Spells cast from magic items are supposed to be cast at the lowest level possible unless the item says otherwise. This is working correctly for non-cantrip spells, and it can be modified by using the "CAST AT SPELL LEVEL" field on the item. However, cantrips that scale are always using the character's level when determining their strength, and the "CAST AT SPELL LEVEL" field does nothing to modify them. The strength of a cantrip gained from an item should appear as if a level 1 character was casting it, with the ability to modify it on the item.
I only found one official magic item that had a scalable cantrip on it: Wand of Winter, which can cast Ray of Frost for no charges, doing 1d8 damage, or 2d8 damage if you expend 1 charge. When you give this item to a level 20 character on D&D Beyond, it shows 4d8 damage with no other options. This may be a fault in the item's creation, but I found this issue creating my own magic items with scalable cantrips on them.
At first, I wasn't sure if they should be scaling or not, but found this tweet from Jeremy Crawford regarding it.
It's been almost a year since this was posted and it appears that the problem has yet to be addressed, both for the Wand of Winter and for homebrew magic items that allow the casting of cantrips (specifically base level according to Jeremy Crawford).
If this functionality is ever properly implemented, it would be ideal to allow for specific control over cantrip level in all homebrew scenarios.
Some magic items allow the user to cast a spell from the item, often by expending charges from it. The spell is cast at the lowest possible spell and caster level, doesn’t expend any of the user’s spell slots, and requires no components unless the item’s description says otherwise.
This is on the list for the dev team to take a look at. 😊
Some magic items allow the user to cast a spell from the item, often by expending charges from it. The spell is cast at the lowest possible spell and caster level, doesn’t expend any of the user’s spell slots, and requires no components unless the item’s description says otherwise.
This is on the list for the dev team to take a look at. 😊
Has there been any progress on this issue?
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Spells cast from magic items are supposed to be cast at the lowest level possible unless the item says otherwise. This is working correctly for non-cantrip spells, and it can be modified by using the "CAST AT SPELL LEVEL" field on the item. However, cantrips that scale are always using the character's level when determining their strength, and the "CAST AT SPELL LEVEL" field does nothing to modify them. The strength of a cantrip gained from an item should appear as if a level 1 character was casting it, with the ability to modify it on the item.
I only found one official magic item that had a scalable cantrip on it: Wand of Winter, which can cast Ray of Frost for no charges, doing 1d8 damage, or 2d8 damage if you expend 1 charge. When you give this item to a level 20 character on D&D Beyond, it shows 4d8 damage with no other options. This may be a fault in the item's creation, but I found this issue creating my own magic items with scalable cantrips on them.
At first, I wasn't sure if they should be scaling or not, but found this tweet from Jeremy Crawford regarding it.
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AlumniIt's been almost a year since this was posted and it appears that the problem has yet to be addressed, both for the Wand of Winter and for homebrew magic items that allow the casting of cantrips (specifically base level according to Jeremy Crawford).
If this functionality is ever properly implemented, it would be ideal to allow for specific control over cantrip level in all homebrew scenarios.
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D&D Beyond FoundersHi there,
You're correct - the rules are quite specific on this here:
https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/dmg/treasure#ActivatinganItem
This is on the list for the dev team to take a look at. 😊
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Has there been any progress on this issue?