D&D lightning spells should have some sort of advantage when cast on a wet creature.
Like, if you cast tidal wave then hit someone with lightning bolt, I want to reward that combo! Enemies get disadvantage on their save? Add your spellcasting mod to the damage? Something! Or, no 1s or 2s is also fun for the player (and you can’t have sadness that way).
— Alphastream – Fully Vaccinated And Masked (@Alphastream) May 1, 2021
Yeah, this is what I was thinking in my other reply, because rerolling a 3 and getting a 1 is a feel bad. Yeah! As DM, if I let them reroll and they come up worse, I just have them reroll again. The no 1s and 2s is simpler.
— Alphastream – Fully Vaccinated And Masked (@Alphastream) May 1, 2021
Alternatively, what about if they could roll the damage dice twice and take either result. That kind of damage “buff” mechanic shows up with martials, so it’s familiar.
It’s a simple and quick buff, easy to remember, and gives players the feeling of choice and control. That’s fine for things like shocking grasp or a weapon that deals an extra die of lightning damage or whatever, but rolling two lightning bolt damages every time is likely to add a lot of cumulative time to a player’s turns, potentially.
— Dan Dillon (@Dan_Dillon_1) May 1, 2021
Definitely easier with things at lower levels for sure. But I also mean it if the DM goes the route of choosing to reroll X amount of dice. IE, can reroll 3 damage dice and use either result. Simple way to remove the “feels bad man” of rerolls coming up in 1s and 2s. It’s also not bad if you’re using e-dice of some type, two clicks, take the better. If you’re rolling two separate handfuls of actual dice, that’s the only time it pings as an issue for me.
— Dan Dillon (@Dan_Dillon_1) May 1, 2021
I keep thinking about this. The increase in rerolling a 1 is 2.5. If you keep the reroll on a 2, the increase is 1.5. That’s like +3 for rerolling 2 dice, which isn’t far off from just +1 per die, which I use a lot.
Less fun, but for lightning bolt, +8 usually beats 2 rerolls. I just always come back to “people really like rolling dice” when I think about these kinds of things. It haunts me.
— Dan Dillon (@Dan_Dillon_1) May 1, 2021