D&D (2024) PHB Playtest Packet 7 drops Thrusday, September 7.

[Charlaquin]

You can't choose invocations with a prerequisite.

That’s why Pact of the Tome has the 2nd level prerec! That makes so much sense!

 

[Stalker0]

Any resident mathemagicians willing to do us the favor of working out the EV of Sorcerous Blast with d8s rather than d6s? To my lay person’s eyes it looks like a slight upgrade, but it’s hard to tell how much, since a larger base die means fewer extra dice procing.

So if we ignore the limit and just assume infinite rerolls.

d6 = 4.2 average damage
d8 = 5.14 average

So still weaker than fire burst, though has a lot more elemental flexibility. I still don't think their needs to be a limit, let the player have that 1 in a million time they do insane damage with this cantrip, its still not a great damaging cantrip

 

[kilpatds]

Any resident mathemagicians willing to do us the favor of working out the EV of Sorcerous Blast with d8s rather than d6s?

Googling tells me "multiple EV by N/(N-1)"? So ... d8 =~ 5.14?

 

[Charlaquin]

So if we ignore the limit and just assume infinite rerolls.

d6 = 4.2 average damage
d8 = 5.14 average

Ok, so only slightly less than +1 average damage, which is what you’d normally get from a die size increase. And now it’s stronger than a 1d8 cantrip but still weaker than a 1d10 cantrip, plus you can choose the damage type? That’s pretty solid!

 

[Kurotowa]

Regarding Pact Magic, an important bit from the video was Crawford saying that while Tasha's tried to reduce the amount of things that keyed off Short Rests, the direction they're trying now is to make more things key off them. Or more precisely, to spread the Short Rest keyed benefits more evenly, so that the whole party is looking for them instead of just the Warlocks and Monks.

Time will tell if this tact is a success or not, but it's the stated design intent.

 

[Stalker0]

Ok, so only slightly less than +1 average damage, which is what you’d normally get from a die size increase. And now it’s stronger than a 1d8 cantrip but still weaker than a 1d10 cantrip, plus you can choose the damage type? That’s pretty solid!

For context, the exact numbers are:

Infinite:

5.142857​

Max 5 rerolls:

5.142838​

HOWEVER,

there is an important difference as the levels get higher. As you roll more d8s, your chance to hit the cap increases, and so the gap will widen between these, but again its pretty slight. I still don't think its worth the space and mental energy to put in that restriction, just let the player keep on rerolling if they can, for that 1 in a million time they kill an archlich with a cantrip!

 

[Vael]

Ok, so only slightly less than +1 average damage, which is what you’d normally get from a die size increase. And now it’s stronger than a 1d8 cantrip but still weaker than a 1d10 cantrip, plus you can choose the damage type? That’s pretty solid!

Yeah, this is where I'd want the spell, the other d8 cantrips generally have a control effect (Slowing or preventing OAs) and Firebolt still reigns supreme for damage, but now Sorcerous Burst is a solid damage dealer.

 

[WarlockkingNelzul]

Also love brutal critical pair it with brawler for some nasty hits

 

[Stalker0]

For a bit more data. If we look at the higher levels of sorc burst, here is what it looks like (I used a computer sim for this rather than theory so it may be sliiiiightly off)
4d8 sorc burst

Infinite Reroll: 20.585
Max 5 Reroll: 20.547
Standard 4d8: 18
Standard 4d10: 22

so ~2.5-2.6 more damage than a standard d8 cantrip at that level, -1.5 from a d10 cantrip.

 

[Remathilis]

Yep, and Magical Cunning is actually much better, because it becomes 2 extra slots per day at 11th level, and you can use the extra slot or slots on any of your spells, not just the patron ones. But, it just feels bland. And I can’t imagine anyone who wanted more spell slots not tied to short rests being satisfied with this. On paper, an extra Pact Magic slot per day is certainly powerful, but if I understood the people who liked the half-caster Warlock correctly, they don’t want one more powerful spell per day. They want several weak-to-medium spells per day. That’s why I think a Pact of the Tome upgrade may be the key to satisfying that desire.

Yup. Warlock is back to a one trick pony. But Vox Populi, Vox Dei.