Firebrand - balanced?

[Al'Kelhar]

So I'm looking for new spells for my specialist Evoker, when I come across firebrand is Magic of Faerun. It's a Sor/Wiz 5, Evocation [Fire], with Medium range, and Reflex half save.

I won't repeat the spell stats in full, but the description is this:

"You create up to one mass of flame per level to explode upon the battlefield. Each mass of flame is treated as a 5 ft. radius burst and deals 1d6 points of fire damage/level (maximum 15d6) to all creatures within the area. The bursts do not need to be contiguous, and may be distributed within range as you see fit. Burst effects that overlap do not inflict additional damage."

My interpretation of the plain meaning of these words is that a 15th level spell caster can call down 15 5 ft. radius fire bursts anywhere within 250 ft. of him, each of which inflicts 15d6 points of fire damage (Reflex save for half). OK, so each is a separate effect, so fire resistance reduces damage from each burst, but if that 15th level caster puts one burst on each corner of a Large creature (10' space), that creature suffers 60d6 points of fire damage! Is there a Smackdown somewhere in this? This doesn't seem right to me, not for a 5th level spell, anyway.

Should the description be along the lines of "Each mass of flame is treated as a 5 ft. radius burst. The spell does 1d6 points of fire damage per level (maximum 15d6), which you can divide between the bursts as you see fit."

Cheers, Al'Kelhar

 

[Mephistopheles]

From the Magic of Faerun Errata:

p. 94, In firebrand:
Clarify firebrand so that a creature can only be affected by one burst. Add to end of second paragraph, "...additional damage (a creature can only be affected by one burst)."

 

[Thanee]

Firebrand is a very potent spell. Basically a beefed up Fireball, that can be distributed as you see fit, thereby allowing its use in more confined quarters and able to cover a much bigger area, and with a higher damage potential as well.

All in all, it seems like a fair spell for 5th level, altho it's surely on the upper end of the scale.

Compared to PHB spells like Cone of Cold or Chain Lightning, it's a lot more powerful, tho. If you want to use those as benchmarks, then Firebrand is probably overpowered, yes.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Simulacrum]

I always thought chainlightning to be horribly underpowered, even tho that it can be fun to use against a larger horde of enemies.
Still its too weak for a 6th level spell. why?
It affects one guy at full strenght and then the next gets half of that and so on.....sounds nice, but wait its a sixth level spell. thus you will have to wait much too long till you can dish out 20 dice worth of damage *plonk* and damn half of 11d6 is only 5d6 *slap* and all of this can be HALFED *zing*
Now why dont J just take a normal fireball and empower it with my empower (or a lesser rod of empowering) and widden the AoE with metamagic and BLAM! do a lot more damage to more targets and all of them get the same burn. Ok its less selective and has less DC but in those levels I expect the PC's to maneuver cleverly or be at least temporary immune/resistant to some attack forms in combat.

Firebrand is bad ass thats true, Id probably restrict it a bit more on the area you can dish it out, or put it into 6th level (but keeping the lower damage cap)
Thus Chainlightning would still be good at higher levels due to the better damage cap.

 

[Altamont Ravenard]

Just to be sure, on a battle grid (squares) where do you center the burst?

If you place it at the intersection of 2 lines, you affect 4 squares, correct?
If you place it in the middle of a square, you affect only that square?

Thanks in advance

AR

 

[ruleslawyer]

You can't place spells at gridline intersections to get a greater AoE, IIRC.

As for firebrand: Really, the spell just highlights how useless cone of cold is. Several posters on the WotC forums seem to agree that c.o.c. is pretty underpowered as is.

 

[Nail]

You can't place spells at gridline intersections to get a greater AoE, IIRC.

Oh dear.

You remember incorrectly, oh lawyer of rules.

Area: .....Regardless of the shape of the area, you select the point where the spell originates, but otherwise you don’t control which creatures or objects the spell affects. The point of origin of a spell is always a grid intersection.

 

[ruleslawyer]

Edited for total incorrectness!

 

[Altamont Ravenard]

IOW, if a spell discusses a "5' square," the placement of said square should be, well, within a square, not at a gridline corner. The latter doesn't conform to the spell description.

Generally, or for Firebrand? The description that Al'Khelar gave speaks of a 5' burst, not a 5' square.

AR

 

[The Souljourner]

Yeah, 5' radius burst is certainly a 10' diameter circle. And since it must start on an intersection, it's not a big deal to calculate, it essentially effects a 10' square.

-The Souljourner