Blaster Sorcerer spell advice, please

[Bomanz]

Ok, assume:

LVL 9, 5 Crossblooded (draconic/elemental) Sorc 4 Dragon Disciple

Lesser Metamagic Rod of Selective Spell
Normal Metamagic Rod of Intensify

Feat Empower Spell
Trait Gifted Adept (Burning Hands)
Favored Class bonus for + 1/2 acid damage (taken 4 times)

Which spell is "better" to cast?

Intensified Selective Empowered Burning Hands (turned to acid using elemental bloodline) for 12d4 + 14 (+12 for draconic sorc, +2 for favored class) taking up a 3rd lvl slot

OR

Intensified Selective Fireball (turned to acid using elemental bloodline) for 10d6+12, also taking up a lvl 3 slot.

I believe its the fireball (turned to acid of course) for a few reasons...namely using the MMrods, it will still just be a standard action allowing for a move/swift and all that, plus static damage of +12 is almost as good as +14 while the 10d6 will probably yield better result than 12d4.

Buddy of mine likes the uber burning hands, citing higher static damage and 2 extra dice to roll, while d4 only marginally worse than d6.

Thoughts??

[ubiquitous42]

A caster may only use one metamagic rod on any given spell. You'll need to take one of them as a feat to add both Intensified and Selective to your burning hands.

[mplindustries]

12d4+14 averages 44 damage. 10d6+12 averages 47. Fireball is also significantly easier and safer to target enemies with. Enough said.

Edit:
Actually, your numbers aren't adding up to me.

Your caster level is 8. You cast Burning hands as a 9th level caster.

An intensified Burning hands does 9d4+11 (9 for the dice, 2 for the acid thing). That averages 33.5. Empowered, that's 50% more damage (you calculate that after you roll). So, 50.25 damage average.

Your Fireball, meanwhile, doesn't need to be Intensified, since the limit is already 10, and your caster level is 8. It'll deal 8d6+10 (8 for dice, 2 for the favored class thing). That averages 38 damage.

When you calculate their damages correctly, Burning Hands comes out almos 50% better. However, I still would rather cast Fireball, because it's so much safer and easier to hit all the bad guys with (a 15' cone is a joke).

[Aunt Tony]

mplindustries wrote:

12d4+14 averages 44 damage. 10d6+12 averages 47. Fireball is also significantly easier and safer to target enemies with. Enough said.

More importantly, the maximum damage possible with Fireball is higher (since it's a d6), which makes it better to use with Maximize later on in your career. Essentially, it can "scale" better as you level.

Larger area, so it goes better with Dazing Spell, too.