Nother question

[Plot-Device]

Can't find this in the rules:

Large creature covers 4 5-foot squares. A spell allows me tp pick several 10 foot cubes, that do not have to be next to one another, and the spell make no note of a creature not being allowed to be targeted more than once. I place the spell in such a way that 4 of the 10 foot cubes hit the creature, each of them hitting a differente square. Does the creature suffer the effect x4?

Realism says yes, rules balance says no.

 

[Vanye]

Realism says yes, rules balance says no.

In 2nd Ed, you didn't take cumulative damage, but you did have to save multiple times. If you failed any of the saves, you took full damage from the spell. Seems like a reasonable way to run it, to me....

 

[shilsen]

Can't find this in the rules:

Large creature covers 4 5-foot squares. A spell allows me tp pick several 10 foot cubes, that do not have to be next to one another, and the spell make no note of a creature not being allowed to be targeted more than once. I place the spell in such a way that 4 of the 10 foot cubes hit the creature, each of them hitting a differente square. Does the creature suffer the effect x4?

Realism says yes, rules balance says no.

Rules says "No," for the win.

Realism got dragged out beyond the wood pile, beaten to death and buried when D&D was invented. We just pull out the corpse once in a while to show people.

 

[KarinsDad]

One spell is cast. One area effect, regardless of how it is split up. One save is made.

 

[Spatula]

Does a Large creature take 4x the damage from a fireball, since the spell 'hits' 44 squares and the creature occupies 4 of them? No? Same deal with your spell.

 

[ThirdWizard]

We know that 1 spell = hit once isn't true with targetted spells. I'd be more comfortable if someone could point out a reason why that doesn't work with area spells with multiple blasts in the RAW before dismissing it out of hand.

Meteor swarm specifically states that they take damage multiple times. Fire storm is silent on the issue. I can't find anything in the "Area" description in the SRD.

 

[Kieperr]

Meteor Storm does damage multiple times because it is four seperate spheres, "Area: Four 40-ft-radius spreads." It creates four seperate effects that can overlap.

Fire Storm is silent because it is a single effect within an area. The size of the area is two 10-ft. cubes per level. It is not two seperate effects per level but a single effect that fills an area of two cubes per caster level.

From PHB pg 176:
"(S) Shapeable: If an Area or Effect entry ends with "(S)," you can shape the spell. A shaped effect or area can have no dimension smaller than 10 feet. Many effects or areas are given as cubes to make it easy to model irregular shapes. Three-dimensional volumes are most often needed to define aerial or underwater effects and areas."

 

[KarinsDad]

Agreed.

If a Fireball hits all 4 sqaures because that is the area of effect, then a Shaped Fireball that hits all 4 squares from 4 of the shapes is still a single Fireball area and a single Fireball spell.

Shapeable spells (either naturally or with the feat) are already extremely potent without giving them added umph.

The counter position could ask: If a Gargantuan creature has only 1 of its 16 squares hit by an area effect spell, how come it can take full damage? How come it does not minimally get a significant bonus to its saving throw?

 

[ThirdWizard]

So, your conclusion is that if it has an (S) then damage is not taken multiple times, but without the (S), it is taken multiple times? That's the kind of in the box thinking I was hoping for.

 

[KarinsDad]

So, your conclusion is that if it has an (S) then damage is not taken multiple times, but without the (S), it is taken multiple times? That's the kind of in the box thinking I was hoping for.

How did you come to this conclusion?

If it is a spell, you take the damage once. Period unless the spell description states otherwise. Shapeable only changes where the damage occurs, not how often the damage occurs.