Area of Effect Spells (Cone) question.

[Rerednaw]

So last night in our Society game a caster in our party tried casting a cone spell.

The GM stated that the caster had two choices, a cone ahead or to the side.

I then added that you get to choose which grid intersection to start the spell from. For example a sideways 15' cone can look as follows:

S=Spellcaster
C=Cone
X=empty space
1=First square of cone.

View from above.

Option 1
--------
CXX
CCX
1CC
SXX

OR

Option 2
--------
XCXX
XCCX
X1CC
SXXX

With orthagonal mirrors to the above of course.

The GM emphatically denied Option 1 and insisted Option 2 was the only valid choice. If the caster wanted to affect the square directly ahead, the GM stated the cone MUST follow:

XCCCX
XCCCX
XX1XX
XXSXX

Is this the case? I don't recall it being that way but is there something in Society Play that restricts this? I always read

PRD CORE wrote:

A cone-shaped spell shoots away from you in a quartercircle
in the direction you designate. It starts from any
corner of your square and widens out as it goes.

I mean I've seen casted cones with the first square being over the fighter directly in front of caster. The spell hits the entire line in front of the fighter and the fighter is untouched.

View from the side
S=Spellcaster
F=Fighter ally
C=Cone
1=First square of cone.
X=empty space
-=floor

XXXX
X1CC
SFCC
----
But maybe these configurations are invalid and you can only follow the pictures in the Core rulebook?

Anyone?

Edited to correct the spread. Still same question though about starting squares.

and I left out

PRD CORE wrote:

Regardless of the shape of the area, you select the point
where the spell originates, but otherwise you don’t control
which creatures or objects the spell affects. The point of origin
of a spell is always a grid intersection.

[Majuba]

I don't believe there has been a hugely explicit clarification on this. It makes a bit more sense the way your GM runs it (but sense, fun, and the rules don't always coincide). There are still 8 different directions you can cast a cone with that. Adding Method 1 increases it to about twelve I think. The key "table variation" issue is that the rule you quoted above does say "shoots away from you". The "pick a corner" part confuses the issue a bit.

That said.. all but your third cones are wrong - you're starting the cone at one of the end points instead of the start point. They should be like this:

Option 1
--------
CXX
CCX
1CC
SXX

OR

Option 2
--------
XCXX
XCCX
X1CC
SXXX

Pretty much everyone agrees that the following is not allowed by the way (shooting it "backhanded" around the fighter ally in front of you).

XCXX
XCCX
X1CC
XXSX

[MurphysParadox]

In my experience, you only have two forms for the cone. If it starts with a square sharing a border, it will do the 1 3 3 pattern of your option 3. If it starts with a square diagonal to the caster, it will form as per option 2 and can either expand upwards (as in your picture) or downwards (rotated along the x,y axis).