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Message: <blockquote data-quote="gnfnrf" data-source="post: 3703162" data-attributes="member: 2373">I'd just like to clarify something, here.  I did not assume that an area evocation (or orb) would be cast every round.  I chose a formula to decide how many foes to consider that the AoE affected the moment it was cast, regardless of what round that was.No caster of 9th to 10th level can cast a 3rd or 4th level spell in every round of every fight, regardless of its targeting or effects.  The analysis is just to determine what happens on the rounds that they do.Just to repeat, I wasn't looking at repeated application of the spell on each round.  I was trying to calculate an average effect when cast on some round.  I did make a reality check to test its viability; during two sessions of RHoD, whenever the party warmage cast either an area evocation or an orb, I checked the number of area evocation targets possible.  The results of that count were pretty close to the formula.I also tried to solicit advice on the formula to use, and received no help.  What, in your experience, is the average fraction of foes in an encounter that can be caught in a fireball or lightning area effect, given normal tactical play by both sides?  I'm happy to recalculate for it.Absolutely.  There is no way of doing a perfect analysis.  However, I did my best with the tools I had available.Don't forget the area evocations in question are one spell level lower than the orbs, and the module in question is filled with creatures with SR.Yep.  There was no way to include that factor in the analysis, particularly since I never even chose which orb was being cast (which would then require energy resistance to play a role, where the area evocations dominate, since they can be affected by lesser rods of energy substitution).I disagree with this assertion.  While sometimes, an orb can kill one opponent whereas a fireball can injure three, other times (the majority of non critical hits on unwounded foes), neither spell can kill anyone outright.  If the foes are already wounded, the extra expected damage of an orb is often wasted on overkill, whereas the fireball can finish off multiple foes at once.  Which of these circumstances is more likely is outside the realm of the analysis I did.I'm not approaching this from a preconceived advocacy position; in fact, I expected to discover that Orbs would be very powerful compared to area evocations, and I was surprised when they were not.I reiterate, I'd like to refine the model I built, so if you have an alternative way to calculate the number of foes caught in a fireball/lightning bolt, please suggest it and I'll see what the results are.</blockquote>

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