Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 rgoodbb Sep 07, 2015 1:42:36	A while back I attempted (poorly) to make a new class and this was one of its new cantrips; a kind of Viking Prestidigitation.   RAVENCALL Transmutation Cantrip Casting Time: 1 action Range: 30 feet Duration: up to 1 hour   You use your primal and runic magic to conjure up one of the minor effects within range;   •        You make the light slightly darker or overcast. •        You lower the temperature of the immediate area surrounding you but not to the detriment of anyone’s health. •        You conjure a small flow of ground mist (10x10 or 20x5) and make it stay or flow in a direction of your choosing. This does not travel higher than ankle level. •        You drastically augment the noises of ground grubs and other nearby insects. •        You conjure sounds of crows or ravens crying or echoing in the distance or nearby or above. •        You clean off or poor on blood over an area no larger than 1 cubic foot. •        You instantly change your or a willing creatures’ head hair; growing or removing a beard, shaving the head clean or partially or fully lengthening the hair to a long ponytail. You can even change the colour of the hair.    If you cast this spell multiple times, you can have up to three effects active at a time, and you can dismiss such an effect as an action.     My question to you Is; is this too powerful for a utility Cantrip. What could be abused and needs toning down/clarifying?
#2 Mad_Jack Sep 07, 2015 18:52:07	Duration seems a bit long. What are the parameters of moving the mist? Does it require an action and can it extend out past the spell's range as long as part of it is in range?
#3 Slagger_the_Chuul Sep 07, 2015 19:56:42	It seems okay as far as utility cantrips go.  The hair can make a passable disguise in a pinch; you could remove the colour option, but maybe allow them to adjust the style (like instantly tying itself into a braid, or brushing itself back). It's a bit too specific in some of the effects; you can provide examples, but you want to give a bit of flexibility to how someone plays around with them.  These currently have a bit of a darker feel, and it may help to imagine how the same cantrip would be used by someone who was, for example, a big worshipper of Balder or Freya, since different people might use the cantrip to create the same basic effects in a different style (I'm using the gods as a convenient example of stylistic differences).  Would all of them specifically use mist, crows, and blood?
#4 pdegan2814 Sep 07, 2015 21:16:07	The individual effects don't seem over-powered, but putting them all into one Cantrip that can be cast over and over without eating spell slots, and with a duration of a full hour to boot, seems a bit OP. I would cut out the blood and the hair growth effects, and leaving just the environmental effects which are more thematically linked anyway. Maybe reduce the duration a bit too, or cut down on the number of simultaneous effects.
#5 rgoodbb Sep 07, 2015 23:28:09	OK thanks for your suggestions. Changed a few things around. What do I do about the ground mist? does it have to go do you think? Do I now have enough options?   RAVENCALL Transmutation Cantrip Casting Time: 1 action Range: 30 feet Duration: up to 10 mins.   You use your primal and runic magic to conjure up one of the minor effects within range;   •        You change the lighting to darker or overcast. •        You slightly lower or raise the temperature of the immediate area surrounding you but not to the detriment of anyone’s health. •        You augment the sounds of nature around you, for example the trees might creak louder in thr wind, the crows or ravens crying in the distance might seem nearer or right above, or the insects walking over the ground crunch loudly. Alternatively you can cut all ambiant natural sounds out immediately for deathly silence.    If you cast this spell multiple times, you can have up to two effects active at a time, and you can dismiss such an effect as an action.
#6 spanglemaker Sep 07, 2015 23:55:31	That looks thematic and much better, as the duration is between Thaumaturgy and Prestidigitation.   Druidcraft- Instantaneous  Thaumaturgy- 1 minute Prestidigitation- 1 hour
#7 Strill Sep 08, 2015 0:37:30	I have no idea what the hell people find overpowered with the first one.  It's totally fine. If anything it needs to be broadened. I think your second revision is useless and not worth taking.    Seriously people have you not read what Prestidigitation does?
#8 Slagger_the_Chuul Sep 08, 2015 6:38:30	I'd leave the mist, blood, and hair in there, but as mentioned, make the blood and mist more flexible in terms of flavour.  I suppose you could place some limit on how much length you can add to or subtract from the hair if you want to restrict it a bit, but it's a fun effect to have.  I actually had a homebrew cantrip for changing hair length back in 3rd Edition (it only did that, but was an instantaneous effect that lasted until changed).   I agree with Strill that it's kind of crappy with just the other three effects.  It's sort of like druidcraft, but without anything even slightly useful as utility.
#9 pdegan2814 Sep 08, 2015 9:52:34	rgoodbb wrote:
#10 Slagger_the_Chuul Sep 08, 2015 20:10:32	The duration really doesn't matter too much with a cantrip once you get much beyond that 1 minute mark, since the only real hindrance is using another action to renew the effect.  Once you're going for something like 10 minutes on an activity that you can use at-will with no drawback, you might as well just go for the full hour. I do like the hair effect, since it's something a character might constantly use to play with their own appearance as long as it doesn't get out of hand, but it could maybe be restricted to just on the caster so that it's more personal.
#11 rgoodbb Sep 08, 2015 23:12:30	I agree with the timing. If you can't do what you want to do with this cantrip after a certain time then you've probably failed at a bluff or whatever skill you are attempting. plus knowing the effect wares off in 10 mins can be more exciting   I think the blood/mist/hair effects can all fit into a viking-esk theme so with a little more limitation on the mist and hair and more examples of the blood third attempt   RAVENCALL Transmutation Cantrip Casting Time: 1 action Range: 30 feet Duration: up to 10 mins.   You use your primal and runic magic to conjure up one of the minor effects within range;   •        You make the light slightly darker or overcast. •        You lower or raise the temperature of the immediate area surrounding you but not to the detriment of anyone’s health. •        You conjure a small flow of ground mist (10x10 or 20x5) and make it stay or flow in a direction of your choosing. This does not travel higher than ankle level and does not continue passed                 the cantrip's range. •        You augment the sounds of nature around you, for example the trees might strangely creak louder in the wind, the crows or ravens crying in the distance might seem nearer or right above, or           the insects walking over the ground crunch loudly. Alternatively you can cut all ambiant natural sounds out immediately for deathly silence.  •        You clean off or poor on blood over an area no larger than 1 cubic foot. You can also have have blood dripping from a creature or an object such as a statue or spreading and staining under           clothing. You can for a short time hide a bloody wound or overflow a beer tankard with blood. •        You instantly change the length of your own or a wiling creature's head (and beard) hair by a few inches.  Increasing a shaven head to a full head of hair, or a full head of hair to a long ponytail or reversed   If you cast this spell multiple times, you can have up to two effects active at a time, and you can dismiss such an effect as an action.