No more cone shaped powers?

[Hella_Tellah]

...all radial areas are Boxes now...

Source?

I don't understand why everyone's assuming the 1-1 movement rule will apply to spell areas. Which is more reasonable: using the rules for movement to calculate spell effects and getting square fireballs, or using shape templates that ignore the 1-1 movement rule and getting spherical fireballs? I'm hoping they've finally seen reason and will have spell areas like cones and spheres affect all squares in which they fill a majority of the square.

 

[rkanodia]

Remove cones, add 'wide lines' (long rectangular area of effect, 2-3 squares wide) and call it a day.

 

[Masquerade]

If they'll be missed, why does their removal make "perfect sense".

It makes perfect sense given what we know about 4e design philosophy. I meant nothing more. Sorry if there was an ambiguity.

 

[delericho]

Perhaps they have a very rational explanation.

"We flunked geometry."

Seriously, though, cone areas on a square grid are really messy. They're easy to work out if you have a physical template to use, but without one they genuinely are quite nasty. However, I'm now leaning towards the view that if you're going to go to all the trouble and expense of using a battlemat and miniatures, you might as well invest the $15 for the official D&D spell templates, or whatever. Then, the game rules can be stated as "any square partially under the template is affected".

As an added bonus, this would then let us differentiate wide and narrow cones, and add things like stars, or even waves.

 

[Fundin Strongarm]

Cones are in the 2.0 Miniatures Game so I suspect they'll be there for the RPG as well. They are 6x6, shaped like this:

XXXXXX
XXXXX
XXXX
XXX
XX
X

You can use any of the 3 corners as the starting point.

As for radial effects, they are now boxes in the Miniatures game.

While the Miniatures game is a simplified form of the RPG, it's designed to make the crossover from RPG to Minis reasonably easy to understand.

 

[Quantarum]

I consider myself a 4E supporter, but I just can't get behind this diagonal madness. Are angles really so odious that the rules have to warp reality to keep the game running smoothly? My current game originally involved all new players, I provided each with a small sheet with all the area templates on it and most of them were able to eyeball it within a short time. This is the first time I've seen anything that made me feel the 'dumbing down the game' argument has any merit. The main arcane caster in my group (a huge 4E skeptic) is already sarcastically talking about casting "firecube" and "linear column of cold".

Now I'm worried that there are more "jewels" like this waiting in the wings.

-Q.

 

[am181d]

Conforming effect areas to grids has always been silly. Just use a template and everything it touches are affected. Done and dusted.

 

[cholke]

We must be in the tiny minority that doesn't use a battlemat. It seems as if they keep marginalizing me more and more as the game takes on a one-size-fits-all mentality.

Did everyone use mats before 3.x? I know there are certain mechanics new to the game (from 3.x on) that may be helped by the use of a mat, but they seem to think there is no other way to play. We have been imagining positioning, cones, all all kinds of other things from back in the days of 1e, 2e, Marvel Super Heroes, etc. People have talked about changing the fluff of the game for no real reason. To me, this seems like changing something that has been in the game since I started because of a mechanical problem they have chosen to create.

I don't want to insert the whole MMPORPG discussion in this thread, but instead of the similarities with regards to controllers, leaders, etc., it just seems like the game is being "programmed" like a computer game instead of designed as a role-playing one. I guess I just go back to remembering the game that was fun and imaginative instead of one that is "balanced". It seems more and more like a computer game (NWN) where everyone is min/maxing because the design actually allows for that.

It gets harder to play when you are not playing it specifically the way the designers want/expect it to be played. Maybe it is just time I finally try C&C...

 

[Stone Dog]

Well, there is a first time for everything and this is the first news I actually don't like even a little bit.

I'm sure they have good reasons for this, but it is the first news that actually makes me think that the new system might be the slave to the grid that some people have been worried about.

Boxes instead of circles... hell.

 

[The Ubbergeek]

Look, the majority, I bet, do NOT use mats and all in fact.

It's a strawman argument to say that it's all becoming (again) a wargame.


Also, unbalance tend to be unfun, for me at least. When one side is hoaging all the power and the spot...