How is fireball too powerful? I can't seem to get a sorc/wiz to 5(keep rerolling) to see why.
It's one of my favorite spells.
Fireball was
designed to be too powerful because it's such an iconic spell.
https://www.dndbeyond.com/posts/177-spell-spotlight-fireballAccording to the spell creation rules in the DMG (pg 284), fireball has enough power to be a 4th or 5th level spell. A "typically powerful" 3rd level spell should do 6d6 damage.
Those are all factors that a game designer should consider when creating a spell (especially a single-purpose spell like fireball), but none of them are the real reason. D&D's designers have actually revealed to us the reason for fireball's ridiculous damage, and it has everything to do with the culture and narrative of D&D, not its mathematical balance. Fireball is one of D&D’s most iconic spells. The sheer power of fireball is central in many fun D&D stories, as reported by playtest information from the playtests that gave form to fifth edition D&D. The designers saw fireball (and to a lesser extent lightning bolt) as integral to the experience of playing a wizard in D&D, and chose to improve its destructive power to encourage players to learn that spell over other less iconic ones.
