So far, I'm mostly liking the changes to spells in the 2024 PHB. But there's at least 2 that are in desperate need of errata, as they're super broken.
Chromatic Orb. Does the same thing as before, except now it can jump to new targets. It will jump to another creature within 30 feet if you roll the same number on at least 2 dice. Doing the math, at level 1, there's a ~35% chance you roll doubles. ~59% chance at level 2, ~80% chance at level 3, ~93% chance at level 4, ~98% chance at level 5, and 99.8% at level 6. When cast at level 7 and above, it's guaranteed. And it can jump a number of times equal to the level you cast it at. This is crazily strong. Casting it at 7th level, you're guaranteed(as long as each attack roll hits) to deal 9d8 damage to 8 targets, each within 30 feet of the last. On the flipside though, there's no part of the spell that says you can choose to not have the Orb jump to a new target. And it doesn't say anything about not harming friendly targets. So if you or other friendlies are within 30 feet of an eneny, there's a real chance that it keeps bouncing and hurts your party. I.. this is just crazy. Suddenly one of the staples of early level wizards is now a crazy, uncontrollable wildcard, that can do insane amounts of damage if you keep hitting. If this was changed so that it only jumps once, regardless of level cast, then it's still a really good upgrade, but not broken.
Conjure Minor Elementals. One of the overhauled Conjuration spells, I like the flavor of what this does: Mechanically, it's monstrous. 4th level spell to create a 15ft emanation for up to 10 minutes with Concentration. Enemies treat it as difficult terrain, neat. But whenever you hit a creature within the emanation with an attack, the attack deals an additional 2d8 damage(choosing a damage type from Acid, Cold, Fire, Lightning). This extra damage increased by an additional 2d8 damage for each level above 4th. I don't know who thought these numbers seemed balanced, or what they were smoking when they did, but I want some. Even at base level, adding 2d8 damage to each of your attacks is really good. Stack that for a Bladesinger Wizard, or someone with Eldritch Blast or Scorching Ray, and it's really strong. Upcasting it just makes it go absolutely mental. Cast it at level 8, add 10d8 damage to each of your attacks. Then cast a 7th level Scorching Ray, deal 8 bolts of 2d6+10d8 each. Suddenly an average of 52 per bolt so 416 damage if all hit. This is just stupid. If it was kept at base level 2d8, and the upcast did something different, then it would still be really strong, but not broken. A better and cooler upcast would be if it increased the size of the emanation. Or if the damage had to increase, then increase it by 1d8 per 2 levels above 4th, that might not be too powerful. Still, what were you thinking?
There might be a few other spells that are super strong too. Conjure Celestial's healing option is *Very* strong, as most rounds you can hit friendly creatures twice with it. ALso, Find Steed: Where's our Swimming speed? Not a huge deal, but I think you should be able to get a swimming speed with it.
So far, I'm mostly liking the changes to spells in the 2024 PHB. But there's at least 2 that are in desperate need of errata, as they're super broken.
Chromatic Orb. Does the same thing as before, except now it can jump to new targets. It will jump to another creature within 30 feet if you roll the same number on at least 2 dice. Doing the math, at level 1, there's a ~35% chance you roll doubles. ~59% chance at level 2, ~80% chance at level 3, ~93% chance at level 4, ~98% chance at level 5, and 99.8% at level 6. When cast at level 7 and above, it's guaranteed. And it can jump a number of times equal to the level you cast it at. This is crazily strong. Casting it at 7th level, you're guaranteed(as long as each attack roll hits) to deal 9d8 damage to 8 targets, each within 30 feet of the last. On the flipside though, there's no part of the spell that says you can choose to not have the Orb jump to a new target. And it doesn't say anything about not harming friendly targets. So if you or other friendlies are within 30 feet of an eneny, there's a real chance that it keeps bouncing and hurts your party. I.. this is just crazy. Suddenly one of the staples of early level wizards is now a crazy, uncontrollable wildcard, that can do insane amounts of damage if you keep hitting. If this was changed so that it only jumps once, regardless of level cast, then it's still a really good upgrade, but not broken.
There are people running the numbers on it in a different thread, and, while it looks nice, it's not as good as the spells of the level you're upcasting to, except maybe when you upcast it to second level. (For instance, compare up to six targets at 7d8 to Steel Wind Strike's guaranteed five at 6d10.)
Is it good? Sure Does it basically make Chaos Bolt redundant? Also yes. Overpowered? Not really.
I can't comment on minor elementals, because I haven't seen it in play, and it's a very circumstantially effective spell. But to be really effective, you have to be up in the thick of things, which is not a great environment for keeping a concentration spell going.
It is insanely overpowered. You can end any big monster on your turn ( put anything in any sourcebook ) by simply doing action surge, combining with the new valor bard, and you are peaking way above 500 dmg that round. Sure, you wont have that high lvl spell slot, but you will have the second highest, like 7th, 6th and then when you get into 5th you got multiples. How many CR 30 creatures does the DM need to put against your lvl 17 party, just because you can just mop the floor with the most powerful one on the board?
So far, I'm mostly liking the changes to spells in the 2024 PHB. But there's at least 2 that are in desperate need of errata, as they're super broken.
Chromatic Orb. Does the same thing as before, except now it can jump to new targets. It will jump to another creature within 30 feet if you roll the same number on at least 2 dice. Doing the math, at level 1, there's a ~35% chance you roll doubles. ~59% chance at level 2, ~80% chance at level 3, ~93% chance at level 4, ~98% chance at level 5, and 99.8% at level 6. When cast at level 7 and above, it's guaranteed. And it can jump a number of times equal to the level you cast it at. This is crazily strong. Casting it at 7th level, you're guaranteed(as long as each attack roll hits) to deal 9d8 damage to 8 targets, each within 30 feet of the last. On the flipside though, there's no part of the spell that says you can choose to not have the Orb jump to a new target. And it doesn't say anything about not harming friendly targets. So if you or other friendlies are within 30 feet of an eneny, there's a real chance that it keeps bouncing and hurts your party. I.. this is just crazy. Suddenly one of the staples of early level wizards is now a crazy, uncontrollable wildcard, that can do insane amounts of damage if you keep hitting. If this was changed so that it only jumps once, regardless of level cast, then it's still a really good upgrade, but not broken.
Circle of Death--a 6th level spell--does 8d8 to EVERY target in a 60ft sphere, provided they fail the CON save, and it does an extra 2d8 per slot level when upcasted. Fire Storm does 7d10 to to each creature in each 10ft cube, and you can have ten cubes. So no, Chromatic Orb is NOT overpowered, but comparable to other options if you decide to burn a high level spell, which is debatable when you have so much better options.
Conjure Minor Elementals is busted...Period. Either of your two suggestions would've been better. However, most normal tables are not looking to intentionally break the game, so most of the time you won't see players trying the crazy optimizations required to pull off this kind of combo. Should it still get errata? Absolutely.
Conjure Minor Elemental is just a slightly better Spirit Shroud. 5 More feet, and 2d8 instead of 1d8. BUT that damage is also Elements, and are all fairly heavily resist- able. ITs honestly not that strong, and no where near "Game breaking" as you are making it sound. Especially compared to the fact that it used to just summon a whole ass nother combatant to keep track of.
Not to mention, it is a Concentration Spell. So just do any of the ways to break Concentration, plus spellcaster usually means squishy. This spell makes them have to be PRETTY damn close, push them, get them in Melee and tear into them. Guarantee even Feral Wild Creatures with an INT of 2, are gonna want to stop the thing hurting them.
It is insanely overpowered. You can end any big monster on your turn ( put anything in any sourcebook ) by simply doing action surge, combining with the new valor bard, and you are peaking way above 500 dmg that round. Sure, you wont have that high lvl spell slot, but you will have the second highest, like 7th, 6th and then when you get into 5th you got multiples. How many CR 30 creatures does the DM need to put against your lvl 17 party, just because you can just mop the floor with the most powerful one on the board?
"Can do absurd amounts of damage to a single target with a specific high-level multiclass build" is not a problem. I don't know if they actually don't care, but they really shouldn't. Absurd burst-damage builds made by theorycrafters are not new. They do not reflect actual play.
It's a problem if it makes it easy to do that sort of burst damage, or if it consistently lets you do significantly more damage, especially sustained damage, compared to other abilities of its level. It's a fourth level spell, and it does 9 points per attack. You have to successfully land four hits at close range just to equal Blight, and I've never considered Blight to be a top-tier spell. And making lots of attacks and having fourth-level spells is not a common occurrence. (If blade-pact warlocks had it, it would be pretty good for them, but they don't.)
Consider Conjure Celestial: its a large area and the caster can move it on thier turn without a bonus action
any enemies can can then be 'bathed' and take 6d12 (32dam).
on party member turns you can grapple, knock, bash them in and out of it to do the same on each PC doing this.
then the enemy on thier turn takes the damage again if they cant get out or leaving will expose them to similar damage opportunity attacks.
thorugh all of this each person in the party can run in an out to get a similar level of healing.
between fights its better than the best cure spells (easily doing 5000 or so hp healing in its 10 mins of activity.
I see this is a utility 'damage and healing' spells but it appears on par with the best of both simultaneously, also great outside combat, but useful in combat as well.
So far, I'm mostly liking the changes to spells in the 2024 PHB. But there's at least 2 that are in desperate need of errata, as they're super broken.
Chromatic Orb. Does the same thing as before, except now it can jump to new targets. It will jump to another creature within 30 feet if you roll the same number on at least 2 dice. Doing the math, at level 1, there's a ~35% chance you roll doubles. ~59% chance at level 2, ~80% chance at level 3, ~93% chance at level 4, ~98% chance at level 5, and 99.8% at level 6. When cast at level 7 and above, it's guaranteed. And it can jump a number of times equal to the level you cast it at. This is crazily strong. Casting it at 7th level, you're guaranteed(as long as each attack roll hits) to deal 9d8 damage to 8 targets, each within 30 feet of the last.
On the flipside though, there's no part of the spell that says you can choose to not have the Orb jump to a new target. And it doesn't say anything about not harming friendly targets. So if you or other friendlies are within 30 feet of an eneny, there's a real chance that it keeps bouncing and hurts your party.
I.. this is just crazy. Suddenly one of the staples of early level wizards is now a crazy, uncontrollable wildcard, that can do insane amounts of damage if you keep hitting. If this was changed so that it only jumps once, regardless of level cast, then it's still a really good upgrade, but not broken.
Conjure Minor Elementals. One of the overhauled Conjuration spells, I like the flavor of what this does: Mechanically, it's monstrous. 4th level spell to create a 15ft emanation for up to 10 minutes with Concentration. Enemies treat it as difficult terrain, neat. But whenever you hit a creature within the emanation with an attack, the attack deals an additional 2d8 damage(choosing a damage type from Acid, Cold, Fire, Lightning). This extra damage increased by an additional 2d8 damage for each level above 4th.
I don't know who thought these numbers seemed balanced, or what they were smoking when they did, but I want some. Even at base level, adding 2d8 damage to each of your attacks is really good. Stack that for a Bladesinger Wizard, or someone with Eldritch Blast or Scorching Ray, and it's really strong. Upcasting it just makes it go absolutely mental. Cast it at level 8, add 10d8 damage to each of your attacks. Then cast a 7th level Scorching Ray, deal 8 bolts of 2d6+10d8 each. Suddenly an average of 52 per bolt so 416 damage if all hit.
This is just stupid. If it was kept at base level 2d8, and the upcast did something different, then it would still be really strong, but not broken. A better and cooler upcast would be if it increased the size of the emanation. Or if the damage had to increase, then increase it by 1d8 per 2 levels above 4th, that might not be too powerful. Still, what were you thinking?
There might be a few other spells that are super strong too. Conjure Celestial's healing option is *Very* strong, as most rounds you can hit friendly creatures twice with it. ALso, Find Steed: Where's our Swimming speed? Not a huge deal, but I think you should be able to get a swimming speed with it.
There are people running the numbers on it in a different thread, and, while it looks nice, it's not as good as the spells of the level you're upcasting to, except maybe when you upcast it to second level. (For instance, compare up to six targets at 7d8 to Steel Wind Strike's guaranteed five at 6d10.)
Is it good? Sure Does it basically make Chaos Bolt redundant? Also yes. Overpowered? Not really.
I can't comment on minor elementals, because I haven't seen it in play, and it's a very circumstantially effective spell. But to be really effective, you have to be up in the thick of things, which is not a great environment for keeping a concentration spell going.
It is insanely overpowered. You can end any big monster on your turn ( put anything in any sourcebook ) by simply doing action surge, combining with the new valor bard, and you are peaking way above 500 dmg that round. Sure, you wont have that high lvl spell slot, but you will have the second highest, like 7th, 6th and then when you get into 5th you got multiples. How many CR 30 creatures does the DM need to put against your lvl 17 party, just because you can just mop the floor with the most powerful one on the board?
Circle of Death--a 6th level spell--does 8d8 to EVERY target in a 60ft sphere, provided they fail the CON save, and it does an extra 2d8 per slot level when upcasted. Fire Storm does 7d10 to to each creature in each 10ft cube, and you can have ten cubes. So no, Chromatic Orb is NOT overpowered, but comparable to other options if you decide to burn a high level spell, which is debatable when you have so much better options.
Conjure Minor Elementals is busted...Period. Either of your two suggestions would've been better. However, most normal tables are not looking to intentionally break the game, so most of the time you won't see players trying the crazy optimizations required to pull off this kind of combo. Should it still get errata? Absolutely.
Conjure Minor Elemental is just a slightly better Spirit Shroud. 5 More feet, and 2d8 instead of 1d8. BUT that damage is also Elements, and are all fairly heavily resist- able. ITs honestly not that strong, and no where near "Game breaking" as you are making it sound. Especially compared to the fact that it used to just summon a whole ass nother combatant to keep track of.
Not to mention, it is a Concentration Spell. So just do any of the ways to break Concentration, plus spellcaster usually means squishy. This spell makes them have to be PRETTY damn close, push them, get them in Melee and tear into them. Guarantee even Feral Wild Creatures with an INT of 2, are gonna want to stop the thing hurting them.
"Not getting cut into bloody littles slices, That's the key to a sound plan."
"Can do absurd amounts of damage to a single target with a specific high-level multiclass build" is not a problem. I don't know if they actually don't care, but they really shouldn't. Absurd burst-damage builds made by theorycrafters are not new. They do not reflect actual play.
It's a problem if it makes it easy to do that sort of burst damage, or if it consistently lets you do significantly more damage, especially sustained damage, compared to other abilities of its level. It's a fourth level spell, and it does 9 points per attack. You have to successfully land four hits at close range just to equal Blight, and I've never considered Blight to be a top-tier spell. And making lots of attacks and having fourth-level spells is not a common occurrence. (If blade-pact warlocks had it, it would be pretty good for them, but they don't.)
Consider Conjure Celestial:
its a large area and the caster can move it on thier turn without a bonus action
any enemies can can then be 'bathed' and take 6d12 (32dam).
on party member turns you can grapple, knock, bash them in and out of it to do the same on each PC doing this.
then the enemy on thier turn takes the damage again if they cant get out or leaving will expose them to similar damage opportunity attacks.
thorugh all of this each person in the party can run in an out to get a similar level of healing.
between fights its better than the best cure spells (easily doing 5000 or so hp healing in its 10 mins of activity.
I see this is a utility 'damage and healing' spells but it appears on par with the best of both simultaneously, also great outside combat, but useful in combat as well.
Flurry of Foes: Dungeons and Dragons Actual Play (5E)
Youtube Channel / Podcast Link (podbean) / Twitch Steam