Any reason to take the lightning bolt spell as a sorcerer when wands of lightning exist?

Phanixis

Title says it all. I am creating a new sorcerer and was thinking of picking lightning bolt until I realized I could use wands instead. Wands of lightning seem to inflict more damage than the actual spell, as lightning bolt caps out a 10d6 which is obviously less than 6 x 3d6. Is there anything the spell itself can do that the wand can't? Spell sequencer is the only thing I can think of.

Thanks for the feedback.

Borek

Not a fan of the spell myself, it's fairly unreliable for hitting enemies and has a nasty tendency to hit party members, Skull Trap is a way more effective 3rd level damaging spell IMO.

lolien

Poverty run, role playing, contigencies. But yeah, wands rules otherwise.

Balrog99

At higher levels the bolt you cast will do more damage than the wand. Usually whenever I cast lightning bolt though, I end up wishing it did 'less' damage!

ArchGhost

Many wands got nerfed pretty hard in BG2 so the spell will actually out damage it as it can hit the damage cap. I'm also not sure how the wand interacts with the Cloak of Mirroring and the like, or how EE affects all that (in Vanilla you could bounce Lightning, but not the wand, between Cloak of Mirroring and Cloak of Reflection but it was tweaked out...in Vanilla most wands ignored MR too)

Probably the only reason, but then again there aren't many "must-take" spells for sorc on level three other than skull trap and MMMs (and if in a party/using summons, maybe Haste), so go nuts.

Oswald81

No reason at all. If you must have this use Chain Lightning or the Staff of the Magi. But I avoid this spell due to the unreliability of the spell. Honestly I would rather rely on being a Dragon Disiple if I had to do stuff like this, breath attack.

DJKajuru

If there's any justice in Faerun, it has to be when an enemy mage is hit by his own lightning bolt.

Balrog99

DJKajuru said:

If there's any justice in Faerun, it has to be when an enemy mage is hit by his own lightning bolt.

That's only because none of them are scripted to use Melf's Minute Meteors instead!

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sarevok57

for a level 3 single target damaging spell i prefer flame arrow, which in theory should do more damage starting a level 15 than lightning bolt would, plus it apparently grows in strength again at level 20, and can also be put into a sequencer and doesn't hurt party memebers

but of coarse the best level 3 spell for a wizerd harry has to be slow, with that mammoth -4 penalty to the save to start enemies will more often than not get hit by it, making them chop suey for your front liners, plus its party friendly as well

PS: oh and yes, you might as well use wands instead of wasting on of your valuable sorcerer slots on lightning bolt

DJKajuru

Balrog99 said:

DJKajuru said:

If there's any justice in Faerun, it has to be when an enemy mage is hit by his own lightning bolt.

That's only because none of them are scripted to use Melf's Minute Meteors instead!

Something I truly dislike about scs smarter mages, every mage and his brother uses mmms .

DavidW

24-hour duration so it doesn’t use up spell slots, and you can use it between spellcasting- what’s not to like?

Noloir

None besides roleplaying. If you do decide to use it make sure to use the Minor Globe of Invulnerability so if it bounces your mage isn't barbequed. Your other party members might not be as fortunate though..

Noloir

Interesting thing about lightning bolts not sure as of v2.5 but in v1.3 lightning discharges could be aim at containers of ground items without the risk of bouncing.

semiticgoddess

The spell maxes out at 10d6. In BG1, the wand does 6d6. In BG2, the wand does 18d6, and while the save is for 1/3 damage in vanilla, that's still 6d6 compared to 5d6 damage on a save against the spell, and in EE, the save is for half damage, or 9d6 compared to 5d6. Since enemy saves vs. wands are better than their saves vs. spells, the spell is better at levels 6-9 in BG1, and in BG2, the spell works with Improved Alacrity. Otherwise the wand is always better.

If you bounce the spell off the walls, Lightning Bolts can do substantially more damage than Skull Traps. Lure an enemy into a corner and aim straight north, and you can strike 5 times or more with one bolt. The Wand of Lightning can easily do 90d6 damage in a corner or narrow hallway.

Mantis37

DavidW said:

24-hour duration so it doesn’t use up spell slots, and you can use it between spellcasting- what’s not to like?

SCS wizards don't get invited to many parties, what with their inability to hold anything but globes of fire & unhealthy gray pallor (Except barbecues?!). Make an overly cutting remark and you risk setting off their 'see enemy' chain contingency as well.

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Phanixis

semiticgod said:

If you bounce the spell off the walls, Lightning Bolts can do substantially more damage than Skull Traps. Lure an enemy into a corner and aim straight north, and you can strike 5 times or more with one bolt. The Wand of Lightning can easily do 90d6 damage in a corner or narrow hallway.

I tried this and it works remarkable well.  Aim in one of the four cardinal directions in any enclose space and the lighting bolts bounces between the two walls several times.  You don't even need to be in a corner to do this.  It also seems that if you are slightly off from a cardinal direction, you can obtained a zigzag pattern.