D&D 5E Lightning Bolt should be better.

[Nefermandias]

For true ridiculousness, have the druid take a level of life cleric -supercharges EVERY goodberry (as has been ruled RAW). Not sure I'd allow that, honestly, but haven't had it come up.

Sage advice isn't RAW though. By strict RAW, Disciple of Life doesn't do anything to Goodberry.

 

[Mort]

Sage advice isn't RAW though. By strict RAW, Disciple of Life doesn't do anything to Goodberry.

It's an interpretation of what he thinks RAW is, and is thus often treated that way by many groups.

You'll notice my next sentence was that I tend to disagree and would likely not allow it in my group.

 

[Nefermandias]

It's an interpretation of what he thinks RAW is, and is thus often treated that way by many groups.

You'll notice my next sentence was that I tend to disagree and would likely not allow it in my group.

Yes, it doesn't really matter how you doin your table. I'm only pointing Sage Advice isn't RAW and the compendium even had a disclaimer saying so.
By the way, this interaction between Goodberry and Life domain is a special case where it isn't even a valid interpretation. It's outright wrong.

 

[wheelercub]

A simple solution we came up with was to keep fireball as is, with it's incredible radius, and update the damage of Lightning Bolt to 6d8 instead of 8d6. In addition, we give targets disadvantage on their save if wearing metal armor.

This simple change makes lightning bolt feel more strategic and put it right back in the game for all of my players, albeit situationally. The limited targets in a 5x100 range for a tiny bit more damage, mixed with the metal armor penalty, suddenly became a major benefit given the correct circumstances.

To put this into perspective, a 3rd level fireball does average of 28 damage, up to 49 damage when cast with a 9th level spell slot. The change we made to lightning bolt now does an average of 27 damage, up to 54 damage at 9th level. Nothing earth shattering by any means.

Plus now lightning bolt has it's own unique identity as a 3rd level powerhouse spell -- separate from fireball -- with slightly higher potential damage if the caster is tremendously lucky (96 lightning vs 84 fire damage) -- AGAIN, nothing earth shattering if someone was ever that lucky.

 

[Storyteller Hero]

It doesn't get the fame of fireball, but it still does damage above the recommended amount based upon guidelines, ...

The DMG guidelines on damage for spells should not be used when designing spells imo. I get the feeling that the person who made them was thinking about monsters damaging PCs rather than PCs damaging monsters. Hit Point values are calculated very differently for PCs versus monsters, which needs to be remembered when designing spells.

Personally, I'd like to tweak the damage down, but unless the errata changes the numbers for fireball/lightning bolt and meteor swarm, spell design meant to be balanced against the PHB spells has to use a very different scale from the DMG guidelines.

 

[Azuresun]

To make Lightning Bolt good, fix the damage on Fireball. No need to power-creep everything up to match the outlier, Lightning Bolt is still a cap-breaking damage spell. Just weaken the damage spell that does the same damage in a more convenient area.

 

[dave2008]

The lightning bolt spell should be better.

Maybe a minor stunning or shocking effect. Or increased damage again metal armour. Not sure what, but lightning is too damned cool to be stuck with a little used spell.

I agree, but you can't get part of the way there just by reducing the damage of fireball. I think lightning bolt should be treated as a single target damage spell (for calculating damage) and then I agree it should have a minor stunning effect.

 

[TheSword]

I agree, but you can't get part of the way there just by reducing the damage of fireball. I think lightning bolt should be treated as a single target damage spell (for calculating damage) and then I agree it should have a minor stunning effect.

And I wouldn’t be unhappy for the disadvantage to saves to folks wearing armour.

 

[Staffan]

It is ironic that someone would apply necromancy to a thread about evocation spells. Nevertheless, I feel I have to comment on this bit:

And didn't it also bounce or reflect off stone walls as well? I swear that was a thing back in 1at or 2nd. Throw the bolt, have it hit the stone wall and come back, effectively hitting twice

That's not quite how it worked, at least not in 2e (though many computer games got it wrong).

If a 2e lightning bolt hits an obstacle, it backfills from its point of origin to fill the full area, if possible. So if you cast a non-forked bolt (5' x 80') starting at 40' away from you, and it hits a wall after 20', it will hit you as it will stretch back 60' from the point of origin. If it can't fill the area, it will "double up" and hit some targets twice. These targets will have to make two saving throws, and need to succeed at both to take half damage. But it won't hit them for double full damage, it will just reduce the chance they save.

 

[Bill Zebub]

I find that Lightning Bolt does better in TotM play than in grid play with minis.

Funny, huh?