I wanted to see how everyone handles the various spell effects when you are playing on a battle grid. Specifically cones, with cubes, cylinders, and spheres I"m pretty good and it's pretty clear to me. Cones however are an unique effect that my group and myself have struggled with. We use a 1 inch square grid map with minis and we have yet to settle on a good method for drawing out cone shaped spells.
Per the PHB p. 204 it says that cones "...extend in a direction you choose from it's point of origin. A cone's width at a given point along the length is equal to that points distance from the point of origin". Using this then casting a spell with a 15' cone would hit the space immediately in front of the character, two spaces in the next row and three in the final row. That seems fairly straight forward to me, but still makes for a lopsided cone that doesn't really go from the center of the origin. Pardon my poor images, the barrel is the caster, gray area is spell effect.
If you use half squares to make it more symmetrical then your are getting much more coverage, you go from 6 squares being affected to 9. Also going by the DMG where it says if an effect covers at least half a square it affects that square. Again barrel is caster, gray area is spell effect.
From there I get a little lost is what if you want to angle the cone by turning 45 degrees to aim your shot a bit better. it still hits 6 total squares but the layout starts to look very unconelike and makes for some odd targeting.
Per the DMG p.251 it says about area affects "choose an intersection of squares or hexes as the point of origin of an area of effect, then follow it's rules as normal". If I go by that logic now I"m actually getting two half squares in the first space immediately in front of the origin, then 4 squares in row two, and 6 in the third row. This is even more coverage than the 2nd option above. Caster is the barrel, gray area is spell effect, point of origin is the intersection of the tile the barrel is on and the one above it.
I'd welcome your thoughts on how you use this. We've been using the second image above for the most part but we're always second guessing it.
If that's the case then you can't make it symmetric though. Unless you use half squares to do so which then increases your coverage with the spell. To clarify I don't disagree with the amount of squares affected I just can't figure out how to make that look right from the point of origin.
I make templates the actual shape of area effects, not that adhere to the chosen grid shape (especially helpful since I sometimes use the hex side of the battle mat instead of the square side). Then the rule is just "if the template touches a mini's base, then given that position is more fluid than indicated by the grid they are subject to the effect"
The third edition dmg came with templates. Templates are the easy way to handle it. It's also possible to attempt to eyeball it. Essentially it gets the first square, then the next three squares (half squares on both sides of one complete square) then it should be the next three squares, then five squares, then seven... Etc.)
Yeah I've done a lot of reading on Superdan's site too and I do like some of what he's done, it's kind of a alternating pattern to maintain what I think is the correct amount of coverage.
I make templates the actual shape of area effects, not that adhere to the chosen grid shape (especially helpful since I sometimes use the hex side of the battle mat instead of the square side). Then the rule is just "if the template touches a mini's base, then given that position is more fluid than indicated by the grid they are subject to the effect"
I was actually going to get some clear acetate sheets and do this very thing (I've also seen wire frames used too), which I like a lot. Puts us back in the situation of getting more coverage out of your spell than I think is intended though.
I was actually going to get some clear acetate sheets and do this very thing (I've also seen wire frames used too), which I like a lot. Puts us back in the situation of getting more coverage out of your spell than I think is intended though.
Maybe it's because I've been a DM since day one of my gaming career, but I think that there isn't any way to get more coverage than intended - the area of each effect is set in stone by the rules (excepting potential for features that alter said rules), and is not going to be a surprise to the DM who can space out the monsters however they want to (and remembering a simple thing like trying to keep the baddies at least 10' from each other whenever possible makes most area effects only able to hit a portion of the baddies at once). So the practical difference between my template method and the grid-adhering template method is only that one is easier to use than the other, even if only because you only need one template for each cone size instead of two.
Plus, I agree with Golaryn; that it makes it easier for the PCs is balance by that the NPCs get the same benefit. Like how critical hits don't need to be balanced by critical fumbles, because they are already balanced (or rather, set as more of a hindrance than a benefit) by monsters being able to score them on player characters.
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I wanted to see how everyone handles the various spell effects when you are playing on a battle grid. Specifically cones, with cubes, cylinders, and spheres I"m pretty good and it's pretty clear to me. Cones however are an unique effect that my group and myself have struggled with. We use a 1 inch square grid map with minis and we have yet to settle on a good method for drawing out cone shaped spells.
Per the PHB p. 204 it says that cones "...extend in a direction you choose from it's point of origin. A cone's width at a given point along the length is equal to that points distance from the point of origin". Using this then casting a spell with a 15' cone would hit the space immediately in front of the character, two spaces in the next row and three in the final row. That seems fairly straight forward to me, but still makes for a lopsided cone that doesn't really go from the center of the origin. Pardon my poor images, the barrel is the caster, gray area is spell effect.
If you use half squares to make it more symmetrical then your are getting much more coverage, you go from 6 squares being affected to 9. Also going by the DMG where it says if an effect covers at least half a square it affects that square. Again barrel is caster, gray area is spell effect.
From there I get a little lost is what if you want to angle the cone by turning 45 degrees to aim your shot a bit better. it still hits 6 total squares but the layout starts to look very unconelike and makes for some odd targeting.
Per the DMG p.251 it says about area affects "choose an intersection of squares or hexes as the point of origin of an area of effect, then follow it's rules as normal". If I go by that logic now I"m actually getting two half squares in the first space immediately in front of the origin, then 4 squares in row two, and 6 in the third row. This is even more coverage than the 2nd option above. Caster is the barrel, gray area is spell effect, point of origin is the intersection of the tile the barrel is on and the one above it.
I'd welcome your thoughts on how you use this. We've been using the second image above for the most part but we're always second guessing it.
The rightnumber of squares coverage is in your first case, but the distribution has to be simmetric to the point of origin.
If that's the case then you can't make it symmetric though. Unless you use half squares to do so which then increases your coverage with the spell. To clarify I don't disagree with the amount of squares affected I just can't figure out how to make that look right from the point of origin.
Yes either you use half square or this:
I make templates the actual shape of area effects, not that adhere to the chosen grid shape (especially helpful since I sometimes use the hex side of the battle mat instead of the square side). Then the rule is just "if the template touches a mini's base, then given that position is more fluid than indicated by the grid they are subject to the effect"
The third edition dmg came with templates. Templates are the easy way to handle it. It's also possible to attempt to eyeball it. Essentially it gets the first square, then the next three squares (half squares on both sides of one complete square) then it should be the next three squares, then five squares, then seven... Etc.)
At least I think that's right.
I honestly feel that it remains balanced since it works for and against the players equally
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