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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Greenfield" data-source="post: 6515129" data-attributes="member: 6669384">Area effect spells, such as Fireball, are notorious for being targeted with surgical precision.Using Fireball as the example, the RAW says that the caster points in a direction and declares a distance.  The spell begins centered at that spot (specifically the vertice where grid lines cross.)In practice, players count squares on the battle mat to make sure it's in range, then plot who it will or won't hit (with surgical precision) and pick the precise spot for optimum coverage.It makes sense for a PC to be able to sight a spot on the ground, a rock, bush, edge of a shadow etc, and say "Right there".  And we, as DMs, generally allow it.  It's not exactly as the rules say it should work, but it's workable.Recently I've implemented a house rule to introduce a little bit of tactical uncertainty.  If the caster can see their target location clearly and pin it to a spot on the ground, pinpoint precision is what they get.  If they can't see that "landmark" spot on the ground I roll a D6 as an analogue scatter dice.  Whichever way the 1 pip is facing is the direction of the scatter, and it's off by 5 feet.So if you're aiming at a spot in the air rather than a hard target you'll be close but not necessarily precise.  If I roll the one or the six, the shot is high or low.  If the rolled error isn't possible because they don't have line of effect to the scatter location, then they're right on target.I asked my players if this seemed fair before I implemented the rule, and they all liked it.  In our first occurrence the party Warmage wanted to surgical-strike a group of Orcish raiders, but there were PCs engaged in fighting some of them. I had scattered bits of lichen (check you local hobby or model railroad shop) around to depict low scrub and bushes in the area, and there happened to be one between the Warmage and his chosen target spot.  I pointed this out and mentioned my new rule, with the understanding that it could work just the way he wanted (a 1 or a 6 wuld have still hit everyone he wanted to.)  Some scatters might leave a few out of the burst, others might catch PCs in it.The group (including the warmage) agreed that it was a good rule, and he decided to use a different spell.(And yes, I know that throwing Orcs at a group with fireballs is a PC walkover.  I just don't like to play as if the entire world leveled up with the PCs.)So, thoughts?  Commentaries?  Are there consequences or factors that I didn't thnk of, making this a bad or questionable idea?  Gimme some feedback, please.</blockquote>

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