I am not sure if a reserve feat upstaging damage spells at 1st lv is necessarily such a bad idea.
I can't imagine anyone who would use them to begin with. Unless you are a warmage (and therefore have no choice), damage spells seem to be woefully lackluster at lower lvs (and inadequate at higher lvs, but that is another debate for another day), because you lack the caster lv to power them.
Why would I cast magic missile to deal 2-5 damage to a single target, or burning hands to deal 1d4 damage in a 15-ft cone, when I could just as readily be disabling an entire horde of kobolds with sleep/colour spray, or greasing the bugbear zombie. Heck, I will probably get more mileage out of my spells simply by casting enlarge person on the party fighter (reach + more damage) instead, or using animate rope to entangle a pesky foe. Simply put, whatever tactics my spellcaster uses, you can be sure that direct damage is definitely not one of them.
A 1d6 fire burst at-will seems to be in line with what sleep is capable of, IMO.
I can't imagine anyone who would use them to begin with. Unless you are a warmage (and therefore have no choice), damage spells seem to be woefully lackluster at lower lvs (and inadequate at higher lvs, but that is another debate for another day), because you lack the caster lv to power them.
Why would I cast magic missile to deal 2-5 damage to a single target, or burning hands to deal 1d4 damage in a 15-ft cone, when I could just as readily be disabling an entire horde of kobolds with sleep/colour spray, or greasing the bugbear zombie. Heck, I will probably get more mileage out of my spells simply by casting enlarge person on the party fighter (reach + more damage) instead, or using animate rope to entangle a pesky foe. Simply put, whatever tactics my spellcaster uses, you can be sure that direct damage is definitely not one of them.
A 1d6 fire burst at-will seems to be in line with what sleep is capable of, IMO.
