Rikssvenska (the Swedish spoken in Sweden) has a rather different accent than our Swedish though. They don't just speak Swedish, they sing it. Many people poke fun at it, but I like the sound.
@SPavel When I was a kid I used to wonder why haven't the English speakers reformed their language
But I guess it's just that much easier to do when the language is confined to pretty much a single country.
(also, both forms of Norwegian are still extant, instead of the Nynorsk supplanting the Bokmål... I can imagine the mess that could cause if various English spelling reforms started bickering)
She suffered a bit of a nervous breakdown later, because some students used to bully and pester her :( She just liked reading books with students, but couldn't maintain discipline against a determined opposition.
No cover is applied.
The Reach is a red herring. It doesn't affect whether or not cover applies. The only thing that it does here is allow the attacker to reach the target. With that in mind we can evaluate whether or not an attack from position 'X' incurs cover from position 'T'.
Cover
...
@DavidCoffron Fwiw I generally just ignore Mearls' interpretations of the rules not because they are unofficial but because 90% of them straight up contradict the rules.
Last session, our mage wanted to attack diagonally with a cube spell attack, thunderwave. Playing on a 5x5 grid map, my DM said he couldn't. He said the mage could only place the cube horizontally or vertically. Is this correct?
I can't check the rules right now, but my guess is that it's perfectly legal and something I would personally houserule to illegal faster than you can say "but".
@Rubiksmoose For Square templates, it does not show diagonals like with a cone template. But if you did allow it to work like that, then you apply the rule on whether or not the area covers at least half the square.
I think the template makes it simple to overlay, but also count the total boxes to make sure. If creating diagonals effectively creates a larger area of effect by utilizing the diagonals (i haven't done the math on this to see if it's true), then I wouldn't allow it.
This came up in game tonight. Thunderwave is a spell with Range: Self (15-foot cube). The description reads:
A wave of thunderous force sweeps out from you. Each creature in a 15-foot cube originating from you...
Players Handbook, 282-283
Does the area of effect center on the caster (ex...
@NautArch Or I'd let it roll both ways. Since enemy spellcasters can also position spells optimally I don't think it truly matters that much. Though there are far fewer spellcasting enemies especially at low levels.
Wait. So 5e has optional rules for grid combat, and default spell area is measured in cubes but also cones and spheres and stuff, but there are no rules for how to map them onto the grid?
@DavidCoffron In the description of spell templates it says cube originates from a point on its face - which is far. But then using the words "originating from you" especially on a spell based on a soundwave its pretty easy to think its centered on you
@Rubiksmoose All it takes is a hit or two to remove the spell. Let's see they're upcasting to level 3. That's 15HP. Even with damage reductions, it's going to disappear after a few hits.
and that's just if they only attack the PC in melee. A ranged attacker can remove the armor without even getting near.
@Rubiksmoose i'm having a hard time seeing how it isn't. Agathys is very much a temporary thing and better suited for creatures that don't get hit a lot. It'll help stop an initial attacker, but it's going to dissipate pretty quickly otherwise if it's on a frontliner.
@NautArch from the question: "s long as the caster has the temporary hit points from Armor of Agathys, the attacker takes damage, even if the attacker didn't actually deal any damage."
Thus, the tank has found a way to reduce the damage to 0. Thus temp HP remains. That is probably wrong but we have no idea how it is wrong/
@Rubiksmoose Are there many effects in the game that reduce damage a flat number? Resistance divides by half so that only makes 1 damage into 0 damage, right? Even a hit of 2 damage deals damage
@Rubiksmoose @Rubiksmoose it is definitely the way the spell works which is clever (although not that effective unless the NPCs are doing very little damage)
@NautArch exactly, thus the premise of the question is based on unclear (and likely misapplied) rules understanding. That is where the solution to this question will come from likely, not AoA.
@SirCinnamon I cannot think of a way to consistently reduce damage to 0. If there was a way at such a low level, every heavy armor user would be doing it.
@NautArch wouldn't work with heavy armor... unless he got some sort of (homebrew?) armor that counted as both heavy and medium. like mithril plate or something
@Rubiksmoose It's not that limited with a short rest refresh once you hit that level. But if the bard is in melee, it's a nice buffer. Now that i'm thinking about it, it's rare that I'm toe to toe with someone. That temp HP would drop.
@NautArch at 5th level you'd get 25 temp HP and be able to do as much damage if someone hits you with a melee attack. However, why not just polymorph into a bear with that same slot. You get more HP for one thing.
(also it is not a bard spell so you'd need to use MS to get it)
You could also have an allied paladin with the damage sponging effect (cant remember which oath). Then you still get hit but take no damage (since your pali-bro took it for you)
Man, I get irrationally peeved when people just copy and paste the entire spell and/or ability into a question (even casting time, upcasting effects, etc) without pruning it at all for the purposes of their question.
Consider this revision: https://rpg.stackexchange.com/posts/53506/revisions Sooo much better and easier to read.
Also, by the strictest interpretation, do all creatures other than the first in a line of effect get +2 to their saves? (regarding other creatures as cover)
@goodguy5 I think of cover by creature working like Flanking which requires adjacent and opposite. If something isn't directly in front of you, it's not providing cover.
@goodguy5 I don't think it does, I think th eintent (unproven either way) is that there needs to be someone directly in front. Once you are offset, cover no longer applies.
i am so confused by that page. I don't understand the red/black line difference, and I don't know why you'd 'choose' to use a red line over a black line to attack the same creature.
To determine whether a target has cover against an attack or other effect on a grid, choose a corner of the attacker's space... trace imaginary lines from that corner to every corner of any one square the target occupies. If one or two of those lines are blocked by an obstacle (including another creature), the target has half cover....
I guess now that I have an image, I might as well attach it.
@goodguy5 actually, electrons is a good analogy. Quantum mechanically speaking there is a uniform probability of occupying any space within the square (or group of squares for larger creatures)
@NautArch For some chosen squares, the arrows pass through more or fewer obstacles. The "best" square will be the one that passes through the least obstacles. If the best you can do is 2/4 arrows are obstructed, then: half-cover.
@goodguy5 Im pretty sure I could do the same. There is less of a target if someone is using the half-wall to hide part of their body at the angle. Whether it is enough for half cover depends on the geometry
@Rubiksmoose Thanks for that edit, I agree. Also, when the material is not openly distributed (e.g. part of the SRD or basic rules) it's doubly important to only copy/paste what's necessary. We operate on a fair use basis, expecting people to have the material for reference, and only share what's necessary for analysis/discussion of it. There are some who want to transcribe entire chunks of content so as to give it to anyone who hasn't got the book, but that's not fair use.
@SirCinnamon yea. Originally I was like "yea, you can choose to starve to death to keep XX effect", but then I realized there were plenty of ways around it
No cover is applied.
The Reach is a red herring. It doesn't affect whether or not cover applies. The only thing that it does here is allow the attacker to reach the target. With that in mind we can evaluate whether or not an attack from position 'X' incurs cover from position 'T'.
Cover
...
Last session, our mage wanted to attack diagonally with a cube spell attack, thunderwave. Playing on a 5x5 grid map, my DM said he couldn't. He said the mage could only place the cube horizontally or vertically. Is this correct?
This came up in game tonight. Thunderwave is a spell with Range: Self (15-foot cube). The description reads:
A wave of thunderous force sweeps out from you. Each creature in a 15-foot cube originating from you...
Players Handbook, 282-283
Does the area of effect center on the caster (ex...
