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General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Theatre of the Mind - How Are You Handling Spell Effects?
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<blockquote data-quote="Tovec" data-source="post: 6334228" data-attributes="member: 95493"><p>It might be better to err in their favour... as they're adjusting to it. But in general I haven't found it necessary. We might have disagreements (we're only human after all) about how something is arranged but I don't try to nitpick or fight them on it. What I gave with the XYZ was more or less how I've run it - almost exclusively with 3.5 and PF games - and rare really had an issue. Usually it won't even get that far. Player wants to shoot that lightning bolt and hit the leader and hit as many enemies as possible, I tell him he's going to hit allies, he understands and accepts, and we move on. If he wants to avoid them then there is another calibration involved with him moving or readjusting but in most of the time I've found this works better than a grid because with a grid you have to be more precise. You draw a line and count the squares affected. With TotM I can run things better, say what's in and what's out and have everyone on the same page in a fraction of the time it would take to measure squares.</p><p></p><p>This is actually become a problem of mine, I'll remember when spells are touch/personal vs. ranged attacks in 3.5 but most of the time I don't ever know the close/medium/long scale because I just run with whatever makes sense at the time. "No you can reach him from this distance. What? It doesn't matter if the spell says it works at 400 feet and this is only 200, you can't reach him." Often that is it. Works fairly well. Sometimes it requires me to say "there is something in the way" but that is rarely an issue. The flip side is also true; that I'll let the close range spells work at longer distances because those distances don't matter to me. Either it is ranged or touch after that I couldn't care less.</p><p></p><p>I find using a grid to be a bog, necessary when I have a LOT of characters on the field, but otherwise I try to avoid it at all costs where I can.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Tovec, post: 6334228, member: 95493"] It might be better to err in their favour... as they're adjusting to it. But in general I haven't found it necessary. We might have disagreements (we're only human after all) about how something is arranged but I don't try to nitpick or fight them on it. What I gave with the XYZ was more or less how I've run it - almost exclusively with 3.5 and PF games - and rare really had an issue. Usually it won't even get that far. Player wants to shoot that lightning bolt and hit the leader and hit as many enemies as possible, I tell him he's going to hit allies, he understands and accepts, and we move on. If he wants to avoid them then there is another calibration involved with him moving or readjusting but in most of the time I've found this works better than a grid because with a grid you have to be more precise. You draw a line and count the squares affected. With TotM I can run things better, say what's in and what's out and have everyone on the same page in a fraction of the time it would take to measure squares. This is actually become a problem of mine, I'll remember when spells are touch/personal vs. ranged attacks in 3.5 but most of the time I don't ever know the close/medium/long scale because I just run with whatever makes sense at the time. "No you can reach him from this distance. What? It doesn't matter if the spell says it works at 400 feet and this is only 200, you can't reach him." Often that is it. Works fairly well. Sometimes it requires me to say "there is something in the way" but that is rarely an issue. The flip side is also true; that I'll let the close range spells work at longer distances because those distances don't matter to me. Either it is ranged or touch after that I couldn't care less. I find using a grid to be a bog, necessary when I have a LOT of characters on the field, but otherwise I try to avoid it at all costs where I can. [/QUOTE]
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