FrogReaver
As long as i get to be the frog
Or the players played well and ambushed them at meal time?
D&D 5E Starting level
Or the players played well and ambushed them at meal time?
You have just changed the scenario. It's not worth arguing about.
FrogReaver
As long as i get to be the frog
Or you made up a scenario to try to be right after I made a valid counter point to your original suggestion....
It goes both ways.
Rather than argue, let me express it a different way:
If you were running a game and an encounter called for 18 orcs against a party of 6th level PCs, would you arrange them in such a way that they could be taken.out by a single fireball? If so, why? If so, why not?
FrogReaver
As long as i get to be the frog
In all games it depends on what the PC's do. And it depends on what they do even moreso in a sandbox - which you noted in the OP that you will be running. In a sandbox Players should have plenty of opportunities to get the drop on 18 orcs and fireball them all to oblivion (especially level 6 pcs).
Maybe, maybe not. What if the orcs get surprise? What if the encounter happens in the middle of the night and only the bard is awake? What if the PCs are crossing a bridge controlled by orcs? What if the orcs are on a mission by their master and running single file on game trails through the woods? What if the players only see 7 of the orcs and don't realize the other 11 are behind them? What if the orcs are a heretic cult of LG Moradin worshippers on a pilgrimage? What if the orcs are guardians of an ancient shrine and each stand at every 20th degree of a 500 foot circle? What if the orcs operate in 6 groups of three specifically to avoid getting caught by large area effects because their master is a wizard?
"Sandbox" absolutely does not mean the players get to decide the exact circumstances of every encounter. It means that there are a lot of things in the world that you can't predict, including how 18 orcs are going to present.
FrogReaver
As long as i get to be the frog
So you are backing off your claim that 18!orcs being hit by a fireball makes someone a bad dm?
Maxperson
Morkus from Orkus
I probably would. Why? Because I don't play creatures beyond their abilities. You said earlier that orcs aren't idiots. Well, their 7 intelligence says otherwise. Even the Warchief barely has average intelligence.
Playing creatures beyond their abilities is also a poor DMing move.
FrogReaver
As long as i get to be the frog
More importantly - even if the fireball doesn't hit all 18 orcs it's likely going to hit a significant enough number to make the fight super easy - which was the broader point.
Fanaelialae
Legend
If fireballs are taking out 18 orcs at once then your orcs really ought to work on their social distancing. 
In all seriousness, unless the wizard is an evoker, there will be plenty of circumstances where a fireball is ill advised, such as if the orcs are already engaged in melee with other party members.
That said, I see nothing wrong with a fireball taking out a large group of low CR monsters. It's literally the primary purpose of that spell.
I don't think fireballing wizards are common enough in most campaigns for creatures to always behave as though they were under threat of such. It would be like us going out for a walk but maintaining 50 feet between ourselves just in case someone with a bazooka suddenly showed up. It'd be a little extreme.
In all seriousness, unless the wizard is an evoker, there will be plenty of circumstances where a fireball is ill advised, such as if the orcs are already engaged in melee with other party members.
That said, I see nothing wrong with a fireball taking out a large group of low CR monsters. It's literally the primary purpose of that spell.
I don't think fireballing wizards are common enough in most campaigns for creatures to always behave as though they were under threat of such. It would be like us going out for a walk but maintaining 50 feet between ourselves just in case someone with a bazooka suddenly showed up. It'd be a little extreme.
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