Aiming Fireballs soi they don't hit the party?

[KarinsDad]

On the flip side I game with someone who, if not allowed to count, would consistantly miss their target and/or hit their allies.

Quite frankly, I find this hard to believe. I can believe that he would hit both allies and enemies, but to totally miss the enemies? I suspect you are exaggerating.

 

[JacktheRabbit]

I have an easy solution. I give the spellcaster about 5 seconds to point at the intersection he wants to use.

I started this because I had one annoying player who would spend two minutes checking every conceivable spot to determine which one got the most foes while not hitting any party members.

 

[Joker]

I have an easy solution. I give the spellcaster about 5 seconds to point at the intersection he wants to use.

This is the best thing I've heard sofar. Just because I'm a bastard, I'll give em 3 seconds .

 

[Snowy]

and I give a reasonable amount of time.

as in enough for them to be happy they are usign their spells effectively but not enough to slow down the combat. Thats what I'm there for if they're taking too long i'll say "hurry up".

<edited bit follows>

not that anything else is unreasonable, bad choice of words on my part, everyones campaign is different.
I fully expect the next player up to be picking their move and counting their squares BEFORE their go and during my description of the previous ones.

 

[JacktheRabbit]

and I give a reasonable amount of time.

as in enough for them to be happy they are usign their spells effectively but not enough to slow down the combat. Thats what I'm there for if they're taking too long i'll say "hurry up".

<edited bit follows>

not that anything else is unreasonable, bad choice of words on my part, everyones campaign is different.
I fully expect the next player up to be picking their move and counting their squares BEFORE their go and during my description of the previous ones.

I went with 5 seconds more to push the player into deciding in advance what he was doing. He wouldnt think about his move at all until it was his turn. I want my DnD battles to be more like a FPS game on my XBox not a chess game at my kitchen table.

 

[Snowy]

I went with 5 seconds more to push the player into deciding in advance what he was doing. He wouldnt think about his move at all until it was his turn. I want my DnD battles to be more like a FPS game on my XBox not a chess game at my kitchen table.

As I said whatever floats your boat wasn't meaning to be rude, just phrased myself badly.

If giving a player another few seconds leads them to using a more interesting spell or a cunning tactic, I'll give them that. If they're timewasting I'll chivy them along.

After all I want to play a game with varied and wonderful characters in a rounded world where weird and wonderful things happen, like a Fantasy RPG rather than having them chucking the first spell or weapon strike to come to mind like in a FPS on a console.


This was written in a very tongue in cheek manner, please take it as such

 

[Abraxas]

Quite frankly, I find this hard to believe. I can believe that he would hit both allies and enemies, but to totally miss the enemies? I suspect you are exaggerating.

I wish that I were.
They just aren't capable of keeping track of the grid in their head. Even with counting they have placed AoE spells that miss a significant number of enemy targets. Spatial relations just aren't easy for this person.

 

[azhrei_fje]

How many of us live and die by 6s decisions IRL?

Heh-heh. One of my players is a fire fighter turned paramedic. He is *always* the most prepared player at the table in term of knowing what his character's actions will be, and he has often already rolled all of his dice (attack rolls, damage in case of a successful hit, etc) by the time his turn comes around. He adds up his attack bonus in advance (and never forgets the bard's Inspire Courage bonus or other situational modifiers). I tell ya', if my other players would do that our combats would last 20 minutes instead of an hour.

 

[Wolf72]

I tend to have the PC in Question make an Int check (DC depends on how difficult I think it might be)

if they're changing the spell a bit and it's not covered in any of the books (or we don't have them) it becomes a spellcraft check ... had a wizard throw up a 'net' of force instead of a wall of force, covered more area but the boulders thrown by the giants had a chance to get through

summarized: Int checks (pre 3e, DC's now) and Spellcraft checks

 

[Saeviomagy]

I tend to have the PC in Question make an Int check (DC depends on how difficult I think it might be)

if they're changing the spell a bit and it's not covered in any of the books (or we don't have them) it becomes a spellcraft check ... had a wizard throw up a 'net' of force instead of a wall of force, covered more area but the boulders thrown by the giants had a chance to get through

summarized: Int checks (pre 3e, DC's now) and Spellcraft checks

I really like that second one. What sort of DC's do you look at?