Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Cromulent 08-28-07, 12:12 PM	How do these feats interact? Can I Sculpt a spell into a 20' radius ball and then Widen it to 40' radius? If I Sculpt into four 10' cubes, can I Widen these to 20' cubes?
Nylanfs 08-28-07, 12:17 PM	I would rule that you have to widen then sculpt. And on the four radius cubes I would rule that you have to widen first, then figure out the total volume then divide that by four. Otherwise you are making the spell affect more than it's designed to.
tarkin 08-28-07, 01:08 PM	How could you possibly widen then sculpt? Sculpt changes to area to a set amount, regardless of what it was first. It would be like applying a decal (widen) to your car then repainting it. The greater change covers up the lesser. ------------ Widen requires either a burst, emanation, line, or spread shaped spell. Sculpt allows you to make a cylinder, cone, cubes, a ball spread or a 20ft line. I would always (Strict/Loose/Power/Anything Goes) allow you to Sculpt then Widen a spell if making a ball spread or a line. The cylinder, cone and cubes do not clearly qualify for Widen. For the net +4 levels (+3 widen, +1 sculpt) you can get either: 40 ft radius ball spread 240 ft line. In a Power Game I would House Rule that the 40ft cone is some kind of burst, allowing you to widen it to 80ft. But to get the Cylinder or four cubes widened, that would take a blatant house ruling and can lead to some debatable issues about which numbers are increased. That would be only in an Anything Goes Game. Cromulent convinced me that a Cone is legal (except in a very strict game) and I convinced myself that a Cylinder should be acceptable in a Power Game.
Cromulent 08-28-07, 01:35 PM	Widen then Sculpt is useless, and a waste of the +3 level adjustment from Widen. The rules for spell areas (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicOverview/spellDescriptions.htm#area) say: "The default shape for a burst effect is a sphere, but some burst spells are specifically described as cone-shaped." So Cones are also considered bursts, and thus qualify for Widen. So I guess, if you're allowed to Sculpt a spell and then Widen it (which I'm not sure about, which is why I ask), that you would be able to Widen everything except the four 10' cubes. I don't see any wording in the SRD that labels "cubes" as "bursts" or "spreads."
tarkin 08-28-07, 01:39 PM	The fact that some cones are specifically described as bursts does not mean that all cones are bursts. There are certain cones that are most specifically not bursts. Most of the Detection spells are emmanations, for example (which are also legal for Widen). Also there are quite a few spells that do not mention whether it is a burst, emmanation or something entirely different. HOWEVER, now that I have looked through the spell compendium I find the few spells from Faerun that I knew of that did not mentione burst/emmanation or something entirely different (example: Melf's acid arrow) have been updated to Burst or emmanation. As such, I find myself thinking I was wrong. Similarly, I think that for +3 you should be able to handle the cylinder in a Power Game. Yeah, Cylinders are generally not said to be either emmanations or bursts, but so what? It is not like it presents the same kind of problems as the nasty cubes do (Do we increase the number of the cubes, the size of them, or both?) I change my opinion to: Strict = allow widen on ball or line only. Loose = allow widen on ball, line and cone. Power = Allow widen on ball, line, cone and cylinder Anything Goes = allow widen on anything, even the cubes (house rule on how many cubes and what size)