You do fucking win at D&D.

[Username17]

Does anyone know what the whole Rogue/Lightning Bolt thing is about?

In Red Hand of Doom, one of the early bosses is a sorcerer who specializes in lightning bolt. If left to his own devices, he is supposed to ambush you in a stairwell and dump lightning bolts until you all die. Since he is a boss and thus considerably higher level than your party and a sorcerer who thus has essentially limitless amounts of lightning bolts, that is a TPK if it goes off according to script.

Mr. GC can't get his head around the fact that while Lightning Bolt is a rather shitty spell, getting two of them in a row from a caster several levels higher than you will in fact drop the whole party.

-Username17

[Mr. GC]

Someone linked a thread in which Frank and K were bitching about how hard Red Hand of Doom is.

So... you can't read?

The entire point of that thread is that Red Hand of Doom is actually easy as balls. They of course win the whole thing, but they know that it is only because they are better than the average, and do things unconventionally. They know that really bad people like you also play the game, and so they recognize that you might very well die. For example, because you would have a not rogue, and you would think that walking upstairs into CL 10 lightning bolts at level 5 isn't going to kill you.

You look like an idiot.

First of all they're CL 6 Lightning Bolts since we're talking about an unmodified module, and even if they were 10, ooh, 35 damage... big deal. Oh and if this Sorcerer had a CL of 10, why the hell isn't he casting Wings of STFU instead of a derpy Lightning Bolt? If you have a non shit tier party, meaning zero Rogues, you fucking faceroll that shit like it ain't nothing and you don't bitch about lightning bolts or dragon breath strafing or anything that is entirely nullified by a single 3rd level spell.

Also, their party had to ignore the rules and/or bully the DM into ignoring the rules in multiple occasions just so they wouldn't get blown the fuck away like the gimps they are.

And that entire thread is OMG, this is such a hard meatgrinder... and not that it is in fact easy as fuck, so the crack. Stop smoking it. Now.

PS:

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/rhod_maps/95684.jpg

Show me on the map the STRAIGHT stairwell in which this supposedly happens. I'll wait.

What actually happens is that the tactics don't mention anything about the goddamn stairs. In fact this guy isn't even supposed to come out until almost all his buddies are already dead even if he's ready well before that which is stupid as hell. But the reason they don't mention the goddamn stairs is because there are no straight stairways to fire Lightning Bolts down.

But let's say they were. Let's say the guy fires one for lol 21 damage. And then... the party just stands there and lets him shoot them again as opposed to moving and/or killing him? I again reiterate - be non shit tier.

Since you are a bad liar, and should stop lying I will instead make references to cocks and your mothers and the interactions between them.

[Kaelik]

ooh, 35 damage... big deal.

And how much HP does your level 5 Wizard have that he not just usually, but always and without question survive two of those?

Oh and if this Sorcerer had a CL of 10, why the hell isn't he casting Wings of STFU instead of a derpy Lightning Bolt?

1) Because he doesn't have 4th level spells. 2) Because module writers usually use mostly core monsters and spells, instead of things from obscure books, because that way everyone who plays the module knows what is happening.

That thing were you assume that everyone in the entire world who has ever played D&D did so with a hard drive full of illegal copies of every book ever printed is silly.

you don't bitch about lightning bolts...anything that is entirely nullified by a single 3rd level spell.

Ah, so you just know in advance that the bugbear at the top of the stairs is going to kill you with lightning bolts and cast Mass Resist Energy at level 5 out of one of your limited 3rd level slots.

Man, reading the module before you play and metagaming sure does help you out.

Also, their party had to ignore the rules and/or bully the DM into ignoring the rules in multiple occasions

No, they didn't.

Show me on the map the STRAIGHT stairwell in which this supposedly happens. I'll wait.

1) When did I say that the stairwell was straight? 2) That stairwell, despite its ever so gentle curve is still straight enough that a single lightning bolt goes down it from top to bottom.

Let's say the guy fires one for lol 21 damage. And then... the party just stands there and lets him shoot them again as opposed to moving and/or killing him?

But yet, you can't explain how you would kill him in a in single round, because you can't specify the content of any of your party being actual characters, because then you would have to explain who was actually casting Mass Resist Energy before you walked up the stairs.

He survives one round, then he kills whomever is still within range. If you run back down the stairs, then he sits at the top of the stairs and waits with a readied action to murder your face with the second lightning bolt.

Since you are a bad liar, and should stop lying

HAHAHA

[erik]

GC could you give stats for your idealized wizard at levels 5, 7, 9, and 11 since those seem to be hotpoints in question? Several people have asked and it would negate the feeling that you are simply resculpting the character for each specific challenge, which is not an honest approach.

If you are relying upon other party members for contribution then please stat those up likewise.

Of course a wizard can do many things, but they can't do everything at once. They have to prepare the proper spells, and they may need to make a choice between an extra feat (human), better AC/Ref (halfing/kobold), more HP to absorb repeated 35 damage spells at level 5 (?) and so forth.

[Mr. GC]

1) Because he doesn't have 4th level spells. 2) Because module writers usually use mostly core monsters and spells, instead of things from obscure books, because that way everyone who plays the module knows what is happening.

Koth has a CL of 6. Now there are ways of boosting this, but you're not getting that to 10 without adding more casting levels.

That module is also full of non core stuff, it just reposts the stuff it is using.

And that means any Koth with a CL of 10 can just go out there, instead of waiting atop the non existent straight stairway, and cast a Wings of STFU instead.

That thing were you assume that everyone in the entire world who has ever played D&D did so with a hard drive full of illegal copies of every book ever printed is silly.

Or that they have some basic things such as the Spell Compendium, a common book, and Wings of STFU fits fucking lockstep into the whole crazy army worshipping a dragon god thing.

Ah, so you just know in advance that the bugbear at the top of the stairs is going to kill you with lightning bolts and cast Mass Resist Energy at level 5 out of one of your limited 3rd level slots.

Man, reading the module before you play and metagaming sure does help you out.

The non existent stairs. Anyways you know he's a caster just by looking at him, and when he casts a Lightning Bolt you might need to call a game break to LOL, but after that you will in fact throw a mass resist if you're not shit tier. Assuming you didn't find out in advance, which is certainly possible without metagaming.

No, they didn't.

Bad liar. Stop lying.

1) When did I say that the stairwell was straight? 2) That stairwell, despite its ever so gentle curve is still straight enough that a single lightning bolt goes down it from top to bottom.

And by that you mean it goes down a little ways and then it hits the wall, and because this isn't older editions it doesn't refract and keep going, it just stops.

Because you see, the stairway is actually shaped like the letter U. Which you'd know if you were not a lying basket weaver.

But yet, you can't explain how you would kill him in a in single round, because you can't specify the content of any of your party being actual characters, because then you would have to explain who was actually casting Mass Resist Energy before you walked up the stairs.

We're talking about one of the worst Sorcerers imaginable. No real defenses, nicely standing on the ground in plain sight, and under 60 HP. I don't have to explain how he's facerolled by any non shit tier party. You have to justify the fucking existence of any party that cannot.

PS: Non shit tier Koth spams Wings of STFU, then Imperious Commands anyone that saves, while flying. He's also invisible until he starts doing this, is only hit on a 20 by non shit tier melee, saves on a 2 vs just about everything, and has an "insurmountable" touch AC of 20.

So yeah, show your noobness some more.

He survives one round, then he kills whomever is still within range. If you run back down the stairs, then he sits at the top of the stairs and waits with a readied action to murder your face with the second lightning bolt.

At this point the best advice I can give you is suck fewer cocks. You could not do 60 damage to a soft target in an entire round, and also could not back off then just go around and up through the big ass fucking hole in the tower to strike this loser from behind while he waits to cast straight line effects down a U shaped stairway.

Yeah, at that point you deserve to be violently murdered by the worst Sorcerer imaginable. I'd imagine he will even made sure to kneel over your corpse just before your final consciousness fades.

[rasmuswagner]

First of all they're CL 6 Lightning Bolts since we're talking about an unmodified module, and even if they were 10, ooh, 35 damage... big deal.

And that entire thread is OMG, this is such a hard meatgrinder... and not that it is in fact easy as fuck, so the crack. Stop smoking it. Now.

Your level 5 Wizard has 24 HP with 14 Con. Let's say you have +1 resistance bonus to saves and +2 from Dex, that's at least 50%, probably 60% chance that you're dead, right there, do not pass go.

You talk big, like a man with proven cred. But you don't have it, and you're not earning it. You're a stupid punk and everyone is calling you on it.

[Mr. GC]

GC could you give stats for your idealized wizard at levels 5, 7, 9, and 11 since those seem to be hotpoints in question? Several people have asked and it would negate the feeling that you are simply resculpting the character for each specific challenge, which is not an honest approach.

If you are relying upon other party members for contribution then please stat those up likewise.

Of course a wizard can do many things, but they can't do everything at once. They have to prepare the proper spells, and they may need to make a choice between an extra feat (human), better AC/Ref (halfing/kobold), more HP to absorb repeated 35 damage spells at level 5 (?) and so forth.

Well first of all I'd have to know what the fuck it is we're actually talking about. Is it the whole Shivering Touch overcentralizes the game? Because that's been tapped out for a while and people keep going on about it anyways. Is it the whole getting a CL of 10 without being able to cast 4th level spells, as otherwise he'd just cast Wings of STFU and render it all moot? We've been over that.

Is it about how dragon breath is actually a threat, honest? Um no, because mass resist is right up there with mirror image as a standard staple defense. That's already been beaten down as well - dragon strafing cannot be a threat by RAW, at most what you can do is stack metabreaths and have an invisible dragon suddenly appear and OHKO the party.

Now if I wanted dragons to actually play like dragons, what I'd do is houserule all breath weapons to do damage equal to 25% of the user's current HP... could go as high as 50%. This also causes metabreaths to stop working as breath damage is no longer a "variable numeric effect".

This does several things:

1: It encourages dragons to actually play like you'd expect them to play, namely breath strafing and trying to not get hit. Instead emergent gameplay gives you Flyby Pouncing dragons or fucking Blood Wind ranged melee full attacks, because that's what actually works.
2: It makes HP states other than fine/dead actually fucking matter.
3: It makes all those shitty monsters that are shitty just because they have a breath weapon which is also shitty pull their weight. Most Magical Beasts, for example.

I don't actually use this houserule, but I'm very strongly considering including it in any new games and making it a part of the standard list for new games going forward.

[Username17]

Is it the whole getting a CL of 10 without being able to cast 4th level spells, as otherwise he'd just cast Wings of STFU and render it all moot? We've been over that.

Uh... he's a sorcerer. He doesn't get a whole lot of spell selection. If he has one spell that does evocation damage he probably isn't going to take another one. He happens to know Lightning Bolt. It's not a great spell, but it serves its purpose, which in this case is to be dropped onto a group of 5th level characters two times in succession and be very likely to kill them all.

6th level or 10th level isn't super important for this purpose. If you are 5th level, you have five hit dice. Two Lightning Bolts in succession is very likely to drop you.

Now in our particular case, he didn't actually get an opportunity to do that, opting instead to dump out one lightning bolt and then duck inside so that he could be ganked by rogues. But if he had kept to the script and the PCs had also kept their end of the script of finding out about the guy through dint of having him dump a lightning bolt on them on the stairs during a surprise round and then doing it again immediately afterward - that would be extremely likely to kill the party.

Because you're fifth fucking level and 2d6/level from someone higher level than you is more hit points than you have even if you're a Barbarian. And no, you don't have fucking Mass Resist or some shit up. And even if you did you have no particular reason to believe that you are about to be hit by electricity damage and you could just as well be about to be fireballed or acid coned. This is basic D&D math: how many fucking hit points do you have at 5th level? Is it more than 42? Show your fucking work.

-Username17

[Kaelik]

Koth has a CL of 6. Now there are ways of boosting this, but you're not getting that to 10 without adding more casting levels.

Well, except Practiced Spellcaster to go with his non casting HD. That would get it to 10 without adding any casting levels.

That module is also full of non core stuff, it just reposts the stuff it is using.

It is not full of non core stuff, it has some stuff. Very little, and nothing from Races of the Dragon.

And that means any Koth with a CL of 10 can just go out there, instead of waiting atop the non existent straight stairway, and cast a Wings of STFU instead.

Well, except one with practiced spellcaster.

Or that they have some basic things such as the Spell Compendium, a common book, and Wings of STFU fits fucking lockstep into the whole crazy army worshipping a dragon god thing.

Hey dumb shit. Wings of Flurry is not in the Spell Compendium.

The non existent stairs. Anyways you know he's a caster just by looking at him, and when he casts a Lightning Bolt you might need to call a game break to LOL, but after that you will in fact throw a mass resist if you're not shit tier.

Unless you have a Wizard, in which case you might have just died. Unless your Cleric didn't prepare Mass Resist Energy in one of his 3rd level slots that day, or hey, you might not even have a Cleric.

But you know what I love, is that your response to getting lightning bolted for 25 damage at level 5 is to simultaneously cast Mass Resist Energy (which will only block 10 damage, and still get you killed next round) and to kill the Sorcerer in a single round before he can cast again.

If you could do the second one, then the first one is pointless.

Bad liar. Stop lying.

I understand that you don't know the rules, so you think they broke the rules, but unless you can point to a specific instance, no one gives a fucking shit how confused you are by the rules.

And by that you mean it goes down a little ways and then it hits the wall, and because this isn't older editions it doesn't refract and keep going, it just stops.

Because you see, the stairway is actually shaped like the letter U. Which you'd know if you were not a lying basket weaver.

1) I would think basket weavers are perfectly capable of seeing straight lines vs curves. 2) It is not shaped like a letter U, Us have straight edges on both sides. As I said, there is a curve, but if you stand in the square at the top of the stairs and draw a straight line from your lower forward intersection you can draw it so that it enters every square that has the stairs in it, and if you draw that line, then anyone in any of those squares takes damage from the lightning bolt.

We're talking about one of the worst Sorcerers imaginable. No real defenses, nicely standing on the ground in plain sight, and under 60 HP. I don't have to explain how he's facerolled by any non shit tier party.

You do if you want to be taken seriously. He has 59 Hp and AC 15. You have to show how your party can kill him in a single round where only one person can reach him because he is at the top of the stairs, and it's only wide enough for one, and they can't charge, because you can't charge upstairs. That usually means a single standard action from a melee character. Now, you could cast some spells which would have a non zero chance of disabling him, and that would be fine, but if he makes his save, you die the next round, thus proving the point.

PS: Non shit tier Koth spams Wings of STFU, then Imperious Commands anyone that saves, while flying. He's also invisible until he starts doing this, is only hit on a 20 by non shit tier melee, saves on a 2 vs just about everything, and has an "insurmountable" touch AC of 20.

PS, no one cares. We all know lots of ways we could make Koth harder, that is not at issue. At issue is how an average party will fair against him as is, and as is, he will often, but not always, kill at least one party member, and maybe more.

So yeah, show your noobness some more.

I know, what a noob, how dare I make my monster a Bugbear Sorcerer. I mean... oh wait, it's a fucking module, I didn't make him.

[virgil]

I can see a portion of one of those line templates fitting down the stairwell provided. As has been stated before, 35 damage WILL drop the average or even well-built 5th level wizard, maybe even insta-kill depending on the rolls.

[nockermensch]

>Oct, 8th
>Den still trying to argue with the clown
>mfw

Here, I'll predict all his future answers on this thread:

1 - Call your characters/monsters/tactics weak.
2 - When asked to show his work, google CharOp boards for numbers, ignoring that a lot of CharOp works are theoretical and actually not very good overall. Due to this, avoid posting a complete build at all costs (or everybody would immediately see the areas where it fails)
3 - Troll some more, add a liberal serving of cocks and barrels so that he "fits", go back to 1.

[Mr. GC]

Uh... he's a sorcerer. He doesn't get a whole lot of spell selection. If he has one spell that does evocation damage he probably isn't going to take another one. He happens to know Lightning Bolt. It's not a great spell, but it serves its purpose, which in this case is to be dropped onto a group of 5th level characters two times in succession and be very likely to kill them all.

6th level or 10th level isn't super important for this purpose. If you are 5th level, you have five hit dice. Two Lightning Bolts in succession is very likely to drop you.

So let's pretend 3rd level is his best spell then. In that case, why not Fireball? Unlike getting the PCs to line up like ducks in a row hitting things with a 20 foot radius effect while they are in a relatively small area is actually pretty damn likely and therefore might actually happen. Even if you also pretend RHoD is mostly core, when it is not Fireball still > Lightning Bolt in almost every imaginable situation.

There's also the small matter of how something with sub 60 HP and no real defenses gets two consecutive turns on you.

Now in our particular case, he didn't actually get an opportunity to do that, opting instead to dump out one lightning bolt and then duck inside so that he could be ganked by rogues. But if he had kept to the script and the PCs had also kept their end of the script of finding out about the guy through dint of having him dump a lightning bolt on them on the stairs during a surprise round and then doing it again immediately afterward - that would be extremely likely to kill the party.

Right, so he fired a line down the U shaped stairway, instead of throwing a Fireball in the middle of it which would actually hit everyone.

Because you're fifth fucking level and 2d6/level from someone higher level than you is more hit points than you have even if you're a Barbarian. And no, you don't have fucking Mass Resist or some shit up. And even if you did you have no particular reason to believe that you are about to be hit by electricity damage and you could just as well be about to be fireballed or acid coned. This is basic D&D math: how many fucking hit points do you have at 5th level? Is it more than 42? Show your fucking work.

-Username17

So you're assuming that:

You fail both low DC saves.
All characters of all classes have 32 or fewer HP when the standards range from 24-42 and you can easily go higher... such as with a Barbarian who has like 53 without trying, and without raging, and does not in fact have 32 or less because he is not shit tier.
The party just sits there and takes this, instead of killing the fucking soft target already.

Remember, sub 60 HP, no real defenses. Non shit tier parties fight mooks with better than that. You're scared of this on a boss.

Now even without leveling up Koth, if you give him some actually good spells like Slow and Glitterdust and fuck, even Fireball beats out Lightning Bolt he can actually start doing something. But as written? He's a pinata, go pop him.

[Mr. GC]

Well, except Practiced Spellcaster to go with his non casting HD. That would get it to 10 without adding any casting levels.

If by 10 you mean 9, you are correct.

Hey dumb shit. Wings of Flurry is not in the Spell Compendium.

Hey dumb shit. I didn't say it was. Those were two separate ideas. You know, since you mentioned Mass Resist and Wings of STFU.

Unless you have a Wizard, in which case you might have just died. Unless your Cleric didn't prepare Mass Resist Energy in one of his 3rd level slots that day, or hey, you might not even have a Cleric.

I think "suck less" is apt here.

1) I would think basket weavers are perfectly capable of seeing straight lines vs curves. 2) It is not shaped like a letter U, Us have straight edges on both sides. As I said, there is a curve, but if you stand in the square at the top of the stairs and draw a straight line from your lower forward intersection you can draw it so that it enters every square that has the stairs in it, and if you draw that line, then anyone in any of those squares takes damage from the lightning bolt.

No, if you actually look at it you see that the tower is cut into two parts. And if you look at it like it were a clock, here's how that goes:

The top of the stairs is at the 8 oclock position. The stairs then descend, rotating around and reaching the 6 oclock position in the first half... and then they keep going in the second half and finishing around the 4 oclock position, a full 120 degree rotation.

You do if you want to be taken seriously. He has 59 Hp and AC 15. You have to show how your party can kill him in a single round where only one person can reach him because he is at the top of the stairs, and it's only wide enough for one, and they can't charge, because you can't charge upstairs. That usually means a single standard action from a melee character. Now, you could cast some spells which would have a non zero chance of disabling him, and that would be fine, but if he makes his save, you die the next round, thus proving the point.

If you cannot seriously see how you deal with 59 HP and AC 15 (holy fuck, and I was being charitable and assuming 19 because I think he had one shitty buff) in one round when he cannot cast defensively at all, and therefore any non shit tier melee automatically owns him because they have reach then not only are you and your party shit tier, but I cordially invite you to eat your fucking modem right now so that we never have to see you again.

PS, no one cares. We all know lots of ways we could make Koth harder, that is not at issue. At issue is how an average party will fair against him as is, and as is, he will often, but not always, kill at least one party member, and maybe more.

Your definition of average is incredibly low then. But then you regard "holy shit, we take damage if we stand here, let's not stand here!" as incredibly difficult to the point of being something that does not happen so I can only assume that your gaming group suffers from literal mental retardation. This is the sort of encounter where you could have a Monk derp step up to him and give him a hug and have that shit actually work and just shut him down on the spot.

Also, fuck you for making me imagine a Derpy Hooves Monk.

I know, what a noob, how dare I make my monster a Bugbear Sorcerer. I mean... oh wait, it's a fucking module, I didn't make him.

And Bugbear Sorcerers can be made to not suck. I already showed you one way that's possible.

[Avoraciopoctules]

Just for those curious what a "U shaped staircase" looks like:

[angelfromanotherpin]

Because you see, the stairway is actually shaped like the letter U. Which you'd know if you were not a lying basket weaver.

Right, so he fired a line down the U shaped stairway, instead of throwing a Fireball in the middle of it which would actually hit everyone.

Hey moron! Fucking moron!

YOU posted the image of the stairway. YOU provided the evidence that it is not fucking shaped like the letter U.

So when you go on about how it is shaped like the letter U in clear contradiction to the evidence YOU provided, that is just repeatedly own-goaling yourself out of this discussion.

It is also you proving that you will open-faced lie about easily-confirmable facts and that no-one should give you the time of day.

[Avoraciopoctules]

Wait, GC posted the staircase? Maybe I should sblock mine.

[Mr. GC]

Oh look, more Denners channeling their inner sperglord. Why am I not surprised?

Seriously, are you guys done fucking up yet? You're getting boring to watch.

Edit: Oh hey there, someone posted showing how you can shoot down HALF the staircase... which ya know, I said. Except we were talking about shooting down ALL of it, and not half of it, so you're still a bunch of fucking morons.

[Avoraciopoctules]

Here's another more zoomed-in shot.


Also, been thinking about situations where Lightning Bolt would be useful. At high CL, might be nice for punching relatively precise holes in barriers. Against adventurers, I've found that resistance to fire is more common. So it might be good against people doing general prep spells, or in a volcano/other area with lots of fire hazards.

[Mr. GC]

Right, so you're dependent on firing it into a wall, and then having it refract old school style to go down the other half. Otherwise, it only goes down half. Since 3.x Lightning Bolt does not refract, this entire strategy is a fail.

Go ahead. Superimpose the top half of that tower over the bottom half. Notice how the stairs are in DIFFERENT POSITIONS ON EACH? That's because each only shows HALF.

Edit: While fire resist is the most common, 20 foot radius is still a better template than a 60 foot line. So in that case, you'd rock Fireball with a Lesser Sub rod, or just cast Scintillating Sphere which is basically a Fireball that's already been subbed to Lightning for you.

About the only real way of getting more utility out of Lightning Bolt by RAW would be a long narrow straight hallway, and at the end of it you get Lightning Bolted. But then, you could also likely Fireball everyone so whatever.

[angelfromanotherpin]

Oh look, more Denners channeling their inner sperglord. Why am I not surprised?

Seriously, are you guys done fucking up yet? You're getting boring to watch.

Oh look, the liar has run out of prevarication and resorted to obvious troll-style baiting to cover. Why am I not surprised?

[Avoraciopoctules]

Hey guys, does RHoD give a reason for you to actually enter the deathkeep instead of hitting it with a catapult? I never played the module outside of a short PBP game that didn't go very far.

[sabs]

also, Fireball has a 20' radius. Which means, he can't cast fireball down those stairs without hitting himself. Which is pretty much incredibly sucky. So, said 60 Hp Sorceror is not going to use fireball, where he has a chance of doing 1/2 his own hp, when he can use lightning bolt. That fireball rushes back up the stairs and hits him in the face. Win!

[Mr. GC]

also, Fireball has a 20' radius. Which means, he can't cast fireball down those stairs without hitting himself. Which is pretty much incredibly sucky. So, said 60 Hp Sorceror is not going to use fireball, where he has a chance of doing 1/2 his own hp, when he can use lightning bolt. That fireball rushes back up the stairs and hits him in the face. Win!

Actually, he can. If he stands in the top left part and casts down, it flies 10 feet down the stairs before hitting the wall and exploding, burning up most of the top tower (but not himself, it stops right before him) and most of the bottom part.

If he instead leans out the big hole in the side of the tower and bombs the courtyard this is much better though.

And no, you could hit it with a catapult if you could get one through the forest. Just that wouldn't do very much since all the enemies are well inside it and if you wanted to go siege on it casting Fly on someone strong and have them air drop boulders would work better anyways.

[sabs]

So, check my math here.

The ball flies 10' down the stairs and explodes. Then, the fire goes in all directions 20'.

He's 10' away from the center, how is that NOT inside the 20' radius (ie 40' diameter)

[violence in the media]

So, check my math here.

The ball flies 10' down the stairs and explodes. Then, the fire goes in all directions 20'.

He's 10' away from the center, how is that NOT inside the 20' radius (ie 40' diameter)

Because most American public schools don't teach Geometry until 8th or 9th grade?