Fireball or Lightning Bolt?

[Kurotowa]

Fireball for the indirect-fire effect. As a mage you should be behind your meat shields friends anyway, so it's nice to be able to put the center of the blast behind the enemies and not barbecue your party.

This is what tips it for me too. With Lightning you need a clear shot at your enemy, which means they have a clear shot back at you. Fireballs can be tossed over the lines, can be placed for precision, and are good for clearing out mobs. And for every creature with fire resistance there's one with the cold subtype or similar weakness (troll, hydra).

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

And for every creature with fire resistance there's one with the cold subtype or similar weakness (troll, hydra).

I have to disagree with this one. Any spellcaster can have elemental resistance but not a weakness. I prefer to ready an action to blast said spellcaster, and I need to have both element types, in case the first one fails.

 

[Warbringer]

Fireball. Why? Well, because it's a fireball!

Goes back to 1e when it had a 33,000 sqft area of effect.

Every Wizard player I knew dreamed of 5th level and access to FIREBALL.

 

[Ferret]

Let's say you can only have one or the other for your character. Which do you go with?

For me, I know Fireball has it all over Lightning Bolt in sheer game mechanics (20' spread and 400'+ range vs. 120' range line), but stylistically I dig the thunderbolt. Something very primal about it, the kind of thing you'd imagine some pagan god throwing around, while fireballs just remind me of Tim the Enchanter from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. And from a gamer standpoint, I'd gamble that a lot more bad guys have fire resistance than electrical resistance.

Vote and weigh in. Let's settle this once and for all.

Thematically, I prefer Lightning Bolt. But Fireball wins on mechanics.

 

[evildmguy]

Fireball. Why? Well, because it's a fireball!

Goes back to 1e when it had a 33,000 sqft area of effect.

Every Wizard player I knew dreamed of 5th level and access to FIREBALL.

Um, I hope that was a typo and it should have been cubic feet. Otherwise, that's some fireball!

Have a good one! Take care!

edg

 

[antman120]

I would pick fireball because if you are careful about placement, yo will hit the enemies and not your friends(unless they deserve it )

 

[Thunderfoot]

LB - hands down.

For mass combat there is nothing better - mathmatically a fire ball at a 20' radius can cover about 21 squares (approx). Great if you are facing a small unit ready to engage. Lightning Bolt coveres 240 squares in a straight line. Advancing enemy column, what advancing enemy column?
Conseivablely four wizards standing abrest could decimate an army on the march in about two seconds.

 

[was]

I prefer Fireball just because I like area of effect spells. It's kind of hard to get groups of foes to line up so that you can maximize a lightning bolt's effectiveness. Just my opinion.

 

[Sejs]

Fireball for me.

Though I much prefered it before the whole 'fireballs create no pressure' nonsense, but *shrug* can't have everything.

 

[Roadkill101]

Fireball it is. The area of effect makes it much more utilitarian, not necessarily to clear out a bunch of mooks around the BBEG, but to clear the battlements during a siege, get the village to start burning in a much larger area...

Granted the Lightning bolt is good for a surgical strike, and electrical resistance is less common than fire resistance.

Personally I'd prefer to have both.