Greenfield
Adventurer
I was looking at some old stuff and noticed that more than a few spells had odd areas or volumes they affected.
I've long known that Fireball says one thing in the spell descriptor block and something else in the text on this topic: The descriptor says 2 inch radius, the spell text says "32000 cubic feet (or yards)".
But other spells, such as Rock to Mud, talk about cubes of 1 inch/level. (with Inch meaning 10 feet indoors and 10 yards outdoors.)
Rock to Mud actually says 2' per level cube, as does Mud to rock. The volume at minimum caster level for Mud to Rock would mean that a muddy track can be transformed into a Roman style high road twenty feet wide, and a shade under 38 miles long.
Yeah, miles. That's what it works out to when you take a volume and expand it geometrically by level instead of linearly. (Math: a 10th level caster will have a cube twenty yards by twenty yards by twenty yards. That's 80,000 cubic yards, or 2,160,000 cubic feet.).
Has anyone else noticed this, or had to deal with it?
BTW: Fireball, as written, has a volume that goes up outdoors, but it's range doesn't. A fifth level caster, firing a ground-burst at maximum range, is inside the blast radius. 33,000 cubic yards of volume, with the specific instructions to expand the spread to conform with available space, means that the bottom half of the sphere (being blocked by the ground) gets added as an additional layer on the outside of the remaining hemisphere. The result is a hemisphere with a radius of about 27.5 yards, or about 82 feet.
I've long known that Fireball says one thing in the spell descriptor block and something else in the text on this topic: The descriptor says 2 inch radius, the spell text says "32000 cubic feet (or yards)".
But other spells, such as Rock to Mud, talk about cubes of 1 inch/level. (with Inch meaning 10 feet indoors and 10 yards outdoors.)
Rock to Mud actually says 2' per level cube, as does Mud to rock. The volume at minimum caster level for Mud to Rock would mean that a muddy track can be transformed into a Roman style high road twenty feet wide, and a shade under 38 miles long.
Yeah, miles. That's what it works out to when you take a volume and expand it geometrically by level instead of linearly. (Math: a 10th level caster will have a cube twenty yards by twenty yards by twenty yards. That's 80,000 cubic yards, or 2,160,000 cubic feet.).
Has anyone else noticed this, or had to deal with it?
BTW: Fireball, as written, has a volume that goes up outdoors, but it's range doesn't. A fifth level caster, firing a ground-burst at maximum range, is inside the blast radius. 33,000 cubic yards of volume, with the specific instructions to expand the spread to conform with available space, means that the bottom half of the sphere (being blocked by the ground) gets added as an additional layer on the outside of the remaining hemisphere. The result is a hemisphere with a radius of about 27.5 yards, or about 82 feet.
AD&D Player's Handbook said:Fireball (Evocation)
Level: 3 Components: V, S
Range: 10" + 1"/level Casting Time:3 segments
Duration: Instantaneous Saving Throw: 1/2
Area of Effect: 2"radius sphere
Explanation/Description: A fireball is an explosive burst of flame, which detonates with a low roar, and delivers damage proportionate to the level of the magic-user who cast it, i.e. 1 six-sided die (d6) for each level of experience of the spell caster. Exception: Magic fireball wands deliver 6 die fireballs (6d6), magic staves with this capability deliver 8 die fireballs, and scroll spells of this type deliver a fireball of from 5 to 10 dice (d6 + 4) of damage. The burst of the fireball does not expend a considerable amount of pressure, and the burst will generally conform to the shape of the area in which it occurs, thus covering an area equal to its normal spherical volume. [The area which is covered by the fireball is a total volume of roughly 33,000 cubic feet (or yards)]. Besides causing damage to creatures, the fireball ignites all combustible materials within its burst radius, and the heat of the fireball will melt soft metals such as gold, copper, silver, etc. Items exposed to the spell's effects must be rolled for to determine if they are affected. Items with a creature which makes its saving throw are considered as unaffected. The magic-user points his or her finger and speaks the range (distance and height) at which the fireball is to burst. A streak flashes from the pointing digit and, unless it impacts upon a material body prior to attaining the prescribed range, flowers into the fireball If creatures fail their saving throws, they all take full hit point damage from the blast.
Those who make saving throws manage to dodge, fall flat or roll aside, taking 1/2 the full hit point damage - each and every one within the blast area. The material component of this spell is a tiny ball composed of bat guano and sulphur.
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