OD&D [BX/OSE] Spell Area of Effects?

[thirdkingdom]

The one area (ha ha) I can see ambiguous area of effect spells causing an issue is with sleep, which explicitly can affect both allies and enemies. Adjudicating which creatures are affected by a sleep spell is always tricky.

 

[Marc_C]

I might end up using the Rules Cyclopedia spells.

 

[thirdkingdom]

I might end up using the Rules Cyclopedia spells.

There's an interesting in-depth look at the spells in the RC in this old rpg.net thread:

[Let's Read] The Rules Cyclopedia | Dungeons & Dragons / Fantasy D20 Spotlight

When would this have been? Because the Stephen Donaldson book in which the haruchai bear the closest resemblance to the mystic class write-up (and it is pretty close) is The One Tree which was published in 1982. This would have been some time between 1974 (which is when Old Geezer's anecdote...

forum.rpg.net

 

[Lanefan]

The one area (ha ha) I can see ambiguous area of effect spells causing an issue is with sleep, which explicitly can affect both allies and enemies. Adjudicating which creatures are affected by a sleep spell is always tricky.

Easy answer there is to have it always go for the weakest (i.e. lowest HD/level) creatures in the AoE first, and work up from there. If there's a tie, creatures closest to the AoE's center get affected first.