Questions tagged [area-of-effect]
Use for questions which ask about effects that affect a large zone or have multiple targets.
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When you cast a spell with “effect” entry, do you have to have line of effect to every portion of the effect to be created?
When you cast a spell with “effect” entry, do you have to have line of effect to every portion of the effect to be created?
Some examples of where it can be relevant:
Casting Summon Monster to ...
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1answer
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Do light and darkness from spells turn around corners?
Does light or darkness radiated from objects targeted by spells such as Light, Darkness, Daylight and similar turn around corners (act like spread-like emanation)?
Or do obstacles block such effects, ...
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1answer
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What does “centered on yourself” mean in the Wild Magic Surge table?
There are many results on the Wild Magic sorcerer's Wild Magic Surge table (PHB, p. 103) that says "centered on yourself". For instance:
07–08: You cast fireball as a 3rd-level spell centered on ...
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2answers
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Does cover help against spells/effects that spread around corners (like fireball)?
The rules for cover state that half and 3/4 cover grant a bonus to both AC and (importantly for this question) Dexterity saving throws. However, some spells, like fireball, state that the area of ...
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Casting wall of fire in a T-shaped corridor
In D&D 5e, is casting wall of fire like this allowed, or would I need to have line of sight for the entire corridor? Assume my wizard knows that the corridor extends both ways and how long it is.
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1answer
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Can I choose to cast a spell with a reduced area of effect?
I have little understanding of the rules and systems of 5th Edition, as I have never played myself.
Are you able to cast area-of-effect spells such as silence or darkness on a smaller (or ...
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3answers
340 views
What happens when the Cloudkill spell runs into a wall?
Cloudkill has an interesting property where the area of effect moves on its own. The spell states:
The fog moves 10 feet away from you at the start of each of your turns, rolling along the surface ...
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2answers
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How does the Banishment spell interact with other spells that trigger when entering a space?
I had a game where I had a Paladin and two Warlocks. Paladin and Warlock A casted two spells (Moonbeam, and Toxic Cloud) that both trigger when a creature enters or starts their turn in the area of ...
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1answer
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How does the Prismatic Wall spell handle an AOE?
Would the indigo layer of a prismatic wall spell (in a spherical shape) block the effect of a fireball, if it had radius bigger than the radius of the wall, cast outside the wall but centered/targeted ...
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2answers
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Does the Spell Sniper feat affect the size of a spell's area of effect?
Would the Spell Sniper feat affect the width of the lightning bolt spell, which is normally 100 feet long and 5 feet wide? Would it also increase the explosion range of fireball and such spells?
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1answer
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What exactly happens when I cast Web in midair?
The web spell is a bit special, in that it initially fills a 20-foot cube, but can collapse and/or disappear if the chosen placement does not provide sufficient anchorage:
You conjure a mass of ...
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1answer
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What happens if a delayed blast fireball detonates inside an antimagic field?
Say a wizard casts a delayed blast fireball and leaves it to charge up instead of detonating it immediately. Another wizard casts antimagic field and moves so that the fireball bead is inside of the ...
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1answer
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Can you cast the Conjure Elemental spell to summon an elemental within the area of effect of the Forbiddance spell?
The forbiddance spell description states:
You create a ward against magical travel that protects up to 40,000 square feet of floor space to a height of 30 feet above the floor. For the duration, ...
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3answers
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How big is the area of the web spell created by a Cloak of Arachnida?
A Cloak of Arachnida allows the wearer to cast the web spell, with the additional property:
the web created by the spell fills twice its normal area.
The area of an ordinary web spell is a 20-...
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3answers
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Do areas of effect affect creatures in three dimensions or in a plane?
A recent session saw us—the PCs—encounter a gate made of magical fire. The wall surrounding the gate was 30 ft. tall.
When the Oath of the Crown paladin and I were on one side of the gate, the ...
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1answer
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How can I increase the range of a Dragonborn's breath weapon?
Is it possible to increase the range/area of a Dragonborn's breath weapon?
If yes, how?
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1answer
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What is the Massacre spell's area of effect?
Under the description of the massacre spell's effect, the area is stated to be a "60-ft. line"; however, under the spell description, it says:
You unleash a wave of necromantic energy that snuffs ...
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2answers
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Could a Huge or bigger creature (bigger than a 10-foot-radius sphere) use Antimagic Field?
Could a Huge or bigger creature use antimagic field?
The antimagic field spell description says:
Range: Self (10-foot radius sphere)
A 10-foot-radius invisible sphere of antimagic surrounds ...
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2answers
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How do you determine the area of effect of a flying dragon’s breath weapon? [closed]
When a dragon is flying over its target, how do you determine the area of effect on the ground? If it is breathing straight down, a 60' cone could create a 60' diameter circle, but that's not very ...
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2answers
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Can I cast Hallow on a ship?
This came up recently in a session: Our cleric thought it would be a great idea if he made our airship hallowed.
The description of the hallow spell says:
You touch a point and infuse an area ...
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1answer
265 views
Does a persistent spell effect cast on a moving platform move with the platform, or is it fixed in space?
Does casting a persistent spell effect on a moving platform fix the spell's orientation to the platform, or is its orientation absolute to the world around it?
Quick backstory: I have a pirate bard ...
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1answer
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If a spell is cast on a moveable creature/object and lasts longer than a round, and the creature/object moves, does the spell move with it?
Recently it has come up at our table on the topic of centering a spell with an extended length, like sickening radiance, on a creature or something else that move. My table & I are unfamiliar with ...
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1answer
379 views
How to measure on a grid the area of a sphere area spell or effect centered on a creature?
Per the Wild Magic sorcerer's Wild Magic Surge table (PHB, p. 104)
07-08: You cast fireball as a 3rd-level spell centered on yourself.
There's other questionable area spells in that list (grease ...
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4answers
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Is Burning Hands’ area of effect a “thin sheet of flame” or is it a cone?
Burning hands says two things about the shape of the spell’s area of effect (PHB, p. 220):
a thin sheet of flames shoots forth from your outstretched fingertips
Each creature in a 15-foot cone [...
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0answers
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What is the affected space for the area of Burning Hands? [duplicate]
Burning hands states:
As you hold your hands with thumbs touching and fingers spread, a thin sheet of flames shoots forth from your outstretched fingertips.
However, it goes on to affect a cone ...
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3answers
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How to resolve Burning Hands with a Dying Ally
Playing the D&D 5e starter set, the rogue had been knocked prone by the wolves in the Goblin Cave and had two wolves within melee range over her 0hp body.
I ruled that, as she was prone, the ...
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1answer
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Does a Hallowed area stop Spiritual Guardians from appearing?
Reading up on 5th Edition spells I came across the 5th Level Evocation Hallow:
You touch a point and infuse an area around it with holy (or unholy) power...The affected area is subject to the ...
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1answer
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Do spells that have range originating from the caster start in a grid intersection or the center of his square? [duplicate]
The rules say:
The point of origin of a spell is always a grid intersection. PHB, p.175
Fireburst, for example, "extends" 10 feet radius around the caster. But if you count from a grid ...
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votes
1answer
166 views
Is there a means by which to “shape” a spell?
Is there a way to shape a spell to, for instance, strike a single point so a fireball can be used as a sort of shaped explosive?
Sculpt Spell has a series of shapes you're limited to and does not ...
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2answers
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What is the actual area of Emergency Force Sphere?
I have seen a few discussions about the area of effect of an Emergency Force Sphere:
Effect 5-ft.-radius hemisphere of force centered on you
The arguments are that you must pick a grid ...
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2answers
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Does a magic circle protect a creature partially inside the area of effect?
If a creature is partially inside a magic circle against evil's area of effect when it is cast or is simply too big to fit inside the zone, does the protection work?
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How do I target the Moonbeam spell, using a grid?
So, as my title implies; If you shoot a Moonbeam at an enemy standing in a square, would the area covered by the Moonbeam be just that single square, from one of the corners 2x2 or mid-square 3x3 ...
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4answers
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Would a Fireball cast by a Pixie/Human/Dragon of the same level have the same power?
In essence this relates to weapon damage from creatures using "identical" weapons: A human's long sword does 1d8 damage, sure, but a storm giant with a proportionally sized long sword shouldn't do ...
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2answers
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If a paladin becomes Large, at what point does the paladin's aura originate?
If you enlarge a paladin (so that they take up 2x2 squares on a grid), what point does their aura's radius start at?
For Medium/Small creatures (who take up a 1x1 square on a grid), it radiates from ...
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1answer
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What happens if I cast Leomund's Tiny Hut in a space too small to contain the dome?
Leomund's tiny hut creates a dome-shaped barrier with a radius of 10 feet. This means that the dome is 20 feet wide in all directions, and the top of the dome is 10 feet above ground level.
Suppose I ...
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4answers
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How flexible is the size of Mold Earth?
The transmutation cantrip mold earth (EEPC, p. 21; XGtE, p. 162-163) explicitly states:
You choose a portion of dirt or stone [...] that fits within a 5-foot cube.
Would this indicate that the ...
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1answer
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Are you still considered to be inside an area of effect when protected by a Globe of Invulnerability?
Let's imagine the following situation:
We have a party of adventurers: Tom the Wizard, Bob the Cleric and Jerry the Monk. The three adventurers are surrounded by many ill-intended creatures.
Tom ...
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1answer
635 views
Does a Globe of Invulnerability move with the caster?
The globe of invulnerability spell creates "A barrier with a 10-foot radius [that] surrounds you".
Does that barrier move with the caster, or stays in the same place for the duration regardless of ...
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1answer
305 views
Does casting a box Forcecage around another spell’s area of effect break concentration?
Part of the description of forcecage states:
A prison in the shape of a box can be up to 10 feet on a side, creating a solid barrier that prevents any matter from passing through it and blocking ...
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Can an AoE spell crit an unconscious creature?
To give an example, if a PC was knocked unconscious and someone was to throw a fireball at them, they would automatically fail the Dex Saving throw and take full damage.
If the spell caster was ...
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0answers
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Is there any logical reason that worn or carried objects don’t take damage from AoE spells? [closed]
Objects don’t take damage when their wearer/carrier does, but is there any logical reason for this? In fact,
The fire spreads around corners.
If the fire spreads around corners, that means that it ...
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2answers
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How does orienting a cube-shaped spell work in three-dimensional space?
Can the caster orient the cube any way they like? Can the point of origin effectively be a corner, with the opposite corner pointing any way the caster chooses?
This question was tagged as a ...
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1answer
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Explanation on Area Attacks
I am new to M&M 3e, coming from a dnd3.5 career and I am trying to get the rules right before our first session. My problem is with the Area attacks. While I get it that you get a dodge save VS DC=...
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Where does a huge creature's self-target AoE/Reach start? (Edge or Center?)
Suppose there is a huge creature with an ability that targets all creatures within 10 feet. For player characters, who are medium-sized, effects like this are easy enough to resolve, but what if the ...
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1answer
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Metamagic Distant Spell and AoE spells
The Distant Spell Metamagic option gives you the ability to double the Range of a spell, or give a spell with range of Touch a range of 30ft.
If I would apply this to, let's say, burning hands, which ...
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2answers
520 views
Casting the spell Sickening Radiance over a building
If Sickening Radiance were cast over a house and covered the entire building, how much effect would it have on the people inside if every entrance were closed? I'd say it goes through windows, but ...
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1answer
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Would a (box-shaped) Forcecage block the effects of an area-of-effect spell from passing into or out of the box?
When you cast the solid-box variant of forcecage, the spell specifies:
A prison in the shape of a box can be up to 10 feet on a side, creating a solid barrier that prevents any matter from passing ...
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Will the effects of light shine through glass?
If I cast light on a small pebble and placed it in a sealed, transparent glass jar would it emit light outside of the jar?
The reason I am asking is because the rules for areas of effects say:
A ...
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1answer
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Can you be affected by your own area of effect spells?
For example, the AOE (area of effect) spell "Cloudkill":
When a creature enters the spell’s area for the first time on a turn or starts its turn there, that creature must make a Constitution saving ...
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When using a battlemap, can a lightning bolt be directed between squares to affect both?
Lightning bolt is listed as having a width of 5 feet.
When using a battlemap, can the line of the spell be directed between squares to affect creatures on both sides with full damage?
Does ...
