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General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Cantrips, a Curious Thing
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<blockquote data-quote="James Gasik" data-source="post: 9052492" data-attributes="member: 6877472"><p>While I agree that making Rangers track ammunition is a bit weird in a world with "free" magic (really, they should just have a cantrip that conjures arrows or something if you really feel the need for verisimilitude), a Ranger can do a lot more damage than a Firebolt, even if the Firebolt gets better over time, and bows have insane range, so it's not like it's strictly apples to apples.</p><p></p><p>The fact that cantrips deal magical, non-physical damage is the real kicker to me; why you can't load up on, say, fire arrows to deal with enemies strikes me as very odd.</p><p></p><p>But this is somewhat orthogonal to the discussion; I don't want to get bogged down in the "are cantrips good/bad?" debate; everyone has their position on it, and at this point, I highly doubt anyone will change their mind. I was more struck by how cantrips are so unlike other spells. You acquire them at set intervals, they upgrade at set intervals, they don't cost resources to use, and you don't even prepare them or record them in your spellbook (I believe this changed for Wizards in Tasha's).</p><p></p><p>They're their own thing, with their own mechanics. They aren't even bound by spellcasting restrictions; oh you casted a bonus action spell this turn? Cantrips are still usable when no leveled spell is!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="James Gasik, post: 9052492, member: 6877472"] While I agree that making Rangers track ammunition is a bit weird in a world with "free" magic (really, they should just have a cantrip that conjures arrows or something if you really feel the need for verisimilitude), a Ranger can do a lot more damage than a Firebolt, even if the Firebolt gets better over time, and bows have insane range, so it's not like it's strictly apples to apples. The fact that cantrips deal magical, non-physical damage is the real kicker to me; why you can't load up on, say, fire arrows to deal with enemies strikes me as very odd. But this is somewhat orthogonal to the discussion; I don't want to get bogged down in the "are cantrips good/bad?" debate; everyone has their position on it, and at this point, I highly doubt anyone will change their mind. I was more struck by how cantrips are so unlike other spells. You acquire them at set intervals, they upgrade at set intervals, they don't cost resources to use, and you don't even prepare them or record them in your spellbook (I believe this changed for Wizards in Tasha's). They're their own thing, with their own mechanics. They aren't even bound by spellcasting restrictions; oh you casted a bonus action spell this turn? Cantrips are still usable when no leveled spell is! [/QUOTE]
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Cantrips, a Curious Thing
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