I didn’t look up all the spells but noticed a few conjuration spells that have aoe that don’t scale as well. Maybe this is why? Black tentacles as an example.
the few I did see that scale were very small area aoe like acid splash or Cloud of daggers.
While there are more spells like tidal wave, I find that a lot of those type of spells That don’t scale are on sorcerers spell list who can cast and potentially strengthen these spells quite a bit with the empowered metamagic feature. Since the reroll potential is up to 5 dice, and those dice can be chosen after the roll is made, it’s quite powerful and effective. It’s usually as strong on average as upcasting a spell by at least 1 slot. And if you roll well, then enjoy the luck and save your spell point for the next roll.
Examples of these are: Tidal wave, synaptic static, investiture of fire/ice/stone, mental prison, sunbeam, finger of death, firestorm, prismatic spray, whirlwind, abi-dalzim’s horrid wilting, incendiary cloud, sunburst are examples of these spells.
Some of the spells suck for their level while others are really good. Some of them are of high enough level that upcasting them wouldn’t be worth the slot even if it were useful.
If you ever make the mistake of drafting a 'Pyromancer' and trying to wade through all the fire spells there are to choose from... the bloat of having new spell choices for fire damage at every level, compounded with fire spells from earlier levels with scaling damage, really becomes apparent. Like, either/or system would work: either do a better job of rounding out spell lists at all levels for all elements and make me expect to need to pick a new fire spell every few levels... or do a better job of letting me pick spells that will continue to upgrade and be relevant for my entire career.... but these two design philosophies are very inconsistently trotted out, especially for damage types that aren't fire.
I think it would be great to rewrite the magic system so that there was just a level 1 "elemental bolt," level 2 "elemental spray," level 3 "DOT," level 4 "explosion," etc. that would let you pick the element you want to cast it with, and scale damage up appropriately. Would do a lot to simplify spell selection, encourage casters to branch out with more utility/non combat spells, and alleviate some elements just sucking compared to others.
If you ever make the mistake of drafting a 'Pyromancer' and trying to wade through all the fire spells there are to choose from... the bloat of having new spell choices for fire damage at every level, compounded with fire spells from earlier levels with scaling damage, really becomes apparent. Like, either/or system would work: either do a better job of rounding out spell lists at all levels for all elements and make me expect to need to pick a new fire spell every few levels... or do a better job of letting me pick spells that will continue to upgrade and be relevant for my entire career.... but these two design philosophies are very inconsistently trotted out, especially for damage types that aren't fire.
I think it would be great to rewrite the magic system so that there was just a level 1 "elemental bolt," level 2 "elemental spray," level 3 "DOT," level 4 "explosion," etc. that would let you pick the element you want to cast it with, and scale damage up appropriately. Would do a lot to simplify spell selection, encourage casters to branch out with more utility/non combat spells, and alleviate some elements just sucking compared to others.
Yeah I totally agree with you on this. Using fire spells is fun, but it really shouldn’t be a challenge to players to make a viable character who uses one of the other damage types. Even if you don’t care about damage you’re still restricted to maybe one new spell of the damage type you chose every few levels, where as fire gets 1 or more each level. It would be nice to have some consistency between different spells.
Does anyone know why the spell Tidal Wave doesn’t scale with higher level slots? Seems odd that the damage wouldn’t increase at all.
I didn’t look up all the spells but noticed a few conjuration spells that have aoe that don’t scale as well. Maybe this is why? Black tentacles as an example.
the few I did see that scale were very small area aoe like acid splash or Cloud of daggers.
EZD6 by DM Scotty
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/397599/EZD6-Core-Rulebook?
I think because they already have Tsunami, wall of water and control water, so they decided not to scale it.
Bad idea in my opinion.
While there are more spells like tidal wave, I find that a lot of those type of spells That don’t scale are on sorcerers spell list who can cast and potentially strengthen these spells quite a bit with the empowered metamagic feature. Since the reroll potential is up to 5 dice, and those dice can be chosen after the roll is made, it’s quite powerful and effective. It’s usually as strong on average as upcasting a spell by at least 1 slot. And if you roll well, then enjoy the luck and save your spell point for the next roll.
Examples of these are: Tidal wave, synaptic static, investiture of fire/ice/stone, mental prison, sunbeam, finger of death, firestorm, prismatic spray, whirlwind, abi-dalzim’s horrid wilting, incendiary cloud, sunburst are examples of these spells.
Some of the spells suck for their level while others are really good. Some of them are of high enough level that upcasting them wouldn’t be worth the slot even if it were useful.
If you ever make the mistake of drafting a 'Pyromancer' and trying to wade through all the fire spells there are to choose from... the bloat of having new spell choices for fire damage at every level, compounded with fire spells from earlier levels with scaling damage, really becomes apparent. Like, either/or system would work: either do a better job of rounding out spell lists at all levels for all elements and make me expect to need to pick a new fire spell every few levels... or do a better job of letting me pick spells that will continue to upgrade and be relevant for my entire career.... but these two design philosophies are very inconsistently trotted out, especially for damage types that aren't fire.
I think it would be great to rewrite the magic system so that there was just a level 1 "elemental bolt," level 2 "elemental spray," level 3 "DOT," level 4 "explosion," etc. that would let you pick the element you want to cast it with, and scale damage up appropriately. Would do a lot to simplify spell selection, encourage casters to branch out with more utility/non combat spells, and alleviate some elements just sucking compared to others.
dndbeyond.com forum tags
I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.
Yeah I totally agree with you on this. Using fire spells is fun, but it really shouldn’t be a challenge to players to make a viable character who uses one of the other damage types. Even if you don’t care about damage you’re still restricted to maybe one new spell of the damage type you chose every few levels, where as fire gets 1 or more each level. It would be nice to have some consistency between different spells.