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Message: <blockquote data-quote="I'm A Banana" data-source="post: 6096804" data-attributes="member: 2067">Yes they can be, no that will not always work at every table.I'd imagine by a default they probably should be left open-ended and more about the big idea than about the specific rules implementations. Fireball creates a big ball of fire, that does whatever you think a big ball of fire can do in this situation.Me, I like to use rules as props, so quick, easy-to-run rules for how a fire spreads across terrain and variable flammability of materials and the like comes in real handy. I want to use this as a thing that is independent of my control, to spur on more interesting events that end up even surprising me as a DM, situations that the whole group needs to work with. But in either situation, the important thing about the fireball spell is that it creates a ball of fire. That ball of fire happens to deal several d6's of damage in the area of the ball of fire, but the point of the spell isn't to do Xd6 fire damage to Y targets. The point of the spell is to create a ball of fire. Whether the rules that flow from that are explicit or in DM control is less important than the fact that a ball of fire is, indeed, created, in the fiction, when you cast fireball. If WotC's focus on "story" helps ensure that a fireball is defined first, foremost, and occasionally exclusively as a big ball of fire that a wizard makes, and simply uses things like targeting lines, damage lines, and range increments to support that story, then we won't end up with a situation where a DM isn't going to allow you to target objects because "balance." Your fireball might not light the town on fire, but there's gonna be a reason in the story for that, not just a rule nested in the targeting line of the spell's effect description that contradicts common sense.It's the "knock an ooze prone" situation. If 5e supports the idea that knocking something prone is first, foremost, and sometimes exclusively, "knocking them to the ground," and uses things like "takes a move action to get up" as ways to support that story, then we don't end up with a situation where someone gets to knock an ooze prone -- something that makes perfect sense in the rules, but requires some mental contortions to think about in the story.</blockquote>

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