Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Spells cast at higher level spell slots. Worth it?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="The Crimson Binome" data-source="post: 7034840" data-attributes="member: 6775031"><p>Why would I <em>ever</em> cast Burning Hands III if I can get more damage, in a better area of effect, that's easier to aim, by using Fireball III instead? At best, it would be <em>extremely</em> situational, where you would want to avoid collateral damage, but it was still dangerous enough to warrant spending a high-level spell slot - maybe in a hostage situation?</p><p></p><p>You don't need auto-scaling spells like in 3E, since 5E auto-scales the save DC instead. If Burning Hands (in a level 1 slot) did as much damage as Fireball (in a level 3 slot), with the same save DC, then that would be a dramatic force-multiplier for spellcasters; and we don't need that. But a Wizard only has so many high-level spell slots in the day, and asking them to choose between Burning Hands for 5d6 or Fireball for 8d6 is not an interesting choice. Letting them <em>manually</em> scale up their damage, so that the spells deal equal damage <em>in</em> one of those high-level slots (while Fireball remains superior in every other way) <em>is</em> somewhat closer to an interesting choice.</p><p></p><p>Spell preparation is a <em>minor</em> limitation, compared to spell slot available which is a <em>major</em> limitation. The flexibility of using your low-level spell slots to deal fire damage is worth <em>something</em>, sure; it might be worth spending the extra preparation to have that available, or it might be worth sacrificing that flexibility to prepare a different spell. The added flexibility of being <em>able</em> to do less damage, by casting in a low-level slot, doesn't come <em>close</em> to justifying the loss in actual efficacy when casting in a high-level slot.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="The Crimson Binome, post: 7034840, member: 6775031"] Why would I [I]ever[/I] cast Burning Hands III if I can get more damage, in a better area of effect, that's easier to aim, by using Fireball III instead? At best, it would be [I]extremely[/I] situational, where you would want to avoid collateral damage, but it was still dangerous enough to warrant spending a high-level spell slot - maybe in a hostage situation? You don't need auto-scaling spells like in 3E, since 5E auto-scales the save DC instead. If Burning Hands (in a level 1 slot) did as much damage as Fireball (in a level 3 slot), with the same save DC, then that would be a dramatic force-multiplier for spellcasters; and we don't need that. But a Wizard only has so many high-level spell slots in the day, and asking them to choose between Burning Hands for 5d6 or Fireball for 8d6 is not an interesting choice. Letting them [I]manually[/I] scale up their damage, so that the spells deal equal damage [I]in[/I] one of those high-level slots (while Fireball remains superior in every other way) [I]is[/I] somewhat closer to an interesting choice. Spell preparation is a [I]minor[/I] limitation, compared to spell slot available which is a [I]major[/I] limitation. The flexibility of using your low-level spell slots to deal fire damage is worth [I]something[/I], sure; it might be worth spending the extra preparation to have that available, or it might be worth sacrificing that flexibility to prepare a different spell. The added flexibility of being [I]able[/I] to do less damage, by casting in a low-level slot, doesn't come [I]close[/I] to justifying the loss in actual efficacy when casting in a high-level slot. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Spells cast at higher level spell slots. Worth it?
Top