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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ThirdWizard" data-source="post: 3527502" data-attributes="member: 12037">To emphasize this point:Say you're fighting 5 enemies. Tactic 1 is to attack one enemy at a time with focused fire until they die, rinse, repeat. Tactic 2 is to deal equal damage to everyone, so that they die at the same time. Assuming you can kill 1 enemy a round with Tactic 1 by the end of each round, the enemies will get 5+4+3+2+1 actions against you, 15 total. In order to get the same number of actions against you with Tactic 2, you have to kill all the enemies on round 3, or over fifty percent more damage per round (about 1.66 times).And, even if you get this damage output with area effects, Tactic 2 is still inferior, since it will be harder for a cleric to keep up with the damage, enemies can retain flanking longer, its harder to move around, etc, through the battle. Also, you're taking those 15 actions against you over 3 rounds instead of over 5 rounds.So, unless those area damage spells are doing significantly better (and that means about double and all the enemies are always getting caught in them while the PCs aren't) damage than the single spells, the single ones are still better.</blockquote>