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Magic Missile. Better as a cantrip?
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<blockquote data-quote="Staffan" data-source="post: 6980199" data-attributes="member: 907"><p>The way I see it, the "baseline" for blaster-class cantrips is 1d10 damage with a hit roll or save. That's what <em>firebolt</em> and <em>eldritch blast</em> do. Below that, you have cantrips that deal less damage but come with various riders: d8 + stopping healing for <em>chill touch</em>, d8 + reduced speed for <em>ray of frost</em>, d8 + stopping reactions for <em>shocking grasp</em>, or d6 with the potential to hit two targets for <em>acid splash</em>. In light of that, I don't think d6 (or d4+1) with auto-hit is excessive - it's competitive, but a bit boring.</p><p></p><p>A thing to consider is that a hard-hitter like <em>firebolt</em> has a fair chance of taking out a weak creature (e.g. a kobold or goblin) at low levels. That's not going to happen with cantrip-<em>magic missile</em>. That's a thing I noticed when playing a wizard with <em>acid splash</em> in a low-level campaign - sure, I sometimes hit two goblins for like 3 damage, but then the fighter came along and hit it for 9, which would have killed it even without my damage.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Staffan, post: 6980199, member: 907"] The way I see it, the "baseline" for blaster-class cantrips is 1d10 damage with a hit roll or save. That's what [I]firebolt[/I] and [I]eldritch blast[/I] do. Below that, you have cantrips that deal less damage but come with various riders: d8 + stopping healing for [I]chill touch[/I], d8 + reduced speed for [I]ray of frost[/I], d8 + stopping reactions for [I]shocking grasp[/I], or d6 with the potential to hit two targets for [I]acid splash[/I]. In light of that, I don't think d6 (or d4+1) with auto-hit is excessive - it's competitive, but a bit boring. A thing to consider is that a hard-hitter like [I]firebolt[/I] has a fair chance of taking out a weak creature (e.g. a kobold or goblin) at low levels. That's not going to happen with cantrip-[I]magic missile[/I]. That's a thing I noticed when playing a wizard with [I]acid splash[/I] in a low-level campaign - sure, I sometimes hit two goblins for like 3 damage, but then the fighter came along and hit it for 9, which would have killed it even without my damage. [/QUOTE]
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Magic Missile. Better as a cantrip?
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