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The rules text on cylinder spells seems somewhat contradictory:
When casting a cylinder-shaped spell, you select the spell's point of origin. This point is the center of a horizontal circle, and the spell shoots down from the circle, filling a cylinder. A cylinder-shaped spell ignores any obstructions within its area.
A burst, cone, cylinder, or emanation spell affects only an area, creature, or object to which it has line of effect from its origin (a spherical burst's center point, a cone-shaped burst's starting point, a cylinder's circle, or an emanation's point of origin).
So, if you cast a cylinder shaped spell inside a room, will it effect things outside the room (ignoring the walls) or not (no line of effect)? Or is it saying you need line of effect to the floor within that radius?
My guess is that it works like this:
If you cast a Cylinder with a 20foot radius 40feet high and there is a 10foot high wall at the 10foot radius mark it will occur both inside and outside of the wall. However, if the wall were 45feet high then it would only occur inside the wall.
That would be how I would resolve the disparity.
- Gauss
P.S. Another way to think about it: Place the start point 40feet up and make your circle there. If a wall is blocking part of the circle that high then yes, it is partially blocked. Now extend that effect down to the ground. If it encounters any walls (without roofs) then it goes both inside and outside the walls.
Anyone else have any thoughts on this? Anyone else think the rules text is contradictory? (If so, hit the FAQ button.)
So, if you cast this in a closed room, should it hit things outside the room? What about a room with an open door?
My guess is that it works like this:
If you cast a Cylinder with a 20foot radius 40feet high and there is a 10foot high wall at the 10foot radius mark it will occur both inside and outside of the wall. However, if the wall were 45feet high then it would only occur inside the wall.
That would be how I would resolve the disparity.
- Gauss
P.S. Another way to think about it: Place the start point 40feet up and make your circle there. If a wall is blocking part of the circle that high then yes, it is partially blocked. Now extend that effect down to the ground. If it encounters any walls (without roofs) then it goes both inside and outside the walls.
It does infact say you select the origin and the spell shoots DOWN from the circle, indicating you select the upper edge of the cylinder as origin.
I would agree with your other assumption too, that if the circle gets blocked, then the entire cylinder gets blocked at that point, and if not then not.
So if theres a 10 ft wall flying up 35 ft in the air, then it would block the effect on the ground too.
Walls don't block cylinders, hence the rule on obstacles not stopping it. Ceilings DO stop it unless it does enough damage to break through it, hence the rule on needing line of sight from the origin (which is at the top center of the cylinder).
Seems simple enough to me.
So if you cast it in an enclosed room, you'd hit things on the other side of the wall?
So if you cast it in an enclosed room, you'd hit things on the other side of the wall?
Not if the point of origin is inside the enclosed space with you.
What about if the door was open? A burst would go out the door, but not around the corner. An emanation would go out and around. Where does a cylinder go?
What about if the door was open? A burst would go out the door, but not around the corner. An emanation would go out and around. Where does a cylinder go?
A cylinder goes top to bottom.
With an open door (or a missing section of wall or whatever), it'd still go out.
So say you have two small rooms, side by side on a hallway in a dungeon. Both doors are open. Someone casts Stone Call (40-ft. radius cylinder) in one room. Does it hit people just outside the door? Elsewhere in the hallway? In the other room?
A widened hunter's howl (40-ft. burst) would only get just outside the door. A widened fog cloud (40-ft. spread) would go out the door and probably into the next room. So I guess my question is whether the initial circle is more like a burst/emanation or more like a spread (or if it's something different, though unless it goes through walls, I can't think of what else it could be)?