Sleep does it go around corners?

[TaranTheWanderer]

I've asked something similar before.

My next adventure, I'm shrinking the party down 1/12 of their size to go in to a gopher hole to rescue a fairy that was kidnapped by germalines. So, the little critters normally have 1 or 2 hps but I'm giving them grimlock stats for the purposes of the party being 'tiny'.

The thing is...their spells still have normal effect. So, when the bard casts sleep, it hits a 20 foot zone...they will be measuring in inches. The players don't usually realize that their spells aren't subject to the 'shrinking magic'. Technically, the sleep would hit every creature in the entire complex...but only if it is allowed to go around corners and through the tunnels. It will definitely hit everyone in the room, including the players and, since everything in the complex only has 1 to 2 hit points, it'll zap everyone.

thoughts?

I was secretly hoping someone would cast mage hand...heh, heh.... but nobody took it. Or burning hands...

edit: this is a level 1-3 adventure

 

[Len]

No, sleep doesn't go around corners. A spell's area of effect is blocked by solid obstructions (such as walls). (Assuming we're talking about 5e, there were some exceptions in earlier editions.)

 

[Staffan]

What Len said. The relevant rules text is: "A spell's effect expands in straight lines from the point of origin. If no unblocked straight line extends from the point of origin to a location within the area of effect, that location isn't included in the spell's area. To block one of these imaginary lines, an obstruction must provide total cover, as explained in chapter 9."

3e differentiated between bursts (blocked by corners) and spreads (go around corners, though not through them), but 5e doesn't deal in that sort of malarkey.

 

[Oofta]

Like others have said, spells spread out from the point of origin. The few exceptions to this such as cloud kill specify that they go around corners.

 

[Tony Vargas]

In 3e there was a 'spread' that went around corners, but even then, Sleep was a burst, and didn't. So you're outta luck. ;P


I don't see why spell effects shouldn't scale down like everything else, though.

 

[TaranTheWanderer]

In 3e there was a 'spread' that went around corners, but even then, Sleep was a burst, and didn't. So you're outta luck. ;P


I don't see why spell effects shouldn't scale down like everything else, though.

Well, it’s better for the adventure if they don’t hit the whole complex with one spell.

Part of the fun of the adventure is they are small and are dealing with the problems that tiny things have to deal with.

A friend dm’d this adventure way, way back to when I was in high school. I when we found out that mage hand was the width of an entire tunnel, it was hilarious and fun and was put to good use. I was playing the wizard and accidentally put us all to sleep but I don’t remember how the dm adjudicated it.

Anyways, I wanted to try it as a one shot in 5e

 

[Tony Vargas]

Well, it’s better for the adventure if they don’t hit the whole complex with one spell.

Could be mildly amusing. Wizard casts Sleep, everyone in the entire complex falls asleep. They all wake up later. Net effect, y'all have to stand up.

Part of the fun of the adventure is they are small and are dealing with the problems that tiny things have to deal with.

A friend dm’d this adventure way, way back to when I was in high school. I when we found out that mage hand was the width of an entire tunnel, it was hilarious and fun and was put to good use. I was playing the wizard and accidentally put us all to sleep but I don’t remember how the dm adjudicated it.

Anyways, I wanted to try it as a one shot in 5e

By all means, have fun with it.

You're certainly free to rule that the effect goes around corners or through walls - since you're talking pretty thin 'walls' that might not count as total cover at full size, say.

 

[TaranTheWanderer]

Could be mildly amusing. Wizard casts Sleep, everyone in the entire complex falls asleep. They all wake up later. Net effect, y'all have to stand up.

That, and alerting the entire complex that there's funny business happening and they send out more scouts to investigate. Might make things more difficult.

By all means, have fun with it.

You're certainly free to rule that the effect goes around corners or through walls - since you're talking pretty thin 'walls' that might not count as total cover at full size, say.

Yeah, RAW works well for the adventure as it's written so I won't have to house rule that it goes through walls. I'm excited to see them fight a gremlin riding a ground hog.

 

[GMMichael]

Technically, the sleep would hit every creature in the entire complex...but only if it is allowed to go around corners and through the tunnels. It will definitely hit everyone in the room, including the players and, since everything in the complex only has 1 to 2 hit points, it'll zap everyone.

thoughts?

. . .edit: this is a level 1-3 adventure

Sleep works around corners for PCs, but not for NPCs. Reason: keeping players happy. Just to explore a bit, there's no reason why having a fetish related to the target wouldn't allow a spell to transcend material barriers.

Also, the party wizard becomes unbalanced if her spells vastly increase in effect. Even in relative terms. Which might throw off the "level 1-3" part. Just sayin'.

 

[TaranTheWanderer]

Sleep works around corners for PCs, but not for NPCs. Reason: keeping players happy. Just to explore a bit, there's no reason why having a fetish related to the target wouldn't allow a spell to transcend material barriers.

Also, the party wizard becomes unbalanced if her spells vastly increase in effect. Even in relative terms. Which might throw off the "level 1-3" part. Just sayin'.

I don’t usually play that way. If a PC can get a fetish to target someone beyond physical barriers, the. So should an NPC. I actually think that’s a cool way to turn a spell in to a ritual so that you can ignore line of effect.

The reference to level 1-3 was just to say that no-one has fireball, which would kill everything. It increases a wizards effectiveness in some regards: her cantrips are more damaging; but her area effect spellls are too dangerous to use as they will always target everyone in the room, including themselves and allies.