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Line AOE rules in #dnd
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May 21, 2025
Line AOE rules in #dnd. They’re long and they’re frustrating. #dnd5e #2024dnd #ttrpg #characteroptimization #dungeonsanddragons #dmadvice
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areas of effect in D and D lines lines
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are probably my least favorite area of
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effect just because it's so hard to hit
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more than two creatures with them but
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you know let's go into the rules anyway
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a reminder of our three methods for how
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to handle areas of effect method one is
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theater of the mind method two is
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miniatures on a grid method three is
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miniatures on a battle map but no grid
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if you're using theater of the mind
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honestly I'd say just pick two creatures
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just say that you can only affect two
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because that is the most realistic thing
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to do with a line if you want to you can
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use the 2014 Dungeon Masters Guide and
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look for the creatures in an area of
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effect table but the calculation there
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is purely just how long is the line and
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you can get some number of creatures so
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like lightning bolt is expected to hit
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seven creatures which is absolutely
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insane unless you're firing down a
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straight hallway that's hundreds of
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feets long if you're doing method three
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which is miniatures on a battle map with
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no grid just take a piece of string and
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just line it out over where your line
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would be and see how many creatures the
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line goes through all of those creatures
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will be affected so if you're playing
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meth lines might actually be okay
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because if you can just barely hit like
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the edge of a few creatures spaces then
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you might get more than that expected
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two targets if you're using miniatures
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on a grid lines are very difficult
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because getting creatures in a line of
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spaces and hitting more than two things
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that way is really really difficult
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lines are nearly always only 5t long so
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it really does need to be a line of
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spaces so to place your area of effect
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you start from a grid intersection and
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you you measure from there if you're
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using the template method you can use a
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piece of string and sort of like in
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method three you can just draw that line
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and if the width of that line goes near
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or through creature spaces you're
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probably fine if you're using the token
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method described in Xanthar's Guide to
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Everything then things can get a little
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messier so you'll need to place tokens
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to measure out your line basically
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figure out which boxes you fill and then
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any creatures in those boxes are
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affected if you're not snapping to the
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grid though you may be able to slide
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those boxes over to effectively add an
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extra 5 ft of width to your line this
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feels kind of like cheating honestly but
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this is why I prefer to snap to the grid
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because it feels more reliably fair but
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if you make your lightning bolt or
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whatever other line straddle the line on
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a grid you effectively have a 10- foot
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wide line instead of 5t wide this can
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let you hit some extra creatures which
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can be very very powerful and you're
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going to get a lot more value out of
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those line area effects that otherwise
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really only matter if you get lucky or
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if creatures are walking down a
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