High speed vehicular chases, combat, and spells.

[Mikaze]

Anyone that might want to play in a Distant Worlds campaign I probably won't ever get to run here might want to look away

Okay, Pathfinder setting. Planet Verces. PCs and a multitude of NPC allies and enemies are involved in a complicated fight involving multiple vehicles of varying sizes(from hoverbikes to huge cargo trucks) travelling down one of Verces' highways at a minimum of 200 mph. Some combatants are driving vehicles and trying to outposition others. Some are riding inside or on vehicles and providing support. And some are enganged in combat on top of or in the back of larger vehicles.

The question is, while the battlefield is in motion, how do spells with extended casting times work out? That is: If a spell has a casting time of one round and targets a location and the caster intends to place it in front of a vehicle, does the spell go off in front of that vehicle or the spot that caster originally had in mind that is now behind that vehicle?

[HaraldKlak]

Mikaze wrote:

The question is, while the battlefield is in motion, how do spells with extended casting times work out? That is: If a spell has a casting time of one round and targets a location and the caster intends to place it in front of a vehicle, does the spell go off in front of that vehicle or the spot that caster originally had in mind that is now behind that vehicle?

You target the spell, when it comes into effect, not when you start casting it. So in your example, there shouldn't be much of a problem, as the area doesn't move (until after the spell has taken effect).

Reference:

Magic Chapter - Casting Time wrote:

You make all pertinent decisions about a spell (range, target, area, effect, version, and so forth) when the spell comes into effect.

[Mikaze]

So that adds some considerations to building that encounter, but not too many more considering all the standard action spells that were already in place.

Considering that magic is well known on that world, it's probably a fair assumption that vehicles built with pursuit and combat in mind would have some modding options to deal(or at least cope) with popularly used anti-vehicular spells. So this just got more interesting...

[GM Arkwright]

There are some rulings on using spells in ship-to-ship combat; I suggest they'd be of use (need to be viewing the target directly to teleport onto a moving ship, for example).

[Mikaze]

GM Arkwright wrote:

There are some rulings on using spells in ship-to-ship combat; I suggest they'd be of use (need to be viewing the target directly to teleport onto a moving ship, for example).

punches self in face for forgetting those

Thanks for the reminder!