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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jhaelen" data-source="post: 5611961" data-attributes="member: 46713">The things is: Fireball needs a clear path, so you need to check if it's actually possible for it to reach the designated target space. Otherwise it might hit an obstacle on its way and explode somewhere else (e.g. in the back of your fighter buddy right in front of you, who is trying to protect you <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />).AFAIK, that's been a property of fireballs in every edition. It's also part of the reason why a commonly used advanced player tactic is to throw the fireball at an angle (the other being a reduction in the affected area at the ground level).In 1e (and probably in 2e) fireballs would also extend beyond their usual area of effect until they filled a certain volume, potentially causing you to incinerate half of the dungeon likely including your feet.In 3e (and I think in 4e) you also have to check if any target has cover against it. Though that's probably the DMs job, if a pc is casting the fireball.Now, of course, if you aren't fond of using minis you may decide to ignore all that stuff and have the fireball auto-hit all of the enemies and none of your allies but imho, that's pretty far into homebrew territory.</blockquote>