how do you kill stuff, as a mage?

[Ingwe Ingweron]

Meteor Swarm does meteor element damage, which in practice nothing resists. Cloud Kill is poison, Ice Storm is ice (which stuns and causes cuts; think hurling a giant icicle at an enemy). Explosion is shards.

It has always bothered me that monsters vulnerable to fire do not get extra hurt damage from meteor swarm. Player isn't casting cold meteorites, they are meteors and meteors are HOT. When a meteor enters the atmosphere, we can make a fairly educated guess as to the temperature it reaches. Rock melts at 1200ºC and Iron melts at 1536ºC, as many of the the heavier meteors are made from these and other elements, it is safe to assume the temperature range is between these two points.

[Derakon]

I assume most of the damage from meteors is from being hit by a rock moving at a few hundred miles per hour. With that kind of impact, temperature is a secondary concern.

[Carnivean]

I assume most of the damage from meteors is from being hit by a rock moving at a few hundred miles per hour. With that kind of impact, temperature is a secondary concern.

The damage dice are a bit on the low side. The Chelyabinsk meteor had 500 megatons of kinetic energy. 2 or 3 of them would put a serious dent in anything in this dungeon.

[Carnivean]

as far as i know, the new system wasn't put in place "to balance", but to remove the tedious task of needing to carry gear just to sell it.

FYI it was done for the second reason, but was designed "to balance" so as to provide a balanced choice. You get significantly more (like 50% more) money in drops with no selling, to the point where a large number of players squelch money.

[Derakon]

2 or 3 of them would put a serious dent in this dungeon.

Fixed that for you.

[icefyre]

Meteors are cold...

It has always bothered me that monsters vulnerable to fire do not get extra hurt damage from meteor swarm. Player isn't casting cold meteorites, they are meteors and meteors are HOT. When a meteor enters the atmosphere, we can make a fairly educated guess as to the temperature it reaches. Rock melts at 1200ºC and Iron melts at 1536ºC, as many of the the heavier meteors are made from these and other elements, it is safe to assume the temperature range is between these two points.

The only reason meteors heat up generally is because of the friction with the atmosphere as they fall to earth. Generally speaking they very very cold up in space. Assuming that these are magical meteors, they don't necessarily need to be either hot or cold, you basically conjured up the rock and gave it a velocity to slam into your enemies, temperature doesn't matter in that case.

[Ingwe Ingweron]

The only reason meteors heat up generally is because of the friction with the atmosphere as they fall to earth. Generally speaking they very very cold up in space. Assuming that these are magical meteors, they don't necessarily need to be either hot or cold, you basically conjured up the rock and gave it a velocity to slam into your enemies, temperature doesn't matter in that case.

Then it should be called a Meteorite Swarm. In space, those cold rocks are Meteoroids, the super-heated shooting stars we see in the night sky are called Meteors, the rocks themselves upon reaching Earth are Meteorites. If it's Meteor Swarm, I think it's reasonable to assume they are super-heated. You'd think they'd cause even more damage than Rockets!

[Nick]

Then it should be called a Meteorite Swarm. In space, those cold rocks are Meteoroids, the super-heated shooting stars we see in the night sky are called Meteors, the rocks themselves upon reaching Earth are Meteorites. If it's Meteor Swarm, I think it's reasonable to assume they are super-heated. You'd think they'd cause even more damage than Rockets!

I notice you don't have a classification for rocks called up by magic, and falling from a distance of < 50 feet. I'm inclined to think that the properties of these are up for grabs, and that whoever thought this up (presumably Raal) gets to call it whatever they please