Lightning Bolt and Sage Advice...
- Thread starter kreynolds
- Start date
Lord Pendragon
First Post
Well, page 133 does specifically mention a fireball. I'm at a loss, because I was looking at the same illustration as Hypersmurf, thinking the same thing. The corner should provide complete cover, but the illustration shows someone in that corner still affected. My mistake was in believing that meant cover didn't apply. 
Caliban, your 9/10ths cover ruling sounds right...but I am curious what the actual rule was meant to be. All things considered, I suppose we may never know.
Caliban, your 9/10ths cover ruling sounds right...but I am curious what the actual rule was meant to be. All things considered, I suppose we may never know.
was just thinkin, doesn't a lightning bolt bounce back towards the caster if it bounces off of a object that blocks the line of effect? cuz lightning bolt starts from your hands and goes until the range is reached. so would the lightning bolt bounce off of a creature that doesn't have the 1' of empty space within the 20 square foot area? And would it still deal damage to that creature? Just seems kinda funny watching a lightning bolt bouncing off of creatures. =op
Malin Genie
First Post
I tend to rule lightning bolt on the basis that it is an area effect rather than a burst. Like wih a fire storm. the area is shot through with arcs of electricity.
If you don't have line of effect to an area, you can't affect it, but there is no 'point of origin', so the question of cover is moot.
The advantage is obvious - as long as you have LOE, you can affect targets with no cover no matter what interposes between you and them (again, the lightning bolt is not 'coming from you', it is arcing through that square.) The disadvantage is more subtle - a fireball or similar burst effect can catch targets you don't have LOE to (like a zombie just around the corner) whereas lightning bolt can't do that.
If you don't have line of effect to an area, you can't affect it, but there is no 'point of origin', so the question of cover is moot.
The advantage is obvious - as long as you have LOE, you can affect targets with no cover no matter what interposes between you and them (again, the lightning bolt is not 'coming from you', it is arcing through that square.) The disadvantage is more subtle - a fireball or similar burst effect can catch targets you don't have LOE to (like a zombie just around the corner) whereas lightning bolt can't do that.
Malin Genie
First Post
Caliban said:
I don't see that it necessarily does (I have certainly never thought of my interpretation as a House Rule, just the best way to understand lightning bolt given the potential confusino between stats and flavour text.)
The description states that the lightning bolt begins at the caster's fingertips: IMHO all that means is that the area (as defined in the spell stat block) must start at the caster, not that the origin of the damage is at the caster (cf. fireball, where the centre of the burst, as the origin of the damage, is the point relative to which cover must be assessed, regardless of where the caster us located.)
If it were literally a 'stroke' then it would be a Ray spell rather than having an Area of Effect - and the stat block trumps the flavour text.
As regards the special property of penetrating beyond barriers; I don't see it as a problem. The barrier is in the AoE - it gets damaged - if that damage is enough to break it more squares are open to the caster's LoE so can be affected.
Hypersmurf
Moderatarrrrh...
It's an instantaneous spell, though. If the damage is enough to break it, then by the time more squares are open, the caster's LoE is irrelevant.
-Hyp.
Malin Genie said:
To get your interpretation you have to decide that most of the text in the spell is flavor text, and furthermore you have to assume that Lightning Bolt functions differently than every other Area spell.
"You release a powerful stroke of electricity..."
"The bolt begins at your fingertips."
"The lightning bolt sets fire to combustibles and damages objects in it's path."
"If the damage caused to an interposing barrier..."
"the bolt may continue beyond the barrier..."
To me, all that indicates that the bolt starts at your fingertips and travels from there to the the limit of it's range.
Furthermore, check page 149 of the PHB, Area: "Some spells affect an area. You select where the spell starts, but otherwise you don't control which creatures or objects the spell affects."
Like every other Area spell, lightning bolt has a point of origin. In the case of lightning bolt, it starts at your fingertips.
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