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2016-12-04, 02:28 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jun 2016
- Gender
Adjucating Aerial movement and area of effect spells and abilities.
Hi!
As the title says, how do you do it? Is there a rule somewhere? I tried looking around, but everything about flight only mentions maneuvrability related issues, grappling, falling etc.
It is so vague, in fact, that I even can't find where it says the area covered by a line spell in the manual. The only reference I found is on the srd:
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.
But what I'd really like to know is: how high does the line, or a cone for that matter, reach if I'm casting it horizontally?
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2016-12-04, 02:44 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- May 2007
- Gender
Re: Adjucating Aerial movement and area of effect spells and abilities.
5 feet tall. The grid spaces are cubes.
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2016-12-04, 02:47 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2016
- Location
- New York
- Gender
Re: Adjucating Aerial movement and area of effect spells and abilities.
Lines are 5 ft wide and 5 ft high and X length (it varies)
Cones are always as tall as they are wide so a 30 foot cone, at the end of the cone is also 30 ft high, but at the beginning of the cone its less high (the same height as the width at that point of the cone).
I know this info is in one of the books but I cannot for the life of me remember which, hopefully someone else can cite it or you can find it with this info.
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2016-12-06, 06:21 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jun 2016
- Gender
Re: Adjucating Aerial movement and area of effect spells and abilities.
Thanks!
Are there any rules about what happens if an airborn monster attacks someone on the ground with a line attack?
I think it's be pretty straightforward if the target is a single creature, but what if, say, there are two large monsters one behind the other, does the line get them both?
Or would I have to make a diagram to see if it hits? And if so, would I treat them as cubes? I.e. large creature = a 10x10x10 cube, and if the line passes through any portion of it the creature is hit?
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2016-12-06, 10:15 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jan 2006
- Location
Re: Adjucating Aerial movement and area of effect spells and abilities.
Unless they specify otherwise, effects which have an AoE don't care about creatures and other non-"wall"-like obstructions in the way. If 5 hobgoblins are marching at you in a military line-up, and you cast lightning bolt, all 5 are in the AoE and will take damage (unless they've got Evasion and make their save).
For a flying creature, using a cone "downwards" can be little different than any creature using a spherical AoE, from the perspective of targets on the ground. Fire it off from its maximum distance, and the end of the cone is a circle as big as its length.
Firing a line on an angle just means you have to pick out the 5 ft. cubes affected, which can lead to a map-based jagged line at times. But it's still just a 5x5xlength line in the world-setting. You just are dealing with a high-granularity resolution on your game map.