New D&D Spell Silvery Barbs Could Make Shield Obsolete

Silvery Barbs, a new spell from Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos, the next sourcebook coming to Dungeons and Dragons, might overshadow Shield.

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Silvery Barbs, a spoiled spell from the upcoming Dungeons and Dragons sourcebook, Strixhaven: A curriculum of Chaos, might replace Shield as the go-to reaction for spellcasters. As new books have been released for D&D 5e players have gradually gotten more concerned with power creep inside Dungeons & Dragons, especially after Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything introduced many new powerful subclasses.

There is some debate to be had as to whether power creep is actually a problem in D&D. On the one hand, newly-introduced subclasses will feel great to play for the players and are unlikely to break the game, so there might not be any actual harm. Where a problem could arise is when one player has too much of a power advantage over other players at the table, which can result in bad feelings among the party. New races, spells, variant class features, even a new rule to change your subclass all present the opportunity to change Dungeons & Dragons for the better. However, they may also stir up unrest among those that think there is too much power being added into the game with these new bells and whistles.

With Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos on the horizon, spoilers for content in the new book are appearing. One of these, a spell called Silvery Barbs, has caught the eye of the community as potentially being far more powerful than other spells of its type. A recent Reddit thread by user ADefiniteDescription discusses Silvery Barbs and a recent Twitter thread by ThinkDM. On Twitter, ThinkDM announced he is banning the spell at his table before it is even officially released. Silvery Barbs allows the caster, at the cost of their reaction and a first-level spell slot, to force an enemy to reroll any d20 roll on which they have succeeded and take the lower result. The caster can then also grant a free reroll to one of their allies which they can use on any d20 roll in the next minute.

There is a lot to be said about the power of this new spell. Previously, Shield was considered one of the most powerful Abjuration spells in Dungeons and Dragons. Shield grants the caster a plus-five bonus to their AC until the start of their next turn, granting spellcasters some much-needed survivability. With the release of Silvery Barbs, however, there is a very real possibility that Shield will fall by the wayside in favor of this new, much more versatile spell.

A reroll of a d20 is generally considered to be worth about plus/minus five to a die roll. Where Shield grants a plus five to AC for a whole round, unless the caster would otherwise be hit at least twice, Silvery Barbs outperforms it directly, by subsequently granting an ally a reroll of their own. The fact that Silvery Barbs can do what Shield does in some circumstances but also force rerolls on enemy ability checks and saving throws pushes the power of this spell through the roof. Whether you love the new spell or hate it, the possible use cases it presents are endless. With Strixhaven: a Curriculum of Chaos releasing soon more new Dungeons and Dragons spells and other content will surely be revealed before long.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/dungeons-dragons-spell-silvery-barbs-shield/