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Can a caster hit themself with a Blast spell? i.e. the usual example is the caster is in square A, casts a Blast 2 spell, so they could hit BCFG, FGJK, EFIJ, etc.

A  B  C  D 

E  F  G  H

I  J  K  L

But what if they were in square F ... could they cast the spell in A and hit FGIJ?

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1 Answer

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Only with Arcane Reach

Blasts originate from the caster's square:

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

Since you are not adjacent to yourself, you cannot target yourself by default.

However, with arcane reach:

Benefit: When using a close arcane attack power, you can choose a square within 2 squares of yours as the origin square. The power still follows the rules for close attacks.

You may absolutely use a square within two squares such that you are caught in the blast. When combined with thunder or psychic resistance, this is a fantastic way to use thunderwave or beguiling strands to rocketjump.

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Thanks for the response – SteveC May 20 '12 at 21:13
Not sure I agree. The issue here is that it only says a blast fills an area adjacent to you, and an area that includes or even surrounds you is arguably adjacent to you. That reading would imply that the rule in question doesn't restrict blasts from including the caster's square, merely from not including at least one square adjacent to the caster's square (which is what differentiates them from an area burst attack). – Oblivious Sage May 20 '12 at 21:48
The examples in PHB clearly exclude this situation. But I'd love for you to post an answer that proves me wrong. – Brian Ballsun-Stanton♦ May 20 '12 at 23:33
Hmmmm, the example areas don't depict it, but that's hardly surprising since it's a corner case that's almost never a good idea. If we go solely by what's in the images then walls have to contain at least one 90 degree turn, since that's what's depicted in the only example of a wall area. Again, this comes down to how you want to interpret, "The blast must be adjacent to its origin square." Some groups will say it allows including your own square, some groups won't. To my knowledge there isn't an official ruling either way on the matter (though I haven't looked especially thoroughly). – Oblivious Sage May 21 '12 at 0:25

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