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<blockquote data-quote="Blue" data-source="post: 9139858" data-attributes="member: 20564">You've got a good thought there about second order effects - will other characters play more cautious with less common healing?As for staying with cantrips - that's actually a feature.&nbsp; A high level slot can be so much more efficient per action than an at-will action.&nbsp; Look at a simple fireball with 4-5 targets, half of which save.&nbsp; How many actions does it take for a martial to do the same damage.&nbsp; Cantrips do a bit less than martials, so averaging one high level slot and several cantrips works out closer to the same number of actions spent on pure at-will actions.&nbsp; Of course, a caster doesn't just have their highest level slots, and the lower level ones are closer to the at-wills so need less cantrip actions to balance them.&nbsp; Until you get to spells that don't do appreciably more than scaled cantrip, useful for utility and defense.So yes, I expect that casters will be using a good number of cantrips in any encounter.&nbsp; But I can also see them using a resource like Pass without Trace to avoid multiple encounters because that's more efficient.&nbsp; I don't want the default &quot;it's here so we can fight it&quot; mentality, and now even on-level encounters there's a reason to avoid if it's not too resource heavy to do so.(Oh, and my table generally aren't big fans of dungeons, so the &quot;go clear this place out&quot; isn't a big motivator.&nbsp; Other tables might have a lot more issues with this viewpoint.)</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Blue, post: 9139858, member: 20564"] You've got a good thought there about second order effects - will other characters play more cautious with less common healing? As for staying with cantrips - that's actually a feature. A high level slot can be so much more efficient per action than an at-will action. Look at a simple fireball with 4-5 targets, half of which save. How many actions does it take for a martial to do the same damage. Cantrips do a bit less than martials, so averaging one high level slot and several cantrips works out closer to the same number of actions spent on pure at-will actions. Of course, a caster doesn't just have their highest level slots, and the lower level ones are closer to the at-wills so need less cantrip actions to balance them. Until you get to spells that don't do appreciably more than scaled cantrip, useful for utility and defense. So yes, I expect that casters will be using a good number of cantrips in any encounter. But I can also see them using a resource like Pass without Trace to avoid multiple encounters because that's more efficient. I don't want the default "it's here so we can fight it" mentality, and now even on-level encounters there's a reason to avoid if it's not too resource heavy to do so. (Oh, and my table generally aren't big fans of dungeons, so the "go clear this place out" isn't a big motivator. Other tables might have a lot more issues with this viewpoint.) [/QUOTE]

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