Well then they shouldn't make pure damage spells that are just worse than what has already been released, because all that does is put a tax on flavor/fluff for the "ice mage" trying to stay in theme. Snowball Storm could have had a rider effect to make up for being meh damage. Instead its basically just a garbage spell.
If nothing else can compete with fireball on damage, stop making spells that only deal damage.
I see your point,but you're only looking at the spell "menu" from the players' point of view.
Granted, that's what this thread is about. But you're not just talking about rating the spells red; you're questioning their very existence.
But the secret is, plenty of spells can be crappy for player characters and still be justified in the game.
Just a single example: Power Word Kill.
For PCs you only get this at the very high 17th level, where most dangerous foes are CR 20 or more. And (paraphrasing Treeantmonk) why not just do 100 points of damage?
So for a PC this a very questionable spell pick.
For monsters, however, the situation is completely different. While monsters mostly rely on lots of hit points, many PCs don't, especially dangerous spell casters. Player characters are some of the most dangerous entities in all of the multiverse, if you look at danger per hit point!
And a CR 17 monster could meet, say level 13 heroes.
A PWK here is looking much more appealing!
That was just one example, and one based on mechanics and efficiency. Actually most justifications are based on theme. There needs to be level 3 cold spells so a winter hag, say, have something to cast at you.
And in order for Fireball to actually come across as better, it needs spells it actually is better than!
That said - none of this is to be taken to justify coming up with loads of actually crappy spells that noone can make use of.
Sent from my C6603 using
EN World mobile app