Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mike Sullivan" data-source="post: 1054143" data-attributes="member: 9824">It's a very, very, very different spell at low levels and high levels, due to the mechanics of a ranged touch attack.A 3rd level Wizard has a BAB of +1, and a 4th level Sorceror has a BAB of +2.  The damage potential of the spell at that level is reasonably solid (4d6), but even with a +2 dex modifier, against an opponent with a flat 10 touch AC, you're still only hitting 70-75% of the time.  That makes it a very chancy spell, having two notable failure points: fire resistance (the most common kind, of course) and failing your attack roll.At 11th level, a Wizard has a BAB of +5, and with a Dex of +2, has a +7 to hit with this puppy.  That means that against a touch AC of 10, he's hitting 90% of the time...  And the "behemoth" approach of vanilla D&D (ie, the tendancy to fight large, physically powerful monsters) means that touch AC's don't scale up at anything like the rate that normal AC's do -- in fact, size penalties may mean they actuall scale down in some cases.  Failing your attack roll becomes much less of a concern.A dextrous opponent will still ruin the day of a Sorc or Wiz who's relying on Scorching Ray as their primary damage source, though.</blockquote>