Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback In Defense of Ground Effects

You don't have to deviate from 5e rules to have surfaces. You definitely don't have to overpower cantrips to have surfaces.

Sleet Storm, Ice Storm, Wall of Fire create surfaces. Flaming Sphere creates a rolling flame, a moving surface that sets things on fire in its path. Stinking Cloud, Cloudkill... AoE with duration. Web is a surface you can't even use now because the fire spam is everywhere.

It's also about balance. Why would I cast Sleet Storm if I can do the same thing throwing a water bottle and shooting a cantrip at the puddle without using any spell slots?

I would really like the surfaces to come into play a little bit later in levels to keep combat interesting and fresh rather than just spam OP surface creation from level 1.