Plane Sailing said:
I'd be interested to know what the probability of the orb hitting was, compared to the probability of a reflex save being successful. I'd also be interested to know whether these foes had SR or not.
That information would make for more usable 'in game' results.
My goal with the numbers was not to try to resolve that question, but simply to address the number of targets question.
Also, as a player, I don't know precisely what the creature's ACs, Reflex saves, and SR were.
But, I will do the best I can.
[SBLOCK]
The first encounter was against a half-fiend behir and a ... young adult blue dragon? Just a guess.
The dragon, if I identified it correctly, has a Reflex save of +11, against the warmage's 4th level DC of 19 or 20. It has SR 19, and the warmage does not have spell penetration.
The dragon's base touch AC is 9, vs the warmage's ranged touch of +8. The dragon was buffed early in the fight which may have affected that, but it was dispelled and tanglefooted, bringing it's AC down even further.
The half fiend behir has a reflex save of +9, a touch AC of 11, and SR 19
[/SBLOCK]
The short version is that orbs were obviously totally better in the first fight. I'm OK with that, though, since the fireball and lightning bolt were better choices in the second fight.
As a philosophical aside, I don't see why conjuration can't be good at hurting people. Saying that evocation is the only school that should hurt people goes directly against the idea that in 3.5 schools are balanced against each other. It's back to the old 2nd edition idea that illusionists suck.
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gnfnrf
EDIT: Apparently, the SPOILER tag creates text you have to highlight, not the neat popopen window. Oh well. Go highlight to see RHoD spoilers.
SECOND EDIT: Nail is my hero.