Dislike: Cantrips cost PP

[eldrwyrm]

The whole point behind Cantrips/Orisons was to alleviate the 5 minute work day for low level spell casters. A 1st level would cast Shield, and 2 Magic Missiles and then have to rest for 8 hours after 1 encounter. Cantrips gave them some minor magics so that they would have a source of other power to carry them through while the fighters hadn't lost any ground. Requiring PP for cantrips and not having a good recovery mechanic relegates lower power wizards back to the 1 encounter work day. Also, your going to make me spend a PP to remove road dust from my robes or fluff my hair before a meeting with an important patron? If they haven't fixed this by the time the final rules come out, I'll probably house rule this so that as long as you have 1 PP available you can use Cantrips for free.

[Compost]

Another alternative would be to have it cost 1 PP if the casting die (not wild die) rolls a 1.

[Ndreare]

Another alternative would be to have it cost 1 PP if the casting die (not wild die) rolls a 1.

This answer has been repeated a bunch of times, but I honestly would prefer if it was just a critical failure thing. A lot of people game on virtual platforms where you roll multiple dice and it shows the highest. Having to hover over and make sure the die not used was not a 1, would just slow things down for no reason.

Also while the "Trait die, but not wild die" thing existed in SWD, it looks to have gone away in SWADE, which I think is a good thing.

[eXaminator]

Why have it cost anything at all? Cantrips in PF don't cost anything AND they can't fail to a point where it has more impact than a lost action – which is bad enough. Having cantrips cost a PP (or having it be limited to the fact that the caster has 1 PP left) defeats the purpose of cantrips, especially since they can always fail or even critical fail – which ends all your potentially maintained powers (if I'm not mistaken). So it's "worse" than casting a cantrip in PF anyways.

That being said, I don't mind any character using their best skill to support / test for free. Why? Because they could also use it for other stuff (like attacking / casting a spell), but they decided not to do so. The same goes for using Fighting / Shooting or any other skill for test / support. And just as with any other skill: Repeated use of the same skill might loose effectiveness and might give a penalty – or might not be used at all.

If cantrips should be a thing anyways, give them some minor actual effect for the price of a (potential) PP, like having a test with a cantrip be of the "damaging" kind, so that it MIGHT cause a wound to the target if you manage to make them shaken and they are already shaken. That's my 2c.

Though I would LOVE to hear the designers thinking behind this!

[FoolishFrost]

Simple solution. Have the first time you use a cantrip in a day cost a pp, and then it powers it for the rest of the day? Has a cost, but is not draining. Thoughts? Could even make it an edge, if that seems too easy.

[BattleBear]

I am okay with the cantrips rules IF the result has some interesting narrative purpose, otherwise, I would just let the effect happen without a roll or cost. For example, if the Wizard used bolt to light a campfire to cook dinner it would just happen, but if they used it to light a campfire next to a group of enemies to surprise them that would require a roll and cost (not the best example).

[Donald Schepis]

Cantrips don't cost a Power Point to activate anymore, as per the 1.1 update we sent out.

[BattleBear]

Nevermind. TY