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Hello,
For the area of these spells it says 10 foot cubes, shapeable. Some people have posted that for the spell firestorm the cube has to start adjacent to the caster, and each subsequent cube has to be touching the cube placed before it. Is this true because I cannot find anything that says this is true in the core rulebook. Can you shape this spell in anyway you want? Does the same thing hold true for reverse gravity?
Also, if you create the reverse gravity area and there is no ceiling, but open sky, do they keep oscillating at the top and they cannot move because they are just oscillating unless they can fly or levitate. Can they still act if they are oscillating or move?
--THanks
Hurm. I can't find anything in either spell description to suggest that the cubes need to be touching. Unless there is something in the errata..?
From reading the spells I can share my own thoughts...
Both spells give an area of "two 10ft cudes per level(S)"]/i] (for "Firestorm") and [i]"up to one 10ft cude per level(S)" (for "Reverse Gravity")
Nothing suggests in either spell that these cubes "have" to be stacked ontop of one another (though to do such with "Reverse Gravity" is a good tactical choice vs nonflying opponents)
But on page 214 of the Core Rulebook it explains about Area attributes of spells and this is what it has to say...
(S) - "Shapeable"
If an area of effect or entry ends with an "(S)" you can shape the spell. A shaped spell or area can have no dimension smaller than 10 feet. Many effects or areas are given as cubes to make it easy to model irregular shapes. Three-dimensional volumes are most often needed to define aerial or underwater effects and areas.
Now given the ranges of the spells and the above entry - nothing suggests that these 'cubes' have to be adjacent and can be spread out as required within the spells range as befits your current situation.
It should be noted though that you can use as much of or as little of these 'cubes' total area of coverage as required but the minimum is a 10ft cube area (so casting it in very close proximity or a narrow corridor 5ft wide causes the spell to change shape to fill the same required volume ((example)20ft long section of corridor with a 20 ft high ceiling but the corridor is only 5 ft wide...the result?, a 15ft long and high firestorm that fills the 5ft wide corridor if my calculations of volume are correct) as a 10ft cube would fill.
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The spell's Point of Origin does not have to be adjacent to the caster, it can be anywhere in Medium range (100ft+10ft/lvl), though I do believe that each 10 ft cube must have line of effect from the origin point. In 3.5 I think the FAQ or the Rules Compendium may have stated each cube had to touch at least one other, but I don't have access to them ATM.
However the portion of the (S)hapable text does say, "Many effects or areas are given as cubes to make it easy to model irregular shapes." I would say by definition a shape has to be contiguous, even an irregular one.
--Vrock the House!
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When I first got a druid of high enough to cast firestorm, I realized there was nothing saying you couldn't stack all the cubes in only two 20ft. squares(half of the cubes in one spot, half in the other). This got shot down quicker than a Huge Neon Duck with a weakness against arrows/bullets...
Firestorm is a great spell for taking out armies though.
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When I first got a druid of high enough to cast firestorm, I realized there was nothing saying you couldn't stack all the cubes in only two 20ft. squares(half of the cubes in one spot, half in the other). This got shot down quicker than a Huge Neon Duck with a weakness against arrows/bullets...
Firestorm is a great spell for taking out armies though.
That would have been completely legal. You take the same damage if you're in one square or 36 of them.
--Vrocket Launcher Tag
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When I first got a druid of high enough to cast firestorm, I realized there was nothing saying you couldn't stack all the cubes in only two 20ft. squares(half of the cubes in one spot, half in the other). This got shot down quicker than a Huge Neon Duck with a weakness against arrows/bullets...
Firestorm is a great spell for taking out armies though.
That would have been completely legal. You take the same damage if you're in one square or 36 of them.
--Vrocket Launcher Tag
My take on it was that you take damage from each cube you were in, so if 20 cubes were in one 10ft square, it would have been for 400d6, and then you could place the other 20 cubes however you wanted. Granted, I could only do that at 20th level, and most things have resistence/immunity to fire by then, and it would have been a in only 20ft of the area, but oh how I would have enjoyed seeing my DM's face when I said I needed 400d6...
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If the target of a reverse gravity spell does not hit a ceiling and cannot fly in anyway, does it just oscillate until the spell ends making it unable to act? Can the creature cast spells or fire ranged weapons and can it move at all?
thanks
Reverse gravity does just what it says it does: inverts gravity. Think of those in the field as being subjected to a levitation spell, with the added complication that everything is upside down to them. So, can they move? Not unless they can fly, levitate or have something to push against. Can they use ranged weapons? Technically yes, but being upside down means that their missiles will fall the wrong direction than the shooter is used to to seeing or the missiles will be subject to weird gravitational affects if the shot missile is fired from reverse gravity into regular gravity. For this reason, I would rule it was "virtually impossible" to use shot or thrown ranged weapons while under RG, but if the circumstances were right, I might allow the attacks with a very big negative to hit atop the negative to hits presented in the levitation spell. As for melee attacks, they can certainly make these and I would allow them to be made at the same penalties as the levitation spell.
Many casters like to think of using RG in a "tower" of 10' cubes to hurl enemies into the air for falling damage. In practice, it can be far more effective to set the height at 10' or 20' and have enemies simply hover out of reach, easy picking for spells or ranged attacks by the caster's friends. Consider what cloudkill does if it happens to drift into an area of RG and there are hapless foes hovering in aerial "pits" deep enough to hold the cloud.
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Hmm in thinking about it, reverse gravity does not force those in it to "be upside down". It would still be difficult to use ranged weapons given the inverted gravity and fighting with melee weapons would be like fighting on your back or stomach on the floor, so you still would not be very effective with them. But whatever. I mainly wanted to correct my mistake above. Think "levitate with nothing to push against" and you still have a good idea of the condition of those affected for determining what they can or cannot do.
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Hmm in thinking about it, reverse gravity does not force those in it to "be upside down". It would still be difficult to use ranged weapons given the inverted gravity and fighting with melee weapons would be like fighting on your back or stomach on the floor, so you still would not be very effective with them. But whatever. I mainly wanted to correct my mistake above. Think "levitate with nothing to push against" and you still have a good idea of the condition of those affected for determining what they can or cannot do.
Thanks for the information. It was helpful.
-RB
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Reversing gravity in a small area would make missile weapons useless -- how can a bowman accurately determine the flight of his arrow when gravity will change at some point along the arrow's flight? The same thing applies to thrown weapons AFAIC.
I don't see being upside down as a huge hindrance to aiming a ranged weapon, however. PCs deal with all kinds of weird environments, so being upside down would be the least of their worries!
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Reversing gravity in a small area would make missile weapons useless -- how can a bowman accurately determine the flight of his arrow when gravity will change at some point along the arrow's flight? The same thing applies to thrown weapons AFAIC.
After the first shot, it should be easier to determine how the arrow will fly/fall, but it wouldn't do much damamge...
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Actually funny you mention Levitate... I use Levitates mechanic for attacks when caught in Reverse Gravity.
A levitating creature that attacks with a melee or ranged weapon finds itself increasingly unstable; the first attack has a –1 penalty on attack rolls, the second –2, and so on, to a maximum penalty of –5. A full round spent stabilizing allows the creature to begin again at –1.
--'Cause I'm a Punk Vrocker Yes I am!