High Elf Ranger– cantrips use INT but spells use WIS?

[Reck]

If I put my points in WIS and leave INT on a low number then my fireball cantrip will miss a lot of the time. I don’t have the points to put in both.

If I click the use recommended button then it leaves INT at 8 (-1) which would leave my cantrips next to useless.

Seems strange that the cantrips and spells use different ability and selecting one over the other leaves one of them next to useless.

[Penitent Pilgrim]

If you put your points in WIS then you must be a cleric or similar, your racial cantrip is just a bit of gravy then and not a primary spell you will be depending on.

[AzureTheGamerKobold]

High Elf Cantrip uses intelligence that's working as intended.

[[TG] zac]

Hopefully a mod makes them use your primary mental stat at some point.

[raymond]

I got a lot of utility out of Shadowheart's Firebolt cantrip -- lighting candles, destroying spiderwebs and annoying undergrowth.

[tempest.of.emptiness]

If you want to have your cantrip play a large role in the effectiveness of your character then it is up to you to choose a class that focuses on Intelligence so that doing so will also benefit your cantrip use. If you choose not to do that, that's your choice and you ought to plan not to rely on your cantrip.

[Indure]

Originally posted by raymond:

I got a lot of utility out of Shadowheart's Firebolt cantrip -- lighting candles, destroying spiderwebs and annoying undergrowth.

Cleric's get produce flame now so they don't need firebolt.

[Reck]

Originally posted by AzureTheGamerKobold:

High Elf Cantrip uses intelligence that's working as intended.

So a -1 in INT (recommended settings) basically makes the cantrips useless? Would make more sense if both cantrips and spells used the same ability.

[Indure]

Originally posted by Reck:

Originally posted by AzureTheGamerKobold:

High Elf Cantrip uses intelligence that's working as intended.

So a -1 in INT (recommended settings) basically makes the cantrips useless? Would make more sense if both cantrips and spells used the same ability.

The cantrip comes from the race not the class. Just pick a cantrip that doesn't care about the modifer like mage hand, light, dancing light, minor illusion, etc.

[Reck]

Originally posted by raymond:

I got a lot of utility out of Shadowheart's Firebolt cantrip -- lighting candles, destroying spiderwebs and annoying undergrowth.

OK I was just using firebolt as an example, there are a selection of cantrips to pick from so someone might want to use poison spray for instance which would have the same problem.

The issue is that cantrips and spells use different abilities.

[Reck]

Originally posted by Indure:

Originally posted by raymond:

I got a lot of utility out of Shadowheart's Firebolt cantrip -- lighting candles, destroying spiderwebs and annoying undergrowth.

Cleric's get produce flame now so they don't need firebolt.

Sorry should have said i'm using ranger class but it doesn't really make a difference as you can pick from a selection of cantrips so someone might want to select shocking grasp for instance.

[Reck]

Originally posted by Indure:

Originally posted by Reck:

So a -1 in INT (recommended settings) basically makes the cantrips useless? Would make more sense if both cantrips and spells used the same ability.

The cantrip comes from the race not the class. Just pick a cantrip that doesn't care about the modifer like mage hand, light, dancing light, minor illusion, etc.

That's what i'm starting to think. Even though there's 13 to pick from, there's really only 4 that are going to be usable.

[Neo in Wonderland]

In the earlier books of D&D 5E Racial / Feat spells uses an ability modifier forced on the player.
In the later books, they allow the player to choose which ability will be used when gaining Racial / Feat spells.

Looks like BG3 has been in development for years and not a single dev got the memo -.-

[Indure]

The cantrips are working as intended, what you are noticing is just a conflict between 5e and Larian's changes to race ability scores.

High elves used to only have +2 dex and +1 int, so most people who chose them would have characters built around using int.

[765]

If it is ranger spells it should be based on whatever attribute rangers use for casting.

[Reck]

Originally posted by Indure:

High elves used to only have +2 dex and +1 int, so most people who chose them would have characters built around using int.

There's a star next to DEX which I think means its the most important ability, then the cantrips use INT so it makes sense to me that those two are the most important.

The only place where I see WIS mentioned is on the High Elf Cantrip page. At the top it says WIS and if I hover over it says "Spellcasting ability - The ability that influences your chance to hit with certain spells"

The only spell you start with is the find familiar one so unless I get more spells as I level up as a high elf ranger i'm wondering if I should override the recommended settings and move some points from WIS into INT. Does that sound like a good idea?