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Message: <blockquote data-quote="FormerlyHemlock" data-source="post: 7176740" data-attributes="member: 6787650">If your goal is to get damage out of a level 5-8 slot, but you only have access to 3rd level spells, you have better options than Erupting Earth. Those options still aren't blasting options though. Consider Animate Dead VI, which occupies a similar niche to a blasting spell. You get 7-10 skeleton archers doing 7d6+14 (38) to 10d6+20 (55) damage (times hit probability) per round with basic equipment, and like a blasting spell there is no concentration requirement. Compare that to 6d12 (39, save for half) in a 20' cube from Erupting Earth VI. In both cases you have something to do while your concentration is busy on e.g. Hasting the party fighter, but if you pick Erupting Earth VI you get 6d12 in a small area, and if you pick Animate Dead VI + e.g. Fire Bolt you get 3d10 + 7d6+14 or more to a single target, and you get to repeat that every round until the skeletons are dead.Upcast blasting spells are just terrible in 5E, even as a way of killing things. Even Fireball isn't that great any more, due to HP inflation--it used to be able to kill a troll outright, but nowadays it just depletes about 1/3 of the troll's HP and stops it from regenerating for a single round.</blockquote>