Ball Lighting - Direction

[thyris]

So I'm looking at this lvl 4 spell, and am wondering, do the ball lightnings move only the direction from when they were first directed? If not it seems a bit overpowered for only a level 4 spell (2x ball lightnings or 3d6 dmg, both directable by one move action)...

http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/advanced/spells/ballLightning.html#_ball -lightning

[Corren28]

They move wherever you tell them to move. They don't continuously move in a straight line once you cast them, if you don't will them to move anywhere in a given round they stay at rest. Think of a lightning version of flaming sphere.

[Corren28]

Also, as far as being overpowered, not really. Scorching ray is a second level spell and, by the time you're of a level to take ball lightning, scorching ray will actually do more damage at 4d6 x 2 rays.

Not to mention 3d6 damage is nothing for some melee classes. While they may not roll those exact damage dice, 18 damage is entirely feasible. Level 1 barbarian with a greataxe, 20 str, and power attack. 12+5+2=19 damage at level 1.

[Drejk]

Quote:

Not to mention 3d6 damage is nothing for some melee classes. While they may not roll those exact damage dice, 18 damage is entirely feasible. Level 1 barbarian with a greataxe, 20 str, and power attack. 12+5+2=19 damage at level 1.

d12+10 actually (Power Attack grants +3 to damage with two-handed weapon and Str bonus is 1-1/2 on two-handed weapons) for an average of 16.5. What is 10.5 average damage when comparing to that?. By the 8th level it easily goes up to 1d12+19 with one of two attacks available (three with haste). Dealing 3d6 points of damage twice with Reflex negating per round without chance for critical hit is not especially impressive. The main strength of [o]ball lightning[/i] is that it grants the arcanist productive use of move action when he does not have to actually move or cast spell with 1 round casting time.

[thyris]

Ah... makes sense, thanks for the info all.