Guiding Bolt is a 1st level cleric spell. Per the PHB it deals a whopping 4d6 damage if it hits, and the next attack roll made against the target has advantage.
For a 1st level spell, this thing seems grossly overpowered to me. Even the other players in my group have noticed this. A single hit with this thing typically vaporizes most enemies. The one cleric in my group casts only two spells: Cure Wounds, and Guiding Bolt. (Realistically, why would she cast anything else?)
Is this spell actually really overpowered or am I just interpreting it incorrectly?
It’s not OP compared to other 1st level spells.
Consider Burning Hands, which deals 3d6 in an area, or Inflict Wounds, which deals 3d10 damage, or Dissonant Whispers, which deals 3d6 while wasting the target’s reaction in order to provoke attacks of opportunity, or Chromatic Orb, which deals 3d8 damage.
While Guiding Bolt is a bit stronger than these others, its secondary benefit is also smaller.
This might be an encounter design issue
If your cleric is only ever casting healing spells and guiding bolt, that means the incentives in each fight are only based on direct damage to one enemy without terrain. One could imagine that save-based spells are better in areas with lots of cover, or AOE spells are better against a larger number of enemies.
Additionally, remember that a cleric only gets a certain number of 1st level spells per day. A ranger with 16 DEX and a heavy crossbow can deal 1d10+3 damage per hit, which averages 8.5 damage, and he can shoot essentially unlimited times per day. With multiattack, the ranger can deal double this damage. On the other hand, a cleric only ever gets 4 first-level spell slots. If you’re fighting multiple encounters per day, as you should, those 4 spells will run out quickly, especially if the cleric has to do anything else. However, if you’re only having one or two encounters a day, this built-in balance is broken.
Share
Improve this answer
Follow
edited Feb 8 ’17 at 16:52
answered Feb 6 ’17 at 16:53
Icyfire
61.7k1717 gold badges219219 silver badges321321 bronze badges
14
Your comment regarding encounter design rings of truth to me. These are relatively new players, and I’ve tried to keep things simple for them, and in the process I’ve likely shot myself in the foot (and made things unfair for the other caster in the group). I’ll go back and revisit my campaign notes to make sure that the enemies can take advantage of cover. –
Mike Hofer
Feb 6 ’17 at 17:13
5
Not just terrain. An encounter with 2 baddies or one with 10 of them will be very different for the caster. Even if the encounters are the same threat level. –
Shane
Feb 7 ’17 at 22:21
@MikeHofer I think the last paragraph also has additional strong truth to it. How are they resting? Is the cleric recovering all of his spell slots per rest? Should they be? If they are resetting all of their available spells after every encounter, then the balance described in the last paragraph is gone. –
krillgar
Feb 8 ’17 at 14:13
4
The cleric doesn’t reset all spell slots after every encounter, only after each full rest. Partial rests don’t count. Both the cleric and I (the DM) track spell slots spent. (She’s my mom. She loses track.) –
Mike Hofer
Feb 8 ’17 at 17:38