Cantrip Scroll damage based on user's level or creator's?

[yaluckyboy09]

If you have a attack Cantrip on a scroll, does it use the level of the person creating it when determining the damage or the level of the person using it? As in if I had a 3rd level Wizard make a scroll of Firebolt but a 6th level Warlock used it, would it deal 1D10 damage or 2D10 damage?

[PhoenixPhyre]

If you have a attack Cantrip on a scroll, does it use the level of the person creating it when determining the damage or the level of the person using it? As in if I had a 3rd level Wizard make a scroll of Firebolt but a 6th level Warlock used it, would it deal 1D10 damage or 2D10 damage?

I'm AFB, but IIRC, spell scrolls and other items that allow you to cast a spell do so at the minimum level unless they say otherwise. Also, you'd need firebolt to be on the warlock list to use the scroll.

Since creating magic items (including scrolls) is not a well defined process, there's no clear procedure for determining the inherent level of the scroll.

If I were the DM, I'd probably rule that scroll cast cantrips scale with user level to avoid having to figure out what level the creator was and (for player made items) track what was made when.

[Asmotherion]

I'd go with the highest of the two for simplicity's sake. If the caster, say something along the line of "your magic overcharges the scroll, and the arcane runes emanate a more powerful energy than before a moment ago"... if the other way around, say that they feel "powerfull magic pulsating inside every single letter... one can hardly believe the spell is merelly a cantrip?" This way you emphasise the fact it was overcast, and why.

[DarkKnightJin]

I'd rule that it's the caster, not the scroll, at which the spell is cast. At least for a cantrip.
Fluff it like "As you read off the spell, you subconsciously put more power into it than needed."

Though honestly, a scroll of a cantrip is kinda silly to make.. unless you want to let someone learn the cantrip outside of their class, I suppose.

Could be nice. Give a Bard an attack cantrip that isn't Vicious Mockery, but without having to worry about multiclassing. Or spending one of their precious Magical Secrets on a cantrip..

[Joe the Rat]

I could see it more as a utility thing - get scrolls of the cantrips you don't know, for the rare times you need them. Not everyone will bother to learn Message, but it's really handy when you need it.

While it should probably be at minimum, I'd be inclined to let it scale with caster when applicable, to keep the attack cantrip scrolls from being completely pointless.

[Asmotherion]

I could see it more as a utility thing - get scrolls of the cantrips you don't know, for the rare times you need them. Not everyone will bother to learn Message, but it's really handy when you need it.

While it should probably be at minimum, I'd be inclined to let it scale with caster when applicable, to keep the attack cantrip scrolls from being completely pointless.

I see it like a "you need this to complete this puzzle but your character didn't pick it" solution, so they have a chance not to fail. After all, it makes sence that if someone else was here either before them or during the time they came (antagonists) but had more information than the party about the puzzle (perhaps on their second visit) they would know what spell they would need (or a general idea, and go for the cantrip because it's cheaper) and could have purchased a Scroll from a Caster and visited back, only to be killed and looted the second time they went there from the Party/Monsters dwelling there/Traps/Had a fight among themselves/you name it... That, can include anything from Troll Slaying and a Firebolt scoll to a mending scroll to repair a broken gear in an ancient tomb that will allow a mechanism to start functioning again.

I like cantrip scrolls more than Actual Scrolls in a Party, because actual scrolls are potentially a big reward for a Wizard, giving him a Free Spell (in the even he doesn't know that spell), wile he can't copy and learn Cantrips (the way I interpreat/read the Wizard Spellbook in PHB).

[DarkKnightJin]

I like cantrip scrolls more than Actual Scrolls in a Party, because actual scrolls are potentially a big reward for a Wizard, giving him a Free Spell (in the even he doesn't know that spell), wile he can't copy and learn Cantrips (the way I interpreat/read the Wizard Spellbook in PHB).

Most casters don't need to make scrolls of cantrips, since it's so ingrained into them how to do them that they don't need them written down anywhere.
So, if the Wizard, or any other caster, comes across a scroll for a cantrip, I'd say they can take some downtime to familiarize themselves with the spell and learn it that way.

I would allow Rangers and Paladins to gain access to a cantrip in such a way. It is a nice, unique thing for them to get, and it could shore up a weakness they have. Or just be pure flavor.

The Paladin that's always taking time to clean his weapons and armor before bed? They get to learn Prestidigitation, so it's quicker. And, over time, they learn to use it in other ways, as well.