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<blockquote data-quote="Empirate" data-source="post: 5367994" data-attributes="member: 78958">It bothers me that this thread seems to require another answer after vegepygmy's excellent and concise analysis. Nevertheless, it could be that some people take the seeming objections radmod brought up more seriously than they need be taken. For the sake of those people, here's a part of the SRD:Here follow the standard entries in the spell description, i.e. the standard format part before the descriptive text. Every description given here would therefore refer only to the block of info outside the text describing a spell's functioning. I'll cut to the chase:This obviously implies that &quot;a target or targets&quot; refers to subjects given in a (facultative) &quot;Target: ...&quot; line. Spells that &quot;have a target or targets&quot; in this sense have a target by virtue of having a &quot;Target: ...&quot; entry in their standard format spell description.Let's look at Acid Arrow:The spell description has no &quot;Target: ...&quot; entry. Thus, the spell has no Target in our sense. It produces an Effect instead, namely, an arrow of acid which pops up &quot;in your hand&quot;. This arrow of acid (the Effect created by a spell that is now finished casting) can immediately be aimed at a target. This requires a ranged attack, which works like any other ranged attack. Most pertinently, it can be used to attack into a square you cannot see into, like a crossbow or a thrown dagger. This is quite clearly spelled out in Complete Arcane.Another example of Effect spells without a &quot;Target: ...&quot; entry, which can still be used to hit a target with a ranged attack, are Ray spells.This should be enough to convince anybody that Effect spells can be aimed at things you can't see. Also, this description all but spells out the definition of a &quot;targeted spell&quot;. You wouldn't contend that you could &quot;aim a ray as if using a ranged weapon&quot; if you didn't have a target. But it's still no &quot;targeted spell&quot;. Because it doesn't have a &quot;Target: ...&quot; entry.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Empirate, post: 5367994, member: 78958"] It bothers me that this thread seems to require another answer after vegepygmy's excellent and concise analysis. Nevertheless, it could be that some people take the seeming objections radmod brought up more seriously than they need be taken. For the sake of those people, here's a part of the SRD: Here follow the standard entries in the spell description, i.e. the standard format part before the descriptive text. Every description given here would therefore refer only to the block of info outside the text describing a spell's functioning. I'll cut to the chase: This obviously implies that "a target or targets" refers to subjects given in a (facultative) "Target: ..." line. Spells that "have a target or targets" in this sense have a target by virtue of having a "Target: ..." entry in their standard format spell description. Let's look at Acid Arrow: The spell description has no "Target: ..." entry. Thus, the spell has no Target in our sense. It produces an Effect instead, namely, an arrow of acid which pops up "in your hand". This arrow of acid (the Effect created by a spell that is now finished casting) can immediately be aimed at a target. This requires a ranged attack, which works like any other ranged attack. Most pertinently, it can be used to attack into a square you cannot see into, like a crossbow or a thrown dagger. This is quite clearly spelled out in Complete Arcane. Another example of Effect spells without a "Target: ..." entry, which can still be used to hit a target with a ranged attack, are Ray spells. This should be enough to convince anybody that Effect spells [I]can [/I]be aimed at things you can't see. Also, this description all but spells out the definition of a "targeted spell". You wouldn't contend that you could "aim a ray as if using a ranged weapon" if you didn't have a target. But it's still no "targeted spell". Because it doesn't have a "Target: ..." entry. [/QUOTE]

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