The spell "Antilife Shell" from the Core Rulebook is described as being a "hemispherical energy field".
While this makes some sense with casters on the ground (though, can creatures burrow into the the shell, then?) it becomes kind of strange when considering flying casters. E.g. which way would the hemisphere be oriented?
A simple spherical emanation wouldn't pose these problems, so that's probably how I'll house rule it in my games, but does anyone find a neat way to make it work in RAW?
It's a "mobile" field, so perhaps it can rotate to ward off incoming creatures from all directions?
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If that`s the case, what is the difference to a sphere then?
Enemies from different directions could all ready their actions to act simultaneousy and SOME could get thru in only that case? That`s absurd. From the words of Paizo itself, there isn`t supposed to be facing in the game anymore, yet here we have facing clearly relevant. I say f!!% the RAW and make it a sphere because anything else is a worry, and there ISN`T supposed to be facing in the game.
Not to mention the threat of burrowing creatures...
Well I don't see th eissu ethere... It's hemishperical so yes you have to worry about burrowing creature... It's not directionnal, it's centered on you so it goes from all around you to over you, if you are flying I would rule that it goes from over you to the ground...
And I see no facing issue either... Its hemispherical around you, no facing here... :)
Maybe you are forgetting that the spell is moving with you and that "Forcing an abjuration barrier against creatures that the spell keeps at bay collapses the barrier.", so basically it's difficult to move without collapsing the barrier... ;)
Sorry Loengrin, I didn't quite get your point, especially
It's not directionnal, it's centered on you so it goes from all around you to over you, if you are flying I would rule that it goes from over you to the ground...
And I see no facing issue either... Its hemispherical around you, no facing here... :)
But I'm not a native speaker, so maybe that's the reason. Are you implying that the caster isn't in the middle of a sphere of which only half exists but in the middle of the hemisphere itself? My point definitely wasn't about moving with the (hemi)sphere, though.
I just wondered whether anyone knew a sound reason for the use of the term "hemispherical" (which isn't used in the spell "Antiplant Shell", btw), but I guess it's just fluff copied over from 3.5. So I'm with Quandary on that for now, though I guess facing would still be possible the way you "face" a tower shield to grant you total cover. Not the way I see the spell.
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And I see no facing issue either... Its hemispherical around you, no facing here... :)
Hemisphere´s can have their flat side on the bottom, on their top, or you can even have horizonatally-facing hemispheres in all 360* of a horizontal plane. This is the exact same thing as facing, though in this case it isn´t connected to your personal face or direction of gaze.
Further, the spell lists it's area as a 10' radius emanation, with no mention of hemispheres in the area line. Radius effects being spheres by default, there is a direct conflict with the RAW of the Area line and the text of the spell... if it's meant to have a nonstandard Area, that should be indicated in SOME manner in the Area line itself, even if it requires reading the rest of the spell. But that's not the case, it has a 100% standard spherical area Area line.