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I have a player who believes while Lightning Bolt begins at your fingertips, because the Range of the spell is listed at 120 feet you have a 120 foot line from your fingertips before the spell goes off and delivers the 120 foot long bolt. I explained to the player the spell clearly states the bolt begins at your fingertips and the Range and Area of the the spell are listed the same at 120 feet because essentially you are blasting a 120 foot line from yourself with electrical damage. Since I was the DM my ruling at the table stood, however I told the player I would see if anyone out there was using lightning bolt the way he viewed it, or if most people were adjudicating the spell the way I viewed it. Everyone's comments are welcome because the more opinions the more well rounded the argument will be one way or the other.
You are correct. On p. 175-6 of the PHB it defines a "line-shaped" spell as one that shoots away from you in a line. It starts from your square and extends to its range limit. It affects all creatures in squares that the line passes through or touches.
Moreover, with a range of 120 feet, the spell can't affect anything beyond a 120-foot radius from the caster.
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I have a player who believes while Lightning Bolt begins at your fingertips, because the Range of the spell is listed at 120 feet you have a 120 foot line from your fingertips before the spell goes off and delivers the 120 foot long bolt.
How does the bolt "begin at your fingertips" but actually begins 120 feet away from your fingertips? Also, if his reading of the rule was right, it would make it a pretty worthless dungeon spell, wouldn't it? I mean how many dungeon rooms do you have a 120 foot range before you are encountering bad guys?
I think that it was mostly 2nd edition where you could start the bolt anywhere within the range. But then you could also fork it and it would bounce off of walls as well.
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Cones are treated the same way. They start next to you and their range dictates how far they reach.
The Disintegrate spell is also quite clear in that it starts where you are and reaches out to a maximum range, even though it can only hit the single target.
The PHB discusses line effects and doesn't suggest they start anywhere other than next to the caster.
Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
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How does the bolt "begin at your fingertips" but actually begins 120 feet away from your fingertips? Also, if his reading of the rule was right, it would make it a pretty worthless dungeon spell, wouldn't it? I mean how many dungeon rooms do you have a 120 foot range before you are encountering bad guys?I think that it was mostly 2nd edition where you could start the bolt anywhere within the range. But then you could also fork it and it would bounce off of walls as well.
I think 3e might have had a range of "Close" (exclusive of the length of the bolt) as well, so that might be a good point of comparison as well.
And add me to the chorus of "it starts at your fingertips" means literally that "it starts at your fingertips."