Delayed Blast Fireball: Blast from the Past
Spell Level: 7
School: Evocation
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 150 feet
Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute
Components: V, S, M (A tiny ball of bat guano and sulfur)
A beam of yellow light flashes from your pointing finger, then condenses to linger at a chosen point within range as a glowing bead for the duration. When the spell ends, either because your concentration is broken or because you decide to end it, the bead blossoms with a low roar into an explosion of flame that spreads around corners. Each creature in a 20-foot-radius sphere centered on that point must make a Dexterity saving throw. A creature takes fire damage equal to the total accumulated damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.
The spell’s base damage is 12d6. If at the end of your turn the bead has not yet detonated, the damage increases by 1d6.
If the glowing bead is touched before the interval has expired, the creature touching it must make a Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, the spell ends immediately, causing the bead to erupt in flame. On a successful save, the creature can throw the bead up to 40 feet. When it strikes a creature or a solid object, the spell ends, and the bead explodes.
The fire damages objects in the area and ignites flammable objects that aren’t being worn or carried.
At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 8th level or higher, the base damage increases by 1d6 for each slot level above 7th.
Review by Sam West, Twitter: @KoboldCrier
It’s Fireball, but slightly better. That’s the review everyone, thanks for coming!
Jokes aside, it is a slightly better Fireball in all the right ways. It creates a fun minigame, asks you to plan ahead and set up fights, and can be immediately detonated when you need to. Things can go horribly wrong, but usually won’t. All these packed in a fairly simple description make the spell so much more than what it seems.
Baseline, you’re getting exactly what you’d get from a 7th level fireball. Already this spell is outpacing other damage options at the upper tiers (cough cough Circle of Death). Where it gets particularly nutty is when you can get some time to pass with it deployed. For each round, the damage bumps up a d6. Once a fight starts, you probably are going to want to detonate it and switch concentration to something with greater utility. If you’ve got time to set up, though, with proper planning this can be a 22d6 damage opening to a fight; a MASSIVE blow, an average of 77 fire damage in a single spell slot.
If somebody catches onto your ploy, they can take a risk and grab the fireball. If they pass the save, be prepared to face your own magic in all its glory should you be within throwing distance of it. This normally will only happen once, but in the wild world of D&D, magic and retaliatory spells can get the worlds most dangerous game of hot potato going.
There isn’t much to say about it; this is Fireball with a clever twist. It takes an iconic spell, upgrades it, and rewards the user for strategic placement and creative thinking. This is exactly what I expect from higher level damage spells at minimum; I’m looking at you, Chain Lightning.
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