D&D 5E Potent Cantrip replacement

My group's evoker wizard just hit 6th level. And I remember that we all agreed that Potent Cantrip was, shall we say, poorly designed.

Has anyone come up with a decent suggestion for a replacement power?
 

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Cernor

Explorer
What's wrong with it? It gives you guaranteed damage, provided the target isn't immune to your cantrip. Just use cantrips that require saving throws rather than attack rolls and you're golden! If you're fighting enemy wizards, forcing a concentration check without having to use a spell slot seems pretty powerful to me.

I can see it causing problems if the player decided "I want to play a wizard, so I'll go evoker because I like blasting things" but didn't look at what they actually got by being an evoker. Then they could be stuck with only utility/attack roll cantrips and Potent Cantrip is useless until level 10... But that's their own fault for not planning ahead and they should have to deal with it.
 

Staffan

Legend
What's wrong with it? It gives you guaranteed damage, provided the target isn't immune to your cantrip. Just use cantrips that require saving throws rather than attack rolls and you're golden! If you're fighting enemy wizards, forcing a concentration check without having to use a spell slot seems pretty powerful to me.
For one thing, none of the evocation wizard cantrips have saves - fire bolt and ray of frost are ranged spell attacks, and shocking grasp is a melee spell attack. The only wizard cantrips that have saves are conjuration (acid splash and poison spray). Sure, there's no particular need for them to be evocations, but it's silly if the Evoker has an ability that's only useful with Conjuration spells.

That said, the Elemental Evil Player's Companion helps a bit in this regard, adding frostbite and thunderclap as evocation cantrips with saves.
 

mlund

First Post
Yup, I noticed the same thing. That's why my wizard that likes to use Evocations took Adjuration as his specialty instead of Evocation. Mage Armor, Shield, and Dispel Magic are always useful and the specialist abilities are actually relevant.

Marty Lund
 

Johris

Explorer
The new Elemental Evil players companion booklet PDF has new Evocation cantrips that allow saves.

Frostbite & Thunderclap
 

^Dagon^

Villager
My group's evoker wizard just hit 6th level. And I remember that we all agreed that Potent Cantrip was, shall we say, poorly designed.

Has anyone come up with a decent suggestion for a replacement power?
In my campaigns I replaced this really weak ability with Evocation Mastery (+1 damage per die on all evocation spells of 1st level or higher). Everyone is happy now and the improvement isn't too much that would create other types of problems (I have way more trouble with the overpowered sculpt spells ability).
 

Mistwell

Crusty Old Meatwad (he/him)
In my campaigns I replaced this really weak ability with Evocation Mastery (+1 damage per die on all evocation spells of 1st level or higher). Everyone is happy now and the improvement isn't too much that would create other types of problems (I have way more trouble with the overpowered sculpt spells ability).
Hi Dagon! Interesting post to cast Necromancy on, given it's 9 years old. But I'm curious what you think of the new Potent Cantrip which says, "Your damaging cantrips affect even creatures that avoid the brunt of the effect. When you cast a cantrip at a creature and you miss with the attack roll or the target succeeds on a saving throw against the cantrip, the target takes half the cantrip’s damage (if any) but suffers no additional effect from the cantrip?"
 


ezo

Get off my lawn!
In my campaigns I replaced this really weak ability with Evocation Mastery (+1 damage per die on all evocation spells of 1st level or higher). Everyone is happy now and the improvement isn't too much that would create other types of problems (I have way more trouble with the overpowered sculpt spells ability).

I just came up with this today for my homebrew:

Cantrip Expert​

When you cast a Wizard cantrip, once on your turn you can choose to grant one of the following benefits to that cantrip:
  • Add your Intelligence modifier to the damage dealt.
  • Make a spell attack for the cantrip with advantage.
  • Impose disadvantage on a saving throw.
  • Increase the range by 30 feet if the range is not self.
  • Double the duration if it is not instantaneous.
  • If the cantrip has two or more components, you can ignore one of its components.
You can use this feature a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus and regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

At higher levels I have:

Cantrip Master​

You regain all your expended uses of your Cantrip Expert feature when you finish a short or long rest.

Cantrip Grandmaster​

You have unlimited uses of your Cantrip Expert feature. You can still only use the feature once on your turn.
 

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