8
\$\begingroup\$

Dangerous Sorcery does not work:

When you Cast a Spell from your spell slots, if the spell deals damage and doesn’t have a duration, you gain a status bonus to that spell’s damage equal to the spell’s level.

Neither do Sorcerer’s Blood Magic:

Whenever you cast a bloodline spell using Focus Points or a granted spell from your bloodline using a spell slot, you gain a blood magic effectfect.

Burn It! does not have this condition:

Your spells and alchemical items that deal fire damage gain a status bonus to damage equal to half the spell's level or one-quarter the item's level (minimum 1).

How can I increase the damage of non-fire cantrips?

\$\endgroup\$
4
  • \$\begingroup\$ Did you notice that cantrips always automatically heighten? \$\endgroup\$
    – user72703
    Sep 19, 2021 at 11:12
  • 4
    \$\begingroup\$ In general, the system is balanced pretty tightly around not giving access to direct increases in cantrip damage; they're meant to be a behind-the-curve fallback damage option. That said, there's a few out of the box options that I've listed in an answer... \$\endgroup\$ Sep 19, 2021 at 13:42
  • 1
    \$\begingroup\$ @vonPryz I did. \$\endgroup\$
    – András
    Sep 19, 2021 at 19:37
  • \$\begingroup\$ Not really an answer to your question, but the Psychic playtest introduced yesterday has a lot of ways to buff cantrips! \$\endgroup\$
    – ESCE
    Sep 21, 2021 at 16:02

2 Answers 2

12
\$\begingroup\$

The obvious and primary mechanism of increasing Cantrip damage is gaining levels, and increasing your casting modifier (for those cantrips to which your casting modifier applies). All Cantrips automatically heighten to the highest spell level you can cast. Thus, for example, Produce Flame, which does 1d4+Casting Mod damage at level 1, will, for a level 7 caster, be a level 4 cantrip, and do 4d4+casting Mod. As you've noted, feats that broadly increase elemental damage, such as Burn It! will work too.

If you're playing with, or are a Bard, don't forget about the effects of Inspire Courage and the boosts to that which are available, which affect your Cantrips as well as the attacks of your martial companions. In fact, it's doubly effective with multi-target cantrips like Electric Arc.

Another option is Metamagic; while there are no direct damage increases, you could, for example, use the Forcible Energy Feat, as a wizard, to impose weakness to a cantrip's damage type in one round, and then use the cantrip again to deal damage of that type in the next round with a bonus. If the target is resistant to the damage dealt by your cantrips, you can bypass some of that with Overwhelming Energy which is functionally a damage boost, though you'll usually be better served by simply casting a different cantrip.

The Eldritch Archer dedication will let you tack your cantrip damage on to a weapon attack, in much the same manner as a spellstriking Magus, dealing the full damage of both. With appropriate weapon runes, this will often roughly double your damage.

Also for an Eldritch Archer, or a Magus, or other weapon damage dealing caster, there is also the option of Spellhearts. A new category of magic item added in Secrets of Magic, Spellhearts function sort of like Talismans; you attach them to your weapon or armor, and they provide a bonus affect associated with those spells. The Flaming Star, Grim Sandglass, and Trinity Geode all provide bonus damage for a round on weapon attacks, following the casting of a cantrip of the linked element.

\$\endgroup\$
5
  • \$\begingroup\$ Energy Fusion adds to damage directly, can add Burn It! to Electric Arc, and provides a good way to use your low level slots \$\endgroup\$ Sep 22, 2021 at 21:43
  • 4
    \$\begingroup\$ @SpearCarrier.no2 Energy Fusion requires you to select a "non-cantrip" spell, so that won't work for Electric Arc unfortunately. \$\endgroup\$
    – ESCE
    Sep 22, 2021 at 22:04
  • 1
    \$\begingroup\$ @ESCE The limitation is on the spell spent, not on the spell cast \$\endgroup\$ Sep 23, 2021 at 6:05
  • 1
    \$\begingroup\$ @SpearCarrier.no2 I asked a question about this. \$\endgroup\$
    – ESCE
    Sep 23, 2021 at 17:34
  • 1
    \$\begingroup\$ @ESCE, you are probably right, but more importantly, I missed the part about "same level". Even if it worked the way I imagined, spending 1 slot from your highest level for negligible extra damage on a cantrip is generally a bad idea. I thought the feat was situational, but it is just bad. \$\endgroup\$ Sep 23, 2021 at 21:24
2
\$\begingroup\$

I've been looking at the new Psychic class which is included in the Dark Archives Playtest and it would seem that a good portion of their kit is cantrip based, with a unique ability to "amp" certain cantrips. You might keep an eye out for this if your question is more general than class-specific. The "downside" is that you are relegated the Occult tradition, which has comparatively meager options for damage cantrips.

Edit: Since the selection of cantrips able to be amp'd is rather narrow and the ability to amp is based solely off of action economy, my answer is extremely situational and doesn't entirely answer the OP's question.

\$\endgroup\$
2
  • 2
    \$\begingroup\$ Amp'd Cantrips are firmly in the "this technically works, but doesn't feel like an actual answer" category to me. While they are technically cantrips that are having their damage increased (and thus, a technically correct answer to the question), the focus point cost to use them really just makes the Focus Spells in Disguise - Cantrips in name, but not in fact - it's not a particularly useful general-case increase. (The occult relegation seems like a non-factor to me. The class provides it's own damage cantrips with unique amp effects). \$\endgroup\$ Sep 25, 2021 at 21:41
  • \$\begingroup\$ I read a bit more and see where you're correct, since you can't just amp any cantrip. I'll edit my post to reflect this. \$\endgroup\$ Sep 27, 2021 at 2:06

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .