Affected by a spell

[nhl_1997]

Can we say then that the Elf is "affected"?

For purposes of determining which creatures are affected (read: targeted) by Sleep, only unconscious, undead, and constructs are ignored. Thus, any creature immune to the spell and is targeted essentially takes away the number of hit dice the spell can affect.

If the elf were not actually targeted in the example I gave above (because it's immune to sleep), then the spell would also target the ape.

1 hit die for human warrior
1 hit die for human warrior
2 hit dice for ape

Instead, the spell targets....
1 hit die for human warrior
1 hit die for human warrior
1 hit die for elven archer

And the one remaining hit-die in insufficient to target the ape.

If there were also eight half hit-die elf children in the area, then all eight of them would be targeted, and the sleep spell would be rendered useless (although the caster can choose a different point of origin so that some of those 8 babies are not in the area.)

 

[Egres]

For purposes of determining which creatures are affected (read: targeted) by Sleep, only unconscious, undead, and constructs are ignored. Thus, any creature immune to the spell and is targeted essentially takes away the number of hit dice the spell can affect.

If the elf were not actually targeted in the example I gave above (because it's immune to sleep), then the spell would also target the ape.

1 hit die for human warrior
1 hit die for human warrior
2 hit dice for ape

Instead, the spell targets....
1 hit die for human warrior
1 hit die for human warrior
1 hit die for elven archer

And the one remaining hit-die in insufficient to target the ape.

If there were also eight half hit-die elf children in the area, then all eight of them would be targeted, and the sleep spell would be rendered useless (although the caster can choose a different point of origin so that some of those 8 babies are not in the area.)

Hmm..are you saying then that Targeted=Affected?

 

[irdeggman]

Hmm..are you saying then that Targeted=Affected?

I depends on what you are trying to use "affected" for.

The area of affect determines which targets may be affected. (This is what was outlined above).

A creature is affected by a spell's effects (the important part of the original question I believe) if he fails his saving throw (if applicable), fails any spell resistance he has (if applicable), is not immune (see elves in the above example), or does not have some item that overcomes the spell's effects.


Basically a creature is affected by a spell if it is under the effects of the spell.

That is how I read it.

 

[ThirdWizard]

Based on the wording, it makes little sense. "Affected first" is strange, since really everyone in the area is "affected" at the same time. So the meaning seems to be more of a meta-game explaination.

My interprietation has always been to roll agains the lowest hit dice, if they make their save, move on to roll against next higher up hit dice. I'm not going to say it is the right interprietation, but for the moment it seems just as plausable (but more powerful) as the other interprietation. This is because you arn't "affected" until you fail the save (as previously pointed out).