Lightning Bolt
A branching electrical attack that shocks the body as well as burning it
Lightning Bolt releases one or more lines of electrical energy from the caster. Every line travels in a chosen direction and strikes everything in its path. Direct lightning damage allows no Save; cover, barriers, DR that protects against energy, and lightning resistance apply normally.
The current leaves a living creature's muscles firing out of sequence. Its next action has the listed chance to fail. Roll when the action is attempted; on a failure, the action and the resources committed to it are spent without producing an effect. The electrical disruption ends after that roll, whether the action succeeds or fails, and expires at the end of the creature's next round if it takes no action. Only the highest failure chance applies, no matter how many bolts or Lightning Bolt castings strike the creature.
Several bolts can be aimed in different directions or sent down the same line. Before Level 10, overlapping bolts from the same casting do not multiply damage against one target; they widen coverage and make it harder to escape the attack's path. At Level 10, their damage stacks.
Spell Progression
| Spell level | Damage per CL | Next action fails | Bolts | Length of each line | Width |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1d8 | 10% | 1 | 60 ft | 5 ft |
| 3 | 2d8 | 20% | 2 | 120 ft | 5 ft |
| 5 | 4d8 | 30% | 4 | 240 ft | 10 ft |
| 7 | 8d8 | 40% | 8 | 480 ft | 10 ft |
| 9 | 16d8 | 50% | 16 | 1,000 ft | 20 ft |
| 10 | 32d8 | 60% | 32 | 1 mile | 40 ft |
Lightning can ignite vulnerable material, travel through conductive structures, and spread unpredictably through water. The GM determines those environmental consequences from the scene; they do not create additional automatic damage beyond the spell's lines.