[3.5] Area effect and damage dice

[AntiTrust]

This seems like a simple question, but when it came up in game I couldn't site where in the rules it says how damage works with AoE. What I mean is, do you roll your 5d6 fireball once and it effect everyone equally in the target area or do you roll 5d6 for each individual creature caught in the area?

[TaiLiu]

This seems like a simple question, but when it came up in game I couldn't site where in the rules it says how damage works with AoE. What I mean is, do you roll your 5d6 fireball once and it effect everyone equally in the target area or do you roll 5d6 for each individual creature caught in the area?

I believe you roll once, but every creature inside the Fireball rolls their own Reflex save.

[The Dark Fiddler]

You probably can't find a rule on it because I don't think they ever made one. I, and most people I know, just roll the damage once and apply it to everybody, pending their individual saves, SR, and other defenses. Rolling for each person just takes too much time, but if you really wanted too, I wouldn't see a problem with it. Kind of makes sense, too; a giant ball of fire isn't necessarily going to be just as hot and have exactly the same amount of fire throughout the entire area.

[TypoNinja]

You probably can't find a rule on it because I don't think they ever made one. I, and most people I know, just roll the damage once and apply it to everybody, pending their individual saves, SR, and other defenses. Rolling for each person just takes too much time, but if you really wanted too, I wouldn't see a problem with it. Kind of makes sense, too; a giant ball of fire isn't necessarily going to be just as hot and have exactly the same amount of fire throughout the entire area.

A giant magic ball of fire is quite likely to, who would design a spell that didn't have maximum possible destructive potential?

[The Dark Fiddler]

A giant magic ball of fire is quite likely to, who would design a spell that didn't have maximum possible destructive potential?

Somebody who's more concerned with being able to summon said magic ball of fire in the first place, perhaps. I suppose it depends on the personality of the spellcaster; a wizard who meticulously calculates every factor when casting a spell would most likely have uniform efficiency in the fireball, while one who's more of a "shoot and pray" type might just summon the energy and chuck it at the target. Could make an interesting contrast between them mechanically, even if it's just a small thing.

[The Random NPC]

Somebody who's more concerned with being able to summon said magic ball of fire in the first place, perhaps. I suppose it depends on the personality of the spellcaster; a wizard who meticulously calculates every factor when casting a spell would most likely have uniform efficiency in the fireball, while one who's more of a "shoot and pray" type might just summon the energy and chuck it at the target. Could make an interesting contrast between them mechanically, even if it's just a small thing.

So... Wizards VS. Sorcerers?

[Urpriest]

This seems like a simple question, but when it came up in game I couldn't site where in the rules it says how damage works with AoE. What I mean is, do you roll your 5d6 fireball once and it effect everyone equally in the target area or do you roll 5d6 for each individual creature caught in the area?

You roll once. 3.5 had the perspective that dice rolls made by a player represent effort on the part of the character, meaning that it wouldn't make sense to roll for each individual target because your character won't necessarily be aware of every target.

[The Dark Fiddler]

So... Wizards VS. Sorcerers?

Not strictly, but yes that could be the major split between rolling once and rolling for each. Nothing stops you from having a hot-headed wizard or a calculating sorcerer, though.