I remember playing the dragonlance TSR games and the difference between a normal fireball there and delayed blast fireball were
1. Immediate casting for delayed blast fireball, while normal fireball takes a while to prepare (usually end of the turn). This makes normal fireball easy to disrupt.
2. Higher dice roll per level.
3. Goes through magic resistance.
The mechanics are kinda odd (given the spell of the name) but it does make sure delayed blast fireball is a notch better than a normal fireball.
Here in Arctic, maybe the following tweak might be worth the while.
1. Each cast allows up to 5 ticks. cast 'delayed blast fireball' <secs> (turns into a fireball gem in the room)
2. Each casted fireball gem stays in place until the following happens:
a. the timer runs out, and it turns into a fireball
b. the spell owner triggers the fireball gem using touch (can't be para/held/sit) with no lag. touch gem.fireball
3. Higher dice roll (avg should be higher than a normal fireball)
4. No frag
To make things more fun (yeah not going to happen), you can make it an actual item after casting. Here is an example.
>cast 'delayed blast fireball' 300
>Palin utters the word 'delayed blast fireball'
>A fiery gem appears in Palin's palm.
>place fireball.gem Popo.
>You magically attached the fireball gem onto Popo and giggles like a maniac.
>Popo panics and tries to drop the fireball gem but fails miserably.
>Popo panics and tries to drop the fireball gem but fails miserably.
>touch gem Popo
>The gem of fireball exploded on Popo causing mayhem in the room.
So, you can cast multiple fireball gems, set it to people.
Gem is no drop but lootable.
Trigger'able at anytime before the timer as long as caster is in same room as gem and is not held/sil/para.
Works in no magic room (as in triggerable in no-magic but you have to cast it in magic room).
Benefits and abuse?
You can collect multiple gems and set them all in a single round.
Set a few on a main tank that is immune fire (or a trash), and send him to out 1 round before timer ends.
