Steel Wind Strike is one of the most flavorful spells for gishes who either can’t use the spell until endgame (rangers at level 17) or just not at all (eldritch knights and arcane tricksters). I wanted to create a version that can be accessed earlier so that rangers and eldritch knights are able to use the spell during their adventuring career (rangers starting at level 5, eldritch knights starting at level 7).

I’d love to get some feedback on balancing this scaling level 2 spell.

For reference, here’s the original, level 5 spell:

Steel Wind Strike

Level 5 Conjuration

You flourish the weapon used in the casting and then vanish to strike like the wind. Choose up to FIVE creatures you can see within range. Make a melee SPELL attack against each target. On a hit, a target takes 6d10 Force damage.

You then teleport to an unoccupied space you can see within 5 feet of one of the targets.

Emphasis added for the number of targets and the type of attack roll.

Here's my proposed, level 2 spell:

Steel Wind Strike

Level 2 Conjuration

Casting Time: Action

Range: 30 feet

Components: S, M (a Melee weapon worth 1 SP)

Duration: Instantaneous

You flourish the weapon used in the casting then vanish to strike like the wind. Choose up to TWO creatures you can see within range. Make a melee WEAPON attack against each target. On a hit, a target suffers the weapon attack's normal effects, including applicable weapon masteries, and takes an additional 1d10 Force damage.

You then teleport to an unoccupied space you can see within 5 feet of one of the targets.

Using a Higher-Level Spell Slot. The number of targets increases by 1 and the damage increases by 1d10 for each spell slot level above 2 to a maximum of 5 targets and 5d10 damage.

Classes: Ranger, Wizard

I opted to make it a weapon attack roll vs a spell attack roll so that it’s more viable for spellcasting martials than it is for wizards, then, like the blade cantrips, it’s an actual attack with the weapon plus the added spell effect and damage.

Since it is a weapon attack, I’m unsure what the force damage die should be. If the additional damage die is a d10 and a character is using a greatsword with a 5 STR modifier, it starts stronger than other Level 2 damage spells but the damage tops off at about what the original spell would be at Level 5 (33 per target)…but, because it’s a weapon attack, there are potentially feats and magic items that affect the damage output along with being able to interact with weapon masteries (except for Nick which requires taking the Attack action).

Also for comparison: spells with similar damage output at spell levels 2 through 5 all at least do half-damage on a successful save whereas Steel Wind Strike, on the other hand, does no damage on a miss. Because of this, I think that either a d8 or a d10 is probably a reasonable damage die for the additional force damage.

I created the following tables to show how much damage this spell could do on average with the various damage dice with different weapon types to each target if it hits:

Using a greatsword with a 5 STR modifier, average damage per target on hit would be:

|| || | |d4|d6|d8|d10|d12| |Lv. 2 (2 Targets)|14.5|15.5|16.5|17.5|18.5| |Lv. 3 (3 Targets)|17|19|21|23|25| |Lv. 4 (4 Targets)|19.5|22.5|25.5|28.5|31.5| |Lv. 5 (5 Targets)|22|26|30|34|38|

Using a versatile 1d10 weapon with a 5 STR modifier, average damage per target on hit would be:

|| || | |d4|d6|d8|d10|d12| |Lv. 2 (2 Targets)|13|14|15|16|17| |Lv. 3 (3 Targets)|15.5|17.5|19.5|21.5|23.5| |Lv. 4 (4 Targets)|18|21|24|27|30| |Lv. 5 (5 Targets)|20.5|24.5|28.5|32.5|36.5|

Using a 1d8 weapon with a 5 STR modifier, average damage per target on hit would be:

|| || | |d4|d6|d8|d10|d12| |Lv. 2 (2 Targets)|12|13|14|15|16| |Lv. 3 (3 Targets)|14.5|16.5|18.5|20.5|22.5| |Lv. 4 (4 Targets)|17|20|23|26|29| |Lv. 5 (5 Targets)|19.5|23.5|27.5|31.5|35.5|

I also collected the average damage of following Ranger and Wizard spells to compare the above damage against:

Level 2:

• Aganazzar's Scorcher – 13.5 damage against up to 5 targets in line, half as much on successful save
• Melf’s Acid Arrow – 15 damage against one target, or 10 on a miss.
• Rime’s Binding Ice – 13.5 damage against multiple targets in 30-foot cone, half as much on a successful save, targets movement set to 0 on failed save.
• Scorching Ray – 7 damage split between 1 to 3 targets within 120-foot range.
• Shatter – 13.5 damage against targets in 10-foot sphere, half as much on successful save.
• Snilloc's Snowball Swarm – 10.5 damage against targets in 5-foot sphere within 90-foot range, half as much on successful save.
• Spray of Cards – 11 damage against targets in 15-foot cone, half as much on successful save, targets are blinded on failed save.

Level 3:

• Conjure Barrage – 22.5 damage against targets in 60-foot cone, half as much on successful save.
• Erupting Earth – 19.5 damage against targets in 20-foot cube, half as much on successful save, creates difficult terrain
• Fireball – 28 damage against targets in 20-foot sphere, half as much on successful save
• Lightning Arrow – 18 damage against single target plus 9 damage against creatures within 10 feet of target, half as much on successful save.
• Lightning Bolt – 28 damage against targets in 100-foot line, half as much on successful save.
• Thunder Step – 16.5 damage against targets within 10 feet of you, half as much on successful save.
• Tidal Wave – 18 damage against targets in 30x10 foot area, half as much on successful save, targets knocked prone on failed save.

Level 4:

• Blight – 36 damage against a single creature, half as much on a successful save.
• Ice Storm – 26 damage against targets in 20x40 foot area, half as much on successful save, creates difficult terrain.
• Raulothim's Psychic Lance – 24.5 damage against single target, half as much on successful save, incapacitated on failed save.
• Vitriolic Sphere – 37.5 damage against targets in 20-foot sphere, 12.5 damage on successful save.

Level 5:

• Cone of Cold – 36 damage against targets in 60-foot cone, half as much on successful save.
• Conjure Volley – 36 damage against targets in 40-foot cylinder, half as much on successful save.
• Negative Energy Flood – 32.5 damage against single target, half as much on successful save, creates zombie on kill.
• Steel Wind Strike – 33 damage against up to 5 targets, no damage on miss, teleport next to target
• Synaptic Static – 28 damage against targets in 20-foot sphere, half as much on successful save, 1d6 penalty on attack rolls and ability checks and concentration with failed save.

Thoughts?