Darn those 1/2 points of damage stacking up! I see what you are saying. Depending on how the GM feels about it, I don't think the difference will always be worth worrying about. Am I surmising correctly that the "impossible result" will come up a few times out of a hundred? Some GMs will want the values determined separately for the sake of doing it right, some will want to save time and do it all at once.
That method produces impossible results because the rounding is being performed out of its proper order. The most damage that any one Empowered Maximized missile can deal is 7 points, but under your method four missiles will sometimes deal 29 or 30 damage.
It would seem that I was wrong about how this works. I've been told that that Rules as Written work differently than the method I was using. And when both Aelyrinth and Orfamy Quest say so, then I have to take it seriously. I'm not sure exactly what the correct order of operations is yet since no one can tell me where the Rules as Written are actually... Written. So for now you should probably just ignore my ramblings.
|
I think the separate calculation for each missile is the best way to go to be consistent with the rest of the ray spells. MM is unique in that it has a separate missile added instead of a scale up of damage stacked on one effect, like Fireball, Burning Hands and the like. Most Rays effecting single targets have to hit a Ranged Touch attack, something that MM does not do, so the effects are for each hit. Scorching Ray, for example, is calculated in the same way, on each ray instead of putting the entire 2+ rays into one pool of damage.
Empower is usually used for Area Effect spells like Fireball and MM, in my mind, is not a good use of this feat.
all the MM directed at one person hit simultaneously, and are considered one spell, so you roll the damage for all of them together.
If the spell hits multiple targets, you'd take the damage separately for each target as appropriate. If the other spell staggers the damage out, you stagger the damage rolls and don't agglomerate them.
The rule to 'round down' is to keep things simple, so people don't round up, and because we can't use .5 HP to damage someone with. There's no reason to overthink it...it's not there to make the game tedious, it's there to simplify it and keep things moving.
==Aelryinth
It is just as easy to round down each missile and add them together. With the maximized and empowered, each missile is doing 7 points of damage. (1d4+1 = 5 + half again (2) equals 7)
Again, that is wrong. Maximize does not interact with empower in any way. You get the separate benefits of both feats.
It is not (1d4+1 = 5 + half again (2) equals 7)
It is 1d4+1 = 5, + (0.5)1d4+1 equals 6 or 7. You must roll the dice when using empower. You do not get an additional 50% of the maximum value.
I have always done 5d4+5 and then empowered the total result, but since each missile could strike a different target it is probably correct to actually empower each missile. <---likely the correct way if the PDT weighs in on it.
For the sake of convenience I will just do it by target, instead of by missile. <---convenient way
PS: For some reason I have always empowered scorching rays separately even if they all hit the same target. With that said I think my first paragraph is the correct way by the ruels.
|
|
It is just as easy to round down each missile and add them together. With the maximized and empowered, each missile is doing 7 points of damage. (1d4+1 = 5 + half again (2) equals 7)Again, that is wrong. Maximize does not interact with empower in any way. You get the separate benefits of both feats.
It is not (1d4+1 = 5 + half again (2) equals 7)
It is 1d4+1 = 5, + (0.5)1d4+1 equals 6 or 7. You must roll the dice when using empower. You do not get an additional 50% of the maximum value.
Ah... so your looking at High/Low to see if it is 6 or 7. Thank you.
This thread has taught me that lots of people haven't read the Maximize Spell feat all the way through.