D&D 5E Fireball vs Flame Strike

[Eric V]

As an aside, this is the kind of thing I'd love seeing in an "annotated rule book" or something like that. Other things that could fit:

"You might think Sneak Attack does a ton of damage, and you'd be right, but it's about on par with what a fighter deals with all their extra attacks."

"Yes, Agonizing Beam applies to each hit of Eldritch Blast. That just means that the warlock can, more or less, keep up with martial characters in sustained damage."

"No rule should allow concentration on multiple effects at once. The whole point of concentration is that the effects are powerful, but you only get one of them at a time."

"Magic weapons are lower rarity than magic armor, because magic weapons speed up combat and armor slows it down."

That sort of thing.

100 times this.

 

[Nebulous]

As an aside, this is the kind of thing I'd love seeing in an "annotated rule book" or something like that. Other things that could fit:

"You might think Sneak Attack does a ton of damage, and you'd be right, but it's about on par with what a fighter deals with all their extra attacks."

"Yes, Agonizing Beam applies to each hit of Eldritch Blast. That just means that the warlock can, more or less, keep up with martial characters in sustained damage."

"No rule should allow concentration on multiple effects at once. The whole point of concentration is that the effects are powerful, but you only get one of them at a time."

"Magic weapons are lower rarity than magic armor, because magic weapons speed up combat and armor slows it down."

That sort of thing.

I like that idea.

 

[Saeviomagy]

Radiant is good, setting things on fire is usually bad, clerics get to wear armor, and a 10 foot radius, 40 ft tall column is not strictly inferior to a 20 ft sphere.

 

[miniaturehoarder]

As an aside, this is the kind of thing I'd love seeing in an "annotated rule book" or something like that.

100 times this.

I like that idea.

I'll fork that idea!

 

[gyor]

Go with fireball when you face creatures vulnerible to fire damage, when facing anyone not resistant to fire or vulnerible radiant, use it when fighting anything immune to radiant. Use flame strike instead against undead, shadow based creatures, firing fire immune or resistant enemies, or are in a place you don't want to risk catching fire.

 

[green_destiny]

The value of radiant damage should not be ignored.

At higher levels, you'll find a lot of monsters resistant or immune to fire. Very few are resistant or immune to radiant. On the contrary, many shadowy creatures are vulnerable to radiant damage.

Go with fireball when you face creatures vulnerible to fire damage, when facing anyone not resistant to fire or vulnerible radiant, use it when fighting anything immune to radiant. Use flame strike instead against undead, shadow based creatures, firing fire immune or resistant enemies, or are in a place you don't want to risk catching fire.

Right thanks for the tips!

But i think with the limited spell slots of a warlocks i'd rather use a spell that will disable them and fight it with improved eldritch blast and with the rest of the party, than use flame stike for the purpose of radiant, but still this can be an option when radiant damage is really needed.

PS. Its really a rule that only one concentration spell effect is activated at a time.

 

[GarryRW]

If i want to deal with undead wouldnt it be nice to cast guiding bolt rather than flame strike? It deals the SAME AMOUNT of radiant damage on lv 1, sorcerer can twin them and you deal technically, the same damage to a flame strike (only 2 creatures tho)

 

[Stalker0]

The value of radiant damage should not be ignored.

At higher levels, you'll find a lot of monsters resistant or immune to fire. Very few are resistant or immune to radiant. On the contrary, many shadowy creatures are vulnerable to radiant damage.

Not ignored but it’s not 2 levels good, maybe a half level at best. Clerics have several options for radiant damage when needed

 

[Charlaquin]

Not ignored but it’s not 2 levels good, maybe a half level at best. Clerics have several options for radiant damage when needed

More so now than 6 years ago when they wrote that, anyway.

 

[Shiroiken]

Right, the classes that has access to them, got it.

Although I'm looking at this from a Warlock Fiend patron that has access to both spelss. I'm pretty sure I'll be using Fireball 99% of the time over Flame Strike then.

Reminder: Warlocks don't get both, they just have the option to choose them (an often overlooked rule).

The size of the AoE should also be taken into consideration, since it has a narrower 2D area, but a higher damage location. This normally is a downside, since you can get less enemies, but it's also easier to place it without damaging allies. Overall it's going to be less useful, but with the radiant damage and more control it's not quite as bad as it first appears.