Spell area of effect templates!

[Hedgemage]

I've been cutting up plastic sheets of various colours to create simple transparent templates to show the area of a spell effect.

So far, I have:
10' radius circle
15' radius circle
20' radius circle
10' radius semi-circle (burning hands special)
generic cone with maximum length/width of 40'

(all in 1"=5' scale)

Is there another size/shape that I'm missing? I can't do a circle bigger than the 20' radius since the plastic sheets I have are the size of ordinary typing paper.

 

[omedon]

Neat idea Hedgemage. I might have to try this myself.

 

[Dingleberry]

I've been doing this since we started with 3E a year and a half ago, and it works GREAT. I heartily recommend that everyone try it.

One simple addition you might consider: I made a bunch of 1" circles in different colors - which (usually) correspond to specific spellcasters (e.g., . I place them under the minis of anyone with a light source or currently affected by a spell - mage armor, invisibility, resist elements, etc. It's very helpful when there are a lot of spells being thrown around.

I also do 1" wide long lines for lightning bolts, 2" squares for grease, 1" flame-cut circles for flaming sphere, etc. Some are useful, but most are just for effect.

 

[Hedgemage]

I've been considering some uses for the little scraps that are left over. The flaming sphere counter sounds like a good idea.

When trying to figure out what to use to make my templates, I first considered buying a packet of 20 transparency sheets (the kind you can use in inkjet printers) but the cost per sheet was about $0.75 US!

I looked around the office supplies and found a packet of five transparent plastic dividers for use in a binder. Cost per sheet was only about $0.28 US and I got a red, dark blue, light blue, yellow, and clear sheet.

 

[Dingleberry]

The binder dividers/folders are exactly what I use. If you think they'll see a lot of frequent movement around the board, I recommend the thicker ones. The static cling of the lighter material is sometimes a pain, plus the thicker ones are easier to cut with precision.

Checking my collection, I currently use:

- A few 4" radius yellow circles for torchlight
- An 4" radius solid black circle for darkness
- 4", 3" and 2" radius purple rings for wall of fire
- 4" radius flame-cut red circle for fireball
- a 1"x18" lightning bolt
- a 2" radius flame-cut for burning hands
- a variety of 1", 2" and 3" diameter circles for a variety of spells, e.g., silence
- a few cones for PC-specific spell-like abilities
- numerous 1" flame-cut circles for flaming sphere
- a 1" green "liquid" edge circle for acid sphere (via Energy Substitution)
- a mess of 1" multicolor circles for indicating active spell effects
- several 2" blue "liquid" edge squares for grease
- a small clear piece used to show the facing of shield

When coupled with several colors of transparency markers for map drawing on a laminated grid, it's often a VERY colorful game.

Also, after our sorcerer started casting invisibility on the rest of the party members like it was going out of style, I also made some cylinders out of clear plastic that stand around (or in place of) the minis of invisible characters.