D&D 1E Fireball throughout the ages

[Helldritch]

Even today if we say:" You mad bro? He gets into a fit..."

 

[Ogre Mage]

I have loved fireball since 1E. It is an iconic spell. Wizards have been one of my main classes from the start and I have always felt impatient to get to 5th level. Fireball is a big reason why.

And I definitely noticed a difference in how I was treated in a party once my wizards hit 5th level. We all know that low-level wizards tend to be weaker members of the party and I sometimes felt my wizard was being dismissed as inconsequential. Once fireball, fly, haste and lightning bolt appeared there was suddenly respect for my wizard.

 

[Helldritch]

Imagine when you could get your hand on a wand of fireball! Not only did you had respect, but you were feared as well! Now... (yawnnnnnn)

 

[cbwjm]

I have loved fireball since 1E. It is an iconic spell. Wizards have been one of my main classes from the start and I have always felt impatient to get to 5th level. Fireball is a big reason why.

And I definitely noticed a difference in how I was treated in a party once my wizards hit 5th level. We all know that low-level wizards tend to be weaker members of the party and I sometimes felt my wizard was being dismissed as inconsequential. Once fireball, fly, haste and lightning bolt appeared there was suddenly respect for my wizard.

Playing basic and 2e was when I first came to the conclusion that it was 5th level that PCs started to become truly powerful. Wizards with fireball was a large part of it but I also felt that warriors had reached a point where their Thac0 was decent enough to hit enemies fairly consistently. It seems to have translated into 5e too with 5th level being the level when warriors receive extra attack and spellcasters (still) get their 3rd level spells and their upgraded cantrips.

 

[cbwjm]

Imagine when you could get your hand on a wand of fireball! Not only did you had respect, but you were feared as well! Now... (yawnnnnnn)

The ever increasing amount of hit points of the PCs enemies has definitely contributed a lot to the weakening of fireball. As soon as 3rd edition hit and enemies gained not just multiple hit dice but also added constitution modifiers made fireball far less useful. Before 2e, you'd have a good chance to roast a group of ogres with a fireball, now it just annoys them. Mind you, I guess it gives the rest of the party something to do rather than just a single fireball ending the encounter.

 

[Helldritch]

Playing basic and 2e was when I first came to the conclusion that it was 5th level that PCs started to become truly powerful. Wizards with fireball was a large part of it but I also felt that warriors had reached a point where their Thac0 was decent enough to hit enemies fairly consistently. It seems to have translated into 5e too with 5th level being the level when warriors receive extra attack and spellcasters (still) get their 3rd level spells and their upgraded cantrips.

Yep, I'll give you that.
But some spells should have kept their draw back and their strength. Fireball is one of those. 8d6 is ok until the character is level 8 but I would have prefered to see something like this:"
Fireball does 1d6/level of your mage with a maximum of 10d6.
If you use a higher level slot, you deal an additional d6 of fire damage.
If you use a higher level slot, you can, instead of the additional fire damage, increase the radius by 10 feet for each additional spell slots.
You can mix both options at your leisure.

Warning. A 20feet radius fireball fills and area of 33500 cubic feet. It will try to fill this whole space and it might come back at you if you cast it in a restricted area."

This spell would've been marvelous! And the same principle could apply other spells and so on. Higher casting would be more flexible and terrifying.

 

[Zardnaar]

I really miss the danger associated with these spells. It was also a restricting factor as the fear of hitting an ally was real and the consequences were potentially disastrous.

I remember a paladin getting caught in a fireball cast by a "friendly" magic user. The paladin rolled a one on his save. magic items save... We had a very naked, disarmed and angry paladin at the table. His only magic item left was... a ring of jumping. Boy was he mad.

I had a 2E Paladin lose a holy avenger to an acid bolt spell.

Not happy. I think I've handed out 3 holy avengers in 28 years.

 

[Helldritch]

I had a 2E Paladin lose a holy avenger to an acid bolt spell.

Not happy. I think I've handed out 3 holy avengers in 28 years.

I did awarded a bit more but I had a lot of different group at the same time in my younger years.

Edit: Added time after same... go figure why it didn't typed in...

 

[Zardnaar]

I prefer the 2E/3E fireball.

8d6 is a lot on CR3/level 5 stuff.

It's not worth up casting though and with 5E hit point bloat it's semi useless anyway.

Remember the warmage being great? Nope scaling damage spells don't matter to much.

Level 1 and 2 damage dealing ones semi useless in a hurry.

 

[Helldritch]

The hp bloat is exactly why damage spells should've scaled with caster's levels. Having a cap is understandable but yet...