Force Orbs - Target the Ground or wat??

[vagabundo]

I remember this came up from DNDxp, but can a wizard try and target the ground under someones feet and get a secondary target attack against everyone?

Rather than target one person and possibly miss and get no secondary targets.

 

[Fredrik Svanberg]

As weak as the power is, my guess is that it's balanced against the possibility of missing, just like every other power. I would therefore think that it's not a good idea to allow what you suggest.

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

Yes, you can if you want to.

 

[vagabundo]

Yes, you can if you want to.

Is that legit?

one of my Players is using this tactic so it is like a burst spell. I'm not sure what Ref to give the ground though.

 

[Keenath]

The power allows you to target an object; the ground is an object. No problem, so long as you actually do what the instructions say: You can't detonate it at somebody's feet and still hit them. You make a secondary against each enemy adjacent to the primary target, so if you're targeting a square, you need to make an attack against each enemy in squares adjacent to that target square, but not IN the target square.

It's not a big deal, balance wise; you're effectively giving up an average of four damage against the primary target, if you can even manage to catch him in the blast. You still have to make an attack roll and all. This strategy is really not a big deal, honestly; against normal enemies you're not getting much of a benefit from it, and if you're dealing with minions, you'd be better off with a Scorching Burst than this strategy.

Judging by Disintegrate, you don't have to make attack rolls if you target an unattended object. (The ground is always unattended.)

 

[lwp123]

It sounds legit to me as the planet would be an object. You would need to use the rules in the DMG to determin the reflex of a particular spot on the groud. You could consider that spot on the ground as a tiny object (assuming that the caster is a fair distance away, use a larger object size if fairly close upto medium size if they are standing next to it) that is prone so it would have a reflex of 12. If an enemy was standing between it and you then it would also have cover making it harder to hit.

You could probably take away the prone bit if you want if they are pretty close to the square.

 

[WayneLigon]

In general when a power has a set application and you think you find a way to reliably make it into another application of greater effect (such as changing a single-target-and-maybe-secondary-target into multiple-targets-all-the-time), you've found a loophole, an unclear bit of wording, or outright error (remember that there is already erratta and clarification on several powers up at the WoTC website and I think we can look for that to grow). In other words, you're doing something the power is not meant to be doing.

 

[WhatGravitas]

You could consider that spot on the ground as a tiny object.

Actually, I think it's more reasonable say it is a 5' square - the square you want as center of the burst.

And that's about as big as a door (a medium-sized object) - with a AC/Reflex of 5.

Cheers, LT.

 

[lwp123]

Actually, I think it's more reasonable say it is a 5' square - the square you want as center of the burst.

And that's about as big as a door (a medium-sized object) - with a AC/Reflex of 5.

Cheers, LT.

I would agree that a 5' square is the same size as a door which would be why I suggested considering it medium when in the next square, but it is a much small target when you are looking at it from 20 squares away due to being a such a low viewing angle. Maybe I am thinking about it too hard...

 

[underfoot007]

Using Force Orb on the ground would make you roll an attack int vs ref, which you could miss. the you would still have to roll an attacks on your secondary targets, so what would the advantage be?

one spell/power is not going to let you extra attacks vs the same target.