So its my first time playing a dedicated spell-slinger and - knock on wood - i'm about to level up to level 5, allowing me to get level 3 spells.

Looking over the rules for Fireball, i can totally understand why its such a valued spell. For sheer firepower (pun intended), nothing can come close to it at that level.

But - the vast majority of fights i've been running into have been at relatively close range, and in a relatively enclosed area. How am i supposed to launch Fireball at someone without torching myself or my party?

Yes, i know Sorcerors can use Careful spell, but that's still a lot of damage at level five.

How do people handle this?

I think in these situations you should communicate with your party and organise a plan to move out of the radius before you fire it. Use cantrips and other spells that won't damage yourself or your party until you find an opportunity to do so. I'm pretty sure there are a couple of low level spells that hurl enemies backwards, so perhaps you could get one of the players in your party to use that before your turn to fire the fireball spell. 
Remember to be creative, the fireball spell does not always need to hit the enemy and can hit your surroundings instead. 
Say you're in the middle of a thin but tall cavern, you could perhaps fire your explosive spell at the rocks or walls above which causes the enemy's side of the place to cave in and deal damage. Depending on your hit, you might deal even more damage than the fireball does in fire damage. 

cause some destruction and have fun C:

Evokers have a way around it too. 

Quote from MarcusGrenhart >>

Remember to be creative, the fireball spell does not always need to hit the enemy and can hit your surroundings instead. 
Say you're in the middle of a thin but tall cavern, you could perhaps fire your explosive spell at the rocks or walls above which causes the enemy's side of the place to cave in and deal damage. Depending on your hit, you might deal even more damage than the fireball does in fire damage. 

In physics terms (yeah, yeah, I know) Fireball is more like a deflagration than a detonation.  That means that the damage is caused by combustion, not an explosive shockwave.  Which is why it deals fire damage and not thunder.  If you want to bring the ceiling of a cave down on someone, Shatter is a better choice.

That's understandable. Any thoughts on Fireball for a fellow Battletech fan?

Casting it in an enclosed space, especially when it's a structure made of wood, is either the worst or best idea ever.

Be a tiefling, use careful spell, center on yourself. It's much harder for the party to be upset, when you share the pain. But anyways, just use the fireball where it's relevant, it's not like it's your only damage spell, nor even your only AoE damage spell. I get a lot of mileage from burning hands =)

You get 2 new spells when you level up if you’re taking fireball as one of them you might look at taking Melf’s meteors as the other. The individual damages are not as great but the area is much smaller ( 5’r) and all together the damage is actually greater (6 meteors x 2 D6 each = 12 D6 vs the 8 D6 of fireball.

Be thankful you don’t have to factor in volume like in previous editions.  Launching a fire ball into a chimney when it detonates had black lash beyond the 20 foot radius.because the volume had to go somewhere.

Yuo didn't say what class you are  but given you are talking about fireball I will assume it is wizard or sorcerer.

Fireball can often be used at "relatively close range" in all but the most enclosed spaces. Say you open a door revealing room with several monster in. As long as the far wall is over 20 ft away you can centre your fireball far enough away that you are safe while getting a lot or even all the monsters.  (You need to see the location of the centre of the fireball but the the whole sphere does not need to be open space).  I find a bigger problem is my barbarian friend running into the room attacking them with his greatsword before I have a chance to act and then you have problems with frendly fire.

Fireball is a great spell for doing serious damage to 3 or more enemies (I would rarely cast it on less than that) at levels 5 -6 (and to a lesser extent 7-10) beyond that the damage becomes less significant. Having said that some of the best options for your spells are ones that do not d oany damage at all, I certainly wouldn't take another damage dealing spell as my other option, especially not one that deals fire damage, many monsters are resistant or even immune to fire damage so you do not want ot invest everything into fire damage dealing spells.

Other spells to consider are:

Counterspell  can really turn the tide in a battle against a caster. Similarly if thes spell has already been cast dispel magic on a summoned creature or a buffed enemy can be extremely effective

Debuff spells These are spells that weaken the enemy in ways other than reducing their hit points. Hypnotic pattern is my favorite though you might have the same issues with fireball in avoiding friendly fire. An alternative is Slow the debuff is not as strong but to can choose who is affected.

Buff Spells Haste can make an allay far more powerful, though ending the spell before the end of combat for example if you lose concentration can be very bad. If you have an allay who only fights melee and are facing a flying enemy  Fly can prevent them being useless fly is also great as an out of combat utility spell

Other Utility Spells include tiny hut which almost guarantees the abilty to take a long rest as long as you can have a few minutes peace. This is best on a PC with ritual casting so they can cast it even if they have used all their spell slots.  If you are likely to face an underwater challenge water breathing can be essential and even if you are trevelling by ship it can take away a lot of the risk though it depends on the campaign, again best on a character with ritual casting so it can be cast without using a spell slot. Again it can depend on the campaign but the abilty to talk with anyone you are familiar with via sending is great, anything from warning a far away city  of the BBEGs plan against them to catching up on friendly NPCs as a bit of role play using spare spell slots at the end of the day.

Having a summoning spell can also be very useful having an extra allay really boost the party's power.

Obviously at least for a while you can get all of these and you will never have access to them all at the same time but as a party you wanrt ot cover as many bases as possible.

Quote from Wi1dBi11 >>

You get 2 new spells when you level up if you’re taking fireball as one of them you might look at taking Melf’s meteors as the other. The individual damages are not as great but the area is much smaller ( 5’r) and all together the damage is actually greater (6 meteors x 2 D6 each = 12 D6 vs the 8 D6 of fireball.

 Melf's Minute Meteors is honestly rather weak.  It looks powerful, but the limited number of meteors you can fire per round drops its damage output lower than that of Create Bonfire or Fire Bolt, especially given how many fights last less than three rounds.

Quote from 6thLyranGuard >>

Quote from Wi1dBi11 >>

You get 2 new spells when you level up if you’re taking fireball as one of them you might look at taking Melf’s meteors as the other. The individual damages are not as great but the area is much smaller ( 5’r) and all together the damage is actually greater (6 meteors x 2 D6 each = 12 D6 vs the 8 D6 of fireball.

 Melf's Minute Meteors is honestly rather weak.  It looks powerful, but the limited number of meteors you can fire per round drops its damage output lower than that of Create Bonfire or Fire Bolt, especially given how many fights last less than three rounds.

 And it also ties up your bonus action and concentration (so you can lose it it you get hit).

Quote from Jegpeg >>

Yuo didn't say what class you are  but given you are talking about fireball I will assume it is wizard or sorcerer.

Fireball can often be used at "relatively close range" in all but the most enclosed spaces. Say you open a door revealing room with several monster in. As long as the far wall is over 20 ft away you can centre your fireball far enough away that you are safe while getting a lot or even all the monsters.  (You need to see the location of the centre of the fireball but the the whole sphere does not need to be open space).  I find a bigger problem is my barbarian friend running into the room attacking them with his greatsword before I have a chance to act and then you have problems with frendly fire.

Fireball is a great spell for doing serious damage to 3 or more enemies (I would rarely cast it on less than that) at levels 5 -6 (and to a lesser extent 7-10) beyond that the damage becomes less significant. Having said that some of the best options for your spells are ones that do not d oany damage at all, I certainly wouldn't take another damage dealing spell as my other option, especially not one that deals fire damage, many monsters are resistant or even immune to fire damage so you do not want ot invest everything into fire damage dealing spells.

Other spells to consider are:

Counterspell  can really turn the tide in a battle against a caster. Similarly if thes spell has already been cast dispel magic on a summoned creature or a buffed enemy can be extremely effective

Debuff spells These are spells that weaken the enemy in ways other than reducing their hit points. Hypnotic pattern is my favorite though you might have the same issues with fireball in avoiding friendly fire. An alternative is Slow the debuff is not as strong but to can choose who is affected.

Buff Spells Haste can make an allay far more powerful, though ending the spell before the end of combat for example if you lose concentration can be very bad. If you have an allay who only fights melee and are facing a flying enemy  Fly can prevent them being useless fly is also great as an out of combat utility spell

Other Utility Spells include tiny hut which almost guarantees the abilty to take a long rest as long as you can have a few minutes peace. This is best on a PC with ritual casting so they can cast it even if they have used all their spell slots.  If you are likely to face an underwater challenge water breathing can be essential and even if you are trevelling by ship it can take away a lot of the risk though it depends on the campaign, again best on a character with ritual casting so it can be cast without using a spell slot. Again it can depend on the campaign but the abilty to talk with anyone you are familiar with via sending is great, anything from warning a far away city  of the BBEGs plan against them to catching up on friendly NPCs as a bit of role play using spare spell slots at the end of the day.

Having a summoning spell can also be very useful having an extra allay really boost the party's power.

Obviously at least for a while you can get all of these and you will never have access to them all at the same time but as a party you wanrt ot cover as many bases as possible.

 

 

 

Thanks. I'm playing Sorceror, so i was considering Careful Metamagic.

Ahhh, I always perceived it as like a ball of explosive fire (which is now, I understand to be completely false lol). Howeve would it be a different story for say, mine railways above supported by platforms of wood?

Oh yeah, that's all kinds of fun.

Quote from NewbDragonslayer >>

Thanks. I'm playing Sorceror, so i was considering Careful Metamagic.

 OK then you have few spells known so all the more reason to pick spels that do very different things.

Just do what you want. It can be a learning experience. 

As a DM the world revolves around bad choices and how we react to them.

Fireball is a tricky spell-- it's greatest strength is its greatest drawback, and you can't always get around it. I usually prefer Lightning Bolt, since it offers comparable damage with WAY more control. Line up your targets and you can clean house.

I think you e kind of hit on the big ways to get around it. I always thought the big radius was by design. It does a bit more damage than most level 3 spells, and has that huge radius. But in a game where there’s lots of close quarters fights, and where you often have allies mixed in with enemies, it’s tricky to be able to use. The radius is kind of a back way of ramping down on the effectiveness to bring it back in line with its level. 

Since PCs usually try to form a skirmish line when fighting, I've generally found that casting Lightning Bolt without hitting your allies is generally trickier than Fireball, especially if you don't want to have your squishy spellcaster out in the open away from the meatshields.