Let's talk about Prismatic Spray

[Grog]

For those of you who have used it, what's your opinion of it's usefulness? At first glance it seems fairly weak - you have no idea what ray is going to hit the target, which means you don't get to choose which save to go against (one of a spellcaster's biggest strengths). You might end up with some pretty insignificant damage for the cost of a 7th level spell. Of course, there's also a chance it can kill the enemy - but Finger of Death does that too, and it's also 7th level.

Opinions?

 

[Darklone]

Well, the main interesting point: It's an area effect??? It blinds lesser creatures? Take out the big bad ones plus all the mooks at once?

 

[gfunk]

It is a great spell for DMs to give NPC spellcasters, but it sucks for PCs. Too random to be effective.

The funniest thing is if you look at the Prismatic Dragon in the Epic Level Handbook. It has a Prismatic Spray breath weapon, but it can really be a joke. DC 96 Reflex or you take 20 points of fire damage!

 

[daTim]

but 3 out of 7 of those choices can be instant death. I dont like those odds!

 

[Grant_Stoom]

I love this spell. Random effects means lots of dice rolling and lots of fun. I cast fireblah, I do blah d6... Granted, nuking the heck out of something is fun, but the chance to turn multiple enemies to stone or send their butts to another plane (or both!) is too much fun. Combine this with the Archmage Mastery of Shaping ability to throw these cones of chaos around like a tickertape parade.

Had so much fun with this spell I burned a slot on making it a spell like ability

 

[Marimmar]

I like the spell for it's randomness. It's like a wand of wonder, you'll never know what hits 'em. Min-maxing wizards might find other spells more usefull but this spell never gets boring.

~Marimmar

 

[FrankTrollman]

Which version are you talking about?


The 3rd edition version covers a huge area of effect - 66 squares at the lowest level you could possibly cast it. That's a lot of enemies. That makes Prismatic Spray quite the room clearer.

If your enemies don't have a lot of people - it's probably not worth much. But if your enemies come in the kinds of numbers that they easily can at 13th level - this spell is incredible.

The only part I don't like is its non-scalability. By the time you hit 17th level, Prismatic Spray's low damage yield is so noticable that you won't even want to use it particularly.

-Frank

 

[Grog]

I guess my problem with the spell is its randomness. This means the spell can be either too weak or much too powerful, depending on how the dice fall. After all, I think most people would agree that a 7th level spell that had a cone's area of effect that required everything in the cone to make a Fort save or die would be too powerful (being that Finger of Death is 7th level and only hits one target). Yet this is possible (albeit unlikely) with Prismatic Spray. On the other side of the coin, I think that most people would agree that a 7th level spell that did 20 damage with a Reflex save for half to a cone's area would be too weak - yet this is also possible.

Also, the inability to choose what save to go against is a significant handicap - one that's not shared by other spells.

 

[Pants]

I guess my problem with the spell is its randomness.

What about the time where you roll nearly all 1's on that Meteor Swarm? Getting 26 points of damage isn't worth a 9th level spell is it?

 

[Hammerhead]

Another cool advantage is that it provides an evocation death effect sometimes. And rolling an 8 is always really nice too.

Of course, the reason I like the spell is its Vancian origins (although the spell was much different in Tales of a Dying Earth). It's so much to say "I cast the Most Excellent Prismatic Spray!"