So, we ran into a disagreement with rules in my session last night, hoping for some clarification.
One of my players was running a 4th level Cleric (with 2nd level spells). She has Divine Lance as a cantrip:
"You unleash a beam of divine energy. Choose an alignment your deity has (chaotic, evil, good, or lawful). You can't cast this spell if you don't have a deity or if your deity is true neutral. Make a ranged spell attack roll against the target's AC. On a hit, the target takes damage of the chosen alignment type equal to 1d4 + your spellcasting ability modifier (double damage on a critical hit). The spell gains the trait of the alignment you chose.
Heightened (+1) The damage increases by 1d4."
As I understand it, cantrips automatically get heightened to the highest level a character can cast, in this case 2. Meaning that her Divine Lance should do 3d4 + ability mod.
Another player argues that it should only get one "boost", to 2d4 - as if you have cantrips, you generally have 1st level spells at least, and so instead of even saying
"1d4 + your spellcasting ability" in the spell description it would instead say 2d4.
How does this math out?
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Cantrips are already first level. You can see it on Divine Lance's statblock: Cantrip 1.
So when you have first level spells there's nothing to heighten to, hence 1d4. It heightens once you get second level spells.
In the same way that Fireball does 6d6 as a third level spell and heightens at 4/5/6/etc. It doesn't do 12d6 at level 3 because you don't heighten it from 0, you heighten it from its starting point.
Cantrips are already first level. You can see it on Divine Lance's statblock: Cantrip 1.
So are cantrips not all considered 0 level, then? Could be this is a change from 1e that I've overlooked...
Cantrips, Core Rulebook pg. 300
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.
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Cantrips are already first level. You can see it on Divine Lance's statblock: Cantrip 1.So are cantrips not all considered 0 level, then? Could be this is a change from 1e that I've overlooked...
Correct. Cantrips list their base level, like any other spell.
This is almost always 1, although some special spells like focus cantrips and psi cantrips might have a higher base level.
Cantrips are already first level. You can see it on Divine Lance's statblock: Cantrip 1.So are cantrips not all considered 0 level, then? Could be this is a change from 1e that I've overlooked...
Correct. Cantrips have a level that they start at.
The ones that are general access and are on tradition lists are all level 1 to start with.
Bard has some that start at higher levels, though I don't think they have a heightened effect. Inspire Defence (level 2 initially) and Dirge of Doom (level 3 initially) for example.
People sometimes also get confused by this as it regards Soothing Mist. It starts at level 2. But if you don't notice that and think that it starts at level 1 like a lot of focus spells do, then it is easy to miscalculate the number of healing dice that it does. Casting it at spell level 3 does 3d6 healing, not 4d6 .
Huh. TIL, thanks for the input, everyone~