5E Offensive Spells: Are direct damagers the new VIPs?

[Endarire]

Greetings, all!

Having read this thread on the effectiveness of sleep (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?374274-5E-Sleep-Balanced), I wonder if 5E's offensive spells are best used as direct damage instead of save-or-else. With sleep requiring many opponents to be damaged first for maximum effectiveness, or with higher-level abilities being... rearranged (such as disintegrate dealing half a foe's HP on a failed save and nothing on a passed save), why not just blow 'em all up, 2E style?

As a reference, offensive spells in AD&D 2E tended to favor direct damage since they hurt foes even on a successful save (if there was a save). Other abilities were much riskier because it was effectively all or nothing against a foe with a high chance of a foe saving.

As another reference, D&D 3.x and Pathfinder made the save-or-else spells generally quite appealing because they could reliably disable/kill/nullify foes (often more than 1) from level 1 due to spell DCs being so high compared to saving throw bonuses.

[Oncoming Storm]

Greetings, all!

Having read this thread on the effectiveness of sleep (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?374274-5E-Sleep-Balanced), I wonder if 5E's offensive spells are best used as direct damage instead of save-or-else. With sleep requiring many opponents to be damaged first for maximum effectiveness, or with higher-level abilities being... rearranged (such as disintegrate dealing half a foe's HP on a failed save and nothing on a passed save), why not just blow 'em all up, 2E style?

As a reference, offensive spells in AD&D 2E tended to favor direct damage since they hurt foes even on a successful save (if there was a save). Other abilities were much riskier because it was effectively all or nothing against a foe with a high chance of a foe saving.

As another reference, D&D 3.x and Pathfinder made the save-or-else spells generally quite appealing because they could reliably disable/kill/nullify foes (often more than 1) from level 1 due to spell DCs being so high compared to saving throw bonuses.

The short answer is, it depends.

The longer answer is that it depends on the caster's level, the number of monsters facing the party and their arrangement (is the party surrounded by gnolls? Maybe not fireball, then) and the caster's knowledge of their relevant good and bad saves. At lower levels, say levels 1 to 7 (maybe 9) the direct damage spells are generally better, as the wizard's save dc will be around 13-14, few no drawback SOL spells are available, and almost all SOL spells allow new saves each round Additionally, blasting spells deal fairly impressive damage at low levels (fireball = 8d6 at level 5, thunderwave is 2d8 at level 1, etc.)

However, blasting does not scale well in this edition at all. there are fewer high-level blasting spells with the same relative damage to foe hp output at high levels, and the lower level ones scale poorly. compare a level 3 fireball at 8d6 damage with a level 9 fireball for 14d6-the damage output does't even double over 12 whole levels of adventuring, while CR-appropriate foes will have 3 or 4 times as much HP, even without considering resistances or immunities.) However, by this point, the caster will likely have a save DC of 19+. Given the way saves scale (e.g. not at all for poor saves) at this point attacking the enemy's weak saves with SOL spells becomes a viable tactic, outclassing blasting.

Of course, this all gets thrown out the window with legendary monsters and their auto-passes on saving throws, while bounded accuracy makes hordes of weaker monsters a relevant threat to high level PCs (thus keeping blasting relevant.)

I guess the take-away in terms of 5e is to avoid caster overspecialization. The optimization is ceiling is low enough that the loss of versatility is not worth being unable to respond effectively to a variety of situations. Prepare fireball, sure. also prepare hold person, grease, and haste. DON'T prepare fireball, burning hands, scorching ray, and acid arrow.