I think Thunderwave is the red area. My friend argued it is the yellow. Who is correct?

I believe the caster can also be 5′ right or left – not required to be center of the face they are touching

6 thoughts on “I think Thunderwave is the red area. My friend argued it is the yellow. Who is correct?

  1. Alton Shale says:

    Actually, based on the description on page 205 of the PHB you could have it radiate from you, but you would be included in the effect if you are trying to catch those around you. You are the point of origin and the cube must be attached to you from a cube facing position. Imagine, therefore, that you have the spell emanate from the bottom of your feet up. This would mean you made a decision to include yourself in the area of affect. You will note they do not specifically say “direction” therefore the direction for which the spell goes could include yourself, and would indeed include yourself if the desired effect is to catch all those around you in the effect.

    Page 205: “You select a cube’s point of origin, which lies anywhere on a face of the cubic effect. The cube’s size is expressed as the length of each side. A cube’s point of origin is not included in the cube’s area of effect, unless you decide otherwise.” It is that,”Unless you decide otherwise.”, that informs the option of you centered in the effect. Your point of origin could exist either within or outside the cube, but if you chose to be within you will have decided to be within the area of effect.

    • John says:

      The origin, though, is still “self”, so if he included the space-point-of-origin it would only “back it up” by one square (that is, the effect would include the caster’s space — affecting him/her — and the space to the left/right, then two spaces forward from those spaces, or backwards as LOS is not indicated by the spell, or a box-left/box-right, similar to how the spell can be adjusted when it’s normally “forward” of the caster). The caster would still never be the center, “Paul Lynde” square, but always at best one of the bottom or top squares. It will never radiate equally from them because the spell starts from “Self” and the caster must be part of one of the square’s sides accordingly. You would only, at best, catch those beside you, but never those behind you, or those in front of you if you “reversed” the direction. It will never be a “radial” effect.

      • Alex says:

        @John, the point of origin -could- be on the ground however, letting you place yourself in the center of that square face should you choose.

        • John Preis says:

          It still wouldn’t be you in the “center” of the effect, because of how the spell effects work as noted in the books/the pages cited.

  2. D. Walker says:

    I’m surprised that no one anywhere suspected that maybe the OP and their friend are mixing up two different but similarly named and themed spells!

    Sure, maybe their inclusion of “(5ft cube) is a typo… but it’s also possible they confused Thunderwave with Thunderclap.

    Thunderwave is the red square…
    …but Thunderclap is absolutely the yellow square.

    • DMDB says:

      Except Thunderclap is 5ft not 15ft, so not the yellow square either. The yellow square is a 15 foot cube centered in the user.

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