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I have a tiny creature occupying the same square as an enemy medium sized opponent. If I use a power with close blast targeting, would it affect the enemy in my square?

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Do you mean burst (expands outward to all squares that are distance n or less from all squares you occupy) or blast (hits an n-by-n area adjacent to a square you occupy)? – Snowbody Mar 19 '12 at 15:33
Please specify blast or burst. They are quite different. – wax eagle Mar 19 '12 at 18:28
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At least it will be easy to pick an answer regardless. There's a good answer for each below. – Lunin Mar 19 '12 at 19:13

2 Answers

up vote 6 down vote

No, a close blast power would not affect enemies in the same square as your tiny creature.

From the DDI definition of Blast (emphasis mine):

A blast fills an area adjacent to you that is a specified number of squares on a side.

The blast must be adjacent to its origin square, which is a square in your space. The origin square is not affected by the blast.

Close attacks come from the caster's square.

A close burst uses your space as its origin square. A close blast uses a square within your space as its origin square.

Despite what might sound logical, there is no smaller grid used in D&D4e than 5x5

Origin Square

The square where an effect originates.

Square

A 1-inch square on the battle grid, which is equivalent to a 5-foot square in the game world.

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I suppose you could justify the "no smaller grid than 5x5" by saying that burst magic spells are designed to start blasting out 2 1/2 from the centrepoint (the caster) so that stray arms, legs, hats etc aren't caught in the blast... – Rob Mar 19 '12 at 16:19
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@Rob - there are enough other issues with 4e that I've learned not to try to justify anything based on "realism". Justifying it by the rules-as-written is good enough for me. Tiny critters are definitely an edge case and the rules seem a bit fugly concerning them at least as to what would be realistic to me :) – Pat Ludwig Mar 19 '12 at 16:23
This could also be used to the tiny creature's advantage. They could enter a square with an ally and close blast the enemies nearby without harming the ally in their square – Lunin Mar 19 '12 at 19:15
@lunin - good option there! – Pat Ludwig Mar 19 '12 at 19:15
up vote 5 down vote

Close burst powers do affect the square you occupy. They do not effect you unless they specifically says that they do (IE a leader's healing power always specifies).

Area burst powers are ranged, so if you center it on your self (or include yourself in the burst) it will target your square.

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Is there a specific place where this lists this? Because I can see how it's interpreted to mean that. However, I think the point of the close burst is to not target the caster when making the attack. Meaning you could, theoretically, target tiny in your square. At least it makes sense to me in that context. – CrystalBlue Mar 19 '12 at 15:53
@CrystalBlue some more research does seem to indicate that a close burst would affect your square, just not the caster. – wax eagle Mar 19 '12 at 16:00
@CrystalBlue from the compendium entry for burst (wizards.com/dndinsider/compendium/glossary.aspx?id=126) : "A burst starts in an origin square and extends..." and "Unless a power description notes otherwise, a close burst you create does not affect you. However, an area burst you create does affect you." – Simon Withers Mar 19 '12 at 19:05

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