Premise
Whilst looking to make the character sheets for some NPC's, I looked at the damaging cantrips and discovered clear winners and losers.
So as not to get into the "Cantrips vs Martials" debate, I am going to restate this is about relative power of cantrips to each other.
I 'll address Disrupt Undead first, as it's niche and does the highest dmg dice, which seems about right.
Telekenetic Projectile also does the highest, but attack AC and requires ammo, so I see no issue here (except that weirdness of D8 at 3rd LVL)
Both Ray of Frost and Electric Arc are by far the best cantrips, in single target and multitarget respectively.
Acid Splash is tragic.
Chill Touch (which I am not going to bother addressing the undead side) is not worth the risk compared to Ray of Frost having the same damage from 60ft, and Produce flame just doesn't compete.
I have 2.5 solutions, Buffs, Nerfs, Nerfs with Minor Buffs.
Option 1: Buffs
Make TP D10 at all LVLs, because honestly I suspect that's a typo
Increase Chill Touch D8 -> D10 making it worth considering.
Produce Flame, Increase the LVL 1 base dmg from D4 -> D6, Increase the persistent dmg on crit from LVL3 and above from D4 -> D6.
Acid Splash, Double the persistent dmg on crit from 1/2/3/4/5 to 2/4/6/8/10, and make the splash damage scale like the old persistent damage, 1/2/3/4/5. Now if this is allowed to operate like an Alchemical Bomb, unless you crit fail to hit your target, you are doing damage. This would balance out the low dmg with almost certain dmg.
Option 2: Nerfs
Short and Sweet, drop both Ray of Frost and Electric Arc a dmg die.
Option 3: Nerfs with Minor Buffs
The Nerfs with the TP Buff, and the Acid Splash buff without the doubling of the persistent dmg.
Summary
I much prefer options 1 and 3, depending on issue of balance within the larger ruleset, but the simplicity of option 2 is undeniably attractive as solution.
I may post some kind of number graph or something later, depending on interest, but I've spend long enough on this project as is :P
