Direct spells - huge targets

I've never understood why it is not possible to hit a giant with a PoF - in my personal experience larger targets are easier to hit than smaller ones.
It makes so many cheesy things possible, like shapeshifting/heartbeasting into a bear (size 2) before attacking the hapless Flambeau whose spells are all worthless now.

So I've been thinking: Is it possible to attack a bear's head (which may be size -2) with a PoF?

I think you've misunderstood. The Target of Pilum of Fire is the fire itself; and it creates an Individual amount. The size of the victim of this attack is irrelevant (but see below). It is only Corpus spells (in the main) that would be affected by the size of the giant, because the victim and the spell's Target are the same.

It is arguable that a PoF shouldn't do so much damage to a giant, since the +15 damage accounts for full immersion (see ArM5, page 181) (probably - it is not totally clear, but since an Individual amount of fire is a cubic pace, this seems about right). Thus if you judge that an Individual amount of fire only covers one limb of your giant, then a PoF should only do half its damage against a normal-sized human (+8); if it covers only a foot or hand, then it does just one quarter (+4).

Cheers,

Mark

The difference in the damage caused is taken into account by the damage level brackets: they are broader in the case of the damage, so a spell that would kill a human will cause a medium wound or so in a giant. :slight_smile:

On the target of the spell, I concur with Mark. It is one of those confusing things in the rulebook about having 2 definitions for "target". This has been discussed ad nauseam in this forum, if you want to check it out :slight_smile:

Cheers,
Xavi

Both effects could be arguably brought to bear here. The broader wound ranges are a product of greater resilience to damage, but fire damage is based on the amount of the body covered. I'm not sure if I personally would use both -- it makes giants too hard -- but nothing specifically forbids this, other than the SG's fiat.

Mark

THis would add an extra level of complexity without generating a better story, in general terms, so I would rule against that. If you ant the jet of flame (or the sword cut, or the knight's lance, or...) to cause less damage, give the giant a higher soak. Easy to do :slight_smile: For my the JET of flame (yes, I am old school and my POF is a jet of flame) hits for +15 damage. If you are big, you will get a high soak and a big bracket for each wound level, so it will affect you less, but you are still hit for +15 damage :slight_smile:

Cheers,
Xavi

(Oh pants! I made a reply, which disappeared in an error, I'll try again)

First off, the definitions used in my groups of 'direct spells' are those not using an intervening medium. A PeCo is direct damage, a CrIg or ReTe use a medium.

Secondly, the "Target:Ind" for PoF, Boaf, Iol etc. I believe is inted to mean "one individual bolt/ball of flame". The Target is the thing created, not the thing it is thrown at.

Where the Flambeau do have problems, are in the School of Apromor. A normal T:Ind PeCo spells won't affect the Giant Blooded dude. So if he is well-prepared, he will have some other spells, or some known at T:Part* or T:Ind+1magnitude for Size.
*) As I remember it, T:Part isn't modified for the Size of the target, but I may be mistaken.

If you use an Aimed spell - like Sling of Vilano - it should be easier to hit a large target than a normal sized.