Ruin Explorer
Legend
Tidal wave also has a much small AOE, which is a big issue.I'd be perfectly fine with Fireball at 6d6. I'm just trying to figure out whether I'd take/use it if it was 5d6 or so.
Tidal Wave, for example, is 4d8 (average 18, roughly the same as 5d6's 17.5). I've never really been happy with Tidal Wave, but mostly in comparison to Fireball. The equivalent of 5d6 while knocking prone vs 6d6 without knocking prone could be a reasonable choice, whereas 8d6 just completely overshadows a knock prone effect.
Anyway, that bit of consideration puts me at 6d6 for Fireball.
Fireball is 20' radius, so 40' across, which is absolutely gigantic.
Tidal Wave is a line 10' wide and up to 30' long. That's a small fraction of the size of a fireball - about 1/4 to be precise (300 square feet vs 1257 square feet - yes a fireball does have better square footage than a small house!).
I think this is the big issue people don't really process with Fireball - it's a double-whammy. It not only does ridiculous damage for its level (intentionally) in the current design, but it has a ridiculously large AOE, and a circle AOE is one of the easiest to position efficiently.