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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Pax" data-source="post: 1395837" data-attributes="member: 6875">I've seen it done, and done it myself.  Does it work if the party is outnumbered by 3:1 or worse, and you insist on getting ALL of the enemy at once?  No.  But then again, neither does fireball, at that point!  Not exactly, they don't.  Lightning bolt CAN be cast on diagonals, and so forth.  And if the opponents are Large, that makes it even easier - aim for the "back" half of most of 'em, and you have even more breathing room WRT your own fighters.  Plus, with a preplanned tactic - every fighter delays until after the "big guys" have gone; they then full attack ... and 5' step AWAY.  Even more room to fit that LBolt in, when your (also delayed) action comes up.  Depends how greedy you are.  Fireball seems, when placed to avoid comrades, to get an average of 2-3 enemies, uless used at extremely long range.  4-5, then.  If you insist on getting 6 or 8 enemies with your bolt, then yes, a comrade will be in the path of the bolt.  Of course, that may not matter - in one campaign, I was a half-celestial, and the wizard knew that his lightning bolt wouldn't even tickle me.  But if you're happy getting the same number of targets as you likely would be able to with a fireball, you should never hit yoru friends.  For a bit of risk and/or extra brainpower, you could probably get another 1-3 foes per bolt, when in close quarters.  You assume either fighter incompetence, and/or overwhelming numbers.  Neither assumption should be held as sufficiently universal to devalue lightning bolt.  Fifteen?  Bull.  Absolute and total bull.  And getting more with a Fireball requires you to get some or all of your allies, too.  Fireball isn't selective!  Riiiiiight ... fireball right on yoru own line of fighters, sure, that'll work, and not toast your own allies.  Suuuuure ...  Feh.</blockquote>

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