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Spells: the Good, the Bad, and the Downright Orcish Grandmother
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<blockquote data-quote="KarinsDad" data-source="post: 6400955" data-attributes="member: 2011"><p>If you rolled to hits like I roll to hits, all of these cantrips basically suck. The advantage of Witch Bolt is that if I can manage to hit once (which is why I use it with True Strike), I never have to roll to hit again until that foe is down. So to me, it's an anti-lieutenant or anti-solo spell.</p><p></p><p>Sure, Chromatic Orb gives the advantages that you mention, but at level 3, foes tend to not have energy resistance. And even if they did, lightning resistance should be fairly rare (shy of blue dragons).</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>So like I said, do you metagame your NPCs to know the solution for this spell?</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>2D12 at level two is 13 average automatic points per round once achieved. No to hit roll after round one.</p><p></p><p>At level two on a hit:</p><p></p><p>Cloud of Daggers? 10 average total points for a single round unless the team can figure out a way to move a foe into it.</p><p></p><p>Chromatic Orb? 18 average total points.</p><p></p><p>Magic Missile? 14 average total points.</p><p></p><p>Melf's Acid Arrow? 15 average total points (this also does half damage on a miss).</p><p></p><p>Scorching Ray? 21 average total points.</p><p></p><p>I'm not seeing these spells that blow away Witch Bolt so drastically. Scorching Ray is the best of the bunch, but even combining it with cantrips will tend to be subpar by round two (i.e. 21 from Scorching Ray on round one followed by 5.5 from Fire Bolt IF it hits on round two is typically the same or less damage than Witch Bolt at 26 by round two).</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>No, the difference is that the PC can do 65 average points of damage with a single first level spell, 130 average points of damage with as single second level spell if the PCs can figure out a way to lock down a big bad foe. Huge if done properly. And not as bad as you claim.</p><p></p><p>Sure, the odds of getting 10 rounds of damage out of this spell is not so good, but if the PCs are fighting a solo, the odds of getting 3 or 4 rounds are not so bad, especially if other PCs have spells to lock down a foe (like Entangle). Sure, if the DM metagames the solo to move away, all bets are off.</p><p></p><p></p><p>And Witch Bolt can be even more potent in the hands of a Sorcerer using Distant spell.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="KarinsDad, post: 6400955, member: 2011"] If you rolled to hits like I roll to hits, all of these cantrips basically suck. The advantage of Witch Bolt is that if I can manage to hit once (which is why I use it with True Strike), I never have to roll to hit again until that foe is down. So to me, it's an anti-lieutenant or anti-solo spell. Sure, Chromatic Orb gives the advantages that you mention, but at level 3, foes tend to not have energy resistance. And even if they did, lightning resistance should be fairly rare (shy of blue dragons). So like I said, do you metagame your NPCs to know the solution for this spell? 2D12 at level two is 13 average automatic points per round once achieved. No to hit roll after round one. At level two on a hit: Cloud of Daggers? 10 average total points for a single round unless the team can figure out a way to move a foe into it. Chromatic Orb? 18 average total points. Magic Missile? 14 average total points. Melf's Acid Arrow? 15 average total points (this also does half damage on a miss). Scorching Ray? 21 average total points. I'm not seeing these spells that blow away Witch Bolt so drastically. Scorching Ray is the best of the bunch, but even combining it with cantrips will tend to be subpar by round two (i.e. 21 from Scorching Ray on round one followed by 5.5 from Fire Bolt IF it hits on round two is typically the same or less damage than Witch Bolt at 26 by round two). No, the difference is that the PC can do 65 average points of damage with a single first level spell, 130 average points of damage with as single second level spell if the PCs can figure out a way to lock down a big bad foe. Huge if done properly. And not as bad as you claim. Sure, the odds of getting 10 rounds of damage out of this spell is not so good, but if the PCs are fighting a solo, the odds of getting 3 or 4 rounds are not so bad, especially if other PCs have spells to lock down a foe (like Entangle). Sure, if the DM metagames the solo to move away, all bets are off. And Witch Bolt can be even more potent in the hands of a Sorcerer using Distant spell. [/QUOTE]
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