D&D 5E (2024) Should poison spray be a cone?

[mellored]

Should poison spray be a cone?

Like the first image that comes up on Google when you search spray.

Possibly 15', maybe scaling size up a bit as you level.

 

[Clint_L]

"You extend your hand toward a creature you can see within range and project a puff of noxious gas from your palm. The creature must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or take 1d12 poison damage."

That's not really describing what the image shows.

In terms of gameplay, this a 20' cone would be much more powerful than the current iteration. Too powerful for a cantrip, IMO.

 

[Gorck]

I said yes, but with the caveat that the damage die gets reduced down from a d12. Maybe a d8 or so.

D12 is fine for a single target cantrip, but if it potentially targets multiple creatures, the damage should be reduced. Otherwise, it’s too good for a cantrip.

 

[mellored]

"You extend your hand toward a creature you can see within range and project a puff of noxious gas from your palm. The creature must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or take 1d12 poison damage."

That's not really describing what the image shows.

It's what the name is describing.
The description is easy enough to fix.

You extend your hand and a spray of noxious gas shoots from your palms.

In terms of gameplay, this a 20' cone would be much more powerful than the current iteration. Too powerful for a cantrip, IMO.

15'?

 

[aco175]

It could be a ball of poison that explodes into a spray when it hits. I think the spray part might mean more how the damage is dealt, where you inhale the poison instead of damage from a fire bolt striking you.

I might be cool with a cone of 10ft. It goes out one square and then two. This might be a max of 3 people, but that does not happen often. Plus being close means that you might be in harms way more. Going out to 15ft, I would want the damage to be 1d6- especially if it scales up at 5th level to 2d6.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

I'd make it a small 5' cloud of fumes that you can move as an action on your turn.

''Until the spell ends, the magic bonfire fills a 5-foot cube. Any creature in the cloud's space when you cast the spell must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or take 1d10 poison damage. A creature must also make the saving throw when it moves into the cloud's space for the first time on a turn or ends its turn there.

You can use your action to control the cloud. You can move the hand up to 10 feet each time you use it and it can pass through small holes, narrow openings, and even mere cracks, though it treats liquids as though they were solid surfaces.

The cloud vanishes if it is ever more than 30 feet away from you or if you cast this spell again."

 

[Incenjucar]

It's pretty arbitrary, and balance is what matters. The current version is basically like a spitting cobra's spray, which is precise and aimed at the eyes. Super Soaker style.

 

[James Gasik]

I'm shocked WotC didn't make it a cone with the latest UA, since they obviously felt it was super important for Chill Touch to be a touch spell, lol.

I would think a 10' cone (possibly catching 3 guys close together) would be ok for a cantrip. It'd likely have to go back to a saving throw though, and given how many things don't care about poison, I doubt it'd be taken much anyways.

 

[Clint_L]

The new acid splash does 1d6 damage in a 5' cube. So there's your metric. Reduce poison spray to 1d6 damage in a 15' cone.

 

[Hriston]

You could think of it as a 10’ cone centered on the target’s space. It wouldn’t extend enough into adjacent spaces to catch anyone else though.

ETA: A seven and a half foot cone would be adequate for what the spell says it does.