Zone Wide Effects

[Taran]

To me, reducing the power of a spell by 2 shifts in order to hit every target in a zone makes for a much more powerful attack than splitting up an attack among several enemies.  If you could choose to selectively hit enemies with a zone-wide attack you'd almost always choose that over a spray attack.  I think zone-wide should target EVERYONE in the zone.

[ways and means]

I am trying to keep in the spirit of the novels here and in the novels magic is both directional (as most magic that Dresden uses is projection that directional is most often outwards and forward) and as a pure extension of human will it is also controllable at pretty much every level (with different degrees of difficulty). Now if you think it through if a large number of monsters decided to run in front of Harry, he would likely blast them with area effect fire spell pointing outwards from himself, (so he would project the fire forwards) what he wouldn't do is wreathe himself in fire because that would be stupid, in my opinion direction and size of magic does matter and there should be an option to make an area attack which isn't necessarily a zone wide attack if zones are particularly large. I know people hate examples from the book but Harry has used zone wide magic whilst he was in the same zone multiple times by directing the magic outwards from his body the most memorable example being in Bianca’s Mansions.   

[BumblingBear]

To me, reducing the power of a spell by 2 shifts in order to hit every target in a zone makes for a much more powerful attack than splitting up an attack among several enemies.  If you could choose to selectively hit enemies with a zone-wide attack you'd almost always choose that over a spray attack.  I think zone-wide should target EVERYONE in the zone.

This is how I feel.

Wizards hit hard enough as it is without giving them more perks.

If a group is playing correctly and a tank or two is running interference for the wizard, they should not have trouble anyway.

[EldritchFire]

I am trying to keep in the spirit of the novels here and in the novels magic is both directional (as most magic that Dresden uses is projection that directional is most often outwards and forward) and as a pure extension of human will it is also controllable at pretty much every level (with different degrees of difficulty). Now if you think it through if a large number of monsters decided to run in front of Harry, he would likely blast them with area effect fire spell pointing outwards from himself, (so he would project the fire forwards) what he wouldn't do is wreathe himself in fire because that would be stupid, in my opinion direction and size of magic does matter and there should be an option to make an area attack which isn't necessarily a zone wide attack if zones are particularly large. I know people hate examples from the book but Harry has used zone wide magic whilst he was in the same zone multiple times by directing the magic outwards from his body the most memorable example being in Bianca’s Mansions.   

Or maybe he took his supplemental action to move to another zone, so he could use the zone-wide attack against the bad guys?

As other's have said, FATE is an abstract rules set. Per the rules, a zone-wide attack attack everyone in the zone. However, when BumblingBear uses his rules in our game, I don't call shenanigans on him. My primary rule is "Your table, your rules."

Really, it's whatever is most fun for your table, as Fred has pointed out many times in the past!

-EF

P.S. It's now 9:50am. I've been up since 2am, and flew from Austin, TX to Chicago, IL on my way to Cleveland, OH. I'm light on sleep, and just started my first cup of caffeine. If my post made no sense, that's why!

[Taran]

Now if you think it through if a large number of monsters decided to run in front of Harry, he would likely blast them with area effect fire spell pointing outwards from himself, (so he would project the fire forwards) what he wouldn't do is wreathe himself in fire because that would be stupid,  

This is how I see it.  If Harry wants to hit one target, he shoots them with a concentrated blast of fire which is very potent.  If a large number of monsters ran in front of him, he'd have to spread the flames out over an area in front of him to hit all the enemies (like "burning hands" if you're familiar with D&D).  He's effectively reducing the potency of a blast in order to hit everything in front of him.  This is a spray attack.

[ways and means]

I suppose this is going to be a case where I agree to disagree with you  in my table and my opinion it makes sense for wizards to be able to make area attacks which don't perhaps fill an entire zone and have direction. When it comes down to it the best way I can think of doing this by the raw it is by using the decleration mechanism and compels for effect so if a wizard shoots a blade of air at neck height across an entire room he could declare the attack wouldn't hit the hostages slumped on the ground (costing either a discipline roll or a fate point) or tag the hostages slumped on the ground aspect for the same effect.

[Haru]

In the example of the wizard blasting the oncoming vampires, I think targeting this as a zone would be appropriate. After all, it is not a combat yet. Plus, I would probably put multiple zones down, if the room was large enough. A zone doesn't need to be divided by walls or fences, and it would make sense, that you would have to run through the room, in order to affect anything there, so you change the zone. In fact, any time there would be a reason for at least a +1 movement action to get to the action, it would be a different zone.

Maybe the size of a zone is affected by the kind of the conflict. In fact, when the vampires arrive, it might be a social conflict, before the wizard throws down, so a "us" zone and a "them" zone might be perfectly acceptable, though blurrier than other zones. Once it turns into a physical conflict, you might not be able to distinguish like this and it turns into the usual zones.

In a conflict, the parties don't stand still, and even if the vampire is standing 10 feet away from your team mate, by the time the fiery beam hits, he might already be over and hitting him. That is why zone attacks hit everyone in the zone. Dishing out fire is easy, controlling where it goes is hard. Maybe you could take another -2 shifts to shield someone from the effect, if he is inside the zone. That way, anyone could do a "duck" maneuver to get out of the way, that they can let you use to negate this effect. If they don't, it is going to be harder to not hit them. I hope you get what I am trying to say, I have the feeling I don't make much sense right now.