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Cylinder AOE rules in #dnd 5e
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May 21, 2025
Cylinder AOE rules in #dnd 5e. #dnd5e #ttrpg #2024dnd #characteroptimization #dmadvice #dungeonsanddragons
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areas of effect in Dn D cylinders
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cylinders are kind of an odd ball
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because they can be they can only be
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oriented a couple of ways but in a lot
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of ways they do work similarly to just
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circles like fireball cylinders pick
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their point of origin either at the top
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or the bottom of the cylinder and you
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can orient them upwards or downwards
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which really only matters if there's
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going to be cover so if you're casting a
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spell like flame strike you're
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effectively placing a can like a a soda
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can or canned food whatever just place
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that and the center point at either the
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top or the bottom is your origin point
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now reminder of our three methods for
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handling areas of effect method one is
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theater of the mind method two
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miniatures on a grid method three
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miniatures on a battle map no grid if
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you're playing method one which is
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theater of the mind grab your 2014
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Dungeon Masters Guide find the creatures
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in an area of effect table and just
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figure out how many creatures you're
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going to affect with the cylinder but
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keep in mind a lot of that uses the
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vertical space in the cylinder so you
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may want to use the calculation for
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spheres instead of cylinders if you're
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only fighting creatures that are on the
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ground if you're playing in method 3
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you're just going to use your template
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if everyone's on the ground you can just
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use the same template that you use for
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spheres which is just a circle hold it
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over a a point in space and any creature
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who space is at least 50% affected is
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affected by the area of effect if you're
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playing miniatures on a grid which is
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method two you start from a grid
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intersection so if you're looking top
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down at your grid you're going to pick a
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grid intersection figure out how high up
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you want your cylinder to be and that
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might matter if you have flying
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creatures decide oriented up or down and
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then just effectively treat it like a
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circle so you're going to draw a
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circular area around that origin point
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and then figure out how many creatures
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spaces are affected at least 50% now
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that's going to be kind of a pain
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towards the corners because the circles
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are going to cut through part of some
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spaces and it has to be at least 50%
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affected for some squares that'll be
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obvious for some that's going to be
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difficult if you're using the token
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method described in Zanithar's Guide to
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Everything then just make it a square
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like it just for simplicity sake don't
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deal with circles just make all of your
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circles square that effectively makes
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your cylinder into like a vertical
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rectangle and I mean that does break for
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similitude a little bit but it really
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does just make the game so much easier
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to
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