p. 80, REWRITTEN Ball lightning spell (replace old text):
Ball Lightning
Evocation [Electricity]
Level: Sor/Wiz 5
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Medium (100 ft. + 10 ft./levels)
Effect: One lightning ball 2/levels
Duration: 1 round/level
Saving Throw: Reflex half
Spell Resistance: Yes
You create one 3-foot-diameter ball of concentrated electricity per 2 levels (maximum 15 balls) that shed light as candles
and move under your control. A ball of lightning deals 2d6 points of electricity damage to anything it touches, including
creatures that attack it or move through it. When you create the balls of lightning, you mentally program them to move as
you desire, even around corners. Once programmed, a ball’s orders cannot be changed. A ball can move up to 100 feet per
round and flies with perfect maneuverability. When a lightning ball strikes a creature, the ball stops and remains in place for
the remainder of the spell’s duration. A ball dissipates if the distance between you and it exceeds the spell’s range. A ball
can only “see” under the available light conditions (including the light the ball itself sheds).
For example, you could program one lightning ball to follow the left wall of a corridor and strike the first creature it “sees,”
another to follow the right wall and do the same, and the remainder to follow 5 feet behind you in a semicircle. The first two
lightning balls would turn corners to remain following the walls, even if this took them out of your line of sight, and strike
the first creature they “see,” which would cancel their program and leave them in their target’s square. Directing the balls is
a free action on the round the spell is cast and a move-equivalent action on any other round.
A creature struck by a lightning ball or that touches one with natural or melee weapons gets a Reflex saving throw for half
damage. Damage from multiple balls resting in the same square stacks. A creature struck by multiple balls of lightning in a
round (or entering a square with multiple lightning balls) gets a saving throw for each. A creature with SR makes separate
SR checks against each lightning ball, with success meaning that ball cannot harm the creature.
Material Component: A handful of copper and iron pellets.
