Top post has been updated with the new spells, and with the fixes that have been made to some existing spells.
In particular, for those not wishing to trawl, the new spells:
With patch 6, we now have Sorcerers, and with them a small handful of new spells:
Sorcerer Spells
1st Level Spells
Chromatic Orb: The primary tooltip for Chromatic Orb gives it a range of 60 feet, reduced from the original spell's 90 feet. This means that now, from maximum rang,e your target can move right into melee range with you on their turn, whereas in 5e, at full range, they generally can't. The continual crunching of spell ranges is a low visibility, yet very grievous nerf on spell caters everywhere. Beyond this, the tooltip says that you throw an orb that deals 3d8 elemental damage of your choice at an enemy.
This is immediately shown to be false if you bring up the selection window: Thunder Orb deals 3d8, but literally none of the other options do – they all deal 2d8, and create a surface. For example, the lightning Orb creates a water puddle. That sure makes sense. Display-wise, this spell highlights a problem that many of us foresaw, but Larian have gone ahead with anyway: The selection window has been co-opted to serve as both our choice of spell level, and our selection for the spell itself, which means we pop open a window with six pairs of identical icons, and no way to tell them apart without highlighting each one. Further more, there's no really sense to the order in which they appear. One my screen, for example, they appear in the order: Thunder Lvl2, Thunder Lvl1, Poison Lvl2, Poison Lvl1, Lightning Lvl2, Acid Lvl1, Acid Lvl2, Cold Lvl1, Cold Lvl2, Fire Lvl1, FireLvl2, Lightning Lvl1. There is really no rhyme or reason to it. On Swen's stream, his Chromatic Orb options appeared in a different order. At 9th level, when we have access to 5th level spells, this selection window will have to contain 30 buttons, unless the fix it.
The spell itself also has problems: Chromatic Orb is an attack roll spell, which means it is a precision spell. You are meant to be able to pinpoint your one inch orb of elemental pin at an enemy that's mixed up in the melee of your allies without risking them. If you miss, the spell does nothing, and that's the balance for the high damage for slot level that attack roll spells get to enjoy. Chromatic orb now creates a puddle if you use any element other than thunder, and that puddle means that you will harm and hamper your allies if you attack an enemy that is in melee range with them. The spell cannot effectively be used for its designed purpose any more, which is precise damage of a precise element to a precise target. Not only will your lightning orb make a water puddle and electrocute Lae'zel who is in melee with your enemy, but this extra damage, and more importantly extra status effect, are not given a save to resit or avoid, at all. A minor tap of free guaranteed damage is okay for a levelled attack roll spell – one minor tap – but inflicting a guaranteed debilitating status ailment without offering a save to avoid or resist, and doing so even on a complete miss, is not okay.
2nd Level Spells
Cloud of Daggers: Cloud of Daggers looks pretty nice in game, but I've always been a sucker for spirally swirly effects. The spell tooltip does not state the size of the area it creates, and it should. It looks like it makes a 10 foot circle, while the original spell is a 5 foot cube. It retains its 60 foot range, and as with many spells in BG3 currently has the same double-tap damage problem, just like Moonbeam. It is meant to apply damage when a creature first enters the area, or at the start of a creature's turn if it starts in the area: In specific to this, it does NOT apply damage to targets in the area when you first cast the spell, specifically for this reason.
Crown of Madness: Larian have elected to disregard the existing spell description for Crown of Madness, and write their own in its place. In doing so, they have completely neglected any mention of the fact that this is a charm effect. The spell doesn't say it, the tooltip doesn't say it. They also do not mention anywhere in the spell description that this effect is limited to Humanoids, and the spell cannot be cast on non-humanoid creatures. The tooltip ALSO does not mention that the target can attempt to save out at the end of their turn.
These things ARE both the case in the BG3 version of the spell – it just doesn't TELL you that any of them are. The spell has had its range crunched down from 120 feet to 60 feet, and it now only lasts for 3 rounds, instead of up to 1 minute.
The original spell specifies that the target must make a melee attack before moving, attacking a target that you get to choose. If it cannot do this, then it is allowed to act normally for that turn. The spell description in game does not say that they will be allowed to act normally under any circumstance, and says only that they will attack the nearest creature.
The spells actual behaviour is hard to work out, and the game does not help clarify this. The spell description only says that the target will attack the nearest creature. In my experience so far, this has rarely, if ever, actually happened, but the game does not explain why.
In one particularly telling experiment, A Crowned enemy was standing with a melee weapon out, and in melee range of both my caster, who was concentrating on the spell (thereby, the enemy was charmed by me, and so was not allowed to attack me) and Shadowheart, who had no effects on him. The enemy did not attack Shadowheart, despite her being a valid target in melee range, and instead ran away from both of us, up to Gale, and attacked him instead. It seems like the creature was allowed to act normally, but it's hard to say exactly why.
Enlarge/Reduce: The original spell allows you to cast Enlarge or Reduce on an object that is not being worn or carried. This is not the case in the BG3 version, and only living creatures are applicable targets. The spell description in game does not make any mention of changing the target's size category or weight, but these effects do seem to take place, just as the original spell describes. The other aspects of the spell all appear to be working correctly and read correctly as well. Reducing a companion so they become light enough for you to throw them across a gap works perfectly, and medium creatures can reduce in order to fit through small-sized crawlspaces, such as the back entrance to the kids' hideout in the grove.
