Sorry for the delay. Computer problems.
Back to 2, responding to your last comments
Resistance to radiant damage is way too good. Notice Protection From Energy, a Lv3 spell with the same duration. Speaking of Lv3 spells, you've read Magic Circle, right? No matter what you do to this, it'll always either be a Magic Circle that's watered down enough to get it as a Lv2 spell, but also watered down enough that it's not worth preparing, or something that's too good for its level.
Arrow of Light was fine at 3d6. Compare it to other Lv2 spells, not Lv3 spells scaled down a couple of dice. Wait, no damage on a successful save? Eh, still seems like a heavy hitter for a Lv2 spell . . . At least make it a 30-foot line, as a Lv2 spell should be, or else you're too obviously trying to use Lv2 spell slots to take on tier 2 challenges.
SSS? Snowball Swarm is too weak for you? Okay, it's not the best damaging spell, but it gets the job done and offers cold damage. You're just spoiled by how good Shatter is and probably don't deal with casters that are smart enough to use Silence (preferably with telepathy) or fights in which you don't want to draw the attention of everyone in the dungeon. Cold damage doesn't face those concerns, so it doesn't get to be extreme like thunder damage. Oh, geez, now, you're going even over Shatter? Shatter was already pushing the top of Lv2, as the elemental monk shows us. I mean, you know, and just common sense . . .
Entangling Force is still offering too much. It deals 4d6 (average of 14) on the first turn, almost as much as the average Spiritual Weapon does in two turns. SW requires the enemy to fail to interrupt your concentration or just move more than 20 feet away every turn in addition to hitting with melee spell attacks. If you consider the saving throws to be equal to the attack rolls, that's still admitting that SW, a dedicated DPS pressure spell, can be countered more easily than this, a spell with more burst value, pretty good control, and multi-target scaling. The scaling that gives twice the damage upgrade in the first round as Scorching Ray while adding the same sustained DPS as Flaming Sphere, that is. It then occurs to you that the saving throw for this spell requires their action, whereas SW and FS do not. This is just severely over-the-top, man. If the scaling were just an additional 1d6 on the starting damage, which should start at 2d6, it'd be a fine spell, having positives and negatives relative to FS. Oh, finally, this does not belong with paladins. Sorcewizzolocks, sure. Below is my version.
Code:
Entangling Force - Evocation 2, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 30 feet
Components: V, S, M (a small length of rope or chain)
Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute
Choose one Huge or smaller creature you can see within range. Glowing bands of magical force appear and wrap themselves around the target. The target must make a Dexterity saving throw or take 2d6 force damage and be restrained. A creature restrained by the bands can use its action to make a Strength check against your spell save DC. On a success, it frees itself, ending the spell. You can use a bonus action on your turn to cause the creature to take an additional 1d6 Force damage.
At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 3rd level or higher, the initial damage increases by 1d6 for each slot level above 2nd.
Icy Rays seems fine at a 10' slow, sure. I'd put the scaling at one more ray per level. It's unlikely that it will ever matter, since Lv3 spells are pretty much universally better, but it's fitting and makes it feel worthwhile when you hit that level-up between fights and don't have time to prepare spells.
3
Acid Breath is too weak. First, no one wants to deal with itty-bitty 15-foot cones at this level, so let's start by doubling the cone length. Now, as we see in Vitriolic Sphere, the sucky save package that we have here is justification for the total damage to be only slightly behind or on-par with Fireball/Lightning Bolt's power while providing the rarer damage type of acid in the same range and area. Comparisons get mushy in this tier because there aren't as many similar spells, there aren't as many spells
at all, and they don't escalate as clearly and dramatically as in the other tiers, but I think that a 30-foot cone of 5d6 (save half) plus 3d6 (save null) acid damage is what this should be.
Acid Sheath: I am so torn. At first, it sounded cool. Then, it sounded horribly weak, especially compared to Armor of Agathys. Then, it sounded ridiculously broken because of its combo with Vitriolic Sphere. My head hurts.
Arrow-Ward: Oh, come on. You don't get to negate all enemy ranged weapons just because you have a rock and a Lv3 spell. If the party really wants someone to tank arrows for them, they can invest in the rare, attunement-requiring, cursed Shield of Missile Attraction and stay very close to the tank.
Aura of Repulsion: Sanctuary.
Chill Strike: You were right that its current state was hard to work with, but now, it's UP. It should have a decent range for a Lv3 spell, and you could diddle with it by making it stronger (more/different dice, half damage on miss, whatever), but going into the realm of "super strong single-target spell" carries its own problems; you may notice that the devs avoided it for a reason. Rather than complicating things further, how about taking Lightning Arrow, turning the damage to 5d6 and 2d6 (with d6 scaling), tacking on a 10' speed redux rider on the burst effect, and handing the ranger something nice? It's a bit less damage than Lightning Arrow, but you get an area slow on it. Seems fair.
Cyclone Blast: Again, it's too weak. Compare it to Tidal Wave.
Glossolalia: This should be a Wisdom save.
Force Hammer: 10-minute spells of long-lasting DPS mileage are druid territory. You're taking druid territory, delaying it by two early class levels, making it outright better (better damage at every level but 4th, where it's all of 0.5 behind, and in force damage), and handing it to sorcewizzes because potatoes. They normally have to wait for Lv5 spells to start jacking everyone's business sans healing. This is just stepping over class identity lines because the party wizard is never satisfied . . . and it's friggin' force damage, the best kind.
Frost Razors: First, it's weak. If something affects a radius around a squishy caster (not rangers or paladins), it gets to be a good, strong one. I mean, hey, Thunderwave. Second, necrotic damage has nothing to do with bleeding. Necrotic damage comes from necrotic energy. You know, death force. Bleeding is not kept track of in this edition at all, and that's intentional. The damage of taking a slash or stab and bleeding out is conflated into one value. If something slashes you and you have to track bleeding damage, that calls to question why you don't bleed from all the other slashes in the game. Therefore, you either break immersion or bog down the game with too much bookkeeping.
Incinerate: Is . . . Is this a joke?
Infernal Spheres: Clerics and warlocks aren't supposed to have this kind of damage output. Class identity blah blah no one is reading at this point . . .
Last Word: Let me get this straight: As a bard or cleric, I choose between a spell that lets me relive the last few gruesome minutes of a dead dudebro's life, but get all the details that he perceived in that time, or a spell that animates him to answer any five questions truthfully from his whole life's knowledge, which I can use again to ask five more questions ten days later if I make sure that he still has a jaw. As a warlock or wizard, I get the latter option even though it's way out of my class' profile and steps into the bard's and cleric's territory hardcore. Fantastic. Bet that feels good for anyone who plays those
clearly inferior classes.
Supercharge: "Maximize" is not a unified term, any more. You and I know what it means, but you have to spell it out for a spell description. The spell ends when they fail . . .
which saving throw? Having this as a bonus action feels like it's just a cheap way to get action economy. It has the same value as Lightning Bolt by maximizing and spreading a Lightning Bolt, but you get it as a bonus action, so you can cast it with a cantrip, then bolt on the next turn.
Thunderlance: This is next to useless. Unless you really need that push rider effect, it's strictly inferior to Flame Blade. FB gives more damage even at Lv2, and it leaves a hand open for a wooden shield. This is just weak . . . and, again, has no place with sorcewizzes.
War Cry: This probably would be okay, another "moment of greatness" spell like Glossolalia, but why should it be a bonus action? That's a pretty big advantage.
Whirling Wards: Mirror Image is pretty much strictly better. The only good thing here is that enemies who don't rely on sight don't get around it. It's pretty pointless.
Through a lot of this, you're trying to make all the casters the same. If people want to all play wizard, but call themselves different things, they can already do that; they don't need unbalanced spells to expand casters' repertoires to be all-inclusive, leaving the martials to wonder when they get to play.
I'll get to Lv4 spells next time, but just glancing ahead, I'll say this: Moment is not so great. The nice thing about War Cry is that it works if you're already running with advantage, while Glossolalia will hand out advantage on attack rolls, auto-crits on melee hits and auto-failures on DEX saves, disadvantage on DEX saves, and whatnot much more than this, just depending on foes to fail their saves. As for Ice Armor, we already have Armor of Agathys.
