Chromatic Orb: What Color are Your Balls?

Usable By: Sorcerer, Wizard

Spell Level: 1

School: Evocation

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: 90 feet

Duration: Instantaneous

Components: V, S, M (a diamond worth at least 50 gp)

You hurl a 4-inch-diameter sphere of energy at a creature that you can see within range. You choose acid, cold, fire, lightning, poison, or thunder for the type of orb you create, and then make a ranged spell attack against the target. If the attack hits, the creature takes 3d8 damage of the type you chose.

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 2nd level or higher, the damage increases by 1d8 for each slot level above 1st.

Review by Samuel West, Twitter: @CrierKobold

Have you wanted to play a crazed flaming arsonist, kitted out with explosives, wreaths of flames, and demons? How about an ice mage, cold, stoic, commanding icey gales and freezing enemies in their place? Does an ichor soaked poisoner suit your fancy, and you’re looking to dissolve enemies in a bathtub full of acid, Walter White style? Chromatic Orb, as innocuous as it seems, can help make all of these builds FEEL real. It just happens to kind of suck, but doesn’t suck THAT bad.

Chromatic Orb is a great catch all to help you achieve your elementalist fantasy dream. Rename it whatever damage type you’re going to default to, paint a rich picture of your character conjuring the element, and you’ve got an easy, direct tool to facilitate a whole suite of different archetypes. That’s fundamentally how I think you should think of using Chromatic Orb, because beyond this case, it’s a bad 1st level damage spell compared to a lot of other options, and the flexibility of damage type isn’t worth a whole lot at most tables.

Having the chances of spending a spell slot and getting nothing back in return can feel terrible. Magic Missile can’t miss, deals the best damage type damage, has a longer range, and can be split up and assigned to hit multiple targets, all while only dealing an average of three damage less. If you’re just looking for a ranged damage spell, and the elementalist thematics don’t matter a whole lot to you, Magic Missile is far more reliable and flexible. Burning Hands has a far shorter range, for sure, but the ceiling of being able to hit multiple creatures multiplies the damage you’re dealing radically, and it, like Magic Missile, will always deal damage. You won’t ever cast the spell and get nothing back, which Chromatic Orb can result in.

Chromatic Orb doesn’t even compare well against other hit or miss spells. Guiding Bolt offers an ally advantage on an attack roll while also dealing slightly more average damage. Inflict Wounds, while shorter range, is one of the highest damage spells you can cast on a single target 1st level spell. Chromatic Orb is just every damage type, and practically, this rarely matters.

I do want to bat a bit for making damage type matter more; if you are going to DM a game centered around monsters and hunting of said monsters, giving them elemental vulnerabilities can be a great way to help players feel like they’re gaining ground during the hunt. As they learn more about monsters' weaknesses, they can seek out tools to exploit them, and offer some interesting preparation decision making and planning. This would bring a lot more utility to Chromatic Orb, and flesh it out as a tool built to be the flexible damage type option that you pull out to hit specific weak points. The majority of tables using MM stat blocks aren’t going to find this will be all that applicable, though.

If you’re looking to build around a damage type, and want a basic tool to emphasize your connection to said damage type, Chromatic Orb has you covered. It's not embarrassingly bad, but it definitely is going to get outshone slightly by other options. If you’re not in the market for a specific damage type theme, I’d steer clear and take some tried and true damage options.

5e Spells

Chromatic Orb: What Color are Your Balls?