In 1E you had to worry about volume. A fireball in a 10x10 area would shoot it out any openings as well filling up volume. lighting bolts would bounce and you broke out protractors.
In 1E you had to worry about volume. A fireball in a 10x10 area would shoot it out any openings as well filling up volume. lighting bolts would bounce and you broke out protractors.
I'm old enough to remember the days of trying to work out whether a lightning bolt would bounce around the edges of a room and come back to hit you in the face :)
Sabin, that’s really my point, the volume is actually quite large - it will just fit in a 40 x 40 x 40 room. The formula for the volume of a sphere is 4/3 pi r cubed r is 20’. So 20. X 20 x 20 x 3.14 x 1.33 =33,409.6 cubic feet even more than I calculated initially ( I forgot the 4/3s - just looked it up and discovered my mistake) a room 30 x 30 x10 =9,000 cubic feet so just over 3 such rooms and forget the hall - the problem is with us and our play - we ( yes me included much of the time) don’t actually do the math with the 2014 (or 2024). As for the 2024 ok it doesn’t go around corners but it’s sure going to blast through open doors/windows/etc and go shooting down halls if can. So figure a cone from any opening with a fairly long area of effect depending on where the center point is. It’s not an indoor spell - really strictly for outdoor use. What I really want is an upgraded Melf’s meteors - each does more damage but only in a 5’ radius sphere ( 10’ by 10’ by 10’ sphere). Guess I’ll have to homebrew that one too.
The 5e fireballs don't do this. (Nor, I'm pretty sure, did 4e or 3e. Not dead sure which way 2e went.) They fill the sphere, and that's it. Any cut-off areas are simply cut off. 'Fireball expands through the available space' was a thing stated explicitly in the 1e rules. And it had to be stated, because no other area spells worked like that. Even gas clouds like stinking cloud and cloudkill. I'm pretty sure it was a deliberate attempt to reduce reliance on fireball, which was simply a veery strong spell. They could've made it weaker, but instead they booby-trapped it.
We were fighting a 15 ft tall enemy so I wanted to target my Fireball above the enemy's head so I could miss my party member in melee with the bad guy. I have been gaming for 30+ years and have done this many times. However this GM said I could not do that. The Fireball's target "point" had to be a real point not an imaginary point in the air. Is that a popular interpretation? The spell says you target a point not a creature or object like some other spells. Before anyone says the GM is always right I am asking this question just to find out how it is played at other tables. This is the way it is played at this table so I will play it that way.
Let me ask you this, what if you are in an environment that has no ground? Are all points imaginary or real? Should you lose the ability to use fireball because there isn't any ground? Your DM needs to think in 3d not 2d.
Sabin, that’s really my point, the volume is actually quite large - it will just fit in a 40 x 40 x 40 room. The formula for the volume of a sphere is 4/3 pi r cubed r is 20’. So 20. X 20 x 20 x 3.14 x 1.33 =33,409.6 cubic feet even more than I calculated initially ( I forgot the 4/3s - just looked it up and discovered my mistake) a room 30 x 30 x10 =9,000 cubic feet so just over 3 such rooms and forget the hall - the problem is with us and our play - we ( yes me included much of the time) don’t actually do the math with the 2014 (or 2024). As for the 2024 ok it doesn’t go around corners but it’s sure going to blast through open doors/windows/etc and go shooting down halls if can. So figure a cone from any opening with a fairly long area of effect depending on where the center point is. It’s not an indoor spell - really strictly for outdoor use. What I really want is an upgraded Melf’s meteors - each does more damage but only in a 5’ radius sphere ( 10’ by 10’ by 10’ sphere). Guess I’ll have to homebrew that one too.
The 5e fireballs don't do this. (Nor, I'm pretty sure, did 4e or 3e. Not dead sure which way 2e went.) They fill the sphere, and that's it. Any cut-off areas are simply cut off. 'Fireball expands through the available space' was a thing stated explicitly in the 1e rules. And it had to be stated, because no other area spells worked like that. Even gas clouds like stinking cloud and cloudkill. I'm pretty sure it was a deliberate attempt to reduce reliance on fireball, which was simply a veery strong spell. They could've made it weaker, but instead they booby-trapped it.
Yeah, as read in 5e it can certainly be taken that way but I wonder …
We were fighting a 15 ft tall enemy so I wanted to target my Fireball above the enemy's head so I could miss my party member in melee with the bad guy. I have been gaming for 30+ years and have done this many times. However this GM said I could not do that. The Fireball's target "point" had to be a real point not an imaginary point in the air. Is that a popular interpretation? The spell says you target a point not a creature or object like some other spells. Before anyone says the GM is always right I am asking this question just to find out how it is played at other tables. This is the way it is played at this table so I will play it that way.
Just happens that the top of head is a real point. However, that likely won't prevent your party member from being hit because fireball is a radius of 20 ft. Which means at the center it goes down 20 ft and 5 ft. Front that it would go down 15 ft. You party member would need to be at least 10 ft away from the center to not be hit, depending on how tall the PC is.
I've almost come to the point that if you are in the radius while on the ground you are hit no matter what... But this is mostly because of flying twilight clerics.
We were fighting a 15 ft tall enemy so I wanted to target my Fireball above the enemy's head so I could miss my party member in melee with the bad guy. I have been gaming for 30+ years and have done this many times. However this GM said I could not do that. The Fireball's target "point" had to be a real point not an imaginary point in the air. Is that a popular interpretation? The spell says you target a point not a creature or object like some other spells. Before anyone says the GM is always right I am asking this question just to find out how it is played at other tables. This is the way it is played at this table so I will play it that way.
Just happens that the top of head is a real point. However, that likely won't prevent your party member from being hit because fireball is a radius of 20 ft. Which means at the center it goes down 20 ft and 5 ft. Front that it would go down 15 ft. You party member would need to be at least 10 ft away from the center to not be hit, depending on how tall the PC is.
I've almost come to the point that if you are in the radius while on the ground you are hit no matter what... But this is mostly because of flying twilight clerics.
I ended up targeting a point on the end of a branch sticking out from the top of the tree that left just one party member in the radius.
We were fighting a 15 ft tall enemy so I wanted to target my Fireball above the enemy's head so I could miss my party member in melee with the bad guy. I have been gaming for 30+ years and have done this many times. However this GM said I could not do that. The Fireball's target "point" had to be a real point not an imaginary point in the air. Is that a popular interpretation? The spell says you target a point not a creature or object like some other spells. Before anyone says the GM is always right I am asking this question just to find out how it is played at other tables. This is the way it is played at this table so I will play it that way.
Just happens that the top of head is a real point. However, that likely won't prevent your party member from being hit because fireball is a radius of 20 ft. Which means at the center it goes down 20 ft and 5 ft. Front that it would go down 15 ft. You party member would need to be at least 10 ft away from the center to not be hit, depending on how tall the PC is.
I've almost come to the point that if you are in the radius while on the ground you are hit no matter what... But this is mostly because of flying twilight clerics.
If you are targeting a point on top of the head then you are targeting a cream, not a point. A point can be anywhere in a 3D space.
In 1E you had to worry about volume. A fireball in a 10x10 area would shoot it out any openings as well filling up volume.
lighting bolts would bounce and you broke out protractors.
I'm old enough to remember the days of trying to work out whether a lightning bolt would bounce around the edges of a room and come back to hit you in the face :)
It maybe RAW but its cheesy as all hell, luckly for me as a DM my players have too much self respect for such cheese.
This comment is only 56.7834% tongue in cheek.
a small speck of fire issues from hand and if stopped b4 target it goes boom dont forget that
aim the fireball at ground and the volume creates a 25 foot radius hemisphere fire a lightning bolt in water and its a fireball
its what your dm decides and if you can see it you can hit it imo and airburst is valid
The 5e fireballs don't do this. (Nor, I'm pretty sure, did 4e or 3e. Not dead sure which way 2e went.) They fill the sphere, and that's it. Any cut-off areas are simply cut off. 'Fireball expands through the available space' was a thing stated explicitly in the 1e rules. And it had to be stated, because no other area spells worked like that. Even gas clouds like stinking cloud and cloudkill. I'm pretty sure it was a deliberate attempt to reduce reliance on fireball, which was simply a veery strong spell. They could've made it weaker, but instead they booby-trapped it.
We were outside so plenty of room.
Michael Pierce
Yeah, as read in 5e it can certainly be taken that way but I wonder …
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.
Just happens that the top of head is a real point. However, that likely won't prevent your party member from being hit because fireball is a radius of 20 ft. Which means at the center it goes down 20 ft and 5 ft. Front that it would go down 15 ft. You party member would need to be at least 10 ft away from the center to not be hit, depending on how tall the PC is.
I've almost come to the point that if you are in the radius while on the ground you are hit no matter what... But this is mostly because of flying twilight clerics.
I ended up targeting a point on the end of a branch sticking out from the top of the tree that left just one party member in the radius.
Michael Pierce
If you are targeting a point on top of the head then you are targeting a cream, not a point. A point can be anywhere in a 3D space.
EZD6 by DM Scotty
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/397599/EZD6-Core-Rulebook?