What level's this spell?

[Phazonfish]

As has been said, the fact that it works by letting you make weapon attacks is the key issue, as it has too much synergy with other features. It's easy to boost attack rolls, but only a hand full of things can sabotage saves; lots of features and weapons grant riders and more damage dice to weapon attacks; attack rolls can crit (which I'm convinced is the only reason disintegrate is an all-or-nothing Dex save). Sorry if this is kinda redundant with what's already been said, but I feel like Blue's post desperately needs a tl;dr.

I'm confused by these. At best it's doing 12 average damage. That's around a third the damage of Steel Wind Strike and Fireball.

If you assume your targets succeed their save against Fireball it does 14-ish damage; just a bit more than your spell.

 

[Yunru]

As has been said, the fact that it works by letting you make weapon attacks is the key issue, as it has too much synergy with other features. It's easy to boost attack rolls, but only a hand full of things can sabotage saves; lots of features and weapons grant riders and more damage dice to weapon attacks; attack rolls can crit (which I'm convinced is the only reason disintegrate is an all-or-nothing Dex save). Sorry if this is kinda redundant with what's already been said, but I feel like Blue's post desperately needs a tl;dr.



If you assume your targets succeed their save against Fireball it does 14-ish damage; just a bit more than your spell.

But not for a class that takes 17 levels to get the spell, surely? (Except fpr cheating Bards who cheat)

As for Fireball, one it's 2 levels lower (even if it fits a 4th level damage), and two a successful save is assumed to happen 50% of the time, so your "it's close if everyone saves" feels kinda... pointless?

Better spells for comparison are Conjure Volley and Destructive Wave.

 

[Phazonfish]

But not for a class that takes 17 levels to get the spell, surely? (Except fpr cheating Bards who cheat)

As for Fireball, one it's 2 levels lower (even if it fits a 4th level damage), and two a successful save is assumed to happen 50% of the time, so your "it's close if everyone saves" feels kinda... pointless?

Better spells for comparison are Conjure Volley and Destructive Wave.

Actually I would expect to see things like GWM, magic weapons, superiority dice, ect on half/third casters more often than full casters. Even still, I'm sure it's fine when used with these as intended, it just looks exploitable, sorry if I overstated the severity of these considerations.

As for Fireball, I would like to clarify that I was just pointing out a way that your spell's damage could be considered comparable to Fireball, not saying that the damage is too high or that Dex saves are tough to land.

 

[77IM]

This seems like it would be better balanced if it affected a fixed number of foes, affecting more when cast at higher levels. My gut says, make it a 2nd-level spell that can hit 2 people, and then +1 target per spell level.

EDIT: This is very similar to what Cap'n Kobold said.

 

[Quartz]

Do consider how this can be abused. Think, for example, of this spell put into a Ring of Spell Storing, for instance. Could a high level rogue make umpteen Sneak Attacks?

And what exactly is the point of the spell? Is it just Fire Storm with melee weapon damage? If so, that's just a change of SFX. No need to faff around with teleporting around. So just switch Fire damage with save with a to-hit roll. Add a restriction that the spell cannot be cast where teleportation is not possible. Job done.

 

[Blue]

Actually I would expect to see things like GWM, magic weapons, superiority dice, ect on half/third casters more often than full casters. Even still, I'm sure it's fine when used with these as intended, it just looks exploitable, sorry if I overstated the severity of these considerations.

In support of what you are saying, we need to think about the caster who picks this. There are better choices to burn a spell known/prepared if they have a lousy melee attack. I would assume that if this is taken, the caster likely has at least a decent and likely an above-average melee weapon attack. So it's likely multiclass (fighter/wizard, paladin/sorcerer, whatever), hexblade, bladesinger, valor bard, or some other good-at-melee caster.

Also it's not concentration, so it pairs well with other spells that improve all of your attacks. Shadowblade (XGtE), Bless, Magic Weapon, Elemental Weapon, Greater Invisibility (for advantage), etc. Including some that could be buffs from others in your party. (And non-concentration spells like Shillelagh).

It also pairs well with any magical weapon.

 

[Blue]

Do consider how this can be abused. Think, for example, of this spell put into a Ring of Spell Storing, for instance. Could a high level rogue make umpteen Sneak Attacks?

And what exactly is the point of the spell? Is it just Fire Storm with melee weapon damage? If so, that's just a change of SFX. No need to faff around with teleporting around. So just switch Fire damage with save with a to-hit roll. Add a restriction that the spell cannot be cast where teleportation is not possible. Job done.

A rogue can make one sneak attack be turn, regardless of how many attacks they have.

And it's more then just a change in SFX - one thing that leaps out to me is it's something to encourage a lesser-used style of play - full casters who are good in melee. Allows people to play gish and not feel that they are hobbling themselves by not casting fireball and the like when they want to do damage.

 

[Blue]

I'm also noting that I shouldn't post while tired. It's supposed to be a 30 foot radius, for a 60 foot diameter.
EDIT: Although I do like cube more, as it correlates better to movement.

Well, that's definitely lower level. Going back to my comparison to Conjure Volley, we're going from more than three times the area to under half the area. Now, I was capping the number of people it could hit because most encounters don't have unlimited foes, but that would probably put it down to 4th or 5th. Need to do the sanity test again against other spells but my apologies I don't have time right now.

 

[77IM]

OK here's how I'd construct this spell:

Flurry of Strikes
3rd-level transmutation
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 30 ft.
Components: V, M (a melee weapon)
Duration: Instant

Select up to three targets you can see within range, and one unoccupied space that you can see within range. For each target, you teleport to an unoccupied space within 5 feet of it, and make a single melee weapon attack against it. If the attack hits, you deal an additional 1d6 damage. Once you have attacked all the selected targets, you teleport to the space you selected.
At Higher Levels. If you cast this spell using a spell slot of 4th level or higher, then for each spell level above 3rd you may select one additional target and the additional damage increases by 1d6.
​

I added the bonus damage because scaling that makes it much easier to balance against similar spells. The implication is that your melee attacks are typically dealing less than 7d6 damage, which I think is generally a pretty safe assumption. There are edge cases involving a flame touch greatsword + GWM, or anything + paladin smite, but I'm not sure they're significant enough to make up for the limited number of targets and limited range.

(I'm getting a very anime vibe from this spell, like there's just a crazy series of slashing sounds and flashes, and then you're on the other side of the enemies and after a brief pause they all fall down and die.)

 

[aco175]

I would love this for a BBEG, but most likely not allow the players to have it. I like some of the ideas on starting smaller and be able to boost it. I would also just make it a special power.