cantrips

[Esteten]

Ok, this has been troubling me since I first laid my hands on NwN 2.

Cantrips, they were bad in the first edition, now they're worthless.
You acctually have to make a ranged touch throw to hit with either Ray of frost or Acid plash, and yeah, they are rays, therefor Ranged touch, but come on.. Cantrips! maximum of 5 damage! That's the only attackspells a wizard has in teh beginning, if you don't go all out attackmagics with leaves you down to 10 AC and about 15 HP.

So my suggestion is. Take away and kill the Ranged Touch attack of the cantrips. That'd make it a little easier to be able to do something in the low levels.

[Lord Osadam]

I'm doing just fine. ray of frost is working for me actually.

[Kitsune]

Well, it wouldn't be hard to do, but I haven't seen Ray of Frost miss very often for me. Besides, even with the touch attack removed, the damage is still only a maximum of five, so I still can't see it being extremely effective even with the touch attack removed. This may be obscured by the fact that I usually play Sorcerers, however.

I wouldn't mind it, but the cantrips don't really become any more effective without the touch attack; the damage is still too low for it to be really useful, and I think you'd run into the same problems again. It might be better to put a max of 10 on Ray of Frost instead, or something similar, if you really wanted to make the low levels easier. Just my take on it.

~Kitsune

[Kaybrie]

Err... I don't really get it, ranged touch attacks almost always hit... So long as you have 14 or so Dex, which as a wizard/sorcerer you should, you'll pretty much hit anything you're fighting fairly often... Besides, Cantrips are supposed to be virtually worthless, that's the way they've always been... They're the spells that wizards and sorcerers first learn to introduce them to magic with very little function beyond their apprenticeship.

*Shrugs* How I feel anyways... I feel that sorcerers and wizards should be pulling out their crossbow more and not just being bags of spell casting until higher levels, but that's just me.

[Machiavelli]

Cantrips are'nt worthless!

One word... Light!

[Esteten]

I'd love to have the ray of frost advance like any low level magic.. For example
Ray of Frost (no ranged touch, since soercerers and wizard -shouldn't- have that must dex, depends on character build though)
1d4+1 dmg / level a maximum of 3d4+1 at level 3

I just think it's a shjame we have spells that we barely can't use, except light

[Raksha]

Actually, I'd say that's not true. There are some instances where cantrips (other than light) can really come in handy.

A maxxed Magic Missile is usually enough to one-hit kill a normal goblin in the Hills, for instance. But what if you roll low on your damages and leave it with 1 or 2 HP instead? It's going to keep shooting at you until you kill it, forcing you to expend another spell or attempt to hit it with a stick or crossbow. And you can't do that easily, since you're a wizard and you can't hit anything.

Ray of Frost is custom-cut to finish off nearly-dead enemies without expending a more valuable spell -- and in Sundren's rest environment, that's A Good Thing. And Acid Splash is ideal for finishing off trolls, not that we have any as standard spawns (which I think is a good thing, but the troll debate is one for another day).

Resistance is also useful if you're prepping before a fight that's around the corner -- toss it on for a free boost to saves. Alternatively, if you're deliberately springing a trap, an extra pip to saves for you or the thief is never a bad thing.

Sure, they're usually useless. But that's why they're cantrips!

[Rhazeal]

I'm really a sucker for more wizard spells, even the useless ones, which make dancing lights or spray pepples at your enemies. In fact, I would code them myself, if I weren't part of Team Sloppycode. :P

[Raksha]

Prestigitation! We demand Pocket Wish! The most useful spell in existence.

[undeadsteak]

Pfft, what wizards need is a magicial wardrobe to store their stuffs in! 10 pounds ac lothing.. geh

[lord_kelthuzad]

As far as I remember the PnP rules, cantrips are supposed to be useless in combat situation. They are used to intimidate or amuse the common people.
Of course in a video game, it is a different matter. Wizards need them at early levels to survive (until lvl 3 or 4).

You must keep in mind that a ranged touch attack does not take into account the armour, shield, natural and deflection modifiers of the target's AC. To avoid a range (or melee) touch attack, the target can only use his dodge AC so even a wizard can score a hit with those spells.