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Changing Spell Elemental Damage
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<blockquote data-quote="TwoSix" data-source="post: 6743504" data-attributes="member: 205"><p>Agreed. Fireball and Scorching Ray are the core blasting spells, there's really no point to playing a dragon sorcerer who gains +Cha to element spells without those two. (Except for concept, of course, your character has a special backstory, sure sure, I totally get it.)</p><p></p><p>But outside of wanting to fire to keep its thematic blasting niche (which I can see as a valid aesthetic choice), the balance concerns of doing an element swap are pretty trivial. The sorcerer goes from being fully effective 85-90% of the time to being fully effective 95% of the time, which will of course raise their average damage slightly. But it's always safer to raise average damage by raising the damage floor (the floor being facing element-immune monsters) than by raising the damage ceiling. </p><p></p><p>Fire sorcerers already have the highest damage ceiling (by virtue of +Cha to the best blasting spells) and the lowest damage floor (because there are so many fire-resistant enemies). Allowing <em>acidballs</em> or <em>caustic rays</em> just makes acid sorcerers into fire sorcerers with a slightly higher floor. For one campaign, and to help out a player who's both mechanically and conceptually focused (my favorite kind of player!), I can't see any real danger to balance at all.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="TwoSix, post: 6743504, member: 205"] Agreed. Fireball and Scorching Ray are the core blasting spells, there's really no point to playing a dragon sorcerer who gains +Cha to element spells without those two. (Except for concept, of course, your character has a special backstory, sure sure, I totally get it.) But outside of wanting to fire to keep its thematic blasting niche (which I can see as a valid aesthetic choice), the balance concerns of doing an element swap are pretty trivial. The sorcerer goes from being fully effective 85-90% of the time to being fully effective 95% of the time, which will of course raise their average damage slightly. But it's always safer to raise average damage by raising the damage floor (the floor being facing element-immune monsters) than by raising the damage ceiling. Fire sorcerers already have the highest damage ceiling (by virtue of +Cha to the best blasting spells) and the lowest damage floor (because there are so many fire-resistant enemies). Allowing [I]acidballs[/I] or [I]caustic rays[/I] just makes acid sorcerers into fire sorcerers with a slightly higher floor. For one campaign, and to help out a player who's both mechanically and conceptually focused (my favorite kind of player!), I can't see any real danger to balance at all. [/QUOTE]
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