: avg 10 / 55 casts

Cleric

Word of Radiance: avg 13.5 / 41 casts
Sacred flame: avg 18 / 31 casts

Druid

Produce Flame: avg 11 / 50 casts
Poison Spray: avg 22.5 / 25 casts

Sorcerer

Acid Splash: avg 10.5 / 52 casts

Warlock

Chill Touch: avg 11 / 50 casts

Wizard

Ray of Frost: avg 11 / 50 casts

Artificer

Thunderclap: avg 13.5 / 41 casts