I'm just wanting to double check if I understood this right.
If I recall, a lot of cantrips had this, like Ray of Frost, and I was curious if it meant that the cantrip gains the stated effect, in this case, increased damage die, for each level the spell gained, which is half of caster's class level?
So a 10th level Wizard casting a cantrip like Ray of Frost would do 6d4(I think it was 1d4 base)?
Cantrips start at level 1, so the heightened effect begins from spell level 2 onwards. An 11th level wizard would do that much, because the cantrip would be heightened to level 6. A 10th level wizard would do 5d4.
Cantrips start at level 1, so the heightened effect begins from spell level 2 onwards. An 11th level wizard would do that much, because the cantrip would be heightened to level 6. A 10th level wizard would do 5d4.
Ah, I was thinking additives for some reason. Like 10 levels = +5 spell levels. When it's 10th level = 5th slot.
But with that as well, wouldn't that be +5d4 added, since the cantrip has a base of 1d4 and is basically spell level 0?
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Cantrips are not spell level 0 in PF2. They are spell level (half your level rounded up). So they start at spell level 1, not zero. By the time you are cast level 5 spells, all Cantrips are also level 5. It's just that they don't use spell slots to cast.
But with that as well, wouldn't that be +5d4 added, since the cantrip has a base of 1d4 and is basically spell level 0?
No, because its only heightened +4. Cantrips are always "whatever spell level you can cast" and the lowest you can cast is 1. So 1: what's listed. 2: 1[+1]
The listed effect applies for every increment of levels by which the spell is heightened above its lowest spell level, and the benefit is cumulative. For example, fireball says “Heightened (+1) The damage increases by 2d6.” Because fireball deals 6d6 fire damage at 3rd level, a 4th-level fireball would deal 8d6 fire damage, a 5th-level spell would deal 10d6 fire damage, and so on.
A cantrip is always automatically heightened to half your level, rounded up. For a typical spellcaster, this means its level is equal to the highest level of spell slot you have.
Managed to find this on Archive. Guess I thought it started as a cantrip and was heightened from that slot to 1st level slot, then to 2nd like so:
Cantrip: 1d4 base
1st spell slot: +1d4
2nd spell slot: +1d4
3rd spell slot: +1d4
etc
Though, this makes me unsure again.
. If you’re a prepared caster, you have a number of cantrip spell slots that you use to prepare your cantrips
All cantrips are, are spells that don't expend slots when cast and auto scale.
They are not 0 level spells and they have separate slots then the rest of your repertoire because they don't burn out.
All cantrips are, are spells that don't expend slots when cast and auto scale.
They are not 0 level spells and they have separate slots then the rest of your repertoire because they don't burn out.
Specifically for prepared spell casters as described in the Cantrips section on page 300. The Cantrips you have available as a prepared spell caster depends on which ones you prepared since you can have more Cantrips in your spell book than you have cantrip spell slots.
Edit: To be clear, spontaneous spell casters do not need cantrip spell slots because they only ever have a small selection of Cantrips that they can cast at will unlimited times per day. Prepared spell casters do to limit their daily selection of Cantrips but these cantrip spell slots are not expended when casting their spell as other spell slots.