Fireball or Lightning Bolt?

[Tarangil]

It's been lightning bolt for mee too for as long as I've played.

I do miss the 2E version though which could bounce back if it hit walls. Angles were so much more fun to play with then.

 

[ThirdWizard]

Fireball. If there's someone between you and your intended victim, you can still hit them with a fireball without hitting your friend 99% of the time, but that's impossible with the lightning bolt. With cone effects it becomes a bit more complicated, as you can hit a large group, and friendly fire might be worth it *innocent whistle*, but a line just doesn't compare to an area.

 

[Voadam]

I love lightning bolt and my wizard knows lightning bolt and not fireball, but the fireball is better in every way except against things with fire resistance or immunity.

Lightning bolt you can't cast from second rank without frying your buddies!

From the srd:

"A line-shaped spell shoots away from you in a line in the direction you designate. It starts from any corner of your square and extends to the limit of its range or until it strikes a barrier that blocks line of effect. A line-shaped spell affects all creatures in squares that the line passes through."

 

[lukelightning]

That's why a nice "Queue starts here" sign comes in handy.

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.

 

[Azlan]

Well, it's interesting that most of those who posted say they prefer lightning bolt (for styllistic and/or role-playing reasons, even if fireball is far more likely to catch more opponents in its huge blast radius), while more than half who voted say they prefer fireball.

In my 20-something years of DM'ing, it's been my experience that almost every player prefers fireball; so much so, that I now house rule the fireball spell as either A.) being a level higher (i.e. 4th instead of 3rd), or B.) inflicts d4 per caster level instead of d6. (Then again, I've always made ample use of humanoid hordes, in my campaigns. So, of course a fireball in my campaigns can be quite effective.)

 

[devilbat]

I'm all about style, so Lightning Bolt it is.

 

[Harmon]

In direct fire. Unless you are blasting through the Rogue or Monk's area you have to worry about hurting your friends.

 

[Aaron L]

LB is just cooler.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Depends on the campaign and enemies faced.

I vote for scintillating sphere (an electrical energy-substituted fireball).

 

[Bloodstone Press]

The one thing that I really like about Lightning Bolt is that it hits targets in a narrow line. This has proved useful in games more times than I can count.