Cutting Words is a signature ability of the College of Lore Bard in Baldur's Gate 3, offering a powerful reactive method to debuff enemies and protect allies.
Mechanics of Cutting Words
This ability allows a Bard to use their reaction and expend one charge of Bardic Inspiration to undermine an opponent's efforts. Here's how it functions:
- Resource Cost: One use of Bardic Inspiration.
- Action Type: Reaction. This means it can be used during an enemy's turn.
- Trigger: When an enemy you can see within 18 meters (60 feet) makes an Attack Roll, an Ability Check, or deals damage.
- Effect: You roll your Bardic Inspiration die (e.g., d6, d8, d10, or d12, depending on your Bard level) and subtract the number rolled from the enemy's roll. This can potentially turn a successful enemy attack into a miss, cause an ability check to fail, or reduce the damage dealt by an attack.
- Scaling: The potency of Cutting Words increases as the Bard levels up, as the Bardic Inspiration die itself grows larger (from a d6 at early levels to a d12 at higher levels).
Strategic Applications
Effectively using Cutting Words requires good judgment and an understanding of a combat encounter's flow. Consider these points:
- Preventing High-Impact Attacks: Prioritize using Cutting Words against enemy attacks that are likely to hit critical targets or deal significant damage. It's often more valuable to negate a powerful enemy's attack than a weaker one.
- Mitigating Damage: If an attack is guaranteed to hit (e.g., a critical hit or an enemy with a very high attack bonus), using Cutting Words on the damage roll can still be highly effective, potentially saving an ally from being downed.
- Interfering with Ability Checks: While less common in direct combat, some enemies might use actions that involve ability checks (e.g., shoving, or special environmental interactions). Cutting Words can foil these attempts.
- Resource Management: Bardic Inspiration is a limited resource. Assess whether the potential benefit of using Cutting Words outweighs saving the charge for another Bardic Inspiration use or for a different party member.
- Choosing the Target Roll: The game will prompt you when Cutting Words can be used. You can often choose whether to apply it to an attack roll (to try and make it miss) or, if the attack hits, to the damage roll (to reduce its severity). Affecting the attack roll is generally preferred as it can negate all effects of the attack, including riders or status conditions.
Key Advantages
Cutting Words offers distinct benefits to a party:
- Versatility: Its applicability to attack rolls, ability checks, and damage rolls makes it useful in a wide array of situations.
- Proactive Defense: It's a reactive debuff that actively reduces enemy effectiveness, turning potential hits into misses or lessening the impact of successful attacks.
- Action Economy: As a reaction, it does not consume the Bard's main action or bonus action on their turn, allowing them to contribute in other ways while still providing this powerful support.
- No Saving Throw: Unlike many debuffs, Cutting Words directly reduces the enemy's roll without allowing them a saving throw to resist its effect.
