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<blockquote data-quote="Dausuul" data-source="post: 7904827" data-attributes="member: 58197">With its 20-foot radius, the fireball is apt to hit 3-4 targets on average, and it doesn't cost your action on subsequent rounds. Call lightning might hit 2 targets on the first round, but you aren't going to get more than 1 after that since it is trivially easy for enemies to spread out enough that you can't catch two of them next to each other.Assuming a 65% chance to fail the save, fireball deals 80.85 damage on the first round (28 damage to 3.5 targets, halved on a successful save). Call lightning deals 27.225 on the first round (16.5 to 2 targets, halved on a successful save).On subsequent rounds, the fireball caster can cast fire bolt, a cantrip costing no spell slots. Again assuming a 65% chance to hit, this is 7.15 damage per round. Call lightning deals 13.6125 on later rounds (one target instead of two).In fact, it takes 9 rounds for call lightning to outdamage fireball. By that time, the battle will be over or you will have lost concentration. And that isn't even getting into the superior value of damage on the first round (an enemy that gets incinerated on the first round doesn't get to damage the party on rounds 2+). The storm cloud summoned by call lightning is immobile, so you can't take it with you into future battles unless you can force the enemy to come to the site of the first combat.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Dausuul, post: 7904827, member: 58197"] With its 20-foot radius, the [I]fireball [/I]is apt to hit 3-4 targets on average, and it doesn't cost your action on subsequent rounds. [I]Call lightning[/I] might hit 2 targets on the first round, but you aren't going to get more than 1 after that since it is trivially easy for enemies to spread out enough that you can't catch two of them next to each other. Assuming a 65% chance to fail the save, [I]fireball [/I]deals 80.85 damage on the first round (28 damage to 3.5 targets, halved on a successful save). [I]Call lightning[/I] deals 27.225 on the first round (16.5 to 2 targets, halved on a successful save). On subsequent rounds, the [I]fireball [/I]caster can cast [I]fire bolt[/I], a cantrip costing no spell slots. Again assuming a 65% chance to hit, this is 7.15 damage per round. [I]Call lightning[/I] deals 13.6125 on later rounds (one target instead of two). In fact, it takes 9 rounds for [I]call lightning [/I]to outdamage [I]fireball[/I]. By that time, the battle will be over or you will have lost concentration. And that isn't even getting into the superior value of damage on the first round (an enemy that gets incinerated on the first round doesn't get to damage the party on rounds 2+). The storm cloud summoned by [I]call lightning [/I]is immobile, so you can't take it with you into future battles unless you can force the enemy to come to the site of the first combat. [/QUOTE]

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