PLEASE HELP! Spell interpretation issue.

[roguebfl]

Originally Posted by Snaps

Area Spells works just like Regular Spells (Pg. 11 of Magic). This means that they effect anything Human Sized within their area. For anything larger you'd need to spend extra energy, just like with a regular spell.

Sorry but that's for the Creature getting attacked. that would only matter of plants could resist being used in the spell. This spell doesn't target the plants it just uses them.

It the just like Extinguishes fire doesn't have to be as big as the whole fire to put out the fire in it's area.

Or compare the spell to Rain of Nuts.

[Snaps]

I don't know where you are getting this information. Resistance has nothing to do with it. If you are casting a spell and the subject is larger than human (SM 0) size, then you have to spend more energy. The only exceptions are those listed in the spell descriptions of certain spells.

The two examples you give don't really make any sense to me. Fire isn't a creature or an object, its fire. You can control or put out whatever fire is in your are of effect, to put out the whole fire you have to effect the whole area that's on fire.

Rain of Nuts... should never be used as an example of anything. Ever.

And I don't understand why you used it as an example. Rain of Nuts is an area spell, if you cast it on one hex, even then nuts are going to rain down on only one hex, it doesn't matter how big the trees around you are. The spell isn't cast on the trees, but on the area. Having trees around is just a requirement of the spell.

A good example would be casting Terror or Glue on a large area entered by a Dragon. The Dragon might not be over 12 feet high, but might be 30 feet long (SM +4). The Dragon could be completely covered by the area of effect, but still wouldn't be effected because its too big.

[roguebfl]

Originally Posted by Snaps

Rain of Nuts... should never be used as an example of anything. Ever.

And I don't understand why you used it as an example. Rain of Nuts is an area spell, if you cast it on one hex, even then nuts are going to rain down on only one hex, it doesn't matter how big the trees around you are. The spell isn't cast on the trees, but on the area. Having trees around is just a requirement of the spell.

Except that is the same thing with this spell. The blood sucking braches and roots will only attack things in the area of the spell. Having Branch and Root plants around is just a requirment of the spell... you don't need to cast big enough to effect the whole plant

[RyanW]

I might suggest a middle ground. A target can only be effected if a) it is at least partially within the area and b) you paid the cost for an area of radius at least equal to the target's SM.

So no 1 yard radius area spells for blue whales or coast redwoods, but you don't have to create giant areas to completely contain them.

[Snaps]

Originally Posted by roguebfl

Except that is the same thing with this spell. The blood sucking braches and roots will only attack things in the area of the spell. Having Branch and Root plants around is just a requirment of the spell... you don't need to cast big enough to effect the whole plant

That's a good point. It would probably be fine to have branches within the area of the spell attack, etc.

The problem is that even with a large area, you still aren't going to effect a large tree. (Since the area of effect only goes 12 feet up). So your options are either to spend more energy to allow you to effect larger objects, or spend more energy to have the area of effect go higher (which I think is double energy for 24', triple energy for 36', etc.

It's a GM's call how to handle situations like this when a large object falls within an area of effect. Either way is probably going to cost you about the same.

Personally I'd let a player choose either or, because I think no matter which of those two methods you use, the price will be more than fair.

[roguebfl]

Originally Posted by Snaps

The problem is that even with a large area, you still aren't going to effect a large tree. (Since the area of effect only goes 12 feet up). So your options are either to spend more energy to allow you to effect larger objects, or spend more energy to have the area of effect go higher (which I think is double energy for 24', triple energy for 36', etc.

Yep that was what the Kromm quote in post was about 8)

[jacobmuller]

Looking at other plant spells for comparison.

Magic, p161, Heal Plant: Trees larger than saplings require a radius of at least 3 yards

An area spell for plants, affecting all in its radius but for trees you need to have a big enough radius...
And

Bless Plant: To be affected, the plants must be entirely within the area of effect

Likewise Blight, p162.
EDIT: I'm a slow typer - I started to reply at post#14:)

[roguebfl]

Yes the key differences is Bless Plant and Blight have the actual plant as the target of the spell.

[BaHalus]

He can't just cast the spell higher? Like make the spell affect an area from 4m to 8m instead of an area from 0m to 4m?

[cltchrn]

Originally Posted by BaHalus

He can't just cast the spell higher? Like make the spell affect an area from 4m to 8m instead of an area from 0m to 4m?

I arbitrarily ruled that he could do so, because it seems reasonable to me. It's not like he's casting it in midair. He's casting it into the branches of the tree.

If he wanted to reach higher, I'd let him stack the areas too (double cost for double height). It seems balanced enough to me.