rain the pain, best area spells/powers/classes

[akbearfoot]

I was rather fond of a wizard/War Wizard of Cormyr/ Archmage I played in a high level conversion of 'Against the Giants'. triple area-affect sizes(ie 60' radius fireballs, 120' radius meteor swarms), combined with the ability to substitute whichever element you want and to shape the spells so your allies are never injured. It was pretty awesome to nuke an entire full-size battle-mat full of giants at once.

In general, I think blasting is bad role for a caster to play, however I was feeling a lot like blowing stuff up for this game. And that class combo is very good at it. I played that back before the Spell compendium or most of the other 3.5 material came out, so it would probably be even better now with all the neat spells.

 

[Eman Resu]

In almost every caster thread where "area" spells are mentioned, many of you quickly add that playing a "blaster" type is sub optimal and isnt a good choice for casters. Im interested in your reasoning.

Pro blaster: its fun to lay waste, go nova, blast the enemy, while the party fighters and rogues can dish out a hundred hit pts of damage to 1 or 2 targets a round the blaster can cause 25 to 20...nuking a whole board full of giants is very optimal...as is many multi target / area affecting spells like confusion, slow, encite riot, etc etc

Con Blaster: ???? can you that have commented that blaster is sub optimal comment here

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

In almost every caster thread where "area" spells are mentioned, many of you quickly add that playing a "blaster" type is sub optimal and isnt a good choice for casters. Im interested in your reasoning.

Pro blaster: its fun to lay waste, go nova, blast the enemy, while the party fighters and rogues can dish out a hundred hit pts of damage to 1 or 2 targets a round the blaster can cause 25 to 20...nuking a whole board full of giants is very optimal...as is many multi target / area affecting spells like confusion, slow, encite riot, etc etc

Con Blaster: ???? can you that have commented that blaster is sub optimal comment here

My understanding is (and there are those here who get this better than I) that spellcasters could just be doing other things, where as tanks and melee can do and really only do damage. The casters can be doing buffs, debuffs, battlefield control, healing, support, and otherwise be bending reality to thier whim, while the guy with the sword can only really do damage.
Also, When a battle can end with a Dominate, Banishing to another plane or a Save-or-die spell, being able to do a number of d6's, even a large number of d6's, isn't as impressive.
Blaster mages are sub-optimal because you can Simply Be Doing Better Than That.

Edit: With all that said, Blaster casters are still really fun to play.

 

[Dandu]

In almost every caster thread where "area" spells are mentioned, many of you quickly add that playing a "blaster" type is sub optimal and isnt a good choice for casters. Im interested in your reasoning.

Pro blaster: its fun to lay waste, go nova, blast the enemy, while the party fighters and rogues can dish out a hundred hit pts of damage to 1 or 2 targets a round the blaster can cause 25 to 20...nuking a whole board full of giants is very optimal...as is many multi target / area affecting spells like confusion, slow, encite riot, etc etc

Con Blaster: ???? can you that have commented that blaster is sub optimal comment here

Cons:

• Resource heavy: Solid Fog shuts down a group of monsters, whereas fireball just annoys them. This is because an enemy at half HP can still attack at full power, while one who has been crippled is not a threat even if he is at full HP.
• Do not work against Golems.
• Spell Resistance
• Best damage spells are Fire, Cold, and Lightening. Most commonly resisted elements are Fire, Cold and Lightening.
• Damage spells deal one type of energy damage. Covering all the bases requires learning multiple spells that essentially do the same bloody thing.
• Redundant: Everyone else is doing damage. When everyone else in the construction crew brings a hammer to work, you might want to bring the rest of the tool kit along in case you need to saw some wood or screw in some light fixtures

 

[Jimlock]

Cons:

• Resource heavy: Solid Fog shuts down a group of monsters, whereas fireball just annoys them. This is because an enemy at half HP can still attack at full power, while one who has been crippled is not a threat even if he is at full HP.
• Do not work against Golems.
• Spell Resistance
• Best damage spells are Fire, Cold, and Lightening. Most commonly resisted elements are Fire, Cold and Lightening.
• Damage spells deal one type of energy damage. Covering all the bases requires learning multiple spells that essentially do the same bloody thing.
• Redundant: Everyone else is doing damage. When everyone else in the construction crew brings a hammer to work, you might want to bring the rest of the tool kit along in case you need to saw some wood or screw in some light fixtures

Concrete Wisdom. I liky. Can't XP though...

 

[Empirate]

While I wouldn't want to contradict the wisdom of using battlefield control, buffs and debuffs, as the situation merits, blasting can be quite good actually. It is not generally inferior to other ways of playing your caster - except if you do nothing but blasting. But who does nothing but buffing, or nothing but battlefield control, anyway? Mix and match, know the strengths of the different tactics at your disposal, and notice that blasting can be a powerful options for any of the following reasons:

1. It stacks with what the rest of the party does.
2. A powerful enough blast is a save-or-die without the save.
3. Everything you'll fight will have HP. Not everything will be vulnerable to the kind of battlefield control or the kind of debuffs you're able to throw around.
4. Energy damage can be weak against certain creatures - however, it can also be very good against others (cold/fire subtype being the obvious example, but also think acid and fire vs. trolls, or even electricity as a no-save slow vs. Iron Golems).
5. You will fight gangs of lesser foes. A Fireball takes them out even quicker and at less risk than a solid fog followed by round after round of whacking the monsters that finally manage to stumble out. Let me tell you, blasting is a great strategy in modules like Red Hand of Doom (just pack something different for the boss fights...).
6. Optimization might be necessary for good blasting, but it can really pay some huge dividends.
7. Other options are not forbidden to you just because you like blasting! No reason not to lay down a Solid Fog first, then indulge in wanton area-of-effect destruction. Also, no reason to do damage whenever it's useful (like against a foe already damaged by your warrior buddies), while employing other spells when they're useful, as well.