Astarion/high elf cantrip choice

[Moonbane]

Im wracking my mind about what to use for Astarion, especially if aiming to respec him into a bard. Bearing in mind that theyd scale with int and not cha.

Im quite torn if its worth keeping the default firebolt or not. Bearing in mind its uses for setting things on fire when stealthing, even if you wont use it for attacking. And that its not a cantrip in the small bard list.

[Recjawjind]

Minor illusion. It's excellent for rogue-y activities, and can group up non-hostile creatures for initiating combat with big aoe. It has no scaling whatsoever so you can dump int and it's still just as effective.

[FunkyMonkey]

I don't think you can change the default cantrip, since it's chosen at character creation and is tied to his race, which you can't change. If I'm wrong, minor illusion is solid and fits a Bard.

[Moonbane]

Thats why im asking, at the point of starting a new char. And I am well aware you cant change it once having begun. But i was worried minor illusion scaled with int.

[Recjawjind]

I'm not sure if it's locked in for astarion in particular, but you can definitely respec into it.
That's the route I went for the earlygame of my 1 character lone wolf tactician run.

[Elise Leikupo]

Minor illusion does scale with a stat and it affects investigation success chance but if you're only using it post initiate it's fine. Situation where high ini char initiates combat/surprise followed by your other party members use minor illusion just to make them face another way to position and join in would be fine.

It won't do too well if you're using it to bunch people up unless you use more stuff like darkness arrow to force them closer before investigation check.

[Moonbane]

Originally posted by Castillle:

Minor illusion does scale with a stat and it affects investigation success chance but if you're only using it post initiate it's fine. Situation where high ini char initiates combat/surprise followed by your other party members use minor illusion just to make them face another way to position and join in would be fine.

It won't do too well if you're using it to bunch people up unless you use more stuff like darkness arrow to force them closer before investigation check.

So you are saying Minor Illusion is better taken as a dedicated Bard skill to have it scaling with my CHA? To better defeat enemy investigation.

[FunkyMonkey]

Originally posted by Moonbane:

Thats why im asking, at the point of starting a new char. And I am well aware you cant change it once having begun. But i was worried minor illusion scaled with int.

Sorry, my bad. I misunderstood.