D&D 5E Apprentice Wizard- Arcane Burst power

[Quickleaf]

Sure they do. The 2014 DMG has a whole section on creating custom spells.

You got me curious actually to see if I could recreate the Apprentice Wizard NPC's Arcane Blast using the DMG spell creation guidelines.

In brief: Arcane Burst, at-will (cantrip); melee (5 ft) or range (120 ft); one target; 1d10+INT modifier force damage.

The DMG says that a single-target cantrip should deal 1d10 damage.

We're also told that if the spell doesn't deal half damage on a successful save, that its damage should be boosted by 25%. It's unclear if that is meant to apply to cantrips – certainly no existing cantrips appear to follow this rule – but let's blindly use it anyhow. 5.5 * 1.25 = 6.875 average damage.

So adding INT modifier for 14 Intelligence, gets us 1d10+2 or 7.5 average damage. That's a bit higher than what even the most generous reading of the DMG guidelines tell us...

However, we also see that this is not a +2 cap, rather it is indeed INT modifier based, as the Evoker NPC gets +3 damage for 17 Intelligence on its Arcane Blast.

What about the Evoker? If I squint it kinda resembles a tier 3 wizard class. Its Arcane Blast deals 4d10+3 damage (25 average damage). Unfortunately the DMG spell creation guidelines don't even mention the upleveling of cantrips – according to the DMG table a cantrip either deals 1d10 single target or 1d6 multi-target (+25% if there's no half damage effect). Since the DMG is silent in this case, we need to compare to existing at-will cantrips. At tier 3, we'd expect Eldritch Blast to deal 1d10 x3 damage (16.5 average damage). This is not differentiating whether it's used for single target or multi-target. So if I'm interpreting generously and apply that +25% again, that's 16.5 * 1.25 = 20.625 damage. 25 is definitely higher than that!

It's worth noting that the DMG gives no guidelines on how damage types should effect the damage (e.g. fire is more commonly resisted than force). We're just told to:

• Avoid spells that would be so good the caster would use them all the time. I think Arcane Blast being melee/ranged, at-will, dealing really good damage in excess of DMG guidelines, and using a damage type that's almost never resisted definitely makes it a potential candidate for this "yellow light."
• A long duration/area can make up for a lesser spell effect. N/A here.
• Avoid spells with very narrow uses, such as only affecting dragons. N/A here.
• Make sure the spell fits the class identity.

Tl;dr Two things jumped out at me: (1) DMG spell creation guidelines are crap. (2) Arcane Blast doesn't adhere to the DMG spell creation guidelines anyway.

 

[Leatherhead]

Arcane Burst is not a Cantrip, nor is it intended to be.

As a monster attack, it is actually meant to replicate the damage of an appropriate CR monster, quite often as a mere fraction of their Action Economy. The Evoker, for instance, tosses 3 Arcane Bursts out in a single round for 12d10+9 damage! In those regards, it's closer in function to a Leveled Spell with auto-scaling. But even with that idea, keep in mind that Monsters are way stronger than PCs.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Arcane Blast doesn't adhere to the DMG spell creation guidelines anyway.

It's not meant to, it's not a spell. As mentioned above, it's a monster attack, and follows those guidelines.

 

[Yaarel]

Mechanically, there's not much of a reason to not include this in the game somehow. Maybe a magic wand as a common magic item capable of basically "longbow, but use Int and apply force damage." Prereq that you're a spellcaster, maybe require attunement.

Yeah, if Arcane Burst isnt the Eldritch Blast cantrip, then I would rather see it be a weapon-like wand.

Maybe every Focus (Implement) can do something special? A Focus Mastery reminiscent of a Weapon Mastery?


Wand deals a damage type. Rod greatly increases range. Staff grants an AC Shield Bonus or Force Armor Bonus. Orb some kind of Divination.

Stuff like this.

 

[Yaarel]

You got me curious actually to see if I could recreate the Apprentice Wizard NPC's Arcane Blast using the DMG spell creation guidelines.

In brief: Arcane Burst, at-will (cantrip); melee (5 ft) or range (120 ft); one target; 1d10+INT modifier force damage.

The DMG says that a single-target cantrip should deal 1d10 damage.

We're also told that if the spell doesn't deal half damage on a successful save, that its damage should be boosted by 25%. It's unclear if that is meant to apply to cantrips – certainly no existing cantrips appear to follow this rule – but let's blindly use it anyhow. 5.5 * 1.25 = 6.875 average damage.

So adding INT modifier for 14 Intelligence, gets us 1d10+2 or 7.5 average damage. That's a bit higher than what even the most generous reading of the DMG guidelines tell us...

However, we also see that this is not a +2 cap, rather it is indeed INT modifier based, as the Evoker NPC gets +3 damage for 17 Intelligence on its Arcane Blast.

What about the Evoker? If I squint it kinda resembles a tier 3 wizard class. Its Arcane Blast deals 4d10+3 damage (25 average damage). Unfortunately the DMG spell creation guidelines don't even mention the upleveling of cantrips – according to the DMG table a cantrip either deals 1d10 single target or 1d6 multi-target (+25% if there's no half damage effect). Since the DMG is silent in this case, we need to compare to existing at-will cantrips. At tier 3, we'd expect Eldritch Blast to deal 1d10 x3 damage (16.5 average damage). This is not differentiating whether it's used for single target or multi-target. So if I'm interpreting generously and apply that +25% again, that's 16.5 * 1.25 = 20.625 damage. 25 is definitely higher than that!

It's worth noting that the DMG gives no guidelines on how damage types should effect the damage (e.g. fire is more commonly resisted than force). We're just told to:

• Avoid spells that would be so good the caster would use them all the time. I think Arcane Blast being melee/ranged, at-will, dealing really good damage in excess of DMG guidelines, and using a damage type that's almost never resisted definitely makes it a potential candidate for this "yellow light."
• A long duration/area can make up for a lesser spell effect. N/A here.
• Avoid spells with very narrow uses, such as only affecting dragons. N/A here.
• Make sure the spell fits the class identity.

Tl;dr Two things jumped out at me: (1) DMG spell creation guidelines are crap. (2) Arcane Blast doesn't adhere to the DMG spell creation guidelines anyway.

Starting with d10
d8 = extraordinary range 120 feet
d6 = Force damage
d8 = save for 0 damage

Eldritch Blast is probably too powerful for a cantrip (relative to other cantrips), and might work better as a class feature, instead of as a spell in the cantrip list.

 

[Remathilis]

If you give a city guard a sword, that sword isn't special. It's a sword. If you beat the snot out of that city guard, you can swipe his sword and stab him with it, and the rules tell you how to do it and what happens without asking the DM to figure it out on the fly. The rules do the work. The DM is supported.

Except for all the NPCs whose sword attacks deal more damage than a regular sword, or who can attack more often with it than a high level fighter can.

I learned long ago PCs are built wide (general competency in a bunch of things) and NPCs are built tall (primarily combat) and that is extremely evident in casters. A PC mage should have spells to handle a variety of obstacles an NPC doesn't, so having them memorize noncombat magic is for vanity and RP, but shouldn't be a factor in their design. While I'm not a fan of "NPC magic" I get that giving NPCs PC magic often makes them glass cannons who either kill the party easily or die before doing anything useful.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

The main thing is that NPC stat blocks exist for the players to fight against, and for one fight only. Thus, "spell slots" are not a good way to limit them. So, in the new paradigm, they tend to have superior free use abilities (i.e. their cantrips are better), along with a big hitter with recharge 5-6. The spells they still have tend not to be attacks.

 

[Thommy H-H]

The thing about these generic NPC statblocks is that they're, well, generic. The assumption is that, when you run them in your games, you'll flesh them out a little. In the same way that the veteran statblock isn't designed solely to represent an experienced combatant with no personality, and the knight needn't be a literal member of a landowning military elite that fights as heavy cavalry, you're expected to use the rules as a basic framework to hang an actual NPC off. So the 'apprentice wizard' doesn't have to be an actual magical scholar in the early stages of their education: it's just a low-level spellcaster which you can use for anything.

The Arcane Burst attack, therefore, can represent whatever you want it to represent: it's simply generic magical zapping. It might be a wand or staff that shoots magical pyrotechnics, or objects hurled using telekinesis, or a gaggle of summoned elementals, or a giant glowing hand that slaps the PCs across the face. Whatever. It's up to you to describe the attack, in much the same way as you'd describe the knight using their Leadership action, or even a veteran swinging their sword. If you want the Arcane Burst to feel like an actual cantrip, just describe it as one, changing the damage type if you like. Maybe it's Fire Bolt, and the bonus damage is from some magical amulet they're wearing that inconveniently crumbles to dust when they die.

And if verisimilitude really is an issue for you or your players, it's fine to stat up every NPC as a PC of the appropriate level.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Yeah, if Arcane Burst isnt the Eldritch Blast cantrip, then I would rather see it be a weapon-like wand.

It can be whatever the DM wants to fluff it to be. The "Apprentice Wizard" could easily be an Eberron "wand slinger" mook for example.

 

[NotAYakk]

The apprentice wizard is expected to last all of 3-5 rounds in combat.

So do you want a way for players to duplicate their abilities?

They simply took the apprentice spellblaster class. This class grants 0 HP, 0 proficiency bonus advancement, and after 5 levels lets you cast a single 1d10+int mod spell that can be used 1/day for every level in the class.

Players are free to take levels in the class.

The stat blocks of a monster-antagonist shouldn't contain noise, and exactly how this ability is gained and the like is noise. If a player wants to replicate the ability, that is an adventure hook.

"Arcane Blaster - level 1 spell, bonus action, duration 1 minute(c).
While concentrating on this spell, you can use your arcane focus to make a ranged spell attack dealing 1d10 force damage plus your casting attribute damage.

At higher levels: At level 2, the spell does 2d10 damage. Every 2 additional levels the spell deals an extra 1d10 damage. At level 3 you can attack 2 targets with the spell. Every 2 levels above level 3 the spell can attack an additional target."

Balance check: at level 9 you get 5 targets for 4d10+stat damage for 1 minute.