What is the volume of a Fireball?

[drunkmoogle]

You could play some interesting tricks with the radius...

If you want a Fireball to affect only a 10' radius on the ground, how high does it need to be when detonated? 15' Radius? 5' Radius? Hmmm... let me break out my DMG...

Okay, this is what I've got. I overlapped the 20' radius so that it accounts for three dimensions from the point of origin.

To affect a 10x10 Square, the fireball needs to be 20' above the ground. This has the added benefit of burning creatures who are Large/Tall if they are within a 30' Square.

To affect a 30x30 Square, the fireball can be either 15' or 10' above the ground. The 10' off-the-ground has the added benefit of burning creatures who are Large/Tall if they are in the squares normally covered by a "level" fireball.

And that's all. Kinda makes Lightning Bolt look even less versitile, now.

The main problem now is proving this in layman's terms to a DM who flunked geometry... I wish I had a 3-d hologram map.

Tabletop RPGs of the future will rock.

 

[LostSoul]

I guess I'm missing the part where it says it affects any volume above or below the spread area. I know it's a fireball , but do the rules support this?

Just wondering if digging foxholes is a good way to avoid a fireball.

 

[andargor]

I guess I'm missing the part where it says it affects any volume above or below the spread area. I know it's a fireball , but do the rules support this?

Just wondering if digging foxholes is a good way to avoid a fireball.

Foxholes won't help you:

A sphere-shaped spell expands from its point of origin to fill a spherical area. Spheres may be bursts, emanations, or spreads.

Andargor

 

[LostSoul]

w3rd.

 

[The Souljourner]

It's a sphere with a radius of 20'. That's 20' in every direction including up and down... it's just that 95% of the time, it gets cast on a plane (flat surface, not the flying thing), so the bottom half is wasted.

By the way, shouldn't there be a 10x10 diagram on that fireball map? The view from the side should be identical to the view from the top, right? And the view from the top shows the outer edge being 2 5' cubes... in fact... in one hemisphere there should be a 20' radius layer (5500cu feet), two of the 15' radius layers (4000), and one 5' radius layer (500).... giving us...

16000 in one half... so double that and you get 32,000 cubic feet. Much closer to the actual value.

-The Souljourner

 

[Fieari]

My group has definitely house-ruled volumetric fireballs, but then, we've got a physics major and a physics minor in the house, so we love doing that kind of math. Our fireballs fill tight corridors for quite an extensive distance.

 

[Patlin]

The volume changes depending on where you place the fireball. For example, if you cast a fireball within a 1'x1'x1' space, the volume is 1 cubic foot. (Maybe you're a pixie or maybe I'm artificially making the math easier.) As others have pointed out, this is one of the ways 3rd Edition simplified life.

 

[Treebore]

Volume of a fireball doesn't matter in 3.0/3.5. It just does its 20 foot radius spread in whatever direction it can go, if its blocked it goes no further in that or those direction/s. Much simpler now.

 

[Bryin]

if youve ever played with explosives and seen the smoke afterwards, w/o the damn wind of course , hope that helped otherwise just use what some people are posting or find someone with a really advanced comp and has 3D game making stuff.

 

[The Souljourner]

Volume of a fireball doesn't matter in 3.0/3.5.

Of course it matters! It just doesn't change anything in game!

-The Souljourner