True Strike

True Strike is a cantrip (Divination). The caster gains Advantage on their next Attack Roll against the target.

Description

Divine a character's defences to give you Advantage on your next Attack Roll against it.

Properties

Details

 Range: 18 m / 60 ft

Concentration

At higher levels

Casting this spell at a higher level grants no additional benefit.

Condition: True Strike

 True Strike

Duration: 2 turns

• The spellcaster has Advantage on Attack rolls against this creature.

How to learn

(Information not yet added.)

Notes

• The description of this cantrip is among the more confusingly worded, and thus is prone to being misunderstood. To wit:
  • Only the caster of this spell gains Advantage on their next attack against the affected target, never their allies.
  • Only the very first attack roll following the application of the condition gains Advantage. The condition is removed immediately afterwards, regardless if the attack roll is a hit or miss.
  • The duration is 2 turns, but this counts the turn that the condition is applied. This is true for all similar spells, but due to its short duration this is especially important to understand here.
• This cantrip is generally considered not worth using due to its opportunity cost (the fact that this cantrip uses a full action). Most of the time, if two actions are available (within the same turn or not) attacking twice is better than to merely attack once with advantage.
• However, this cantrip is not considered aggressive, so the caster could cast it just before combat to gain its benefits without having to spend an action mid-fight. In which case the caster pays no opportunity cost for this cantrip. Note that the duration is only 2 turns. (12 seconds)
• Another niche use case for this cantrip exists for Arcane Tricksters, if no better alternatives to a Sneak Attack exists (they ran out of spell slots, for example), and if no allies can provide the flanking criterion for their sneak attack, and if there is no easier way to gain advantage for an attack roll. Then spending one action, even mid-combat, to access the extra damage given by a singular sneak attack, while simultaneously making said attack more likely to hit, can be considered efficient.
  • In such cases, the cantrip can be even more useful when using the ranged version of sneak attack, since this allows the caster to benefit from the range of this cantrip as well, especially if the caster has access to High Grounds. Note that, at such distances, it is typically easier to just use a Bonus Action to sneak first to obtain Advantage instead, but if the Arcane Trickster can't sneak for whatever reason, True Strike works.