Standardizing Spell Ranges


Homebrew and House Rules


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I would like to propose that ranges for spells be standardised in order to make it possible to write an application that searches for spells by range. I am currently developing a web app to do that but I had to massage the data quite a bit to make it work. I put together some tentative rules that would standardize the range for spells and I am hoping to get some feedback and/or corrections.

1. A spell shall have one of the ranges, Close, Medium, Long, Unlimited, Personal, Touch, or See text.
2. Any spell cast on "you" has a range of "Personal" even if the spell has an area of effect.
3. Any spell cast on an object you touch has a range of "Touch" eeven if the spell targets several objects.
4. Spells with a range of 30 feet or less are range "Close".
5. Spells with a range greater than 30 feet but less than 100 are range "Medium".
6. Spells with a range of 100 feet or more are of range "Long".
7. Spells with no range limit are "Unlimited".

Below is a list of manual fixes I made to the spells in the spell_full.csv data file. The first item on each line is the spell name, second is what I change the range to, third is what it is listed in the csv file. A lot of spells do not have any range listed. Some have things that would make more sense in the "Effect" or "Targets" field. Some I was able to glean from similar spells.

Abundant Ammunition # touch #
Aura Of Distraction # personal #
Ban Corruption # personal #
Blaze of Glory # personal #
Bless Army # unlimited # 1 hex
Burst Of Force # personal #
Burst Of Glory # personal #
Call Animal # see text # see description
Conditional Favor # touch #
Damnation # personal #
Damnation Stride # long (400 ft. + 40 ft./level) #
Death Candle # touch #
Detect Charm # medium (60 ft.) #
Detect Relations # medium #
Fickle Winds # Close #
Explode Head # close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels) #
Fire of Entanglement # see text # special; see text
Fire of Judgment # see text # special, see text
Fire of Vengeance # see text # special, see text
Frozen Note # close #
Guards and Wards # see text # anywhere within the area to be warded
Hammer Of Mending # close, 10 ft. #
Healing Flames # personal #
Imbue Army Special Ability # unlimited # 1 hex
Instant Fake # touch #
Invisibility Sphere # touch #
Massacre # medium #
Paranoia # close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels) #
Repulsion # personal # Up to 10 ft per level
Sonic Form # personal #
Stone Throwing # touch #
Substitute Trail # see text #
Surmount Affliction # personal #
Tactical Insight # unlimited # 1 hex
Tattoo Potion # touch # 1 potion
Telekinetic Storm # personal #


The metamagics to increase spell range each handle one 'class' of ranges. One increases along the touch/short/medium/long spectrum, requiring the spell have one of those ranges, and charging a +1LVL slot per range step given. The other just flat doubles stated range.

Why two? Well, the first one is very versatile, giving a lot of control of the slot cost. Meanwhile, the second one works with those spells with odd ranges. I always just trusted that some Great Mind had seen wisdom in the dichotomy.

If you houserule, be aware of the above, perhaps so you can houserule that, too.


Todor, I sent you a private message about this. Please take a look at your private messages.

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