Spell radius, splash weapons and metamagic

[Ornir Elunari]

So I was thinking about spell effect radius, metamagic feats and splash weapons the other day and found a way (not my idea) that we can make this work…I think.

Lets say we have a ‘blast’ spell. This spell would be defined with a spell radius, and thus would affect the target of the spell plus a number of characters on either side of the target. For example, with the following room contents:

A darkling minion scuttles around here.

A darkling minion scuttles around here.

An inky cat-like creature prowls around here.

An inky cat-like creature prowls around here.

[HOrc] Murgh the never-satisfied is standing here.

A darkling ogre stands here, its skin black as pitch.

A darkling minion scuttles around here.

Lets say we are a wizard, and we have magic missile, burning hands and fireball memorized.

First, we cast magic missile at the first darkling minion, doing a paltry amount of damage. It laughs at you.
Second, we cast burning hands, which has a radius of 1, on the first minion. The spell damages that minion and all other characters 1 position away from the minion, damaging the second minion as well. There is no character above the first minion, therefore only 2 of a possible 3) characters are damaged by the burning hands spell.
Lastly, we cast fireball at the first cat-like darkling. Fireball has a radius of 2, meaning that it can hit a total of 5 targets – the initial target and the 2 characters directly above and below it in the list. This means that 1.minion, 2.minion, 1.inky, 2.inky and Murgh all take damage from the spell.

A similar method would be used for splash weapons, giving them a radius. All effects with a radius can either have total damage for all targets or some kind of diminishing effect the further you go from he center of the blast.

I feel that the tactical options that this kind of targeting opens up are huge – target selection would be very important.

This system would allow us to have various metamagic feats that modify the spell radius, providing even more options to casters. Every application of the widen spell feat, for example, would raise the spell radius by 1.

This system would augment the current AoE code (but may potentially replace it!)

What does the community think?

– Ornir Elunari

(BTW: This was originally posted on the Toril MUD forums back in 2006 – I don’t believe they implemented it.)

[Treyorn]

I like this idea a lot. I don’t think a lot of spells should have a radius though. I like this alternative to our current AOE. We could incorporate this will skills like whirlwind too.

[mosheh]

I’m personally not a fan of blast radius based on room contents, it would require adding a mechanic for people to shift their position in the room (which I am also not a fan of). Just my opinion though. I am a fan of limiting AoE’s based on the spell, and then also being able to widen it with feats/metamagic/etc

-Zusuk

[Anonymous]

My opinion is in line with Zusuk. As it is now, I think it might be too much of a hassle and slow down the pace of the game. However, if you did create a custom GUI/Client that allowed mouse pointing to choose which target a spell/effect would be cast on then it would be much easier and fluid.

Another idea might be to represent multiple same type mobs in groups rather than list each one individually, and to have blasts/splash to affect that group only, or if the spell/skill was high level then possibly other mobs/players/groups in a room.

Mobs would be represented as singular or plural and there would have to be new descriptions put in the mob OLC menu.
A darkling minion scuttles around here.
A swarm of two darkling minions conspire against you.

Might clean up rooms a bit though.

[Ornir Elunari]

Thanks for the replies guys.

I am not married to this idea, although I would like to see some way to show spatiality at some point.

With regards to changing the room order, there is one very easy way to do that – Leave and reenter. If the entire group left and reentered, the mobs would be grouped together and would be easier to target.

Awh, thanks for the comment. I think that that grouping of mobs is a good idea for spam reduction, but it makes targeting and diagnosing a pain. Say I drop one of the darklings prone with a trip, would we thin split them out of the group for the time it takes for that mob to stand up again? The idea is very interesting and might even be workable.

This would no be implemented soon in any case, we have bigger fish to fry. 🙂

– Ornir Elunari

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