Wizard + Dungeon Door = Invincible Wizard?

[evilgenius8000]

1. Monster brutes and soldiers occupy front line PCs, spreading in a way to prevent area attacks without hitting wizard's allies.
2. Artillery monsters shoot wizard, Controllers move him into room so skirmishers and lurkers can kill him.
3. ?????
4. Profit!

 

[James McMurray]

Use LINE OF SIGHT against him.

Your diagrams are wrong. Line of sight only requires you to be able to draw a line from any corner of your square to any part of the target's space. Every enemy in your pictures is a valid target, though some may have cover.

 

[Daniel D. Fox]

Your diagrams are wrong. Line of sight only requires you to be able to draw a line from any corner of your square to any part of the target's space. Every enemy in your pictures is a valid target, though some may have cover.

Sorry, I meant Line of Effect.

In order to target a square for an area-based attack, you have to have line of effect. If the Wizard is standing as indicated within the diagrams, he only has line of effect on those enemies as marked in yellow.

 

[James McMurray]

Line of Effect and Line of Sight are almost identical. Both require only a single line from you to the target.

Line of Effect: You can target a creature or a square if there’s an unblocked path between it and you—that is, if you have line of effect to it. If every imaginary line you trace to a target passes through or touches a solid obstacle, you don’t have line of effect to the target.

Line of Sight: To determine whether you can see a target, pick a corner of your space and trace an imaginary line from that corner to any part of the target’s space. You can see the target if at least one line doesn’t pass through or touch an object or an effect—such as a wall, a thick curtain, or a cloud of fog—that blocks your vision.

The bold lines are functionally identical, except that line of sight cares about vision and line of effect cares about how solid the obstruction is.

 

[Daniel D. Fox]

Line of Effect and Line of Sight are almost identical. Both require only a single line from you to the target.

Line of Effect: You can target a creature or a square if there’s an unblocked path between it and you—that is, if you have line of effect to it. If every imaginary line you trace to a target passes through or touches a solid obstacle, you don’t have line of effect to the target.

Line of Sight: To determine whether you can see a target, pick a corner of your space and trace an imaginary line from that corner to any part of the target’s space. You can see the target if at least one line doesn’t pass through or touch an object or an effect—such as a wall, a thick curtain, or a cloud of fog—that blocks your vision.

The bold lines are functionally identical, except that line of sight cares about vision and line of effect cares about how solid the obstruction is.

If by what the PHB explains, he doesn't have line of effect or line of sight with someone standing behind the threshold, right?

P is player
E is enemy
X is no los/loe

 

[Dracorat]

He has line of sight and effect to every creature in that diagram.

He needs only ONE of the corners of his square to be able to trace an unblocked line to any ONE corner of the creature's square.

Edit:
And blocked by other creatures only gives cover, but doesn't block LoS / LoE

 

[evilgenius8000]

The character has line of effect to all enemies.

Light yellow = no cover
Dark yellow = cover (-2 to attack)

EDIT: that large region of dark yellow in the top right shouldn't be there..

 

[Daniel D. Fox]

He has line of sight and effect to every creature in that diagram.

He needs only ONE of the corners of his square to be able to trace an unblocked line to any ONE corner of the creature's square.

Edit:
And blocked by other creatures only gives cover, but doesn't block LoS / LoE

Wow, if that's the case I have been doing this wrong for a really, really long time...like 2E long time.

Bizarre!

 

[Dracorat]

Wow, if that's the case I have been doing this wrong for a really, really long time...like 2E long time.

Bizarre!

Don't sweat it, I still run across stuff that surprises me on a regular basis, even though I DM almost weekly.

 

[Appleseeth]

Can you go into a little more detail with this? I guess I'm confused as to what the problem really is. Is it that the Wizard isn't in melee, and therefore it doesn't feel like he's really at risk? Or is it really a player issue, in that the player doesn't seem engaged in the game?

If it's a character risk issue, a lot of the suggestions already posted will work fine. If it's a player interest issue, then that requires more than encounter design.

I guess what I really meant was that the wizard just doesn't feel like part of the team when taking these tactics. Sure the party is protecting him, and he's dealing out damage, but that's where the synergy stops. Everyone else is helping each other out with CA and other bonuses.

Also, count me a little disappointed that no one got the "squishing your head" joke.