D&D 5E Meteor Swarm Vs. All other spells & DMG's spell creation guidelines

[the Jester]

...since swapping spells specifically does not change CR's for spellcasters

I didn't see that in that link to Mearls' Twitter, but I didn't follow it for long- did I miss it? Or is that stated somewhere else?

EDIT: I see you answered this above, thanks! That's advice I will discard, for sure.

I have always very much felt that changing spells does change a creature's CR; there's a vast difference in challenge between a wizard who is packing meteor swarm and one who is packing, say, astral spell. For that matter, you could- not saying it's a good idea or sensible, but you could- design an archmage's prepared spell list with nothing above 2nd level. That definitely ought to change the CR.

 

[Charlaquin]

I didn't see that in that link to Mearls' Twitter, but I didn't follow it for long- did I miss it? Or is that stated somewhere else?

EDIT: I see you answered this above, thanks! That's advice I will discard, for sure.

I have always very much felt that changing spells does change a creature's CR; there's a vast difference in challenge between a wizard who is packing meteor swarm and one who is packing, say, astral spell. For that matter, you could- not saying it's a good idea or sensible, but you could- design an archmage's prepared spell list with nothing above 2nd level. That definitely ought to change the CR.

Jester, you’re talking to someone who hasn’t posted on these forums in years.

 

[gyor]

A Sorcerer with that new class variant metamagic can make the 20D6 fire damage, cold/electric/acid/thunder instead.

 

[the Jester]

Jester, you’re talking to someone who hasn’t posted on these forums in years.

In my defense, there are a lot of thread necromancers going around lately!

 

[TarionzCousin]

What level spell did it take to resurrect this thread?

Since any registered user can do it, it must be a cantrip/level zero.

 

[Charlaquin]

Since any registered user can do it, it must be a cantrip/level zero.

Fair point.