A beam of crackling energy streaks toward a creature within range. Make a ranged spell attack against the target. On a hit, the target takes 1d10 force damage.

The spell creates more than one beam when you reach higher levels: two beams at 5th level, three beams at 11th level, and four beams at 17th level. You can direct the beams at the same target or at different ones. Make a separate attack roll for each beam.

My Comments: Remember when Emperor Palpatine started eldritch blasting Darth Vader and Darth just threw him out like old trash anyway? Yeah, that’s not what was really going on, but that’s what I always think of when I see eldritch blast. (Edit: Really, I should have save this comparison for Witch Bolt. It’s a lot closer to what Palpatine was doing.)

Honestly, this spell is just warlock-spam-bolt most of the time. It’s a great spell, but at tables where you can cast as many cantrips as you like… Why not eldritch blast? All the time… every turn… snore…

The tables I’ve played at limit cantrips to avoid this kind of thing, but it’s something you have to really be careful to avoid just totally nerfing the Warlock.

Anyway, Eldritch blast. What makes it great? It’s a d10 weapon with a range of 120 ft is what. What’s less great? Missing and also not getting modifiers on the damage when you do hit. a d10 straight up is 5.5 average damage, while an arrow from an archer will get d8+Dex, so decent Dex means 5.5 to 9.5 average with a 13 upper limit and the Dex bonus also help you hit as well. At the same time, you get to look cool. And yet, that archer better not break their bow or run out of arrows.

The most important thing about eldritch blast isn’t the spell though, it’s the Warlock’s invocations.

Agonizing Blast – Add you CHA bonus to the damage. Better, but still no help hitting.
Devil’s Sight – Zap people from the darkness, preferably make your own darkness first!
Eldritch Spear – Range becomes 300 feet. That’s a whole football field, just in case you’ve been measuring spell attacks in football fields for some reason.
Repelling Blast – I like this one. You can push your victim away 10 ft when you hit them. This invocation is a reminder to use your environment!

Of course, a true min-maxer would pile on some multi-classing for more fun, but I’m not going there.

Basically, it’s a solid cantrip-level spell, I just think it needs some creativity to really be fun, but hey, that’s true of everything!

[P.S. Check out the Wacky Dungeon game just above the footer!]