Increased base damage, and both damage types being increased with upcasting? A very nice improvement

Finally worth taking

Does as much damage as a 5th level fireball, scales better than a 5th level fireball. Looks like blasting is back on the menu boys.

 Better scaling than Fireball, but half the radius and less than half the range. Better for close range encounters.

When comparing with Fireball, Flame Strike also has the advantage of being less impaired by fire damage resistance, which is relatively common.

Overpowered spell…. For a paladin. Finally something to make these fellas on par with the Wizard! They earned it 😁

Does as much damage as a fireball cast at 5th-level now, but with a smaller AOE.  This spell can bypass fire resistance (fire resistance is very common) better with half of the spell's damage being radiant damage and the other half of the spell's damage being fire.  The smaller AOE can actually be a benefit in some scenarios, as it makes it easier to avoid friendly fire if you aren't an Evoker and have access to Sculpt Spells.  It also scales by 2d6 rather than 1d6 that fireball scales by.  

Guys, you're forgetting the best advantage of using this spell over Fireball!


You don't have to play with bat poop to cast it.

Quote from shybread >>

Guys, you're forgetting the best advantage of using this spell over Fireball!


You don't have to play with bat poop to cast advantage

Quote from shybread >>

Guys, you're forgetting the best advantage of using this spell over Fireball!


You don't have to play with bat poop to cast it.

And here I thought that *was* the advantage of casting fireball

My experience is that it does less damage at first few levels than a cast of scorching ray at the same level, but YMMV. Not a bad spell. The nice part is the guaranteed fire hit. Helpful with trolls for sure. 

Quote from SagittusRectus >>

My experience is that it does less damage at first few levels than a cast of scorching ray at the same level, but YMMV. Not a bad spell. The nice part is the guaranteed fire hit. Helpful with trolls for sure. 

When cast at 5th level, Scorching Ray deals a total of 9d6 damage, which is a bit less than the 10d6 damage this spell deals at the same level.

This spell also has the advantage of dealing the full damage to all targets in its area of effect, whereas Scorching Ray splits up the damage if you target multiple creatures.

Small buff.  Same damage as casting as 5th-level fireball with a smaller radius, and half radiant damage (radiant damage is resisted by much fewer creatures than fire damage).  Also, the smaller radius can actually be a benefit in some situations, since it means it's easier to avoid friendly fire if you're not an Evoker and have Sculpt Spell (or a Sorcerer with Careful Spell).  Clerics also don't have much burst damage AOE spell like Wizards have (they have Spirit Guardians, but that isn't burst damage but attrition damage).