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<blockquote data-quote="kenobi65" data-source="post: 2781814" data-attributes="member: 1515">Nope; prone is &quot;lying on the ground&quot;.It's not a bad spell, but I've never heard anyone consider it to be &quot;broken&quot;.&nbsp; Keep in mind that (a) it affects one target (compare to Fireball, or even Magic Missile, which can affect multiples), and (b) does require that touch attack (with a couple of exceptions, damage-dealing spells in 3E require either (a) an attack roll, or (b) a saving throw, but usually not both).Still not an auto-hit by any means.&nbsp; Your 5th level wizard has a BAB of +2.&nbsp; He almost undoubtedly has a 10 Str or less, so his melee attack is not going to be any better than +2.&nbsp; Even with that +3 bonus for metal armor, he's still got a fair chance of missing (esp. if the opponent has a Dex bonus to AC, a Ring of Protection, etc.)On average, that's doing 18 points of damage.&nbsp; If your 5th-level wizard is fighting a level-appropriate fighter-type opponent, they're going to have significantly more than 18 hit points.And, now you find out the downside.&nbsp; Wizard casts Shocking Grasp, reaches out, touches armor-clad bad guy, delivers the spell.&nbsp; Bad guy is nowhere near dead, and now Mr. Wizard is next to him. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin&nbsp; &nbsp; :D"&nbsp; data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" />&nbsp; Can we say, Chopped Wizard?</blockquote>

[QUOTE="kenobi65, post: 2781814, member: 1515"] Nope; prone is "lying on the ground". It's not a bad spell, but I've never heard anyone consider it to be "broken". Keep in mind that (a) it affects [b]one[/b] target (compare to Fireball, or even Magic Missile, which can affect multiples), and (b) does require that touch attack (with a couple of exceptions, damage-dealing spells in 3E require either (a) an attack roll, or (b) a saving throw, but usually not both). Still not an auto-hit by any means. Your 5th level wizard has a BAB of +2. He almost undoubtedly has a 10 Str or less, so his melee attack is not going to be any better than +2. Even with that +3 bonus for metal armor, he's still got a fair chance of missing (esp. if the opponent has a Dex bonus to AC, a Ring of Protection, etc.) On average, that's doing 18 points of damage. If your 5th-level wizard is fighting a level-appropriate fighter-type opponent, they're going to have significantly more than 18 hit points. And, now you find out the downside. Wizard casts Shocking Grasp, reaches out, touches armor-clad bad guy, delivers the spell. Bad guy is [b]nowhere near dead[/b], and now Mr. Wizard is next to him. :D Can we say, Chopped Wizard? [/QUOTE]

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