Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Winston Featherfall 09-25-07, 09:19 PM	In the best spells list for the "Blaster Archtype" in Complete Mage it says the Hail of Stone spell with a cylinder 5ft across/40ft high can be placed at the centre of 4 5ft squares to affect them all. Would this apply to all 5ft diameter cylinders? Also maybe 5ft bursts as well? It'd be extremely useful for spells such as firebrand from SC. Cheers. WF
Seeker95 09-26-07, 08:45 AM	Yes. Even a line can affect four squares when fired through the central intersection. Not "realistic" but a necessary artifact of the method of grid-based mapping.
Talon Stormwarden 09-26-07, 11:13 PM	In the best spells list for the "Blaster Archtype" in Complete Mage it says the Hail of Stone spell with a cylinder 5ft across/40ft high can be placed at the centre of 4 5ft squares to affect them all. Would this apply to all 5ft diameter cylinders? Also maybe 5ft bursts as well? It'd be extremely useful for spells such as firebrand from SC. Cheers. WF Hail of Stones creates a 5' radius cylinder, not diameter. Firebrand is also 5' radius. These spells clearly affect 4 squares (in 2d anyway, more in 3d...8 for firebrand and 32 for Hail of Stone), no special tricks or artifacts involved.
Kouk 09-27-07, 01:17 AM	Five foot radii make a little plus shape + for their area of effect. A five foot diameter would just take a single square.
ArcTan 09-27-07, 01:47 AM	And no, you cannot affect five people standing in five separate squares with one 5' diameter spell. Think about it -- you could in theory affect them all with a *one-inch* diameter spell if you used it that way. This is clearly not how it's meant to be used. Doesn't make sense, either, considering that a person doesn't actually occupy a 5-foot-diameter circle's worth of space -- that represents how he's shifting his weight and moving around in a square.
Vegepygmy 09-27-07, 02:24 AM	Five foot radii make a little plus shape + for their area of effect.No, they don't. Look on page 307 of your DMG. A 5-foot radius spell makes a 10x10 square.
Kouk 09-27-07, 07:37 AM	No, they don't. Look on page 307 of your DMG. A 5-foot radius spell makes a 10x10 square. Hmm, you're right. Maybe I timewarped back to 3.0 or something. I could swear I saw something that took up a little plus shape made out of 5ft squares.... oh well.
perdera 09-27-07, 10:10 AM	Area Some spells affect an area. Sometimes a spell description specifies a specially defined area, but usually an area falls into one of the categories defined below. Regardless of the shape of the area, you select the point where the spell originates, but otherwise you don’t control which creatures or objects the spell affects. The point of origin of a spell is always a grid intersection. When determining whether a given creature is within the area of a spell, count out the distance from the point of origin in squares just as you do when moving a character or when determining the range for a ranged attack. The only difference is that instead of counting from the center of one square to the center of the next, you count from intersection to intersection. You can count diagonally across a square, but remember that every second diagonal counts as 2 squares of distance. If the far edge of a square is within the spell’s area, anything within that square is within the spell’s area. If the spell’s area only touches the near edge of a square, however, anything within that square is unaffected by the spell. Burst, Emanation, or Spread Most spells that affect an area function as a burst, an emanation, or a spread. In each case, you select the spell’s point of origin and measure its effect from that point. A burst spell affects whatever it catches in its area, even including creatures that you can’t see. It can’t affect creatures with total cover from its point of origin (in other words, its effects don’t extend around corners). The default shape for a burst effect is a sphere, but some burst spells are specifically described as cone-shaped. A burst’s area defines how far from the point of origin the spell’s effect extends. An emanation spell functions like a burst spell, except that the effect continues to radiate from the point of origin for the duration of the spell. Most emanations are cones or spheres. A spread spell spreads out like a burst but can turn corners. You select the point of origin, and the spell spreads out a given distance in all directions. Figure the area the spell effect fills by taking into account any turns the spell effect takes. Cone, Cylinder, Line, or Sphere Most spells that affect an area have a particular shape, such as a cone, cylinder, line, or sphere. A cone-shaped spell shoots away from you in a quarter-circle in the direction you designate. It starts from any corner of your square and widens out as it goes. Most cones are either bursts or emanations (see above), and thus won’t go around corners. When casting a cylinder-shaped spell, you select the spell’s point of origin. This point is the center of a horizontal circle, and the spell shoots down from the circle, filling a cylinder. A cylinder-shaped spell ignores any obstructions within its area. A line-shaped spell shoots away from you in a line in the direction you designate. It starts from any corner of your square and extends to the limit of its range or until it strikes a barrier that blocks line of effect. A line-shaped spell affects all creatures in squares that the line passes through. A sphere-shaped spell expands from its point of origin to fill a spherical area. Spheres may be bursts, emanations, or spreads. Give the Spell Description rules a good read over (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicOverview/spellDescriptions.htm). It's useful to understand that area spells are targetted at grid intersections, not squares. Also, there is an important difference between Burst and Spread spells. Of course the difference between radius and diameter is important too.
mvincent 09-27-07, 01:14 PM	I could swear I saw something that took up a little plus shape made out of 5ft squares.Maybe the 10' radius template?