I was wondering whether any other DMs have homebrewed creatures with unusual space requirements, such as a creature that is shaped like Wall of Fire, so extremely thin and not really abiding by standard "threat space" and such. How does this affect game mechanics?
Off the top of my head, I'm thining that AoE measurement considerations would might get weird, as might opportunity attacks. :/
swarms used to be lines of 5 foot squares on the grid back in 3E times. it is no different from any other measurements on the grid. the only real difference would be that such creatures would have advantages over others because they cover more squares and thus covers more ground for AoO. when it comes to AoE it is no different. you just count the creature once. not how many squares they do. exemple of tarrasque getting hit bvy fireball, the tarrasque doesn'T get hit 10 times. its only gettinug hit once.
so to me there is strickly no differences between a creature taking 4x4 or a creature taking 5x1. this is literally how 3E and 4E treated such creatures when they were there, mostly swarms.
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DM of two gaming groups. Likes to create stuff. Check out my homebrew --> Monsters --> Magical Items --> Races --> Subclasses If you like --> Upvote, If you wanna comment --> Comment
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Most creatures are not a cube. For example, a Roc is gargantuan so its token is 4x4 (20'x20'). But the physical description is that the Roc's wingspan is 60'. A Purple Worm is also a 4x4 token but it's physical description is 5' wide and 80' long. The important thing to remember is that, while the creature may be gargantuan, there's usually only one portion of the body that can make an attack. The token size and attack range is meant to describe the area the creature can threaten. While a Wall of Fire deals damage on one side of it during its entire length.
What if you have a homebrew monster that is like a living Wall of Fire (and change so that its heat affects both sides, not just one)? Couldn't it place itself thin side on the line intersection of two squares, thus threatening twice as much space along its length?
You can do anything you want to do if you're the DM. That's one of the reasons to DM. If it makes sense in the world you want to create and the narrative you want to set, then go for it.
You want to make a creature that's 5' wide, 60' long and has a 5' reach attack along one of those sides but not the other? Go ahead. The rules are the same as for anything else. The players can move in and out freely from behind or from the ends, but they'll take an opportunity attack if they move 10' away from the attacking side after being in melee with it.
Edit: No, it can't place itself on the line. The line doesn't exist in the game world. It's just for us to keep track of who is where. (Why would you even want to do that in the first place?) If you want the enemy to be in the same square(s) as the players then Swarms and Gaseous creatures can do that. Make your creature like them.
What if you have a homebrew monster that is like a living Wall of Fire (and change so that its heat affects both sides, not just one)? Couldn't it place itself thin side on the line intersection of two squares, thus threatening twice as much space along its length?
Creatures have to take up space. All space is within one square or another. Your wall of fire monster can have a special that other beings can occupy the same square as it, but, like the wall of fire, it has to be somewhere.
What if you have a homebrew monster that is like a living Wall of Fire (and change so that its heat affects both sides, not just one)? Couldn't it place itself thin side on the line intersection of two squares, thus threatening twice as much space along its length?
Creatures have to take up space. All space is within one square or another. Your wall of fire monster can have a special that other beings can occupy the same square as it, but, like the wall of fire, it has to be somewhere.
So what prevents a creature that is only 1 foot wide from occupying the line between grid squares? I mean, I know that I can do this as the DM, but does this create any weird rules problems I should be aware of?
You may as well ask "what prevents a tiny creature from occupying the intersection between four grid squares"?
The lines don't have thickness. If you allow fully free movement, as opposed to grid-square-based, I suppose it can sit on the border between two squares, being in both of them, but at that point, you're really giving up on the grid entirely.
Which probably works fine; the system's loose enough to work fine, but you're replacing a simple, approximate, system with one that encourages fussy positioning, at which point you both need a VTT to do it in, and a reason why you want to encourage fussy positioning. Is clever tricks with your wall of fire monster really worth the arguments about whether the edge of the fireball's circle touched a target or not?
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I was wondering whether any other DMs have homebrewed creatures with unusual space requirements, such as a creature that is shaped like Wall of Fire, so extremely thin and not really abiding by standard "threat space" and such. How does this affect game mechanics?
Off the top of my head, I'm thining that AoE measurement considerations would might get weird, as might opportunity attacks. :/
What else am I missing?
It's not really any different from dealing with Large and larger critters.
Isn't the difference that most Large or larger creatures are interpreted as physically taking up most of the spaces they are located on?
Were you talking about non-contiguous creatures? I read it as just weird shapes.
Either way, since the game already has to handle beasties that take up more than one space, I think all potential issues are covered.
swarms used to be lines of 5 foot squares on the grid back in 3E times. it is no different from any other measurements on the grid. the only real difference would be that such creatures would have advantages over others because they cover more squares and thus covers more ground for AoO. when it comes to AoE it is no different. you just count the creature once. not how many squares they do. exemple of tarrasque getting hit bvy fireball, the tarrasque doesn'T get hit 10 times. its only gettinug hit once.
so to me there is strickly no differences between a creature taking 4x4 or a creature taking 5x1.
this is literally how 3E and 4E treated such creatures when they were there, mostly swarms.
DM of two gaming groups.
Likes to create stuff.
Check out my homebrew --> Monsters --> Magical Items --> Races --> Subclasses
If you like --> Upvote, If you wanna comment --> Comment
Play by Post Games
--> One Shot Adventure - House of Artwood (DM) (Completed)
Most creatures are not a cube. For example, a Roc is gargantuan so its token is 4x4 (20'x20'). But the physical description is that the Roc's wingspan is 60'. A Purple Worm is also a 4x4 token but it's physical description is 5' wide and 80' long. The important thing to remember is that, while the creature may be gargantuan, there's usually only one portion of the body that can make an attack. The token size and attack range is meant to describe the area the creature can threaten. While a Wall of Fire deals damage on one side of it during its entire length.
What if you have a homebrew monster that is like a living Wall of Fire (and change so that its heat affects both sides, not just one)? Couldn't it place itself thin side on the line intersection of two squares, thus threatening twice as much space along its length?
You can do anything you want to do if you're the DM. That's one of the reasons to DM. If it makes sense in the world you want to create and the narrative you want to set, then go for it.
You want to make a creature that's 5' wide, 60' long and has a 5' reach attack along one of those sides but not the other? Go ahead. The rules are the same as for anything else. The players can move in and out freely from behind or from the ends, but they'll take an opportunity attack if they move 10' away from the attacking side after being in melee with it.
Edit: No, it can't place itself on the line. The line doesn't exist in the game world. It's just for us to keep track of who is where. (Why would you even want to do that in the first place?) If you want the enemy to be in the same square(s) as the players then Swarms and Gaseous creatures can do that. Make your creature like them.
Creatures have to take up space. All space is within one square or another. Your wall of fire monster can have a special that other beings can occupy the same square as it, but, like the wall of fire, it has to be somewhere.
So what prevents a creature that is only 1 foot wide from occupying the line between grid squares? I mean, I know that I can do this as the DM, but does this create any weird rules problems I should be aware of?
You may as well ask "what prevents a tiny creature from occupying the intersection between four grid squares"?
The lines don't have thickness. If you allow fully free movement, as opposed to grid-square-based, I suppose it can sit on the border between two squares, being in both of them, but at that point, you're really giving up on the grid entirely.
Which probably works fine; the system's loose enough to work fine, but you're replacing a simple, approximate, system with one that encourages fussy positioning, at which point you both need a VTT to do it in, and a reason why you want to encourage fussy positioning. Is clever tricks with your wall of fire monster really worth the arguments about whether the edge of the fireball's circle touched a target or not?