Curiosity about AoE spells for 4th edition

[Daniel D. Fox]

One thing that has always been a hangup for me was flawless Fireballs. Meaning, if a caster intended to have the power explode 45' out from his position, he'd always hit his target.

With the rolls "to hit" certain defenses, I wonder if the 4E rules will take into account obscuring terrain? Meaning, can the Fireball on a missed roll versus whatever defense (likely Reflex) actually fall short of the intended area of effect and "blow up" in the face of the wizard?

Perhaps if not, I can already imagine houseruling critical fumbles in line with critical hits.

Cheers~

 

[keterys]

No, it can't - you could make some kind of house rule, but if you did you'd have to be careful it doesn't screw things too badly for AoE as AoE already does less damage per target so is, in many ways, substandard to focus firing one guy down.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

It's certainly a good way to explain why the spell did reduced or no damage: "your aim is off and the fireball burst a bit behind and above the target, sparing him the worst of the blast."