Placement of area spells

[S'mon]

I make characters on the edge of area effect spells, like a PC fighter in melee combat with NPCs who've just been fireballed, make a save - if they save, no damage. If they fail, they were in the blast area and take damage (1/2 if they have Evasion).

Of course the caster can shift the edge of the area of effect back so it doesn't get the PC, then the NPC fighting him gets to save for no damage!

Simple & effective.

 

[Someone]

I have cardboard circles of various sizes. When anyone cast the spell, takes the cardboard circle, holds it over the grid (about 10 inches) and lets it fall. The error margin is usually about 5 feet, and it´s very funny to let drop a fireball yourself.

 

[Strider The Ranger]

I don't really find that to be a problem. Honestly, it goes both ways. PCs do it to baddies, baddies do it to PCs. I do, however, make the players designate exactly where the spell is to drop. We used to play with magic users able to say "i shoot fireball in the room, far enough away to not hurt my friends but to still kill the enemy. Also, while it would seem easy to designate exactly where you place a spell, accidents still do happen. Once the PCs say "I put the spell's center here" i dont usually allow them to change their minds if they see something wrong with it. I figure that wizards and sorcerers are well enough versed in their craft to be able to designate where they want spells to trigger, provided of course they can see the area, but accidents do happen.