What does everyone think about fireballs in 'temple? I remember my extreme reluctance to use them in Baldur's gate, on enemies who were in melee combat; chances were high I'd be off half a centimeter and fry Minsc. I hated that, as it made the spell very hard to use and target without a lot of risk. In temple, there's no risk. I can fry a whole line of meleeing enemies and not worry -- I know exactly who will be hit. The fire must be missing my own characters right in front of their faces! I was sure I preferred it at first. It makes the spell more useful, but almost too much, perhaps. Short of a room that's just too small, it and other mass-effect spells are god. If you have multiple spell-casters, they can literally release a veritable wave of death. (This comes after watching my all wizard group in action.)
But also consider that if one of those Bugbears gets next to your mage and tripps him/her then....well you know. Mages can kill and dominate but are often the target of the AI. Ive seen critters run past 4 other characters just to get a attempt on whacking em.
That's how fireball and other AOE spells work in turnbased DnD gameplay, i.e. pnp style. You should be able to lay down spells with accuracy, unless the player is clueless about the range/area of effect of the spell in question. Even if the player is, the character (a wizard with high INT possibly?) isn't, apparently, in TOEE. BG was a hybrid realtime/turn based game, though you could hit the pause button to cast spells more accurately. Never had trouble hitting my party with fireballs myself.
In P&P a fireball will be a fixed volume relevant to the level being cast at. Unless we could shelter ourselves from the reflecting wave of fire or somehow make sure its directed away from us the DM would fry us with it. Having 2 engineers (one a Mathematician and the other a cruise missile engineer) they quickly figure out the volume the fireball will create and whether or not the room has enough space to absorb it, otherwise it gets reflect back just like a wave. It's convenient that you can cast a fireball at a wall (where half of the blast goes into the other room separated by the wall) without any danger. Since the game won't let walls get disintegrated or destroyed (like absorbing 50% or more of a fireball) it'd be cool if there could be a way to mod the way fireball works such that in confined quarters (i.e. a room, or at least a wall behind the enemy) that the magical energy gets reflected back. Opening a door to a 6x6 room enough that the wizard can cast a fireball into the room and then slam the door is one thing. Being half way in the room in melee and casting the same fireball where it only takes up half the room in a way feels like cheating.
Wow, that could be neat. But it appears the rule has been changed in 3rd edition D&D: http://www.enworld.org/forum/d-d-le...es-fireball-spell-expand-narrow-corridor.html http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Aiming_a_Spell_(Spell_Descriptor)
Our gaming group had a few people that bought the 3rd edition dmg and pm and found them to be utter garbage, since we've always played primarily 1st with some elements of 2nd ed thrown in. Anything starting with 3 ed and higher we all got frustrated that there were charts and tables for everything and killed a lot of creativity you were allowed in the 1st and 2nd editions. There was an interesting post on that thread about using SR rules for magical fire. Magical fire won't come back at you in a confined area, rather bounce around between the wall creating more damage for target. Imagine it like a stun grenade, throw it into an open area and then throw it into a 10 foot long hallway 3 feet wide. The reflection of the concussion gets compounded by those in the area depending on the strength of the blast (which determines how many times the sound wave will bounce of each hallway wall) making for a much more powerful effect than the grenade itself is actually capable of. It could be easily calculated using the same formula for chain lightning, instead of going from target to target the damage gets enhanced so a 7d fireball could actually do 10d worth of damage if properly placed.
I always thought that lightning bolts were for smaller rooms where you didn't want to fry your own group, but in the game I've never had problems just putting the fireball in the corner and carefully adjusting until I get what I want. Unless you're fighting fire-proof creatures or in a _very_ small room, which doesn't happen all that much, fireball almost always seems superior to lightning bolt. I've tried counting the kills between one mage with a fireball and the other with lightning, and it doens't come close.
Could you imagine if Lightning bolt reflected of of walls like in the old days? Guess you wouldn't need chain lightning then.
In one of the Balder's gate or IWD games lightning did bounce off of wall. I remember a fight against dozens of kobolds where I shot a LB down a hallway frying half on the way down, the other half on the way back.
In BGII a trap sends a bolt flying down the hall you're in and it keeps bouncing back and forth the length of the hall doing grievous damage to any unsuspecting adventurer
Yeah, that might be a good idea. Otherwise only under really special circumstances will lightning bolt outdo fireball. Over the long run, fireball is just vastly superior. I never noticed this imbalance in PnP games or other computer rpg's the way I've seen it in temple.
Just when I started thinking how this could be implemented, and sketched up a concept, it turns out that it's not in 3E either. Bummer. :blegh:
