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Message: <blockquote data-quote="gnfnrf" data-source="post: 3519277" data-attributes="member: 2373">In the epic fireball/lightning bolt vs orb thread, I tried to add actual game experiences to give some kind of grounding.  However, I couldn't provide all of the numbers.Today I got Expedition to the Demonweb Pits, and since it's really easy to read all the encounters, I went through and tested evocation vs orb on all of them... at least, all of them in the first four sections.My methodology was as follows.For each encounter, I calculated the expected damage dealt by a fireball or lightning bolt, compared to the expected damage dealt by an energy orb.  I considered Reflex save bonus including evasion, SR, touch AC, and any inherent miss chances.  I did not consider energy resistance.I picked ranged touch attack bonus and save DC for 9th, 10th, and 11th levels (the range the sections roughly span) by making average builds.The evoker has a save DC of 20 for his spells, and penetrates at level +1.The conjurer has a ranged touch bonus of 9 or 10.Neither spellcaster uses metamagic.In each encounter, I assume that an area evocation can encompass half of the foes, plus one more foe half of the time, to a minimum of one foe.  For most encounters, this is conservative for the first round of combat (the provided tacmaps indicate that more foes could be caught) but it may be generous in later rounds.I also assume that the orb can be fired without intervening cover.The encounters are a mixture of battles against drow, outsiders, and other creatures.Of the 31 encounters I examined, the results are:17 - An evocation is a better choice.11 - An orb is a better choice.2 - An orb is better to damage some foes, and an evocation better to damage others.1 - There is no appreciable difference between choices.I was very surprised by these results.  I thought that with the prevalence of SR among drow and outsiders that the orb would be dominant.I am interested to hear what people have to think of my choices, assumptions, and results.--gnfnrf</blockquote>

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