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General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Fireball/Lightning Bolt vs Chromatic Orb?
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<blockquote data-quote="Steampunkette" data-source="post: 9582875" data-attributes="member: 6796468"><p>"Without Consent" is doing a lot of heavy lifting, here, to try and balance the mathematical functions of <em>Fireball</em> vs <em>Chromatic Orb</em> on a matter of politeness.</p><p></p><p>Anyway. Even at 85%, that's still a 15% chance of completely wasting the spell slot on each roll. Which is a cumulative fail chance of around 62% over the course of 6 rolls. (0.85*0.85*0.85*0.85*0.85*0.85) = 37.7</p><p></p><p>(These are your odds of not rolling a 3 or less across 6 rolls)</p><p></p><p>You have a better than 50% chance of getting 3 hits out of it. After that your chances are under 50/50 of getting the next one to land in the sequence, and ending the sequence on a failure.</p><p></p><p>Let's say, for the sake of argument, you manage to hit 3 targets with your 9d8 level 6 <em>Chromatic Orb</em>. That's 122 total, on average. 40.5 to each target.</p><p></p><p>Let's say, for the sake of argument, you throw a 6th level <em>Fireball </em>and -everyone- succeeds their save. You still deal 116 damage, total across 6 targets. (((11*3.5)*6)*0.5). Even if -everyone- saves against the Fireball and it deals half damage to each of the 6 targets you still deal about the same damage as if the <em>Chromatic Orb</em> misses a coin toss by enemy 4. This is the FAIL STATE of the <em>Fireball</em>. This is the worst the <em>Fireball</em> can do. And this is the point where <em>Chromatic Orb</em> is at 50/50 efficacy.</p><p></p><p>If half of them succeed their save, instead of all, you're instead looking at 173 damage total. 29.5 damage each. (This is the <em>Fireball </em>a5 50/50 efficacy)</p><p></p><p>In the event that a given instance of <em>Chromatic Orb </em>hits the 4th target, which is an 85% chance on the roll itself and a cumulative 47% chance, it'll dish out 162 damage. 11 less than if 3/6 targets fail their Dex save.</p><p></p><p>In the best case scenario for both, where every hit of <em>Chromatic Orb</em> lands and everyone fails their Dex save against <em>Fireball</em>, that 243 for <em>Chromatic Orb</em> and 231 for <em>Fireball</em>.</p><p></p><p><em>Chromatic Orb </em>comes out 12 points better.</p><p></p><p>And that's not getting into situations where there are 7, 8, or 9 targets. In the BEST case scenario for <em>Chromatic Orb</em> to show it's damage output, where <em>Fireball </em>can't show off it's higher potential target count, it's a 12 point difference.</p><p></p><p>And if you roll a 1, 2, or 3 on the first roll... it does nothing and your entire turn is wasted.</p><p></p><p>I'd much prefer the <em>Fireball</em> on target counts of 4 or higher.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Steampunkette, post: 9582875, member: 6796468"] "Without Consent" is doing a lot of heavy lifting, here, to try and balance the mathematical functions of [I]Fireball[/I] vs [I]Chromatic Orb[/I] on a matter of politeness. Anyway. Even at 85%, that's still a 15% chance of completely wasting the spell slot on each roll. Which is a cumulative fail chance of around 62% over the course of 6 rolls. (0.85*0.85*0.85*0.85*0.85*0.85) = 37.7 (These are your odds of not rolling a 3 or less across 6 rolls) You have a better than 50% chance of getting 3 hits out of it. After that your chances are under 50/50 of getting the next one to land in the sequence, and ending the sequence on a failure. Let's say, for the sake of argument, you manage to hit 3 targets with your 9d8 level 6 [I]Chromatic Orb[/I]. That's 122 total, on average. 40.5 to each target. Let's say, for the sake of argument, you throw a 6th level [I]Fireball [/I]and -everyone- succeeds their save. You still deal 116 damage, total across 6 targets. (((11*3.5)*6)*0.5). Even if -everyone- saves against the Fireball and it deals half damage to each of the 6 targets you still deal about the same damage as if the [I]Chromatic Orb[/I] misses a coin toss by enemy 4. This is the FAIL STATE of the [I]Fireball[/I]. This is the worst the [I]Fireball[/I] can do. And this is the point where [I]Chromatic Orb[/I] is at 50/50 efficacy. If half of them succeed their save, instead of all, you're instead looking at 173 damage total. 29.5 damage each. (This is the [I]Fireball [/I]a5 50/50 efficacy) In the event that a given instance of [I]Chromatic Orb [/I]hits the 4th target, which is an 85% chance on the roll itself and a cumulative 47% chance, it'll dish out 162 damage. 11 less than if 3/6 targets fail their Dex save. In the best case scenario for both, where every hit of [I]Chromatic Orb[/I] lands and everyone fails their Dex save against [I]Fireball[/I], that 243 for [I]Chromatic Orb[/I] and 231 for [I]Fireball[/I]. [I]Chromatic Orb [/I]comes out 12 points better. And that's not getting into situations where there are 7, 8, or 9 targets. In the BEST case scenario for [I]Chromatic Orb[/I] to show it's damage output, where [I]Fireball [/I]can't show off it's higher potential target count, it's a 12 point difference. And if you roll a 1, 2, or 3 on the first roll... it does nothing and your entire turn is wasted. I'd much prefer the [I]Fireball[/I] on target counts of 4 or higher. [/QUOTE]
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