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<blockquote data-quote="Ashkelon" data-source="post: 6289408" data-attributes="member: 6774887">Hmm, you may be right about AoE being too powerful, or perhaps the single target cantrips are too weak. Afterall, a crossbow from a 16 Dex wizard does 1d10+3 damage. Significantly more than a mere 1d8. Also, what is AoE worth? Is a 10 ft radius worth a 45% reduction in damage? Going from d8 damage to d4 is a rather large loss. Now let's compare some single target spells to their AoE counterparts. Sound burst to scorching ray for example. Scorching ray is 6d6 single target damage vs sound bursts 3d8 (half on a save) AoE. Assuming a 60% chance to affect your target then the AoE spell only does 15% less damage than the single target. Ok, magic missile to burning hands, 7.5 automatic vs 10.5 save half. Burning hands actually has a higher expected single target damage than magic missile!By these comparisons, it would appear that AoE at d4 per die is actually underpowered compared to d8 damage single target. Now, I'm definitely not going to increase the damage of the cantrip, but it definitely is food for thought when evaluating the potency of these.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Ashkelon, post: 6289408, member: 6774887"] Hmm, you may be right about AoE being too powerful, or perhaps the single target cantrips are too weak. Afterall, a crossbow from a 16 Dex wizard does 1d10+3 damage. Significantly more than a mere 1d8. Also, what is AoE worth? Is a 10 ft radius worth a 45% reduction in damage? Going from d8 damage to d4 is a rather large loss. Now let's compare some single target spells to their AoE counterparts. Sound burst to scorching ray for example. Scorching ray is 6d6 single target damage vs sound bursts 3d8 (half on a save) AoE. Assuming a 60% chance to affect your target then the AoE spell only does 15% less damage than the single target. Ok, magic missile to burning hands, 7.5 automatic vs 10.5 save half. Burning hands actually has a higher expected single target damage than magic missile! By these comparisons, it would appear that AoE at d4 per die is actually underpowered compared to d8 damage single target. Now, I'm definitely not going to increase the damage of the cantrip, but it definitely is food for thought when evaluating the potency of these. [/QUOTE]

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