Vitrifying Blast and Range / Area

[Matthew Steffens]

Hello,

For Vitrifying Blast (from Rage of Elements) it is stated that the range is 60ft and area is a 15ft cone.

I interpenetrated this as you pick a point within 60ft and create a 15ft cone for the effect.

My GM said that this is one of Range of Elements many range/area mistakes and ruled that it is only supposed to be a 15ft cone from the character.

While I do concede that it's a very good spell, I feel that it just being a 15ft cone from the character would be under powered as a 6th level spell, while my GM says that it is over powered with the range and, as such, is a mistake on Paizo's part.

While I am not one to typically push back against a GM ruling, I feel that this was an intentional decision, while his main justification is that Paizo did not intend this.

I would love to hear any thoughts on this and would be more than fine being wrong on this matter.

Thanks!

[NorrKnekten]

I don't think anyone can say that it is a range/area mistake, It certainly fits in with other spells of that rank having small areas that are created at a range and RAW a cone absolutely can be created at range.

Player Core pg. 300 2.0 Spells/Areas wrote:

Sometimes a spell has an area, which can be a burst, cone, emanation, or line (pages 428–429). If the spell originates from your position, the spell has only an area; if you can cause the spell’s area to appear farther away from you, the spell has both a range and an area.

[Theaitetos]

Yeah, spells at high ranks have abilities that lower-rank spells just don't get. A 15ft-cone is something 1st- & 2nd-rank spells have, but adding a range to it so it doesn't have to begin at your position is something that comes into play at ranks 5+ – just like Telekinetic Bombardment creates a 30ft line that starts anywhere within its 500ft range.

Another spell to compare it to is Freezing Rain, which is just a 5th-rank spell, also targets Reflex and slows upon fail.

The last comparison is probably the Slow spell itself, that targets 10 creatures of your choice within range at equal rank (6).

Vitrifying Blast's power is hedged by its small area – 15ft cone – and the low damage – it deals 50% of equal-rank Chain Lightning – and that it targets two different saves – you need to fail Reflex and then fail Fortitude saves to be slowed for more than 1 round – and the incapacitation trait on the ongoing save.

The range on where to place the cone is definitely intentional.

However, even with the range I have yet to see someone actually use that spell because other spell options are still stronger (Slow, Freezing Rain, Chain Lightning) and are much easier to target. Finally, the fact that it targets two different saves (Reflex & Fort with incapacitation to boot) makes it a poor choice overall, as enemies with weak Reflex saves usually have strong Fort saves and vice versa.

[Ascalaphus]

Well, lines and cones not starting at you is pretty unusual, so if the spell doesn't call it out, I'd be wondering if it was a mistake too. Notice how Telekinetic Bombardment explicitly explains the unusual line placement.

That said, I agree that if it didn't have range, 15 foot cone seems absurdly small for a rank 6 spell. On the other hand, a cone starting out there at range IS weird and not super well explained by the spell why this specific spell can do that. "You launch a cone" sounds more like you'd have a cone starting at the caster.

If you want to house rule something more "sensible", you could go with a 10 or 15 foot blast at 60 feet range instead, or even a 60 foot cone starting at the caster. Those would not be out of line for a rank 6 spell.