A burning beam of concentrated heat rockets forth from one of the caster’s eyes and strikes an opponent within range. Make a ranged spell attack against the target. On a hit it takes 1d8 fire damage, and has a 50% chance to explode and hit surrounding enemies. If the beam explodes all creatures within 5ft of the target must succeed on a dexterity saving throw or take 1d4 thunder damage.
This cantrip can not be used if the caster is blinded.
At higher levels: The spell’s damage increases by 1d8 when you reach 5th level (2d8), 11th level (3d8), and 17th level (4d8).
The description needs to be reworded. The rewording could automatically cover the part about being blinded. Plus explosions usually do fire damage too. It’s also unclear if the original target would have to make the saving throw since it is technically a creature within 5 feet of itself, but a little rewording can fix that too. If the initial target is also susceptible to the explosion that would be a bit powerful for a cantrip. Heck, even if it doesn’t it’s a little too powerful for a cantrip. Also, the way you’ve worded it it reads like the target explodes 50% of the time, but that’s fixable too. Try this wording instead:
A burning beam of concentrated heat rockets forth from one of your eyes at a creature you can see within range. Make a ranged spell attack against the target, on a hit it takes 1d8 fire damage. Roll a d6, and on a result of 4 or higher the beam then explodes and each other creature within 5 feet of the original target must succeed on a dexterity saving throw or take 1d4 fire damage.
The initial fire damage dealt to the original target increases by 1d8 when you reach certain levels: 5th (2d8), 11th (3d8), and 17th level (4d8).
That d4 splash damage will also start to look really anemic at higher levels. You could drop the initial damage to d6s and then the damage from both the hit and the explosion could scale at higher levels, like this:
A burning beam of concentrated heat rockets forth from one of your eyes at a creature you can see within range. Make a ranged spell attack against the target, on a hit it takes 1d6 fire damage. Roll another d6, and on a result of 4 or higher the beam then explodes and each other creature within 5 feet of the original target must succeed on a dexterity saving throw or take 1d4 fire damage.
The damage rolls from this spell each increases by 1 die when you reach certain levels: 5th (2d6 + 2d4), 11th (3d6 + 3d4), and 17th level (4d6 + 4d4).
Personally I like the second version better.
This is also a little too complex for a cantrip what with having an attack roll and an effect that only happens half the time that requires a saving throw. But I’m not personally against the idea of cantrips that are a little more complex than the existing ones, so I don’t really mind that so much.
All in all, good job. Just a few minor tweaks is all I’d suggest, mostly to clean it up a bit and a little to rebalance the splash damage a bit for higher levels is all.
Eye of Agni:
Evocation Cantrip
Range: 60ft
Components: Somatic
Duration: Instantaneous
A burning beam of concentrated heat rockets forth from one of the caster’s eyes and strikes an opponent within range. Make a ranged spell attack against the target. On a hit it takes 1d8 fire damage, and has a 50% chance to explode and hit surrounding enemies. If the beam explodes all creatures within 5ft of the target must succeed on a dexterity saving throw or take 1d4 thunder damage.
This cantrip can not be used if the caster is blinded.
At higher levels: The spell’s damage increases by 1d8 when you reach 5th level (2d8), 11th level (3d8), and 17th level (4d8).
The description needs to be reworded. The rewording could automatically cover the part about being blinded. Plus explosions usually do fire damage too. It’s also unclear if the original target would have to make the saving throw since it is technically a creature within 5 feet of itself, but a little rewording can fix that too. If the initial target is also susceptible to the explosion that would be a bit powerful for a cantrip. Heck, even if it doesn’t it’s a little too powerful for a cantrip. Also, the way you’ve worded it it reads like the target explodes 50% of the time, but that’s fixable too. Try this wording instead:
That d4 splash damage will also start to look really anemic at higher levels. You could drop the initial damage to d6s and then the damage from both the hit and the explosion could scale at higher levels, like this:
Personally I like the second version better.
This is also a little too complex for a cantrip what with having an attack roll and an effect that only happens half the time that requires a saving throw. But I’m not personally against the idea of cantrips that are a little more complex than the existing ones, so I don’t really mind that so much.
All in all, good job. Just a few minor tweaks is all I’d suggest, mostly to clean it up a bit and a little to rebalance the splash damage a bit for higher levels is all.
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