Invisibility and Multiple Ranged Touch Spell

[ARandomGod]

If you're invisible and you cast Meteor Swarm (see below for SRD quote of the spell), when do you become visible?

Why I'm asking.
I'm playing an Arcane Trickster with a custom fifth level spell similar to meteor swarm in many aspects (much less damage overall and less radius on the blast). In the last game I was in I cast this Minute Meteor Swarm while invisible, and the question came up as to whether sneak attack (from being invisible and in 30 feet) would apply to all four spheres, or just to the first. We played it as if the sneak attack would apply to all of the spheres, because that's how the player (me) assumed it would be. But we'd like a more official ruling, or a nice grouping of opinions. Some of the people thought that I'd turn visible after the first sphere left my hand, and so only the first would get sneak attack damage. The spell seems to me to imply that they all leave at the same time, so sneak attack would apply to all three. A separate ranged touch attack is done for each one.

As I'm writing this it occurs to me that this same question applies to spells such as Scorching Ray, where you also make separate attacks for each ray, and each is fired simultaneously.

So what official rulings do you know of that I can bring to the table next session, and/or what are your opinions/arguments?

Meteor Swarm
Evocation [Fire]
Level: Sor/Wiz 9
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Long (400 ft. + 40 ft./level)
Area: Four 40-ft.-radius spreads; see text
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None or Reflex half; see text
Spell Resistance: Yes
Meteor swarm is a very powerful and spectacular spell that is similar to fireball in many aspects. When you cast it, four 2- foot-diameter spheres spring from your outstretched hand and streak in straight lines to the spots you select. The meteor spheres leave a fiery trail of sparks.
If you aim a sphere at a specific creature, you may make a ranged touch attack to strike the target with the meteor. Any creature struck by one of these spheres takes 2d6 points of bludgeoning damage (no save) and receives no saving throw against the sphere’s fire damage (see below). If a targeted sphere misses its target, it simply explodes at the nearest corner of the target’s space. You may aim more than one meteor at the same target.
Once a sphere reaches its destination, it explodes in a 40-foot-radius spread, dealing 6d6 points of fire damage to each creature in the area. If a creature is within the area of more than one sphere, it must save separately against each. (Fire resistance applies to each sphere’s damage individually.)

 

[Hypersmurf]

So what official rulings do you know of that I can bring to the table next session, and/or what are your opinions/arguments?

The ruling for 3E shuriken was that precision damage (like sneak attack) only applied to the first shuriken in the volley. (Not the first hit; the first shuriken. If you missed with the first one and hit with the other two, no sneak attack damage.)

This was extended to the orb spells from Tome and Blood, and seems to be the general rule now for volley effects. Three rays from Scorching Ray? Sneak Attack on the first one (even with Greater Invisibility).

-Hyp.

 

[atom crash]

stupid double post

 

[atom crash]

From Rules of the Game: All About Sneak Attacks (Part 4) :

Volley Type Attacks

Sometimes, you make multiple attack rolls as part of the same attack, such as when you use the Manyshot feat. When you do so, only the first attack in the volley can be a sneak attack.
...(snip)...
With spell effects that allow you to make multiple attack rolls, such as the energy orb spells or the Split Ray feat from Tome and Blood, you must treat the effect like a volley -- only the first attack can be a sneak attack.

Even though the example is wrong (you make only one attack roll with the Manyshot feat), this ruling allows sneak attack damage to be added only once on a multiple-attack volley.