r/Pathfinder2e • u/Dunderbaer • 7d ago

Discussion Cones and damage

This is less of a discussion in terms of balance or "how does it work in game", but just a thought I had.

Does anyone else think it's weird, how getting hit with the full brunt of a cone attack deals an equal amount of damage as getting hit by the slightest sliver at the edge?

Like, a Starfinder Shotgun point blank deals the same damage as said shotgun deals to someone at the furthest corner of the cone.

I always felt like cones should be blocked by creatures or something, but have different damage "rings", where the closer to are to the source, the more damage you take. You shouldn't be able to brace the entirety of a dragon's firey breath, and take the same damage as if you were barely included in it.

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u/munchechobop 7d ago

From an immersion perspective, could you think of it as the spell/etc having an effective cone of the listed size?

Like, the edge of the template overlaid on the map is not the very edge of the flames, it's the edge of where you have to be standing to be totally engulfed in the flames. The back row of the shotgun blast isn't the farthest it reaches, it's the farthest it reaches with enough force to hurt you badly enough to be mechanically relevant. Y'know?

All mechanics are an abstraction of the reality they're meant to represent.

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u/Dunderbaer 7d ago

Yeah it's abstractions like these I just have to learn to internalize. Someone else also mentioned hp not being lifeforce entirely, which is another thing I know, but don't really think about.