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Message: <blockquote data-quote="KarinsDad" data-source="post: 6428413" data-attributes="member: 2011">Chill Touch does not prevent healing. NPCs never heal. They never regenerate at low levels. I use Chill Touch quite often and even the disadvantage is a joke because it's a ranged attack.And no, one cannot do consistent damage with cantrips. I roll low with cantrips all of the time. I would be much better off using a light crossbow because if I hit, my PC would at least do a minimum of 3 points of damage. I do 1 or 2 points of damage with cantrips a lot.Shocking Grasp does prevent reactions, but NPCs rarely have reactions. And it's touch. Trust me. Wizards are rarely in touch range. A Reactions section is too much extra stuff on a monster sheet for a DM to handle. Except for Opportunity Attacks, monster reactions are almost non-existent. Out of 169 monsters in the DMG pdf, 3 of them have a special reaction. So the wizard is going to move up to the monster, do Shocking Grasp on it, and now the monster cannot do an opportunity attack if the wizard hits? If the wizard misses, then the wizard is next to the monster. Not exactly a good plan.And stopping a reaction until the start of the monster's next turn helps the wizard to move away, but it's not until the start of the wizard's next turn (which would make it last an entire round). The effect lasts for less than a round which means that it often does nothing for other PCs. Shy of a particular initiative order, a Wizard cannot use this to move in, attack, and move back away and also help a fellow PC. It serves one minor purpose in letting a wizard both attack and move away (course, nothing usually stops the NPC from just following the wizard). This is really a weak effect.Shield lasts a single turn. It used to last multiple encounters. Mage Armor is weaker (it does have a longer duration).Sleep used to affect 4 hit dice of creatures. Now, is does 5D6 (~4 HD), but creatures have more hit dice. It used to affect 4 Orcs or 1 Ogre, now it affects 1.67 Orcs or 0.4 of an Ogre.Tasha's Hideous Laughter used to last multiple rounds and the foe was basically incapacitated. I don't have the book in front of me, but I suspect that the foe gets a save every round now and it's probably a much weaker effect.There are very few monsters in the MM that are vulnerable to damage, hence, the option to pick the proper damaging spell rarely occurs now.Sorry, not seeing where wizards are really better off now than they were before. Practically every spell is weaker. Practically every spell has a significantly lesser effect. Practically every save spell results in a save every round. The wizard can only use one buff spell (which tends to be weaker than earlier editions). And the cantrips really are a joke.Granted, if someone takes an Elven Wizard with a 14 Dex using a Longbow, yes, I can see that particular wizard contributing. But other races???</blockquote>

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