Why does Lightning Bolt Rebound???

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Is this a DnD rule I missed? Everytime I try to use Lightning Bolt I end up getting pasted with a rebounding strike. Its rendered almost useless. I've never played a DnD game that did that other than the Infinity engine games and I certainly don't remember it as a rule in PnP DnD.

I havent played PnP in 20 years though...

 

Yep. Right in the spell description. Even within the game, or in the manual (p. 127), if you look. Last sentence: "If the lightning bolt intersects with a wall, it will bounce until it reaches its full length."

In PnP, it was up to the DM ("The DM might allow reflecting bolts."), so that might be why you haven't come across it before.

EDIT:
Personally, I find it the perfect hallway clearer. Get the right angle, and it'll zig-zag down the corridor, scorching everything within. I especially like using it on that first hallway after the 'push the button' genie in ID, if I'm not taking Jaheira and Minsc for some reason. 6 goblins down with no fuss, and I get some arrows and axes.

 

I think it was more that most games just didn't feel the need to institute it honestly. The Optional piece is actually for the spell to reflect at a natural angle. So say you hit a wall at a 45 degree angle. then it would carry away from the wall at a simular reflecting angle instead of hitting the wall at the 45 degree angle and flying straight back at the caster of the spell. It was always meant to bounce back and the PnP version of the spell's description even says that if it's cast and reflects and the caster is still within the range of the spell then they will get hit by the spell. It's a spell that is actually implimented correctly in the Infinity Games.

 

Yeah, it was like that in AD&D too. There were two options with it -- straight bolt with long distance, or Y bolt with shorter distance. The key with lightning bolt is cast and STEP ASIDE. If you can dodge it (or have electric resistance), lightning bolt does wonders in a small room.

The mage in the sewers likes to use it. Killed himself (damn, I didn't get the xp for his suicide).

 

haha I never noticed that the lightning bolts at 45 degrees bounced incorrectly in AD&D. They should bounce like VVVV down a horizontal corridor but instead they go back diagonally at the caster. What happened to that horizontal component of momentum?

 

The back directly at the caster is the spell. the Spell Discription however gives an OPTIONAL rule for an angular bounce such as making a v down a hallway. So they actually do have the spell right when it comes back at the Caster. Magic does not have to follow all the laws of science which is something people need to be aware of with the spells. It is not a mistake at all.

 

You can use it to your advantage, have protection from Lightning or spell turning etc, or simply cloak of mirroring, and you will have no horror of rebounding bolts, whilst your enemies will quickly die due to the raging chaos! Har har har!

 

Also if your mage is wearing the cloak of Reflection, the rebounding bolts will be more effective

 

The cloak of reflection "reflects Lightning damage back to the user" doesn't it?

Meaning, if it reflects your own lightning bolt, it would reflect upon yourself, wouldn't it? It should even be causing an infinite loop!

 

No. The stupid cloak is just worded in terms of enemy spells so it's worded extremely poorly to the idea of reflecting your own. What it would do is reflect them back in the same exact direction that they came from.

 

The "art" of reflection is beneficial to a mage if he lines himself up with his enemies. By figuring out the angles between you, the walls, and the enemy, you can hit several targets with one spell... Or the easier way is to target an enemy that's near a wall, and hope the lightning bolt reflects 180 degrees to get a double hit.

the only thing you really need to look out for are the bolts that come back towards your party...and most of the time you have enough time to move them out of the way.

Lightning bolt is one of my favorite low level spells, and I use it more often than any other...up until I get Chain Lightning.

 

The rebound was one of the reasons why I'm not really fond of the spell (I prefer Skull Trap, Slow, or Fireball). And besides, since when does lightning bounce?

 

Natural lightning Bounces. Branches out. Jumps gaps. All kinds of nasty stuff. Nothing manmade can compare. but you can actually get shocked just being near a lightnight strike or something channeling it. it's just that powerful.

Some Scientists surmise that those LIghtning strikes that are survived are actually done so because they aren't direct strikes but indirect backlash or reflected energy from the force of the real lightning strike that people are caught by.

 

^Oh or maybe they rolled a succesful save vs spells for half damage.

 

Only if that's on top of the lightning damage dice rolling a bunch of 1's.

 

Well, some people are just THAT lucky.

 

Oh yeah, not to mention all those gamma- and other rays coming from lightning strikes. That stuff's dangerous. Don't mess with lightning, you wizards, fireballs are much safer. Unless you really wan't to, that is.

 

I think they could have had allies take half damage for spells like fireball and lightening. I hardly ever use them as lining up enemies while keeping them away from your fighters and wizard is just too tricky to do at will. I find stocking up on flame arrow and melfs minute meteors much more effective. Too bad there's no lightening or ice equivalent cause I get owned by flame resistant creatures.

It may work for PnP but it's a rule that doesn't translate well into a game. I sometimes use fireball if I'm having a hard time with a battle, but I only use it once as an initial volley then charge the enemy, even so, that's too tricky to pull off as I always wind up either not hitting all my intended victims or mistakenly hitting minsc or whoever. I don't even bother to scribe the lightening spell.

 

I never bother with Lightning Bolt spell too. SLow, Haste, etc. are much more effective, and there are always fire and lightninging wands if need be.