A saving throw attempts to resist a magic effect, whether by dodging it, through force of will, etc. The kind of saving throw made depends on the type of spell cast. For instance, you can jump from the means of fire but not leap out of the way of a psychic attack.
Create a ranged spell strike against the goal. On a hit, the target suffers 1d10 piercing damage. The purpose and every creature within 5 feet of the point where the ice burst should succeed on a Dexterity rescue throw or take 2d6 cold harm. It wise to know about spell dc and spell dmg mod.
Because of this, it’s more difficult to dodge a specialist wizard’s fireball than a pupil’s fireball. If you’re a wizard, your spell save DC is eight + your competence bonus + your Intelligence modifier. Not all spellcasters use intelligence, however.
The Ice Knife spell’s description was altered from the errata for Princes of the Apocalypse (in which the attack first appeared) and upgraded in the revised Elemental Evil Player’s Companion to explain the targeted region more clearly. The upgraded description of Ice Knife reads this. Hit or miss, the shard then explodes.
That meant that hit or miss, the caster would choose (or intentionally select ) a corner of the target’s distance, and that’s where the explosion would occur, using a radius of 5 feet, targeting the four squares touching that intersection. Fundamentally, pre-errata, the Ice Knife explosion was a 2×2 square (on a 5-foot grid battle map) that had to include the original goal in one of the squares.
You will find more damaging AoE spells at 1st levels like burning hands and thunderwave. Ice knife 5e is a great spell but not overpowered. I’ve got it on one of my chars through magic initiate. It is great. Nothing overpowered, but a solid single goal hit + AoE for additional harm is A-OK in the book.
Ice knife 5e using a Dex save negates the AoE damage. It sacrifices a tiny bit about the AoE damage to bring additional single target damage in contrast to Thunderwave. It also receives a special designation as one of the sole AoE spells, which can be employed with Twinned Spell.