Empowered Metamagic

[Minigiant]

Empowered Spell wrote:

Benefit: All variable, numeric effects of an empowered spell are increased by half including bonuses to those dice rolls.

Saving throws and opposed rolls are not affected, nor are spells without random variables.

If this Metamagic is applied to a level 15 wizard casting ball lightning, does it create 6 orbs instead of 4?

The damage however remains 3D6 because that is not variable?

[Mysterious Stranger]

You have it backwards. The number of orbs is not a variable, they are a fixed number. The damage is a random variable. A random variable is means you have to roll dice. So the number of orbs remain the same but you roll 3d6 for damage and then multiply that number by 1.5.

[Lelomenia]

‘Variable’ here is interpreted to mean ‘a number that is determined by rolling dice’. So the number of balls is not ‘variable’, 3d6 is ‘variable’.

[vhok]

it does seem to be a variable so yes.

[Diego Rossi]

vhok wrote:

it does seem to be a variable so yes.

CRB wrote:

Empower Spell (Metamagic)

You can increase the power of your spells, causing them to deal more damage.
Benefit: All variable, numeric effects of an empowered spell are increased by half, including bonuses to those dice rolls.
Saving throws and opposed rolls are not affected, nor are spells without random variables. An empowered spell uses up a spell slot two levels higher than the spell’s actual level.

AoN wrote:

You create two globes of lightning that fly in whichever direction you indicate. For every 4 caster levels above 7th, you create an additional globe of lightning (3 globes at 11th, 4 globes at 15th, to the maximum of 5 globes at 19th).

Not a random variable.