D&D 5E Fire Strom Spell- cube arrangement

[aco175]

We had a question come up last night with the caster wanting to cast fire storm to target large creatures with overlapping squares and deal damage twice to them. The idea was that you cast 10ft squares that in a line touching the next one. Large monsters take up 4 squares and if you set the 10ft squares so you split the large monster, you should deal twice damage. I ruled that the spell only deals the set amount of damage since the text talks about each creature in the area, thinking that the area was all the 10ft cubes, otherwise the description would say each creature in a cube. Just wanted to get other people opinion on this though. Thank you

Here is the main text from the spell below.

A storm made up of sheets of roaring flame appears in a location you choose within range. The area of the storm consists of up to ten 10-foot cubes, which you can arrange as you wish. Each cube must have at least one face adjacent to the face of another cube. Each creature in the area must make a Dexterity saving throw. It takes 7d10 fire damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.

 

[tommybahama]

I would award you 100 XP for your good ruling and the player 100 XP for creatively trying to get one over on the DM.

 

[Helldritch]

Yep. You got it right.

 

[tetrasodium]

We had a question come up last night with the caster wanting to cast fire storm to target large creatures with overlapping squares and deal damage twice to them. The idea was that you cast 10ft squares that in a line touching the next one. Large monsters take up 4 squares and if you set the 10ft squares so you split the large monster, you should deal twice damage. I ruled that the spell only deals the set amount of damage since the text talks about each creature in the area, thinking that the area was all the 10ft cubes, otherwise the description would say each creature in a cube. Just wanted to get other people opinion on this though. Thank you

Here is the main text from the spell below.

A storm made up of sheets of roaring flame appears in a location you choose within range. The area of the storm consists of up to ten 10-foot cubes, which you can arrange as you wish. Each cube must have at least one face adjacent to the face of another cube. Each creature in the area must make a Dexterity saving throw. It takes 7d10 fire damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.

If I'm reading it right you probably ruled right but the player could be forgiven for trying. In the past there was a bigger difference between size medium & large creatures & you were rewarded more for targeting weak saves. Take the fire giant from 3.5 & 5e for example, both have 9 dex & 5e has +3 dex save compared to the 3.5 fire giant with +4 reflex, but saves in general were much higher back then, so the con/fort save in 5e/3.5 is 10/14 In 5e the spell save dc is 8+prof+ability mod while 3.5 it was 10+ spell level+ your casting ability mod (ie int/wis/cha) so even a level 1 dex save spell in 3.5 was already sitting with an effective dc the firegiant needed to roll a few points higher than the 5e one even if the caster had not yet raised their relevant int/wis/cha above 20 at this point despite the 3.5 FG having a higher + to their save. It leads to feeling like it doesn't really matter what save a spell targets so going through the effort of choosing the one you figure most likely of succeeding not really all that different in 5e

 

[Oofta]

Umm, while I agree with your ruling, do not look up what the word "strom" means in Urban Dictionary because now I can't get the image out of my mind.

 

[Ashrym]

It's "each creature in the area". There's only one area no matter how many times a large creature might be in different parts of it.

One area would be damage once.

 

[Swarmkeeper]

I concur. The area is any and all of the 10' cubes. Multiple cubes that overlap the same creature do not double the damage.

It is still a great spell!

 

[Shiroiken]

It's the same ruling as Meteor Swarm. You can overlap if you need to get more creatures, but it doesn't change the fact that it's just a creature in the area, no matter how many times it's in the area.