As a DM, do you let PCs precisely "place" areas of effect for spells?

shilsen · Apr 22, 2003

Yes. Janos Audran and Brown Jenkin covered my reasons.

Liminal Syzygy · Apr 22, 2003

Yes I do BUT I don't allow counting of squares during the player's turn. They need to work that out in their heads ahead of time so they can say "Fireball, right here!" immediately when it gets to their turns.

SamuraiY · Apr 22, 2003

Why not? If a wizard can cast a spell while he's on fire, a rogue can pick a pocket with both hands tied behind his back, a fighter can swing his sword underwater, and an archer can hit an enemy at 500 or more feet, then this really shouldn't be too much of a stretch.

Skarp Hedin · Apr 22, 2003

Yes, I let them place them precisely.. though I'm starting to get sick of the 3-5 minute time frame while the player counts squares.

Liminal Syzygy · Apr 22, 2003

Because I get sick of waiting while they count squares out and all the kibbitzing it leads to

Wizard "1...

2...

3...

Oh wait, I'll get the Rogue if I center it there, let me try here...

1...

2...

3..."

Rogue "Dude you should put it here, then you can get all 3 trolls"

Fighter "Uh, he'll get me too if he goes there"

Rogue "Oh then right here"

Wizard "Ummm ok. 1.... 2... 3... 4... Here then."

haiiro · Apr 22, 2003

Wow. With a few exceptions, the consensus so far is heavily in favor of precise placement. I suppose I expected a bit more division.

That is my preference as well -- as a DM and as a player. As several folks mentioned, casters live and die by their precision (just like martial characters) and it cuts both ways (NPCs do it too).

Thanks for all the responses so far. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't way out in left field on this one.

(Edit: clarification.)

JacktheRabbit · Apr 22, 2003

I generally allow it but my players are limited to 15 seconds for their turn. So if a party wizard doesnt get it down in that time he can either throw it down and hope for the best or let his turn pass without doing anything.

BTW, several people have compared droppign a fireball to an archers incredible accuracy or a golfers accuracy and these are false comparisions.

An arrow has a arching path and can only hit people directly in that path. A fireball expands out in three dimensions upon impact.

One more item of note. I do NOT allow player casters to count out squares or anything else if I see they are trying avoid hitting someone who their wizard cannot see. If the party fighter ran arounda corner and got into a melee fight out of view of the wizard then it is fair game. If the wizard starts to count spaces to make sure the fighter is safe then we all call him a "meta-geek" we throw junk food at him and he either has to cook the fighter or not cast the spell at all.

d12 · Apr 22, 2003

Yes. I even went so far as to write it up as a "clarification" in my house rules in case any of my players thought I wouldn't allow it.

smetzger · Apr 22, 2003

If there are no 'friendlies' on the border of the AoE then Yes.

If there are 'friendlies' on the border then I use a Spellcraft check of DC = 1 per ever 5 ft to the center of the AoE. If the castr fails then the center has shifted slightly and his friends have been caught.

Rel · Apr 22, 2003

Elder-Basilisk said:
Yes. If I wanted to be a jerk about it, I'd have the players bring a template for area effect spells and give them three seconds to place the template where the fireball would be (six seconds if they want to take a full round action. But I don't want to be that way.

Well, this is pretty much what we do. But we're all acknowledged jerks

We don't really have a hard and fast time rule. But when somebody casts an AoE spell, the GM hands them a pen and says mark the center of the effect. They do so within a few seconds usually, then we drop the template over the dot on the map and trace the edge.

To us this is a good compromise between letting the spellcasters precisely place the effect and getting bogged down in counting hexes. As far as the time pressure goes, the player has had ever since his last turn to be figuring out his action. He is usually able to react to any changes in the situation fairly quickly and place his spell.

Once in a great while, an unintended target takes some "collateral damage". That is just how we like it (i.e. it still happens but only infrequently).