Sculpt Spells just seems so, so good! Like you can just nuke all the things, and no more trying to play Tetris trying to get as many enemies inside a shape while avoiding your allies. No more hoping you roll really high on initiative so you can drop a bomb.
The level 6 and 10 abilities seem pretty 👎in my opinion, which is the reason I haven't played it. But lately I've been thinking Sculpt Spells alone would make it worth it. Level 14 Overchannel also looks amazing, but I've never been lucky enough to play that high.
I think the second level feature is a bit overblown but depends on your party. If you think it's good be sure to ask these three questions for how applicable it actually is.
1. What is your party composition and how does that apply to party positioning interfering with your spell placement? A party that doesn't have many melee characters that stand next to the enemies doesn't need to worry about being caught in the fireball in the middle of the enemies. If the party has multiple of fighters/barbarians/melee rangers and rogues/other casters pretending to be melee, then they might take more splash damage than is worthwhile.
2. Can those melee characters afford to take your spells without sculpt spell reducing the damage? Various races and subclasses will give people resistance against possible damage you might use (mostly fire). I also didn't mention in question 1 paladins, this is because of their bonuses to saves makes them more likely to succeed, higher level rogues and monks can also do the same with evasion since most of your evocation area spells are dex based.
3. What spells do you want to use that the feature actually applies to? Actually looking over the list of wizard evocation spells, there aren't that many I look at and worry about using that hurt my allies in range until much higher levels. 1st level has Burning Hands (I've never bothered to use it, and what few times I have seen people using it haven't had trouble safely aiming it), Earth Tremor (you need to also be in melee, which is bad), Tasha's Caustic Brew (it's a line spell so easy to aim safely), and Thunderwave (it's a cube in front of you, like burning hands it's normally fairly easy to safely aim). 2nd Level has Aganazzar's Scorcher (Line spell and also bad damage), Rime's Binding Ice (It's a decently long cone, but how significant is it if your melee allies are stuck in place with the enemies hopefully also caught in place) , Shatter (The first radius spell that you might apply the feature to, but it's a 10ft radius so it isn't that hard to safely aim in most circumstances). It's only when you hit level 3+ that the damage might start to really matter to your allies and even then it's a bit dubious. Fireball (classic and good damage), Lightning Bolt (line spell), Ice storm (Oh wow, it's less damage than fireball and the save doesn't help on the actual utility), Sickening Radiance (The first spell that actually makes me think Sculpt spell is significantly worthwhile, assuming you have the party synergy to leverage the spell with grapples/knockbacks/difficult terrain, if you haven't seen enemies exhausting into submission with this spell it's amazing), Storm Sphere (Not really a spell you are likely to catch allies in significantly), Vitriolic Sphere (Acid Fireball). That's all the spells that the feature can apply to from 1st-4th, and the list isn't actually all that impressive compared to the power of some of the wizard control spells.
In conclusion, the feature CAN be good but it greatly depends on the context of your party, the challenges you face, and the spells you actually use on a regular basis. Failing any of these questions lowers the value of the subclass down to the bottom rungs of the wizard options alongside necromancy and an uncreative illusion.
Most fighter types can end up doing more damage to a single target reliably than a wizard. Evoker is a good damage dealer, but it does not compare to say a Paladin smiting the bad guys, or a good archery build. He only helps out in the few vs an army situation.
Wizards rule in two specific areas - taking out a horde of creatures with area effect spells and battlefield control. Evoker is clearly going for the horde of creatures, because the problem with Area spells is your darn fighters rushing into the middle of them.
The other option is battlefield control. For that there are several good builds, including Divination mage (Portents just totally screw with the enemy especially if there is one big bad and support for him) Chrono wizard, and Gravity Wizard are all pretty good.
Something to remember about how the 2nd level feature works is that if you upcast a spell like Thunderwave which is normally a 1st level spell but you use a 3rd level spell slot then the spell counts as a 3rd level spell which in turn will allow you to use the feature to protect even more of your allies.
And the 10th level feature actually allows you to add your INT bonus to the single damage roll ofMagic Missile which means after you roll the 1d4+1 you also add you INT bonus to that to figure out the total damage roll for the spell, then that applies to all the darts created with the spell. Using a 1st level spell slot will give you 3 darts, but upcasting that spell with a 5th level spell slot will give you 7 darts.
That is something I had not thought of! Changes magic missile from an okay spell to a good one. Not a lot of good single target damage options for Wizards.
The magic missile rule is debatable. It is based on reading a single, online Sage Advice ruling that did NOT reference the INT bonus of Evocation. You will most likely find that you have to convince your DM to allow it. Do not count on it.
Most people consider Magic Missile to be a good spell already. Auto hit is amazing when it counts.
The magic missile rule is debatable. It is based on reading a single, online Sage Advice ruling that did NOT reference the INT bonus of Evocation. You will most likely find that you have to convince your DM to allow it. Do not count on it.
Most people consider Magic Missile to be a good spell already. Auto hit is amazing when it counts.
It's actually clarified that RAW it does work with empowered invocation. And frankly if I'm a DM your one level 10 ability sucks otherwise, so I wouldn't house rule it away.
Evocation is below average as far as Wizards go. IME Bladesinger, Chronurgy, Diviner, Scribes and Enchanter are all substantally better. War Magic, Necromancy an Abjurer are about equal.
If you are going to play a blaster Evocation is a better blaster wizard than most of the others (although Scribes would still be better even at that), but if you choose to be a blaster you are purposely choosing spells that are generally not as effective.
That said it is a wizard, which means it is the most powerful class. A Wizard with no subclass is more powerful than most other characters.
The magic missile rule is debatable. It is based on reading a single, online Sage Advice ruling that did NOT reference the INT bonus of Evocation. You will most likely find that you have to convince your DM to allow it. Do not count on it.
Most people consider Magic Missile to be a good spell already. Auto hit is amazing when it counts.
The ability lets you add the bonus to one die roll. You only roll 1 die with magic missile so you add this to the roll and every missile does that. Seems straightforward to me.
In any case it is great to auto hit and with an evoker of 10+ level it is great single target damage up to using a 4th level slot. But it is not that great and the downside is if you are an evoker you have sculpt spells which more or less eliminates the need to target a single creature.
For example an upcast 3rd level magic missile by a 10th level evoker would average 27.5 damage with no save, but fireball would do 31 damage against that same enemy and sculpt out your allies. Sure there is no save against magic missile, but is that worth a prepared slot when you are 10th level when even with a save fireball would still deal 16 AND could be used when there is one enemy or many enemies?
The magic missile rule is debatable. It is based on reading a single, online Sage Advice ruling that did NOT reference the INT bonus of Evocation. You will most likely find that you have to convince your DM to allow it. Do not count on it.
Most people consider Magic Missile to be a good spell already. Auto hit is amazing when it counts.
The ability lets you add the bonus to one die roll. You only roll 1 die with magic missile so you add this to the roll and every missile does that. Seems straightforward to me.
In any case it is great to auto hit and with an evoker of 10+ level it is great single target damage up to using a 4th level slot. But it is not that great and the downside is if you are an evoker you have sculpt spells which more or less eliminates the need to target a single creature.
For example an upcast 3rd level magic missile by a 10th level evoker would average 27.5 damage with no save, but fireball would do 31 damage against that same enemy and sculpt out your allies. Sure there is no save against magic missile, but is that worth a prepared slot when you are 10th level when even with a save fireball would still deal 16 AND could be used when there is one enemy or many enemies?
A magic missile upcast to 3rd level would average 42.5 damage, auto hit with no save.
2.5 + 1 + 5 = 8.5 damage per dart. Five darts = 42.5 on average.
In my opinion this makes magic missile actually worth casting at high level, but not overpowered.
The magic missile rule is debatable. It is based on reading a single, online Sage Advice ruling that did NOT reference the INT bonus of Evocation. You will most likely find that you have to convince your DM to allow it. Do not count on it.
Most people consider Magic Missile to be a good spell already. Auto hit is amazing when it counts.
The ability lets you add the bonus to one die roll. You only roll 1 die with magic missile so you add this to the roll and every missile does that. Seems straightforward to me.
In any case it is great to auto hit and with an evoker of 10+ level it is great single target damage up to using a 4th level slot. But it is not that great and the downside is if you are an evoker you have sculpt spells which more or less eliminates the need to target a single creature.
For example an upcast 3rd level magic missile by a 10th level evoker would average 27.5 damage with no save, but fireball would do 31 damage against that same enemy and sculpt out your allies. Sure there is no save against magic missile, but is that worth a prepared slot when you are 10th level when even with a save fireball would still deal 16 AND could be used when there is one enemy or many enemies?
A magic missile upcast to 3rd level would average 42.5 damage, auto hit with no save.
2.5 + 1 + 5 = 8.5 damage per dart. Five darts = 42.5 on average.
In my opinion this makes magic missile actually worth casting at high level, but not overpowered.
You are right. I was thinking a 16 intelligence, but you are right though at 10th level int is usually 20.
The magic missile rule is debatable. It is based on reading a single, online Sage Advice ruling that did NOT reference the INT bonus of Evocation. You will most likely find that you have to convince your DM to allow it. Do not count on it.
Most people consider Magic Missile to be a good spell already. Auto hit is amazing when it counts.
The ability lets you add the bonus to one die roll. You only roll 1 die with magic missile so you add this to the roll and every missile does that. Seems straightforward to me.
In any case it is great to auto hit and with an evoker of 10+ level it is great single target damage up to using a 4th level slot. But it is not that great and the downside is if you are an evoker you have sculpt spells which more or less eliminates the need to target a single creature.
For example an upcast 3rd level magic missile by a 10th level evoker would average 27.5 damage with no save, but fireball would do 31 damage against that same enemy and sculpt out your allies. Sure there is no save against magic missile, but is that worth a prepared slot when you are 10th level when even with a save fireball would still deal 16 AND could be used when there is one enemy or many enemies?
A magic missile upcast to 3rd level would average 42.5 damage, auto hit with no save.
2.5 + 1 + 5 = 8.5 damage per dart. Five darts = 42.5 on average.
In my opinion this makes magic missile actually worth casting at high level, but not overpowered.
You are right. I was thinking a 16 intelligence, but you are right though at 10th level int is usually 20.
No biggy :) One time I did a math booboo on here during a heated argument, and like five pages later I recalculated it and went "oops." lol
The spell itself does NOT say '1 die'. That came from a Sage Advice that did not reference Evocation. The entire quote is "Magic missile. RAW: You roll 1 damage die (see "Damage Rolls," PH, 196). RAI: It doesn't matter; you choose. #DnDhttps://t.co/AYRRX2j3AP". He clearly said 'it doesn't matter, you choose'. Which means he did NOT consider the abuse you describe as legal.
You have good argument, but it is not convincing enough to convince Adventure League, let alone my DM. In my opinion it is a clear abuse. The clear intent of the Evoker ability is to work ONCE per spell. That is the intent of 'one damage roll'. You want to let it work a lot more.
Also, it is clear that you entirely discount the 'no save, no to hit' nature of the spell. But that is the entire purpose of the spell. If you do not value the ability to do damage without any risk of all, then you should not be taking Magic Missile. Twisting the spell so that the reason to take Magic Missile is that it the 'one die' rule combined with a specific sub-class is ... peculiar. To my knowledge no other subclass has a spell that is boosted so much in power without MENTIONING it in the subclass. Hex warrior talks about the spell Hex. Illusionists talk about Minor Illusion. Arcane Trickster talks about Mage Hand. Evoker says nothing about any spell.
If your DM lets you do this, I am glad for you. But do not be surprised if other DM's do not allow it. Telling other people to do it without an appropriate warning is unfair to them. Your advice could easily start an argument at someone else's game.
If you do not value the ability to do damage without any risk of all, then you should not be taking Magic Missile.
Most leveled spells do damage without any risk at all. Fireball, Flaming Sphere, Blight, Burning hands. They all automatically damage the target(s) unless they are immune to the damage type. Some don't (Catapult, scorchimng ray) but they are the minority.
This is a lot of damage, but any overpowered use of magic missile is nerfed by Evocation being a weak subclass overall. Sure you have a spell that can almost always cause damage (unless the opponent has shield or counterspell or is one of the 6 creatures that are immune to the spell), but that is the only thing you can really do well.
The power in being able to do that is dwarfed by something like a order of scribes that can change damage type on a whim and hit an enemy with something he is vulnerable to.
The spell itself does NOT say '1 die'. That came from a Sage Advice that did not reference Evocation. The entire quote is "Magic missile. RAW: You roll 1 damage die (see "Damage Rolls," PH, 196). RAI: It doesn't matter; you choose. #DnDhttps://t.co/AYRRX2j3AP". He clearly said 'it doesn't matter, you choose'. Which means he did NOT consider the abuse you describe as legal.
You have good argument, but it is not convincing enough to convince Adventure League, let alone my DM. In my opinion it is a clear abuse. The clear intent of the Evoker ability is to work ONCE per spell. That is the intent of 'one damage roll'. You want to let it work a lot more.
Also, it is clear that you entirely discount the 'no save, no to hit' nature of the spell. But that is the entire purpose of the spell. If you do not value the ability to do damage without any risk of all, then you should not be taking Magic Missile. Twisting the spell so that the reason to take Magic Missile is that it the 'one die' rule combined with a specific sub-class is ... peculiar. To my knowledge no other subclass has a spell that is boosted so much in power without MENTIONING it in the subclass. Hex warrior talks about the spell Hex. Illusionists talk about Minor Illusion. Arcane Trickster talks about Mage Hand. Evoker says nothing about any spell.
If your DM lets you do this, I am glad for you. But do not be surprised if other DM's do not allow it. Telling other people to do it without an appropriate warning is unfair to them. Your advice could easily start an argument at someone else's game.
Did you not see my link? Jeremy specifically mentions Empowered Evocation.
Considering how little the Evoker actually has going for it, I say let ‘em have the gimmick.
Worth noting, it's not even all that powerful. It does 25.5 damage on average at the cost of a 1st level spell slot. What kind of damage does a level 10 Barbarian or Ranger do every turn without expending any resources? A basic rogue does that much damage on a single hit with sneak attack, a non-magic weapon, and no other special damage adders. No resources.
And Jeremy Crawford specifically allowed it. Yet, it's "abuse."
Considering how little the Evoker actually has going for it, I say let ‘em have the gimmick.
Worth noting, it's not even all that powerful. It does 25.5 damage on average at the cost of a 1st level spell slot. What kind of damage does a level 10 Barbarian or Ranger do every turn without expending any resources? A basic rogue does that much damage on a single hit with sneak attack, a non-magic weapon, and no other special damage adders. No resources.
And Jeremy Crawford specifically allowed it. Yet, it's "abuse."
Its not abuse until you add in 1 level of Hexblade Warlock for Hexblade's Curse which at level 11 adds another 4 damage per dart :D
I played evoker to 20th level and it was a blast (pun intended).
Realistically though you have to look at your party make up. I picked evocation specifically because the group was very melee heavy and sculpt spell was very nice quiet a few situations.
For potent cantrip, I generally used frostbite since it was guaranteed damage unless the enemy was immune to cold. Almost any cantrip will work, just don't pick one that requires concentration like Create Bonfire.
Empowered Evocation is barely even noticeable at the level you get it. Especially when they specified it must be a spell and not a cantrip. (At least that was the rule when we were playing, it may have changed again.) Besides the argument about magic missile doing 25 damage at that level for a spell slot is kinda crap. Especially when the barbarian is doing about that per hit and getting 2 or 3 attacks per turn. The paladin spikes damage like crazy and the rogue does at least that per round and doesn't get hit, if they're being sneaky.
Overchannel, however is sweet. For maximum impact pick spells that are AoE and have a duration like Sickening Radiance or Dawn. Even Bigby's Hand is fun when you're hitting for 32 per round.
Now the downside. Evokers are blasters. Don't think you've got to have a big evocation spell for every level, especially at higher levels, 8+ really. By tier 3 all my 1st levels spells were defensive, 2nd was a mix of defense and utility. I kept either fireball or lightning bolt for 3rd. Handy even at higher levels, but it became 'I don't have a good idea throw fireball'. I made sure to have one evocation spell know for 4th and 5th. That still leaves quiet a few spells known that you can play with and don't forget your rituals.
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Sculpt Spells just seems so, so good! Like you can just nuke all the things, and no more trying to play Tetris trying to get as many enemies inside a shape while avoiding your allies. No more hoping you roll really high on initiative so you can drop a bomb.
The level 6 and 10 abilities seem pretty 👎in my opinion, which is the reason I haven't played it. But lately I've been thinking Sculpt Spells alone would make it worth it. Level 14 Overchannel also looks amazing, but I've never been lucky enough to play that high.
It's good if blasting is what you want to do. Not my preferred play style, personally, but if I'm playing a blaster I'm going evocation.
I think the second level feature is a bit overblown but depends on your party. If you think it's good be sure to ask these three questions for how applicable it actually is.
1. What is your party composition and how does that apply to party positioning interfering with your spell placement? A party that doesn't have many melee characters that stand next to the enemies doesn't need to worry about being caught in the fireball in the middle of the enemies. If the party has multiple of fighters/barbarians/melee rangers and rogues/other casters pretending to be melee, then they might take more splash damage than is worthwhile.
2. Can those melee characters afford to take your spells without sculpt spell reducing the damage? Various races and subclasses will give people resistance against possible damage you might use (mostly fire). I also didn't mention in question 1 paladins, this is because of their bonuses to saves makes them more likely to succeed, higher level rogues and monks can also do the same with evasion since most of your evocation area spells are dex based.
3. What spells do you want to use that the feature actually applies to? Actually looking over the list of wizard evocation spells, there aren't that many I look at and worry about using that hurt my allies in range until much higher levels. 1st level has Burning Hands (I've never bothered to use it, and what few times I have seen people using it haven't had trouble safely aiming it), Earth Tremor (you need to also be in melee, which is bad), Tasha's Caustic Brew (it's a line spell so easy to aim safely), and Thunderwave (it's a cube in front of you, like burning hands it's normally fairly easy to safely aim). 2nd Level has Aganazzar's Scorcher (Line spell and also bad damage), Rime's Binding Ice (It's a decently long cone, but how significant is it if your melee allies are stuck in place with the enemies hopefully also caught in place) , Shatter (The first radius spell that you might apply the feature to, but it's a 10ft radius so it isn't that hard to safely aim in most circumstances). It's only when you hit level 3+ that the damage might start to really matter to your allies and even then it's a bit dubious. Fireball (classic and good damage), Lightning Bolt (line spell), Ice storm (Oh wow, it's less damage than fireball and the save doesn't help on the actual utility), Sickening Radiance (The first spell that actually makes me think Sculpt spell is significantly worthwhile, assuming you have the party synergy to leverage the spell with grapples/knockbacks/difficult terrain, if you haven't seen enemies exhausting into submission with this spell it's amazing), Storm Sphere (Not really a spell you are likely to catch allies in significantly), Vitriolic Sphere (Acid Fireball). That's all the spells that the feature can apply to from 1st-4th, and the list isn't actually all that impressive compared to the power of some of the wizard control spells.
In conclusion, the feature CAN be good but it greatly depends on the context of your party, the challenges you face, and the spells you actually use on a regular basis. Failing any of these questions lowers the value of the subclass down to the bottom rungs of the wizard options alongside necromancy and an uncreative illusion.
Most fighter types can end up doing more damage to a single target reliably than a wizard. Evoker is a good damage dealer, but it does not compare to say a Paladin smiting the bad guys, or a good archery build. He only helps out in the few vs an army situation.
Wizards rule in two specific areas - taking out a horde of creatures with area effect spells and battlefield control. Evoker is clearly going for the horde of creatures, because the problem with Area spells is your darn fighters rushing into the middle of them.
The other option is battlefield control. For that there are several good builds, including Divination mage (Portents just totally screw with the enemy especially if there is one big bad and support for him) Chrono wizard, and Gravity Wizard are all pretty good.
That is something I had not thought of! Changes magic missile from an okay spell to a good one. Not a lot of good single target damage options for Wizards.
The magic missile rule is debatable. It is based on reading a single, online Sage Advice ruling that did NOT reference the INT bonus of Evocation. You will most likely find that you have to convince your DM to allow it. Do not count on it.
Most people consider Magic Missile to be a good spell already. Auto hit is amazing when it counts.
https://www.sageadvice.eu/magic-missile-3-bolts/
It's actually clarified that RAW it does work with empowered invocation. And frankly if I'm a DM your one level 10 ability sucks otherwise, so I wouldn't house rule it away.
Evocation is below average as far as Wizards go. IME Bladesinger, Chronurgy, Diviner, Scribes and Enchanter are all substantally better. War Magic, Necromancy an Abjurer are about equal.
If you are going to play a blaster Evocation is a better blaster wizard than most of the others (although Scribes would still be better even at that), but if you choose to be a blaster you are purposely choosing spells that are generally not as effective.
That said it is a wizard, which means it is the most powerful class. A Wizard with no subclass is more powerful than most other characters.
The ability lets you add the bonus to one die roll. You only roll 1 die with magic missile so you add this to the roll and every missile does that. Seems straightforward to me.
In any case it is great to auto hit and with an evoker of 10+ level it is great single target damage up to using a 4th level slot. But it is not that great and the downside is if you are an evoker you have sculpt spells which more or less eliminates the need to target a single creature.
For example an upcast 3rd level magic missile by a 10th level evoker would average 27.5 damage with no save, but fireball would do 31 damage against that same enemy and sculpt out your allies. Sure there is no save against magic missile, but is that worth a prepared slot when you are 10th level when even with a save fireball would still deal 16 AND could be used when there is one enemy or many enemies?
A magic missile upcast to 3rd level would average 42.5 damage, auto hit with no save.
2.5 + 1 + 5 = 8.5 damage per dart. Five darts = 42.5 on average.
In my opinion this makes magic missile actually worth casting at high level, but not overpowered.
You are right. I was thinking a 16 intelligence, but you are right though at 10th level int is usually 20.
No biggy :) One time I did a math booboo on here during a heated argument, and like five pages later I recalculated it and went "oops." lol
The spell itself does NOT say '1 die'. That came from a Sage Advice that did not reference Evocation. The entire quote is "Magic missile. RAW: You roll 1 damage die (see "Damage Rolls," PH, 196). RAI: It doesn't matter; you choose. #DnD https://t.co/AYRRX2j3AP". He clearly said 'it doesn't matter, you choose'. Which means he did NOT consider the abuse you describe as legal.
You have good argument, but it is not convincing enough to convince Adventure League, let alone my DM. In my opinion it is a clear abuse. The clear intent of the Evoker ability is to work ONCE per spell. That is the intent of 'one damage roll'. You want to let it work a lot more.
Also, it is clear that you entirely discount the 'no save, no to hit' nature of the spell. But that is the entire purpose of the spell. If you do not value the ability to do damage without any risk of all, then you should not be taking Magic Missile. Twisting the spell so that the reason to take Magic Missile is that it the 'one die' rule combined with a specific sub-class is ... peculiar. To my knowledge no other subclass has a spell that is boosted so much in power without MENTIONING it in the subclass. Hex warrior talks about the spell Hex. Illusionists talk about Minor Illusion. Arcane Trickster talks about Mage Hand. Evoker says nothing about any spell.
If your DM lets you do this, I am glad for you. But do not be surprised if other DM's do not allow it. Telling other people to do it without an appropriate warning is unfair to them. Your advice could easily start an argument at someone else's game.
Most leveled spells do damage without any risk at all. Fireball, Flaming Sphere, Blight, Burning hands. They all automatically damage the target(s) unless they are immune to the damage type. Some don't (Catapult, scorchimng ray) but they are the minority.
This is a lot of damage, but any overpowered use of magic missile is nerfed by Evocation being a weak subclass overall. Sure you have a spell that can almost always cause damage (unless the opponent has shield or counterspell or is one of the 6 creatures that are immune to the spell), but that is the only thing you can really do well.
The power in being able to do that is dwarfed by something like a order of scribes that can change damage type on a whim and hit an enemy with something he is vulnerable to.
Considering how little the Evoker actually has going for it, I say let ‘em have the gimmick.
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Did you not see my link? Jeremy specifically mentions Empowered Evocation.
https://www.sageadvice.eu/magic-missile-3-bolts/
Worth noting, it's not even all that powerful. It does 25.5 damage on average at the cost of a 1st level spell slot. What kind of damage does a level 10 Barbarian or Ranger do every turn without expending any resources? A basic rogue does that much damage on a single hit with sneak attack, a non-magic weapon, and no other special damage adders. No resources.
And Jeremy Crawford specifically allowed it. Yet, it's "abuse."
Its not abuse until you add in 1 level of Hexblade Warlock for Hexblade's Curse which at level 11 adds another 4 damage per dart :D
Don’t forget that Shavarran Birch Focus…. Now it’s abuse. 😉
🤣😂🤣
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I played evoker to 20th level and it was a blast (pun intended).
Realistically though you have to look at your party make up. I picked evocation specifically because the group was very melee heavy and sculpt spell was very nice quiet a few situations.
For potent cantrip, I generally used frostbite since it was guaranteed damage unless the enemy was immune to cold. Almost any cantrip will work, just don't pick one that requires concentration like Create Bonfire.
Empowered Evocation is barely even noticeable at the level you get it. Especially when they specified it must be a spell and not a cantrip. (At least that was the rule when we were playing, it may have changed again.) Besides the argument about magic missile doing 25 damage at that level for a spell slot is kinda crap. Especially when the barbarian is doing about that per hit and getting 2 or 3 attacks per turn. The paladin spikes damage like crazy and the rogue does at least that per round and doesn't get hit, if they're being sneaky.
Overchannel, however is sweet. For maximum impact pick spells that are AoE and have a duration like Sickening Radiance or Dawn. Even Bigby's Hand is fun when you're hitting for 32 per round.
Now the downside. Evokers are blasters. Don't think you've got to have a big evocation spell for every level, especially at higher levels, 8+ really. By tier 3 all my 1st levels spells were defensive, 2nd was a mix of defense and utility. I kept either fireball or lightning bolt for 3rd. Handy even at higher levels, but it became 'I don't have a good idea throw fireball'. I made sure to have one evocation spell know for 4th and 5th. That still leaves quiet a few spells known that you can play with and don't forget your rituals.