Even Vicious Mockery has a better bonus compared to its low damage output.
Are you looking to just have a ranged electricity based cantrip? Is it a bad idea for some reason to just change firebolt into lightning damage and describe it as such, drop the advantage against metal armor and go team go?
"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
Even Vicious Mockery has a better bonus compared to its low damage output.
Are you looking to just have a ranged electricity based cantrip? Is it a bad idea for some reason to just change firebolt into lightning damage and describe it as such, drop the advantage against metal armor and go team go?
I went to a d4 as shocking grasp is a base d8 then getting range and retaining the advantage vs metal armor to me meant the d4 a CON save on further effect vs reaction loss for balance I don't want the spell to be better then the original but to remain an option choìce for a user
I went to a d4 as shocking grasp is a base d8 then getting range and retaining the advantage vs metal armor to me meant the d4 a CON save on further effect vs reaction loss for balance I don't want the spell to be better then the original but to remain an option choìce for a user
As it is currently it is incredibly weak, d4 is too weak. Really consider the some of the feedback given.
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"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
I went to a d4 as shocking grasp is a base d8 then getting range and retaining the advantage vs metal armor to me meant the d4 a CON save on further effect vs reaction loss for balance I don't want the spell to be better then the original but to remain an option choìce for a user
What you've done is an easy sort of mistake. It is an over-correction - your concern for not making the spell better than the alternatives has caused you to A) make the damage so low that the only similar cantrip to compare it to has a much more potent non-damage effect (vicious mockery), and B) make it a very unattractive option because there are two die rolls needed for full success, which means incredibly bad chances of fully working (if you have to succeed at an attack roll and the target has to fail a saving throw, even if you've got a 70% chance of success and they only have a 30% chance of success, your chance of both happening is just under the odds that you'll flip a coin and guess the result correctly at %49 percent - and if you happen to have coin toss odds for both rolls needed, that drops down to only a 25% chance. There is a reason spells in 5th edition almost never require more than one roll to determine their success, and why those few that do have incredibly severe effects like being turned to stone or stuck with a nasty disease for a prolonged period of time).
I can pretty much guarantee you that if you put the spell as suggested, shocking grasp except using d6s for damage and having some range, that not only will players think it is a good option, but they will continue to think other cantrips are also good options, and no balance issues will arise - because the riders of advantage when attacking someone wearing metal armor, and the target not being able to take reactions until their next turn, are actually extremely minor due to them being circumstantial benefits; targets only wear metal armor as often as the DM puts targets with metal armor out there, monster rarely have any special reactions to use, and players will rarely provoke the only reaction that most monsters have available to them (opportunity attacks).
What you've done is an easy sort of mistake. It is an over-correction - your concern for not making the spell better than the alternatives has caused you to A) make the damage so low that the only similar cantrip to compare it to has a much more potent non-damage effect (vicious mockery), and B) make it a very unattractive option because there are two die rolls needed for full success, which means incredibly bad chances of fully working (if you have to succeed at an attack roll and the target has to fail a saving throw, even if you've got a 70% chance of success and they only have a 30% chance of success, your chance of both happening is just under the odds that you'll flip a coin and guess the result correctly at %49 percent - and if you happen to have coin toss odds for both rolls needed, that drops down to only a 25% chance. There is a reason spells in 5th edition almost never require more than one roll to determine their success, and why those few that do have incredibly severe effects like being turned to stone or stuck with a nasty disease for a prolonged period of time).
This. You could keep the d8 from Shocking Grasp and I still wouldn't pick it, because if I have to win two rolls to have the desired side effect, I might as well not bother, and if I just need damage, there's other options.
So I created a spell called Shocking Bolt and I wonder how others think it stacks up? So please look at it and give me feedback on it.
It'd be nice if you provided a link to the spell.
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
Tooltips (Help/aid)
it doesnt let me for some reason i must be doing it wrong i thought it was []spell [] /spell in the brackets no spaces?to do it.
You can't tooltip homebrew spells yet, but you can provide a plain, ordinary link.
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
Tooltips (Help/aid)
ok here it is totally veged on that lol.
https://www.dndbeyond.com/spells/18075-shocking-bolt
So, how is this not strictly worse than shocking grasp? Well, other than the range, but fire bolt is considered balanced.
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
Tooltips (Help/aid)
Even Vicious Mockery has a better bonus compared to its low damage output.
Are you looking to just have a ranged electricity based cantrip? Is it a bad idea for some reason to just change firebolt into lightning damage and describe it as such, drop the advantage against metal armor and go team go?
"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
Tooltips (Help/aid)
Two suggestions:
A) Change the damage type of fire bolt to lightning for the player that wants this.
B) Keep all the traits of shocking grasp but step the damage dice down to d6s (rather than d4s) in exchange for the spell having a greater range.
I went to a d4 as shocking grasp is a base d8 then getting range and retaining the advantage vs metal armor to me meant the d4 a CON save on further effect vs reaction loss for balance I don't want the spell to be better then the original but to remain an option choìce for a user
"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
The Forum Infestation (TM)
Well I will take the feedback from all of you, thank you for your time in responding to my question.