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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Neonchameleon" data-source="post: 7649572" data-attributes="member: 87792">This isn't actually so.  In 2e it fills a set volume - which isn't always the area the caster intends to fill (notably if you're dropping a fireball in a tunnel complex).  In 3e (or at least 3.5) the effect is a spread, which means the effects round corners are ... odd for an instantaneous effect especially as it can break through some cover without reducing its area.  In 4e it's a burst meaning cover works against it.  In all three editions mentioned it doesn't always quite do what the caster intended.  That might be pedantic (I don't think so but you may see it as such) but the next point really isn't.The very fact the save is made on reflex demonstrates that the fireball is patchy and full of eddies.  Someone can literally be standing next to the epicentre of the fireball and save without leaving the area of effect.  How are they doing it?  Aligning their body to be edge on to the fireball and behind a shield?  That's attack vs defence stuff.  Inherent magical protection?  Again attack vs defence.In pre-3e this wasn't such a problem - with one minute combat rounds and no mechanism offered for the save, it could be setting up minor magical wards quite happily.  And this was underlined by the defence difficulty being flat.  In 3e this, of course, changed.  The caster's stat and feats mattered and the mechanism became explicit (reflex rather than save vs spell).  Caster skill matters independently of how powerful the fireball is.  Which means the caster is doing something more than simple grid-placement.Except that if it's deep actor, and has an instantaneous effect (as it literally does in 3.X) reflexes shouldn't matter.  Positioning should.  "Can I read where they are about to be well enough to put the fireball in exactly the right place?"That said, the fact a pit trap in 4e rolls an attack against reflex is weird.  So even I have the odd tick here.</blockquote>

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