Bolt spell

A bolt spell is any attack spell that is based on the caster's Spell Aiming skill. These spells benefit from a more offensive stance, but only result in a three (3) second cast roundtime, rather than a true three (3) second roundtime. There are two types of bolt spells: true bolt spells and ball spells.

Ball Spells

Ball spells are a subgroup of bolt spells that do less damage on a single target but have the ability to perform additional splash damage on several creatures (including the original target) due to explosion of the ball upon impact. Two rolls determine how many creatures you hit, and there is a skill that influences each of the two rolls.

• The first roll determines how many creatures it is possible to splash and is influenced by a different lore depending on the spell: Elemental Lore, Fire for Major Fire (908); Elemental Lore, Water for Major Cold (907); or Spiritual Lore, Summoning for Fire Spirit (111). Major Acid (1710) has no influencing lore.
• The second roll determines how many creatures are actually splashed, with the first roll determining the maximum of the second. The appropriate Lore skill increases the maximum for the first roll, while Multi Opponent Combat (MOC) increases the result for the second roll.

The normal--no additional training ranks in either Lore or MOC--base range of results is 0-8. The roll is weighted in favor of the lower end numbers. The second roll is then 0 to <the results of that first roll>.

For example, assume you have trained enough in Elemental Lore, Fire to increase the maximum possible number of creatures splashed with Major Fire by five, and have trained six times in MOC.

• With twenty creatures in the room, your first roll can be between zero and thirteen (base of 0-8 plus 5 for Lore skill, or 0-13); you cannot possibly hit creatures numbered fourteen through twenty.

[Note that at this step it is always actually a 0-8 die roll; the full Lore benefit is simply added.]

1) The result rolled is a ten, meaning you can hit up to ten creatures.

• The next roll can be anything between zero and ten.

2) A one is rolled, but your six ranks of MOC result in splash damage to seven creatures.

On the other hand, when facing a smaller group all of your Lore skill benefits are still applicable: if there are only 7 creatures in the room and your Lore skill gives you the possibility of +15 targets, your first die roll will be 0-23 [base of 0-8 + 15 from Lore skill]. This makes it very likely that you will actually splash all seven targets most of the time, even if you have no MOC in this instance.

It should also be noted that the first roll takes precedence, such that if your maximum possible number of creatures hit is two, you will not hit more than two, regardless of MOC training.

"A lousy die roll... is a lousy die roll."

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For those who prefer a more intuitive explanation, the appropriate lore determines the minimum size of the explosion caused by the spell whereas MOC determines how well you can place the explosion such that it hits the most targets. (A practical example: water balloons. The appropriate Lore skill determines what size water balloon you can throw; MOC ranks determine how accurately you place it within the group of targets with which you are dealing.)

References

• Ball spells (saved post)

Damage Factors

Spell	Robes	Soft Leather	Hard Leather	Chain	Plate	Splash
Fire Spirit (111)	0.400	0.333	0.270	0.256	0.244	Yes
Web (118)	0.520	0.420	0.330	0.300	0.210	No
Holy Bolt (306)(L)*	0.455	0.345	0.283	0.242	0.173	No
Holy Bolt (306)(U)*	0.750	0.500	0.405	0.400	0.265	No
Hand of Tonis (505)	0.530	-	-	-	-	No
Hurl Boulder (510)	0.710	0.520	0.460	0.435	0.440	No
Minor Shock (901)	0.150	0.133	0.111	0.122	0.128	No
Minor Water (903)	0.455	0.345	0.283	0.242	0.173	No
Minor Acid (904)	0.525	0.383	0.314	0.350	0.197	No
Minor Fire (906)	0.667	0.455	0.345	0.323	0.303	No
Major Cold (907)	0.445	0.350	0.245	0.217	0.208	Yes
Major Fire (908)	0.400	0.333	0.270	0.256	0.244	Yes
Major Shock (910)	0.750	0.555	0.434	0.415	0.433	No
Empathic Assault (1110)	0.680	0.490	0.365	0.280	0.205	No
Minor Steam (1707)	0.600	0.550	0.383	0.333	0.267	No
Minor Cold (1709)	0.667	0.460	0.385	0.375	0.355	No
Major Acid (1710)	0.600	0.333	0.275	0.370	0.196	Yes

*(L) is living targets and (U) is undead targets.

AvDs

Spell	Robes	Soft Leather				Hard Leather				Chain				Plate
AsG	1	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
111	70	60	59	58	57	50	48	46	44	45	41	37	33	40	34	28	22
118	52	44	43	42	41	39	37	35	33	44	40	36	32	52	46	40	34
306 (L)	30	30	29	28	27	29	27	25	23	31	27	23	19	25	19	13	7
306 (U)	40	38	37	36	35	35	33	31	29	37	33	29	25	32	26	20	14
505	52	44	43	42	41	39	37	35	33	44	40	36	32	52	46	40	34
510	40	40	39	38	37	40	38	36	34	40	36	32	28	40	34	28	22
901	35	25	24	23	22	30	28	26	24	33	29	25	21	36	30	24	18
903	30	30	29	28	27	29	27	25	23	31	27	23	19	25	19	13	7
904	40	38	37	36	35	35	33	31	29	37	33	29	25	32	26	20	14
906	55	37	36	35	34	33	31	29	27	42	38	34	30	44	38	32	26
907	65	55	54	53	52	45	43	41	39	40	36	32	28	35	29	23	17
908	70	60	59	58	57	50	48	46	44	45	41	37	33	40	34	28	22
910	50	40	39	38	37	45	43	41	39	48	44	40	36	51	45	39	33
1110	55	45	44	43	42	30	28	26	24	15	11	7	3	7	1	(-5)	(-11)
1707	70	60	59	58	57	50	48	46	44	45	41	37	33	40	34	28	22
1709	45	40	39	38	37	35	33	31	29	40	36	32	28	30	24	18	12
1710	65	55	54	53	52	45	43	41	39	42	38	34	30	33	27	21	15
AsG	1	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
Spell	Robes	Soft Leather				Hard Leather				Chain				Plate

Behind the Scenes: tactical considerations

Analysis of the ball spells' splash situation leads to the conclusion that having at least one rank of the relevant Lore skill plus one rank of MOC will guarantee a splash to an additional creature--assuming that at least two creatures are in the room--because even if a 0 is rolled the first time the "possible" range is 0-1 (due to the full Lore benefit being added); on the second roll (a range of 0-1) even if 0 is rolled again then the rank of MOC will enable the splash effect.

Players might regard this as the effective spell-casting equivalent of MSTRIKE.

Given that all of the Lore skills that affect splashes are seed 1 progressions, the rate at which additional targets are added is quite quick. A modest investment of training points for ten (10) ranks of Lore skill yields +4 targets--a +50% addition to the "possible" target pool--and guarantees that at least four (4) targets will always have the capability to be splashed ("possible" roll will be 0-8 with +4 added).