Spell Redesign: Blink — Ash of Creativity

Alright, back on the bandwagon we go.

And You’ll Miss It

I get the conceit of this mechanic is ostensibly fun randomness, but in reality, blink just turns into a waste. 5e combat lasts 2-3 rounds, -+1 for cleanup. Do you want to spend 1/2 or 1/3 of your potential in combat prepping? Sorry, that’s not a good trade for a 3rd level spell. What else could you prep with? Haste is a good option, even though it has the dreaded concentration tag. Maybe that’s the best reason to cast it; only one concentration spell can be maintained at a time per the tag’s rules, so casting at the beginning of the combat usually maximizes its effectiveness.

So, when deciding between a concentration spell and a coin toss for the blink spell’s minor benefits, we’ve discovered one of the only spell matchups in the entire game where a duration concentration spell comes out ahead of a duration spell without concentration. Oof. Let’s give it a face lift.

My Version: Better

First thing’s first, no more random spell benefits. I genuinely didn’t want to go in this direction, I wanted to keep the theme of random benefits, but couldn’t figure it out in a way that didn’t grossly exacerbate the word count. Typing that out just helped me add it to the (Even Better) version; I already had the (Even Better) version written out and added to this post. You guys are never going to see the version I already posted to this blog, it disappears the second I finish this section.

Speaking of edited word counts, that was the second adjustment. See, cutting down on the number of words didn’t clarify much. Moving into the ethereal plane offers your character a series of benefits, many of which are very similar to one another but have different restrictions. I didn’t edit the text for blink’s benefits beyond listing them, which highlighted opportunities to make minor adjustments.

Now when a player looks down at the spell, each response to a DM’s question is neatly arranged in bullet points. When you DM asks “Can they see you?”, you may simply read off the line which specifically addresses sight in the ethereal plane. It’s also more accessible; as I understand it, folks who suffer from dyslexia and disorders with similar groups of symptoms have a difficult time reading a paragraph with numerous similar but slightly differing sentences.

My Version (Even Better)

Yeah, you see the random mechanic don’t you? This is basically the purpose of Blink to begin with, earning you a brief reprieve. Also, now casting it at higher levels gives everyone the chance to play the Effect and Cause mission from Titanfall 2.

Awesome.

One final note; blink doesn’t have to be a combat-only spell, and the fact it sucks in combat doesn’t mean you can’t use it for non-combat circumstances (for which many spells do exist in 5e). However, this is a redesign, and the entire redesign is built on the premise things could be designed either better or cooler. If a spell which looks like it’s supposed to be used in combat sucks compared to other combat spells, it doesn’t matter if it’s actually a good utility option, because folks will throw the spell out before the utility evaluation. If I make a bad combat spell good for combat, I increase the likelihood of use outside of combat scenarios. Maybe moreso than strictly combat spells!

Peace.