How wide is a "line", i.e. Lightning Bolt?

[MarauderX]

I thought somewhere in the tomes of interpretations that Lightning Bolt was 5' wide... or perhaps that was from an era long, long ago...

I guess I will always interpret it as 5' wide, accounting for the meandering arc of magical electricity, and unless it passes through the approximate center of a square it didn't "hit." That's also how I judge other spells that create lines that are on angles to a battlemat grid, and so far it has worked out well as I let the players choose exactly where the spell falls.

 

[Waldo]

You can't allow the intersections to take all four squares. That means that a diagonal line of the same length as your fourth example would affect 18(!) squares. When cast in a similar manner as the second image, it would affect 9.

That's ridiculous.

I only see three choices. First, you follow the fourth example without the red squares. This means a diagonal line of the same length would affect only 6, and a straight would affect 9. This makes sense with the ratio of 1.5 for diagonal movement. Any other line will affect somewhere in between those extremes.

Second, you allow the same number of squares to be affected regardless by extending range. That would increase the 'length' of these spells a lot, as 9 squares diagonally would be about 12.5 square lengths, or a 45' line will travel 62.5'. This one doesn't seem to sit right.

Third, you allow the same number of squares to be affected and allow the player to choose a few red squares, all on the same side of the line perhaps, to be affected, until the total is back up to the straight line number.

The first is easiest, the second most incorrect, the third the 'fairest' in a purely numbers sense.

 

[AuraSeer]

If complexity were not an issue, I'd rule that the red squares are affected, but that anyone standing in one gets a +4 bonus to any saving throw (or touch AC) for purposes of avoiding the spell.

In practice, that would probably be too annoying to use in a real game.

 

[Dakkareth]

One could make it depend on what square the character is facing, as that would be an indicator or *where in the square* the character is standing.

Example:
Kuzdaf the Dwarf is in one of the red squares in the diagram, but is fighting a skeleton within a white square and thus must probably far removed from the line effect. Hence he is unaffected and the lightning bolt blasts the three skeletons ganging up behind him.

 

[Caliban]

You can't allow the intersections to take all four squares. That means that a diagonal line of the same length as your fourth example would affect 18(!) squares. When cast in a similar manner as the second image, it would affect 9.

That's ridiculous.

*shrug* According to the definition in the PHB, and the diagram in the 3.5 PHB, if it hits the intersection of 4 squares, it hit's all 4 squares.

(PHB, page 176, line attack diagram: "All squares through which the line passes or touches are affected by the attack." the diagram shows the line hittine one intersection of 4 squares and affecting all of them - before and after that intersection it passes to one side or the other of the 4 way intersections. )

 

[Caliban]

Re: try 3.0

Here we go again.

C = caster

Line = Line

Yellow = squares that every one agrees are affected

Red = disputed squares

I agree that it makes more sense when the red squares are taken into account, otherwise the shorter line would affect more squares (9 vs 8). Nevertheless, its a LOT more squares (9 vs 14)

In your first diagram, the line that travels along the grid line, it should be affecting all squares on either side of the line, as it's touching all them. So it would affect 14 squares as well, over a 7 square distance.

 

[AuraSeer]

Re: Re: try 3.0

In your first diagram, the line that travels along the grid line, it should be affecting all squares on either side of the line, as it's touching all them. So it would affect 14 squares as well, over a 7 square distance.

Ah, right! The same thing applies to the second line: it should be affecting all the squares that touch its endpoints. That makes it affect 13 squares, which is close enough for me. (Watch me conveniently ignore the way this includes the caster's space.)

 

[Waldo]

Well, that's interesting. If you let it affect 18 in both scenarios, then the numbers would be the same.

Assuming that fireball fills 40 squares as a 20 foot radius, and lightning bolt is 120' line. If lightning bolt affected both sides of the line, then it would affect (120/5 * 2) 48 squares. About the same number. Being similarly powered spells, that seems reasonable.

I'm willing to go with that.

 

[Waldo]

Regardless of the shape of the area...If the spell’s area only touches the near edge of a square, however, anything within that square is unaffected by the spell

This statement seems to conflict with our last assumption. It needs to reach the far side of a square to affect it.

A contradiction? Never. The rules are crystal clear.

edited for spelling.

 

[Caliban]

This statement seems to conflict with our last assumption. It needs to reach the far side of a square to affect it.

A contradiction? Never. The rules are crystal clear.

edited for spelling.

A line isn't really an area, being 1 dimensional instead of two-dimensional (when viewed on the 2-D grid).

The "Line" effect is new to 3.5, and uses a different rule than those for other "Area" effects.