[3.5] AoE and Large+ creatures

[balistafreak]

Fireball lands smack dab on the center of a Troll.

Does it take:

1 save and fireball damage?

1 save and quadruple rolled fireball damage?

1 save and four rolled fireball damages?

4 saves and four rolled fireball damages

4 saves and fireball damage, with any failed save causing full damage?

I looked in the SRD but could not find anything. Maybe I failed a Spot check but neither did my google-fu. My intuition said 1 save and quadruple rolled damage, but then my sense of balance said only normal damage, but then my sense of verismillitude said that couldn't possibly be right...

Reference, if you please. I definitely remember reading entries about how AoE effects destroy large objects faster than normal, so... yeah.

[jguy]

1 save fireball damage

[Runestar]

Normal fireball damage, regardless of the creature's size.

[PId6]

Only 1 save and regular damage.

A fireball spell is an explosion of flame that detonates with a low roar and deals 1d6 points of fire damage per caster level (maximum 10d6) to every creature within the area.

It deals the damage to each creature, regardless of how many spaces in the area those creatures take up. A troll, despite being Large, still only constitutes a single creature, so it only takes a single instance of damage.

[lsfreak]

One save, normal damage. View it like this: what's important isn't the number of squares, but the amount of the creature covered. A fireball hits a halfling, and covered 100% of their body in fire. It does the same for the ogre. That the ogre is four times as large as the halfling doesn't change the damage done because in either case, 100% of the creature was affected.

Now, once you get into creature sizes where a fireball only affects a small portion of the body, then I could see houseruling in less-than-full damage, but it really goes against the abstraction that comes with the game.

[Thrawn183]

What about that spell that summons a bunch of green slime? From the Spell Compendium I think.

[PId6]

What about that spell that summons a bunch of green slime? From the Spell Compendium I think.

Same thing. "Each creature in the area is covered with one patch of green slime," so it doesn't matter how large the creature is, it's only covered with a single patch and only takes the normal Con damage.

[The Cat Goddess]

What about the WarHulk ability to attack three adjacent squares?

If the creature is a Purple Worm (for example), would the WarHulk attack three squares of the same creature in one swing?

Could a level 10 WarHulk Half-Ogre (Large) technically attack 12 squares (all adjacent squares) of a Purple Worm that Swallow Whole'd him?

[Anxe]

Slime Wave is the one exception to that rule. It is far more dangerous to larger creatures because it affects them more times. Unless there was errata about that...

[sofawall]

What about the WarHulk ability to attack three adjacent squares?

If the creature is a Purple Worm (for example), would the WarHulk attack three squares of the same creature in one swing?

Could a level 10 WarHulk Half-Ogre (Large) technically attack 12 squares (all adjacent squares) of a Purple Worm that Swallow Whole'd him?

I count 60 adjacent squares for a large creature. 121 squares are within reach. I'm not sure where 12 came from.

[The Cat Goddess]

I count 60 adjacent squares for a large creature. 121 squares are within reach. I'm not sure where 12 came from.

A Large Creature takes up 4 squares.

Immediately adjecent to (i.e. touching) those 4 squares are 12 squares.

Clearly you couldn't use Reach while Swallowed Whole (since you can't use a Reach Weapon).

I'm not sure where you're getting your numbers... the maximum number of squares a Large person can Reach (even counting their own squares) is 36.

[PId6]

Slime Wave is the one exception to that rule. It is far more dangerous to larger creatures because it affects them more times. Unless there was errata about that...

Each creature in the area is covered with one patch of green slime.

Since each creature only gets one patch regardless of its size, the Slime Wave would affect all creatures equally.

[Tavar]

One save, normal damage. View it like this: what's important isn't the number of squares, but the amount of the creature covered. A fireball hits a halfling, and covered 100% of their body in fire. It does the same for the ogre. That the ogre is four times as large as the halfling doesn't change the damage done because in either case, 100% of the creature was affected.

Except that doesn't quite make sense. 100% of both creatures were affected, true. But the orge is about, say, 400% larger than the halfling, so comparatively it should be affected 400x as much.

Personally, I just blame it on DnD not being a complete simulation.