https://www.dndbeyond.com/spells/930144-electric-arc

I modified sapping sting, changed the school to evocation, the damage type to lightning and since lightning is much more resisted and immune than necro I upped the damage to a d6.

I left it as a Con save, would it work as a spell attack instead?

Thoughts on flavor and balance?

You need to change the increased numbers as it stills says 2d4, 3d4 etc. on the last line.

I would make it a straight 1d4 damage, and then constitution save is to avoid falling prone. damage is guaranteed, the con save is to stay upright. Tazers are supposed to be non-lethal, after all!

Isn't shocking grasp basically a taser?

I don’t want it to autohit or shift the effect to a save but make damage an attack roll. That’s a level of complexity no other cantrip has. I see the scaling error, I’ll fix that in awhile when I make final changes.

 It’s inspired by a taser but not meant to mimic it, so I want it to be as lethal as possible within balance.

 The reason I thought about making it a spell attack roll instead of a save, of that though tasers don’t work on everyone, in my experience back when I did that kind of work, if I hit some one and the probes made good contact the person went down. The majority of people who weren’t affected were the ones where good contact was not made hence a miss. Plus spell attack rolls I like more than saves. Lol. But I’m not sure if it would balance as well as a spell attack. Hence why I’m looking for opinions.

corrected description.

https://www.dndbeyond.com/spells/930818-electric-arc

No further thoughts? What about moving from con save to spell attack?

shocking grasp is more like a drive stun lol

Quote from Jessebruffett >>

No further thoughts? What about moving from con save to spell attack?

I feel that to truly represent as close to a taser as possible, you're looking at having to make it a spell attack (so you are responsible for hitting them) and a con save to not fall prone.

I get what you're saying about people going down if they're hit by it, but this is likely to be put into use against a lot more than just humans. What happens if you shoot a bear with a taser - it hurts them, and either makes them angry or makes them run away, but they aren't about to collapse. Then apply that to a Giant, or a dragon. The damage will happen, but whether they fall over is down to how well they resist the effects.

so you think I should go with a hybrid? spell attack for damage and con save for the prone or not?

Quote from Jessebruffett >>

so you think I should go with a hybrid? spell attack for damage and con save for the prone or not?

 Yep. If the spell hits them, they take damage, and then need a con save or fall prone. It shouldn't be a given - stubborn, large or drug-addled people can actually power through a taser. I don't see why it should know an owlbear down with the same effectiveness as against a commoner!

Current Version: https://www.dndbeyond.com/spells/939603-electric-arc

Quote from Jessebruffett >>

Current Version: https://www.dndbeyond.com/spells/939603-electric-arc

That looks pretty good to me. having to roll to hit first makes it less powerful, suiting being a cantrip.

If you play it and find that it's too powerful (enemies being continuously made prone), you can add a clause that a creature can only be affected by the prone condition once per minute.

I actually thought about making the prone effect only apply to medium and smaller creatures

After taking a look myself, I agree that you should either limit it to creature that are medium or smaller; or have it similar to like ensnaring strike with the snippet of, "A Large or larger creature has advantage on this saving throw."

You can also rephrase part regarding the damage and save to something like this; "On a hit, the target takes 1d6 lightning damage and must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or fall prone." But if you want to add the creature size as a component I base the wording off of thorn whip

I was just going to add "If the creature is Medium or smaller, it must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or fall prone."

Quote from Jessebruffett >>

I was just going to add "If the creature is Medium or smaller, it must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or fall prone."

That works, it makes it useful in lower levels and then less so as you progress (and creatures, generally, become larger).

Quote from ThorukDuckSlayer >>

Quote from Jessebruffett >>

I was just going to add "If the creature is Medium or smaller, it must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or fall prone."

 

That works, it makes it useful in lower levels and then less so as you progress (and creatures, generally, become larger).

This is a cantrip we're talking about, I don't see an issue with that choice. Even though I did suggest the advantage for large and larger creatures as a potential idea.