D&D 5E How many times in an adventuring day does your party spellcaster cast a cantrip spell?

[sevenbastard]

I cast Guidance before I posted this to make sure I got the spelling right.

Seriously though i houserulled out cleric and druid cantrips in my 5e game. Gave them access to all cantrips without memorization but it cost a spell slot. Then i gave them two extra 1st level spell slots. It worked fine I hate lasser clerics and i hate constant Guidance.

Hell i assume the imaginary gods in my world hate constant Guidance.

 

[DrJawaPhD]

Hell i assume the imaginary gods in my world hate constant Guidance.

I also hate how Guidance is disruptive to the flow of play. I try to minimize the disruption by just saying that anyone who can cast the spell automatically gets +1d4 to all skillchecks out of combat if they aren't running another concentration spell, and then for other party members they have to specifically ask for guidance to be cast before they declare that they are attempting whatever action leads to the skillcheck.

That way if a player is thinking ahead and asking their buddy to help out by casting a spell, that's awesome they're working together to plan something out. But if Player A goes and does something, DM requests dice rolls, and Player B disrupts the flow by interjecting "oh hey I cast guidance!", that doesn't work

 

[Distracted DM]

The monk 18/rogue1/druid-magic initiate usually has guidance up the 1st round of combat
The warlock14/bard5 probably uses a cantrip every other round of combat.
The cleric14/paladin3 uses Toll the Dead probably every 3rd round of combat
The paladin 18/warlock1 forgets he has cantrips, so maybe 1 in 6 rounds of combat
The fighter 12/wizard7 only uses cantrips when at range
The bard18/cleric1 uses cantrips maybe 1 round in 4, mainly because a 6th level slot often becomes a permanent "bottle of smoke" illusion that he uses actions to blind enemies.

At around 12th level, there's a lot of sub/classes that becomes "more of the same" and invite people to make dips into caster for variety. The fighter/wizard only has a few damage spells/day worth casting, but Longstrider + Mirror Image + shield lets him close & tank like crazy.

I'm trying to understand my bias against multiclasses like this... because man, I would not enjoy seeing this at one of my tables. It's bad enough when I get one or two PCs that want to level-dip for extra stuff.
I'm not saying it's wrong to do, just that I don't like it, and I feel like a curmudgeon for it :')
"I'm making a wizard!"
"But you made a level 1 artificer?"
"It's for the armor and shield proficiency, and so I don't lose spell slots. I'm planning art1/wiz19."
"..."

The one that I find the least objectionable from that list is the ftr/wiz.. it's not an even split like I'd prefer to see, but it's not a dip. So maybe it's because I think that AD&D did multiclassing best, if the even split seems reasonable to me?
Ofc I'd really just prefer no multiclassing, but it's basically expected at this point.

 

[kigmatzomat]

I'm trying to understand my bias against multiclasses like this... because man, I would not enjoy seeing this at one of my tables. It's bad enough when I get one or two PCs that want to level-dip for extra stuff.
I'm not saying it's wrong to do, just that I don't like it, and I feel like a curmudgeon for it :')
"I'm making a wizard!"
"But you made a level 1 artificer?"
"It's for the armor and shield proficiency, and so I don't lose spell slots. I'm planning art1/wiz19."
"..."

The one that I find the least objectionable from that list is the ftr/wiz.. it's not an even split like I'd prefer to see, but it's not a dip. So maybe it's because I think that AD&D did multiclassing best, if the even split seems reasonable to me?
Ofc I'd really just prefer no multiclassing, but it's basically expected at this point.

If you want to explore what kinds of multiclassing you do/dont like, the multiclassing happened at various points for different reasons.

The monk added rogue at 2nd level after "the locked door incident." I wasn't there but I understand a house was burned down.

The warlock and fighter both multiclased at 13 after we spent time in the Feywild. The warlock wanted to be less dependent on their Fey patron and the fighter didn't appreciate being mocked/pitied by fey children for his total lack of magical ability. The bard got in deep with the Fey, and at this point became quite conscientious about making a lot of contributions and reports to temples of the godess of knowledge/music/bards because "the fey might make me vanish".

We figure the bard (lore with ritual caster(wiz)) tutored both of them through 1st level, as he was well versed in bardic lore, arcane spellcasting and had an array of wizard spells.

We spent a year of game time & player time gaining 2 levels, eliminating cults, an undead dragon, etc.

We've been in a big dungeon for 16 months of real time, 4 class levels and an an uncertain amount of game time. The dungeon has nerfed several spells including Banish, blocks extradimensional travel, most forms of distant communication, only priests/clerics/warlocks can reach their gods/patrons, it is chock full of creatures we know nothing about and is one of those "it might kill the world, or at the very least several hundred square miles before someone else could stop it" scenarios.

• the cleric went paladin at 15 to be able to Turn extradimensional and get in some melee smites.
• The paladin has poor ranged attacks and has been nerfed in a couple fights because of it so went Celestial Warlock at 19 to have ranged 'smite' and get the ability to see through all the magical darkness.
• The lore bard at 18 was able to use a Wish to contact his goddess with an "If I die, you need to know about all this". When he hit 19 he was able to take cleric for the skills the party didn't have, and be the goddess's eyes & ears. Plus, let's be honest, the ability to use shields and have combat cantrips that hurt demons and void-monsters. He got used as a pinata several times.

These all had both in-game and meta-game reasons for happening.

 

[Umbran]

Think about what spells your party members cast during any given day of adventuring. How often are they casting cantrips?

My current game would be an outlier, as the Wild Beyond the Witchlight gives more than usual opportunity to get by without fighting.

Unless there's a reason not to, I presume that utility cantrips like Prestidigitation and Mage Hand get used casually, many times a day without having to stipulate their casting as explicit acts in scene.