Question on Area of Effect

[Gaslov]

So when a spell says it has an AoE of 3, is that a 3 x 3 area or is it a line of 3 squares?

[Soyweiser]

So when a spell says it has an AoE of 3, is that a 3 x 3 area or is it a line of 3 squares?

3 squares, with 2 randomly places around the target square. The placement differs each time. (And I don't know if the placement of square number X is based on the location of square number X-1 or square 0).

[Bananadine]

Does precision affect the selection of the secondary targets?

I've seen Gifts from Heaven scatter all around a field, when a storm was going. But that's a different matter, since that spell has AOE 1 and 3 "effects". What about spells with AOE 3?

[Soyweiser]

I think the first square is determined by precision. The rest random.

So, Gifts of Heaven has 3 effects, placed by precision. A spell with AOE, 3, would be placed by prec first, and then randomly effect squares around it. At least that is how I assume it will go.

[Bananadine]

I guess it's true that Cloud of Death doesn't spread all around during a storm. It may land in a surprising place, but it won't have a surprising radius.

[Bananadine]

Extra tricky question: Can spell effects be scattered, via the precision system, beyond their spells' ranges? I notice that Gifts from Heaven has a very long range and a low precision. If it had a short range and a low precision, could its effects still scatter all around the field? Tangle Vines has range 15. I guess that means a mage will never cast it at a target further than 15 units away--but can a mage with very low precision (maybe due to blinding) cast Tangle Vines at a target 10 units away and accidentally hit a target 30 units away?

[Soyweiser]

That I don't know.

Perhaps we should cast Summon Vets, do you have spare death gems?

[Soyweiser]

[Sombrero] That answer to bananadine's question is yes.
[Sombrero] It can go beyond range.

[llamabeast]

Wow, channelling!

[Soyweiser]

He was blasted to death by some sort of energy. Odd...

[Soyweiser]

Ps don't believe me, read the past discussions about it:
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showthread.php?t=39707

(Thanks Mear)

[Bananadine]

I didn't see an answer to my question in that thread, although I did learn that KO is quite sassy. It was mentioned that an area of effect can grow via repeated attempts to place things in the one target square, whereupon, if that square is already hit, a random neighboring square will be tried, and if that's how AOE spells work then I guess a spell can target the furthest unit it can reach and hit an even further-off unit with part of its "cloud". But I was asking about whether the one original target square (or unit, for "One person"-targeting spells!) can ever land out of the spell's range due to imprecision.

N.B.: I don't actually care much about the answer. I was just curious. :)

[Kobal2]

Pretty sure it can, assuming it's not a 100 Precision spell. Hurling spells around uses the same rules as archery to determine which square the effect lands at. Check your manual for the dispersion rules because I don't remember them.

[Soyweiser]

Bananadine, it was more related to the original question. It is always useful to point back to the old threads in which certain problems where solved better, and clearer. (So people using search can find it more easily).

I thought your question was solved by the IRC quotes I gave.