Confusing cantrips

[mobilnik111]

Hey everyone! I have a few questions regarding cantrips.

1. Why in FGU some spells have different coloring? Some are red, some are orange and one (invoke true name) is blue.

2. Why some cantrips have levels? [Acid Splash]C1, but [Song of Marching]C3 is like that. How does it work in the game?

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[Montis]

1. Red is common, Orange is uncommon, Blue is rare. See also Rarity. I believe Purple is unique, but that only applies to items and creatures.

2. Song of Marching is a cantrip that has a base rank is 3. This doesn't really do much in this case but it indicates roughly when you are able to gain it. If it was a damaging cantrip and had a heightened entry of +1, you would calculate the heightened damage or effect from the base rank instead of all the way from rank 1. For example Redistribute Potential from the Psychic class: if you cast it unamped at rank 6, you deal 4d4 + 1d4 from heightening, instead of 4d4 + 5d4.

[Trenloe]

The colors represent the rarity of the record and are taken from the same colors used within the Paizo products. Red = common, orange = uncommon, blue = rare, purple = unique.

Details on rarity can be found in the core rules, or here: https://2e.aonprd.com/Rules.aspx?ID=36

Cantrips are no longer "0 level spells" - they are spells that can be cast any number of times a day (if available/prepared).

Cantrips have levels to indicate the base level of that cantrip which effects things like learning a spell, identifying a spell, heightening, etc. and this usually also ties in with roughly when a spellcaster can start to use those cantrips. C3 means that the cantrip is a level 3 cantrip - for the example of "Song of Marching" this is gained via a level 6 bard feat and the maximum level spell a bard can cast at level 6 is level 3.

[MaxAstro]

More generally, a cantrip that is tied to one of the four spell lists, meaning any caster with that list can take it, will always be listed as rank 1.

On the other hand, cantrips that can only be gained from a class feat or class feature - notably Bard composition cantrips and Psychic psi cantrips, among others - will have a rank based on the lowest level it can be learned. As far as I am aware such cantrips are also always at least Uncommon rarity.

If you are picking spells for your spell list, it's safe to assume that any cantrip with a base rank higher than 1 is not a valid choice, in other words.

[mobilnik111]

Thanks to everyone who replied!

I have other question. If I decide to height the cantrip of 1st lvl up to 3rd, does it eat 3rd spell slot or I can enjoy heightening my k00l sw4ag cantrips all day I want?

[Montis]

Thanks to everyone who replied!

I have other question. If I decide to height the cantrip of 1st lvl up to 3rd, does it eat 3rd spell slot or I can enjoy heightening my k00l sw4ag cantrips all day I want?

Cantrips never use spell slots and can generally be cast as much as you want, so you can enjoy them all day. Some exceptions are that specific cantrips, e.g. hex cantrips from the witch and composition cantrips from the bard can only be cast once per round.

[MaxAstro]

Also FWIW you don't really "decide" to heighten cantrips. They are automatically heightened to the maximum possible rank for your level. So if you can cast 5th rank spells, your cantrips are always 5th rank.

[mobilnik111]

That sounds sweet!