Does the Fireball spell expand in a narrow corridor?

[Hannibal King]

Anyone know the d20 ruling on this?

I recall in 1st and 2nd edition it filled 33 10x10 cubes. Now I am not certain if it has the same properties as Lightning Bolt ie blocked by obstacles. The PHB mentions nothing under the Fireball spell.

If someone can find an official ruling citied somewhere that would be nice.
Thanks in advance.
Hannibal King

 

[Thanee]

No, it does not. It circumvents barriers, but the area does not expand, if there is no way around them.

Cheak the rules for area effects (Spread, Burst, etc) in the magic chapter.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Storyteller01]

I don't remember the FAQ, but I believe the spell fills as much space as possible within a 20' radius, going around corners or in doorways to do so. It doesn't fill a total cubic ft, so lobbing a fireball in a corridor will only cover a 40 foot section of said hallway. The Players Handbook (3.0) has a great illustration of this on pg 204.

 

[Hannibal King]

So let me get this straight. A mage casts a fireball down a 80 foot long by 10 wide by 10 high corridor and the fireball only fills the area of 40 feet length by 10 feet width by 10 feet high?

That's utter crap! Can you say broken? Now mages don't have to worry about it casting it in confined areas. Who is the idiot who decided on that change? I think I'll stick to the old system, at least that made sense!

An unimpressed Hannibal King

 

[Storyteller01]

So let me get this straight. A mage casts a fireball down a 80 foot long by 10 wide by 10 high corridor and the fireball only fills the area of 40 feet length by 10 feet width by 10 feet high?

That's utter crap! Can you say broken? Now mages don't have to worry about it casting it in confined areas. Who is the idiot who decided on that change? I think I'll stick to the old system, at least that made sense!

An unimpressed Hannibal King

That's about the gist of it...

 

[Logos]

I for one don't want to have to stop the game and calculate where exactly the effect created by fireball winds up every time it's cast. I like the way fireball works both because it doesn't slow down gameplay unnecessarily, and because I want spells with the same effect(spreads and cones) to work the same way.

You want a 'realistic' answer to why fireball works that way? It's magic.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

So let me get this straight. A mage casts a fireball down a 80 foot long by 10 wide by 10 high corridor and the fireball only fills the area of 40 feet length by 10 feet width by 10 feet high?

That's utter crap! Can you say broken? Now mages don't have to worry about it casting it in confined areas. Who is the idiot who decided on that change? I think I'll stick to the old system, at least that made sense!

An unimpressed Hannibal King

Take your attitude elsewhere, troll.

 

[Warehouse23]

Or just use the simple chunky salsa rules from SR. Houserule your game such that fireball bounces off walls. That way a blast in a 10' wide hallway will do lots of damage and fuel your mages' bloodlust. That's a lot of d6's...

 

[dcollins]

I recall in 1st and 2nd edition it filled 33 10x10 cubes. Now I am not certain if it has the same properties as Lightning Bolt ie blocked by obstacles. The PHB mentions nothing under the Fireball spell.

Actually, it does:

The explosion creates almost no pressure.

This is the code language inserted in 3rd Edition that distinguishes it from previous editions in this regard. If there is no pressure, it has no capacity to fill up a given volume.

 

[FireLance]

Now mages don't have to worry about it casting it in confined areas.

As some would say, that's not a bug; it's a feature.