Please Explain Expansive Spellstrike to a troll living in a cave

[Flames of Chaos]

I've been playing PF2e since the playtest, and most of the spellcasters make sense to me. I'm looking to dip my toes into the waters of a Magus for the first time as one of the folks in my usual playgroup may be dropping out and they've kinda had the class locked down since we hate to step on each others toes relating to class selections.

While looking through the feats, I'm struggling pretty hard to understand how Expansive Spellstrike works, particularly since my very limited understanding is the intention was to give magi an AoE option when spellstriking. Yet the last sentence of the feat seems to contradict this:

"You can blast the energy of a spell out around the target of your attack. When you
Spellstrike
with a spell that has an area of a
burst,
cone,
or
line,
the spell creates an area instead of affecting only the target. The target must be in the area. A burst is centered on a corner of the target’s square; if the target is Large or larger, the burst use the square corner closest to the center of the target and choose the corner if more than one is eligible. A cone or line emits from you and must include the target; if you’re not adjacent to the target (using a
reach
weapon or
starlit span,
for example), choose any square adjacent to the target as the source. The spell affects all creatures in the area as normal, but the Strike still targets only one creature."

Can someone please explain this to me in basic terms as I am clearly overlooking something obvious? Thanks in advance!

[Taja the Barbarian]

Flames of Chaos wrote:

I've been playing PF2e since the playtest, and most of the spellcasters make sense to me. I'm looking to dip my toes into the waters of a Magus for the first time as one of the folks in my usual playgroup may be dropping out and they've kinda had the class locked down since we hate to step on each others toes relating to class selections.

While looking through the feats, I'm struggling pretty hard to understand how Expansive Spellstrike works, particularly since my very limited understanding is the intention was to give magi an AoE option when spellstriking. Yet the last sentence of the feat seems to contradict this:

"You can blast the energy of a spell out around the target of your attack. When you
Spellstrike
with a spell that has an area of a
burst,
cone,
or
line,
the spell creates an area instead of affecting only the target. The target must be in the area. A burst is centered on a corner of the target’s square; if the target is Large or larger, the burst use the square corner closest to the center of the target and choose the corner if more than one is eligible. A cone or line emits from you and must include the target; if you’re not adjacent to the target (using a
reach
weapon or
starlit span,
for example), choose any square adjacent to the target as the source. The spell affects all creatures in the area as normal, but the Strike still targets only one creature."

Can someone please explain this to me in basic terms as I am clearly overlooking something obvious? Thanks in advance!

The 'Strike' is the physical weapon attack: If you expansive spellstrike with a sword, the sword damage only applies to the specific attack target, while the spell affects everyone in the appropriate area.

[Flames of Chaos]

Taja the Barbarian wrote:

Flames of Chaos wrote:

I've been playing PF2e since the playtest, and most of the spellcasters make sense to me. I'm looking to dip my toes into the waters of a Magus for the first time as one of the folks in my usual playgroup may be dropping out and they've kinda had the class locked down since we hate to step on each others toes relating to class selections.

While looking through the feats, I'm struggling pretty hard to understand how Expansive Spellstrike works, particularly since my very limited understanding is the intention was to give magi an AoE option when spellstriking. Yet the last sentence of the feat seems to contradict this:

"You can blast the energy of a spell out around the target of your attack. When you
Spellstrike
with a spell that has an area of a
burst,
cone,
or
line,
the spell creates an area instead of affecting only the target. The target must be in the area. A burst is centered on a corner of the target’s square; if the target is Large or larger, the burst use the square corner closest to the center of the target and choose the corner if more than one is eligible. A cone or line emits from you and must include the target; if you’re not adjacent to the target (using a
reach
weapon or
starlit span,
for example), choose any square adjacent to the target as the source. The spell affects all creatures in the area as normal, but the Strike still targets only one creature."

Can someone please explain this to me in basic terms as I am clearly overlooking something obvious? Thanks in advance!

The 'Strike' is the physical weapon attack: If you expansive spellstrike with a sword, the sword damage only applies to the specific attack target, while the spell affects everyone in the appropriate area.

So if I were to say, Spellstrike with a Fireball, the blast would still do a 20-foot burst, just from where I smash a sword into someone's face? Also, thanks for pointing out the strike part... (forehead slaps with both hands)

[HammerJack]

Yes, the fireball would still include you, the target, and anyone else in the radius.

[Taja the Barbarian]

I believe you could safely use Expansive Spellstrike with Fireball if you were attacking a Huge or Gargantuan creature from outside of the 'due north/east/south/west' squares with a Reach Trait weapon by abusing the 'creatures are square while bursts are round-ish' grid rules.

Otherwise, you would be within the fireball when it went off...

[Ascalaphus]

The case of using a reach weapon (or starlit span) is quite interesting, because it allows you to draw lines and cones in a very different way than normal.

It's much easier to get a line to hit multiple enemies if you're guaranteed that you can start on one enemy and go in any direction you like...

[graystone]

Ascalaphus wrote:

The case of using a reach weapon (or starlit span) is quite interesting, because it allows you to draw lines and cones in a very different way than normal.

It's much easier to get a line to hit multiple enemies if you're guaranteed that you can start on one enemy and go in any direction you like...

Yes, this is how I've used it. Hit someone in the back and start the cone from them. This can be particularly effective if you get around cover with it since you can aim it around corners and such as long as one target is visible.