Questions about Scorching Burst!

[Spinachcat]

SCORCHING BURST - Wizard Attack 1
A vertical column of golden flame burns all within
At-Will + Arcane, Fire, Implement
Standard Action
Area = burst 1 within 10 squares
Target: Each creature in burst
Attack: +5 vs. Reflex
Hit: 1D6+5 fire damage

Here are my questions:

1) How is burst area determined? Is counted from a single point and thus takes up 4 squares which are all adjacent to that center point? Or is it counted from a single target square and all adjacent squares for a total of 9 squares?

2) A large monster takes up 4 squares. Does he take 1D6+5 or does each square that he occupies take its own damage, so he takes a total of 4D6+20?

3) How tall is the vertical column? If we assume a square is 5 feet, then the column would be 5 feet high. Is that correct?

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

SCORCHING BURST - Wizard Attack 1
A vertical column of golden flame burns all within
At-Will + Arcane, Fire, Implement
Standard Action
Area = burst 1 within 10 squares
Target: Each creature in burst
Attack: +5 vs. Reflex
Hit: 1D6+5 fire damage

Here are my questions:

1) How is burst area determined? Is counted from a single point and thus takes up 4 squares which are all adjacent to that center point? Or is it counted from a single target square and all adjacent squares for a total of 9 squares?

2) A large monster takes up 4 squares. Does he take 1D6+5 or does each square that he occupies take its own damage, so he takes a total of 4D6+20?

3) How tall is the vertical column? If we assume a square is 5 feet, then the column would be 5 feet high. Is that correct?

1) 9 squares

2) 1d6 +5 only

3) We have no information on that, but I would assume that a burst obeys the same vertical rules as horizontal, meaning it is 10 feet high (unless you want to say you're setting it off five feet off the ground, in which case it's 15 feet high).

 

[Revinor]

3) How tall is the vertical column? If we assume a square is 5 feet, then the column would be 5 feet high. Is that correct?

I don't think that height plays any role in D&D 4th edition. You cannot stack miniatures on top of each other, no z-axis, so it is up to flavor how high the column of flame is.

I would make it higher then the area of effect - if it is the same or lower, it hardly qualifies as 'vertical column', more like 'horizontal blob'. 20-30 feet tall should do the trick, with direct hit on central square and blast affecting surrounding squares (so 20' x 5' x 5' in visual effect).

 

[IceFractal]

You cannot stack miniatures on top of each other, no z-axis

I doubt that. We already know Fly is in (albeit higher level), there are definitely flying creatures, and more to the point, ladders.

 

[eleran]

I don't think that height plays any role in D&D 4th edition. You cannot stack miniatures on top of each other, no z-axis, so it is up to flavor how high the column of flame is.

I would make it higher then the area of effect - if it is the same or lower, it hardly qualifies as 'vertical column', more like 'horizontal blob'. 20-30 feet tall should do the trick, with direct hit on central square and blast affecting surrounding squares (so 20' x 5' x 5' in visual effect).

Actually it is quite pertinent if the wizard finds himself faced by a group of critters with some flying and some on the ground it could be very important to know how high the column is. My guess is this will be made clear one way or another in the full book when they come out.

 

[keterys]

I'd go out on a limb and say that you would pick a center square off the ground and hit a 3x3x3 area. If you don't want to hit that high, target the one on the ground for 3x3x2.

 

[Revinor]

I doubt that. We already know Fly is in (albeit higher level), there are definitely flying creatures, and more to the point, ladders.

So you think that if you have 'fly' movement will allow you to end your turn over somebody's else miniature? I seriously doubt it. It will allow you to cross some types of impassable terrain and probably move over enemy minis without provoking AoO, but to allow you to end the movement on top of somebody is probably too much.

Ladders? Are we playing D&D or Snakes&Ladders? Either ladder will be short (and then it doesn't matter) or if we are talking about surface-to-Underdark epic ladders, it probably makes more sense to cast the spells perpendicular to wall (so map instead of representing north/west/south/east will represent up/left-of-ladder/down/right-of-ladder and you get burst 1 on such map).

 

[Revinor]

If you don't want to hit that high, target the one on the ground for 3x3x2.

Do you think that 3x3x2 is something called 'vertical column' ?

 

[Incenjucar]

A column is just another way to look at a disk.

But yeah, I have a feeling the Z axis is going to be, yet again, neglected in thought, which has been a D&D weakness regardless of edition. There's a reason my first question to the panel when they announced the DI was if it would support the 3rd dimension, and they kind of stared for a second. :\

 

[FadedC]

So you think that if you have 'fly' movement will allow you to end your turn over somebody's else miniature? I seriously doubt it. It will allow you to cross some types of impassable terrain and probably move over enemy minis without provoking AoO, but to allow you to end the movement on top of somebody is probably too much.

Hmm....yeah I definitely think that if you can fly you can end your turn 20' feet over somones head. If that were not the case then even I would admit that D&D is becoming more a miniatures game then a roleplaying game.

Edit: DDI may be another matter entirely due to technical limitations