I was running Kingmaker AP this weekend and the party cleric cast Silence on a point which the enemy spellcaster was in. The spellcaster was large and on his next turn took a five foot step and only 1 of his 4 hexes was in the Silence spell.
In my mind, the spellcaster was out of the silence spell and should be able to cast a spell but the two other DMs in the group disagreed. Their argument was that a large creature with one square in a grease spell or even a fireball would still have to save.
I agreed but I have a bit of a problem with that. Where do you draw the line. Does a colossal dragon who has one of his hexes enter a grease spell have to save vs te grease spell or fall down? If one of his hexes from the back part of his body was in the silent spell, would he not be able to cast a spell?
This seems wrong but by a strict reading of the rules, this seems correct.
Anyone have any thoughts or opinions on this?
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If any of a character's/creatures squares are within an area of effect, they are affected, even only a single square of a very large being.
However, it should be noted that a character/creature can squeeze into an area as small as half its space by doubling movement costs and taking a -4 to AC and attack rolls. If the large caster wished to cast, he could have declared he was squeezing into the 3 squares that were not affected by the silence.
If any of a character's/creatures squares are within an area of effect, they are affected, even only a single square of a very large being.
However, it should be noted that a character/creature can squeeze into an area as small as half its space by doubling movement costs and taking a -4 to AC and attack rolls. If the large caster wished to cast, he could have declared he was squeezing into the 3 squares that were not affected by the silence.
Thanks for the feedback. That makes sense and seems to be a good interpretation of the rules.
The only thing that still seems odd is if a creature is huge at 3x3 or gargantuan at 4x4 and only needs to avoid one square would you still consider that squeezing? That seems a harsh penalty for squeezing into 8/9th of the creatures space of 15/16th of the creatures space.
Unfortunately, by the rules, if you have any less room than your full space you are squeezing. You can squeeze down into a space half of your size. You can squeeze into a smaller space with an Escape Artist check, I believe (it has been a while since I've needed to look over the squeezing rules).
As a GM I would probably be a bit more lenient with excessively large creatures needing only to remove themselves for a single square or two, but by the rules it is double movement cost and a -4 penalty. Not terrible for a large spellcaster evading an area of silence; a bit more meaningful for a bruiser.