D&D 5E Tips for Resolving Area Effects
AaronOfBarbaria
Adventurer
I do what [MENTION=20564]Blue[/MENTION] described.
I also roll up to 5d20 at once to speed the process along a little further.
And often when I use a multitude of creatures, they are of low enough HP that failing to save vs. most of the area effects likely to be used often drops them to 0 - sometimes even passing the save wouldn't save them, so I don't have to make all the rolls in the first place.
I also roll up to 5d20 at once to speed the process along a little further.
And often when I use a multitude of creatures, they are of low enough HP that failing to save vs. most of the area effects likely to be used often drops them to 0 - sometimes even passing the save wouldn't save them, so I don't have to make all the rolls in the first place.
Plaguescarred
D&D Playtester for WoTC since 2012
Another quick way to determine wether some monsters save or not is to just to decide so!
KahlessNestor
Adventurer
On a related note, how do you resolve whi gets hit with an AoE when you're running theater of the mind?
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aco175
Legend
In situations like this I have the player roll the saves. I tell him that the goblins save on a 14 and the orcs save on a 12. I may also say on weaker monsters that the goblins have 7 hp and the orcs have 13 hp and let him tell me who is left and how much damage is left hanging around. There has even been time where other players also roll to get large groups done with.
I can move onto other things while this is going on.
I can move onto other things while this is going on.
Rod Staffwand
aka Ermlaspur Flormbator
For the largest groups, I'll just look at the save number they need. That percentage makes the save while the remaining percentage fails. If they need a 13+ to save, that means 40% save while 60% don't. If it's within a few points I'll usually just round it to 50%, 66% or 75% and move on. I usually just have the targets closest to the epicenter or in direct line of the effect fail and those on the fringes succeed.
Combat (and the game in general) is more enjoyable for all when the DM cranks up with speed of play as much as possible. Speed of resolution is always preferable to preciseness of resolution in my book.
Combat (and the game in general) is more enjoyable for all when the DM cranks up with speed of play as much as possible. Speed of resolution is always preferable to preciseness of resolution in my book.
I was going to post this option as well. DC - saving throw bonus is what the creature has to roll. Multiply by 5 for the percent that fail.
I did this one time when there were 8+ bad guys. The wizard wanted me to roll, and the rolls happened to come up to the exact same percent failing the roll as using the shortcut above. We had a chuckle about that and moved on.
Tony Vargas
Legend
You can resort to the old trick of taking the average. So if the DC is 13 and the save is +2, they've a 50% chance of making it, so half of them do. If the AE is something like a fireball (could be more dangerous closer to the center) or otherwise suggests a pattern to it, you can use that as a guide for which ones failed and which succeeded, and thus dispense with rolls.
Of course, if a really large number of targets get caught in a damaging AE, it's likely they'll be popped by it even if they save (another good reason to roll damage first) - if so, there's no problem.
Well, you could try to track positions and imagine the exact area in your head - or you could just rule arbitrarily based on whatever works for at the moment.
If you want a 'system,' 13th Age has a simple one: AE spells are just rated to affect a random number of enemies (more if you're willing to risk hitting allies, too). Usually it's d3, d4, d6, that kinda thing. Simple.
You can also skip to a positioning aid just for that purpose, jot down the positions of everyone on graph paper, then calculate the area, and see who's in it. Creatures on the edge can save with advantage or save for half or no damage, or just be among those you assign as saving 'on average' (per the above).
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AaronOfBarbaria
Adventurer
Before the 5th edition DMG came along, I'd do so by reasoning out the approximate location of creatures and size of the battlefield at the time an area effect came into play. Such as when a players says "I'd like to toss a fireball back behind them so that I can catch as many as possible without engulfing any of my friends." and then I think "Well, that one is in melee with that character, and this other one is off to the side with the rogue that was trying to sneak around, so you can definitely get all but those two in the blast since it will nearly fill the rest of the battlefield."
With the 5th edition DMG, there is a little option described on page 249 by which the area of an attack can be translated into a number of targets hit, so now I do the above but lean toward allowing at least the number of targets indicated by this bit of guidance - because I'd rather a player feel like perhaps I'm being too lenient than feel like perhaps I'm being too harsh, if they are going to feel I'm not doing the best job of things.
KahlessNestor
Adventurer
Thanks! I didn't remember that part of the DMG.
It was a fairly easy call this weekend. Fighter had moved up to engage 8 kobolds and was the only 1 in the area, so I ruled the wizard could catch most in burning hands without hurting the fighter. Rolled 1d8 and rolled a 1. Decided given the set up that wasn't enough and rolled again for a multiples number.
Just wanted something in mind for next time. Thanks.
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