We owned Rob Heinsoo last night

[Jer]

It was a joke...



However, since you brought it up...

Any volume can be elevated above floor level. But the resulting effects are determined by the shape the rules use to approximate it. A sphere can be targeted in the air, so that it has a smaller "footprint" at floor level. A cube cannot (unless you tip it on a corner, but that's another story).

I don't understand this at all. If you elevate the center of a sphere with a radius of 3' to a point 5' above the ground, anyone lying prone would not be affected (as they would be in the 2' area between the bottom of the sphere and the ground.

If you do the same thing with a cube that has a width of 6' (which is the cube you would need to inscribe said sphere into it) you get ... exactly the same thing. The center of the cube is 5' off the ground. 3' of the cube hangs down leaving a 2' gap between the base of the cube and the floor.

The fact that the system now counts all squares that are "touched" by the edge of a circle or sphere as squares within the area (as opposed to the old system that said that any square that wasn't completely contained within the inscribed circle was "safe" from the effect) is not, in fact, relevant to this particular example.

 

[Pbartender]

I don't understand this at all. If you elevate the center of a sphere with a radius of 3' to a point 5' above the ground, anyone lying prone would not be affected (as they would be in the 2' area between the bottom of the sphere and the ground.

If you do the same thing with a cube that has a width of 6' (which is the cube you would need to inscribe said sphere into it) you get ... exactly the same thing. The center of the cube is 5' off the ground. 3' of the cube hangs down leaving a 2' gap between the base of the cube and the floor.

Go by the rules for a moment, and let's use 5' squares... Take a sphere that's 15 feet across (7 1/2 foot radius). Say that normally the center of the sphere is in the center of a 5'x5'x5' cube at ground level -- that'd be about 2.5' off the ground. That effectively gives us our 'circle' of effect at ground level, right? And there's not really enough room for someone who's prone to duck under it, even at the edges.

Now, raise it up a square, and the circle of effect at ground level shrinks... It's 7.5 feet off the ground, and the only square fully effected is the one in the center. At the edges, someone could feasibly be ducking or prone, and not get hit.

With a cube, it's different. Firing a cube at ground level, gives you a area of effect that's 15' wide by 15' deep by 10' high (5' of height is hidden under ground), and fully effects all targets in a 15' by 15' square.

If you aim 5 feet higher, you still get everyone standing on the ground in a 15' by 15' square, but now the area is 15' high, instead of 10'.



Now, I see what you're saying... If say, there was a large creature that was 2 squares tall, you could aim a cube high enough that it hit his head, but not your medium-sized buddies standing next tio him.

But... by the rules, you technically can't hit someone (medium-sized) standing, while missing the guys who are next to him prone. The resolution of the combat grid doesn't go down that fine.

 

[helium3]

One of the things in 4E I am really starting to like is the whole "winging it". I said more than once at the 4E table, just tell me what you want to do and I will tell you what skill or check is involved.

Here here.

Having played and ran the game for a couple of hours now, it's really easy to see that there's a lot of situations that are intentionally left ambiguous or simply not described with crunch. I was pretty upset/freaked out about this at first. I too had gotten used to the 3E paradigm that every situation must be covered by a specific rule.

But you know what? This change in the high level way the game is approached is freaking awesome and really easy to deal with. In the case above, I would've told the Wizard to make an easy Arcana skill check, with success meaning that he achieves the desired result.

Even if he'd have failed, I think that granting the characters cover isn't a terrible idea. Not sure if I would've thought of that at the time, though.

 

[TarionzCousin]

Here here.

Here, too.

Reward creativity and you increase the fun potential. Everything else is badwrongfun... or so they tell me.