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Fireball vs Lightning Bolt (Patreon)

Published:
2024-12-28 20:09:56
Imported:
2026-06
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Content

So I think I was pretty far off on my assumptions of the numbers of creatures a lightning bolt would hit.

Files

Previews only

Fireball and Lightning Bolt: Dnd 2024

If you like what I do and would consider supporting this channel through Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Treantmonkstemple Timestamps: 0:00 Intro 2:45 The Spells 3:09 Playing on a grid 9:35 Point of Origin 16:13 Resistance and Immunity 18:47 Shapes 20:54 Conclusion

Comments

Johnny

Are we going to get a tier list for spells soon I wonder?

Adam Gillis

You're complete right. Look at the line of sight art work. All the points are using corners. Lighting bolt is supposed cover 40 squares.

Kaien

What a coincidence, I recently was looking at lightning bolt for my air elementalist build (homebrew of Warrior of elements - have only one element but with additional spellcasting similar to old Way of the Elements monk) and I kinda discovred lightning bolt again as it never really got my proper attention previously.

Keegan MBG

I agree and cannot believe I missed this before.

noworries

I would love to have more videos like this -fear vs slow vs hypnotic p or telekinetic vs bigby hand vs animate objects- when you get a new level of spells what’s best for control or blast etc

Tyler Thorstrom

Probably not very significant, but 2024 Fireball ignites flammable objects while 2024 Lightning Bolt does not.

Daniel Denton

I'm currently playing a Shadar Kai wizard who (at the current level) is focused on blasting and prepares and uses both spells. One thing I've noticed is that the line shape is much more useful when you can combine it with a bonus action teleport.

Daniel Lingeman

Glad to have spell analysis videos coming back! These videos are an evergreen reference that are useful as a DM or for a player. I’m not sure if YouTube rewards these kinds of videos the way I think they deserve, but I hope it does. There are tons of creators making character builds and tier rankings, but precious few who can do the succinct analysis that you do. That’s why I subscribe to your content. I can’t play a million different PCs, but I can think of myriad instances when I can send a link to a video you made to one of my players and clear up a misunderstanding much easier than “assigning” them reading or transcribing long excerpts the PHB or DMG into text messages.

ianstchalfon

Cool video! I was reading over the rules for point of origin and noticed another upside of fireball: the flexibility in point of origin to bypass cover. Since both spells are DEX saves, being able to bypass cover through Fireball's wider options of points of origin can be a small boon. I don't think this changes when you pick the spell though, and might only come in handy in very niche situations where for instance a group of minions has 3/4 cover from Lightning Bolt which can be circumvented by Fireball.

Greg Smith

Mind blown! 🤯 More than once the discussion at the table has been ‘Can I put the lightning bolt just so and hit targets on both sides?’ This seems to clarify that. (We never opened the rules, just discussed it with the DM). I’ve always thought it was the way first shown, just a single line of squares. Now it makes it more takeable and prepable. Thanks!

Greg Smith

And do any of you recall days of the DM saying the lightning bolt rebounds and hits others? That might be a cool metamagic for a sorcerer actually.

Tessa Morecroft

Given the geometry of 5ft squares and a 5ft wide line, do you think it's possible to fire a Lightning Bolt on a 45-degree angle between two diagonal rows and not cover 50% of any square? ...if only I could share a picture...

Umustalldie2

Hi Chris, I see that you didn’t acknowledge that creatures after the first creature in the line of Lightning bolt gain half cover. This also can happen in some scenarios with new age fireball. I don’t think this makes too much of a difference in the math, but it’s another point of why fireball was more reliable in 14e and may still have that advantage depending on positioning the fireball origin.