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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Greenfield" data-source="post: 5540294" data-attributes="member: 6669384">I used to run into players who tried the "shoot around corners" idea with 1E/2E Lightning Bolt.  They liked to overlook that part that says it goes directly away from the caster.We also used to see a lot of people who wanted to play pinball with it, bouncing it around a room at odd angles.  Again, reading only the parts of the spell they wanted to.  It seems to be a common trait among gamers.  (I've been found guilty of it myself on occasion.)I ran a tournament game at a convention many years ago, one of those where the same module is being played at eight or ten tables at the same time with different DMs.  My usual opening was to emphasize that we have to play by the book rules, not anyone's house rules, since not everyone played by or even knew the various house rules.  I gave the specific example that Lightning Bolt rebounds directly back at the caster when it strikes a wall or other "non conducting" surface it can't blast through.And what happens?  One of the players tries to do a bank shot with a lightning bolt, and then gets upset when I tell him it doubles straight back at him instead of bouncing around the room.  Question regarding 3e Lightning Bolt:  Normally you plot spells like this from a line junction on the mat to another line junction.  Presume that we're throwing it straight north-south, meaning straight along that dividing line.According to the SRD: "A line-shaped spell shoots away from you in a line in the direction you designate. It starts from any corner of your square and extends to the limit of its range or until it strikes a barrier that blocks line of effect. A line-shaped spell affects all creatures in squares that the line passes through." I've heard people argue that the "120 ft line" of the area is effectively a 5 foot wide path, either on one side of that divider or the other.  Others argue that it affects squares to either side of the dividing line.  As written, the case I gave would affect nothing unless it straddled that line, since it doesn't "pass through" any of those squares.How do you play it?</blockquote>

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