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Message: <blockquote data-quote="DND_Reborn" data-source="post: 7908139" data-attributes="member: 6987520">An Impact of AoE spells formula (taking a different approach of course <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /> ):[ATTACH=full]118006[/ATTACH]first draft/versionA = AoE area of spell (in sq. ft.)D = AoE spell average damagep = density of enemy population (1 = no empty space between enemies)n = number of enemies presentS = AoE spell save DCb = enemy saving throw bonuse = space enemy occupies (in sq. ft.)h = average enemy hit pointsBriefly, it makes sense Impact increases as<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">AoE area increases</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">average damage increases</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">enemy population or space density increases</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">the number of potential enemies increases</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">save DC increases</li> </ul>Impact decreases when<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">enemy save bonus increases</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">enemy space/size increases</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">enemy hit points increase</li> </ul>It works well IMO for the different scenarios I've tried. This is more meant to gauge the effectiveness or "impact" of an AoE spell on a group as a whole. I am still working on what results would quantify a "good, great, poor, etc." rating.Examples:A Burning Hands (DC14) against 3 orcs with p = 1 results in I = 11.827A Fireball (DC 14) in the same situation results in I = 224Looking at those scenarios, BH would damage all three orcs, but unless some were already injured it won't kill any. Given their hp 15 and avg dmg is 10.5, it is a fair to good use of the spell, but not super effective.FB on the other hand, with even saved damage of 14, is incredibly effective, to the point of overkill. You will mostly like (about 80%) kill 1 or more, and even those that save are severely injured.The same FB against a single hill giant would roughly have an I = 1.259, damaging but hardly lethal or effective given the hill giants high hit points. The FB would more likely be better used on a group of lower hp foes, as you would expect.The formula could be adapted to include spell level, spell slots available, and other factors if desired. For instance, if you consider BH is level 1 and FB is level three, using BH three times on the same three orcs would kill them all in a more thorough manner as even average damage saved each time (total 15.75) would kill each orc. The downside is, of course, you would require 3 rounds to cast all 3 BH spells instead of 1 round to cast 1 FB.I suppose that is it for now. [USER=6795602]@FrogReaver[/USER] wants to examine the impact relative to different factors. While [USER=6795602]@FrogReaver[/USER] and [USER=6966824]@Esker[/USER] are following a different thought process, I figured I would offer an alternative way to look at the problem.</blockquote>

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