Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback druidcraft, prestidigitation, thaumaturgy should be environment focused

I think there's opportunity to increase player immersion by implementing druidcraft and prestidigitation (and changing thaumaturgy to an extent) as cantrips that interact primarily through the environment.

All three interact with flames, so the ability to light/extinguish all light from small fires (candles, torches, campfires, etc) could provide tactical benefit.

All three create sensory effects, so should be able to act as minor illusion, with the penalty that you make a stealth check because of the verbal component.

Druidcraft and prestidigitation can create a small puff of wind, which I estimate should be at least 10mph. Therefore it should interact with another druid spell, fog cloud. Rules as written, the effect would be minimal because druidcraft has a 5 cft limit and fog cloud has a 20ft radius. But still, I think it would translate well into game form if you're allowed to dispel/push part or all of the fog cloud for better environmental control.

Druidcraft and prestidigitation let you light small campfires, which in turn could allow characters to dip their weapons in for a damage buff.

As it stands Thaumaturgy grants advantages on intimidation and performance checks, which I think is overshadowed by the guidance cantrip. As such, I don't think there's many players using it currently. The above could make it appealing for players, and prevent druidcraft and prestidigitation from the same.

Would love all of these. These cantrips are currently lacking the fun options they have in tabletop.

Great ideas, except the thing to dip !

I like it all +1

I absolutely agree that giving these cantrips environmental effects would be neat, however some points:

It is the purview of levelled spells to create wind effects strong enough to displace fogs and other clouds; you shouldn't give that to a cantrip... however, I'd feel better about the suggestion if the 5ft of displaced fog crept back and resettled after a turn.

I'm entirely against the whole dipping idiocy to begin with, so, I won't go there, but it's also the purview of levelled spells to create fire large enough to be useful for anything - anything beyond a candle, or lighting an existing, prepared fire (i.e. activating torches and campfires that already exist) is beyond a cantrip like presti... but it should definitely be able to do that much.

Thaumaturgy has a written use that we could see in the game which I think would be fun - It can open unlocked windows and doors. I'd like to have a cantrip to open a door at the other end of a hall, and distract or mislead enemies in this way, or even just to open a door from afar to avoid traps or ambushes.

The biggest thing that I think Presti should let us do, is clean up Larian's annoying surfaces ^.^ A cantrip that *Removes* a surface mess is EXACTLY what Presiti is all about, after all.

Druidcraft, similarly, could be used to remove the tangling vine surfaces that we find here and there, without having to burn them.

Yes, I'd like those cantrips to do some fun things. Also Larian did just do the perfect thing for Prestidigitation: blood and dirt. Let me clean myself and friends up using it. Yes, RAW it just covers 5ft but most games I was in it was just handwaved as using it multiple times.

Me too.

The image I get in my head is like if after every traversal of dirty dungeons or muddy waters all wizards just stand around wildly gesturing like if they were at a cyber goth rave

I don't understand the reasoning for prestidigitation being able to remove surface effects, the closest reading I see is the able to clean or soil an object. It's not really related to a burning surface, or one covered in thorny vines, and it's only 1 cubic foots worth.

+1

Prestidigitation is all about minor effects and niceties (or not-niceties, as the case may be). Using it to clean up little messes has been a staple of the spell for as long as it has existed. While the 5e writing for it does not say you can use it to clean up mess fromthe ground, that sort of thing is what it does do, generally speaking, and is what people sue it for... so in terms of translating the spell into a video game format, it's a feature that it should get that would help make it interesting.

Yes, it's only a very small area - it's a cantrip and it's only ever going to be a small area. Out of combat, you could use it to snuff the smouldering ground between you and a treasure chest with a few repeat casts, or warm a small patch of slick ice into water so you don't fall over on the stairs (and may be with a couple more casts clean up that water, if you don't want to get your slippers wet). These are the sorts of things the spell gets used for all the time, and would translate very well into Larian's game. In combat, it wouldn't be a useful expenditure of your action unless it was a really very specifically pressing situation, and that's as it should be. It won't let you put out a raging fire, or freeze a river - it's a cantrip.

You wouldn't use Presti to clear vines - you're right that it's got no interaction there. That's why I suggested Druidcraft for that, which is, precisely, the ability to manipulate plants and vines in small ways (among its other features).

Yes. I have yet to encounter a game, where the DM would not let me use Presti to do those things. It is a staple of DnD and as a cantrip I am only limited by time to cast repeatedly (1 action is also not too long). The official wording is just restrictive to stop potential abuse.