Fireball - are effects 3 dimensional?

[Darklone]

*muttering about CRPG gamers trying to explain tabletop rules...*

Right and next thing you're going to tell me is that D&D has no fly spell/swim/jump/climb because NWN failed to incorporate that?

 

[Destil]

Wouldn't a 2D spell be a Firedisk?

 

[CRGreathouse]

*shrug* A mathematical ball can be 2D, but I'm pretty sure it's not he intended meaning. A 2-ball is the interior of a circle, just as a 3-ball is the interior of a sphere. (Mathematically speaking, a ball is a strict inequality -- they don't include the boundary.)

Fireball expands in all dimensions. If you really care that much, there was a designer talking about it on the Eric's news page (the Black Pages now?) shortly before 3E's release.

 

[Some call me Tim]

Some call Me Tim, I would like to say this, since no one else has, and I'm not feeling polite:

Your DM is a fool. I laud your capability to put up with him.

No, he is a good guy. He has a good knack for posing very tough challenges without losing his sense of fair play. I have enjoyed his adventures thoroughly. In fact, he flies in from out of state every couple of months for a all day gaming session (8am-midnight).

While he and I have disagreed about the fireball spell, he wasn't an a$$ about it. In his defense, there is some abiguity in the spell description. That is why I posed the question here. I assumed some of the other posters could provide a convincing argument and I was correct. All I had to go on prior to my post was that the name of the spell certainly _implied_ that it was 3D, but that was it.

Incidentally, I received an email from him the day after I posted my question that he realized that he was wrong in his interpretation and was reversing his stance.

All in all, a happy ending.

Thanks to everyone for their responses!