All these people complaining about verbatim D&D rulings is kind of annoying. As a long time player of D&D (Player and recent DM), I've been around many table top enthusiasts. Common ones that I'm seeing here are rules lawyers.
"Cantrips shouldn't cause surface areas as they aren't strong enough to create anything." By that logic Magic itself is a fabrication of nothing to create something and since a cantrip by definition is a "trick" should also not be able to do damage. (RIP Eldritch Blast)
I don't care for rules lawyers. If they care that much about it then they can create a mod that removes surface effects from cantrips. Aside from that I agree with everything else being stated in the forums in terms of majority wants/needs.
Listen, I understand that there is a huge difference between how you, the DM, or you, the Player, interpret the Rules As Written. I understand that the game revolves around the fact that there are Rules As Written (RAW) and rules that have been modified, or homebrewed, or whatever name you want to give it. Since you brought up surface areas, lets work with that. Lets take Firebolt, a cantrip available to sorcerers and wizards.
Firebolt BG3 Cast Time 1 Action Range 18m Damage 1d6 Surface Damage 1d4 Total damage 2-10
Firebolt 5e Cast Time 1 Action Range 120m Damage 1d10 @ lvl1 2d10 @ lvl 5 3d10 @ lvl 11 4d10 @ lvl 17
Why such a big change? Is range truly that powerful? is a 1d10 cantrip too OP? I don't understand the reasons behind the changes, which makes them feel arbitrary and irritating. The thing is, this IS and early alpha, and we are here TO give our feedback. That's what we're going to do, and the fact that we could create a mod that does this, while true, misses the point of participation in an Early Alpha. If all you want to do is play the game, I would really say come back in a few months. We want to help shape the game to be the experience we all truly want out of it.
It's perfectly fine if you don't care for rules lawyers, and if that is the case, I invite you to stop playing video games as a whole. I guarantee that the MOST ANAL rules lawyer I've ever run into, the most power mad, seemingly arbitrary rules lawyers I've ever had the pleasure of interacting with is a computer. It doesn't even give you the option to fight it's decision, it just happens. That's why we're here, to expand on issues we find in the game, to make the experience as a whole better, WITHOUT needing to download mods in a game to insure it's in a state that we want.
