Adjudicating area of effect in tabletop RPGs is often a pain. Depending on the game you’re playing and how it reckons space, there can be a variety of rules regarding how to determine which squares a spell (or grenade, or bomb, or flamethrower, etc.) effects. It can be especially difficult to keep track of how wide cones are meant to be and how distance measurements interact with corners on square grids, something different games have different rules for.
Fortunately,even if you’re playing at a physical tabletop, there’s a way to make your adjudication of AoEs meticulously accurate while still keeping them quick and easy. Area of Effect markers areplay aidsthat are either shaped like common AoE effects or have those shapes drawn on them. There are a number of products along these lines to choose from, and we’ve gathered several of our favorites to showcase to you.
Enhance 30ft Spell AOE Damage Template
Arcknight Spell Effects Templates for D&D 5E
They’re not just shaped like the spells. They look like them.
This 24-piece set of acrylic spell-effect markers contains both visual representations and helpful reminder text regarding several of D&D 5e’s most common spells. It makes a ton of common effects much easier to use with minimal headaches.
Dungeons and Dragonshas an iconic collection of cool and interesting spells, many with iconic names and effects that stay relatively constant between editions. Examples include Fireball, Lightning Bolt, Grease, Burning Hands, Color Spray, Fear, and Cone of Cold.
This product does two awesome things. First, each piece is the correct size and shape for a specific spell, meaning you can lay the marker down and instantly see who should be hit. Second, they’re each decorated to fit the spell’s aesthetic. The 20" radius is fiery because it’s used for Fireball. There’s a rainbow-patterned 15" cone for color spray.
There are 10" cubes for Grease and the Bard’s Inspiration, and so on, and so on. They’re double-sided. One side has the graphics alone, while the other has them overlayed with helpful reminders about the spell’s effects written on it, allowing you to use the reminders for some effects while enjoying the art on its own when you don’t need it.
Spell Effects Template Set for D&D 5e
More spells than anywhere else
This product contains 25 acrylic markers designed, once again, for a healthy variety of spells, each paired with cool-looking effects and helpful reminder text. This set has the largest variety of spells.
This product is pretty similar to the last one, but with three differences. First, the designs look a little different. Whether they’re better or worse is a determination you’ll have to make for yourself. They’re a bit more sleek, but less flashy.
Second, the selection is different, and slightly larger. This set has 25 pieces instead of 24, but that’s not because it has one extra spell. There are actually quite a few here that weren’t in the previous one, and vice versa. If you’re buying one of these products specifically with your table’s party in mind, you’d be wise to take a careful look at both sets to see which one has more effects you’ll use. This one has more spells, but fewer class abilities and other common effects.
Arcknight Spell Effects Templates for Pathfinder 2E
Designed specifically with PF’s spells and quirks in mind
This set of 21 acrylic spell effect templates is designed specifically with Pathfinder 2e in mind, with shapes that account for how that game reckons distance and defines areas strictly with squares.
If you’re playing a fantasy TTRPG, there’s a good chance you’re playing D&D, but if you’re not playing D&D, there’s a good chance you’re playingPathfinder. A branching path in the evolution of D&D, Pathfinder is the game’s most popular competitor. Though both Pathfinder and D&D have changed editions since their original split, Pathfinder retains more of D&D 3e’s original rules, including the slightly more complicated but more accurate way it reckons distance.
These effects are designed with those shapes. There are slightly fewer pieces, but the selections have been made with Pathfinder in mind. Suffice it to say, if you are specifically going to be playing Pathfinder 2e (or 1e for that matter), this is likely the set you should buy.
15 Pcs Spell AOE Colorful Damage Template
A handful of shapes for a much wider variety of spells
These colorful, slightly translucent shapes are less visually impressive than previous products, but they’re correspondingly more versatile, and easy to use with a wider variety of games and spells.
The previous items on this list are very flashy, and designed to perfectly match specific games and their catalogs of spells. However, while this makes them ideal for the games they’re designed for, it makes them awkward for anything else. If you’re playingStarfinder, the Pathfinder set will mostly match, but everything will have different names and slightly different effects. If you’re playing a completely different game, or sometimes just using a more obscure spell, well, you’re reduced to pulling out a Fireball and asking everyone to pretend they’re looking at a sphere of ice.
Pretending a square clearly labeled Grease is secretly a Create Pit spell can get old after a while. This problem is alleviated with these more generic designs. Simple colors and shapes carry less flair, but they’re more versatile. At the cost of being slightly less flashy for the most common spells, they look good enough for hundreds more.
15 Pcs Spell AOE Damage Template
Simple and unobtrusive
This similar set of 15 pieces comes in a single, relatively flashless color, making for the most minimalist and unintrusive aesthetic, while still being able to help with just as many spells.
This product is similar to the last one, except where the shapes in the last set came in a variety of different colors, these are all red. Whether this makes it better or worse is a matter of aesthetic preference. The colorful design is more fun to look at, but the monocolor one is less intrusive and will fit the tone of some games better. Horror, in particular, is well-served by minimizing visual detail and making things less colorful, so ifyou’re running a game like that, this product might be for you.
Spell Effect Templates for D&D
Just as many spells for a fraction of the cost
Where the other items on this list consist of dozens of different pieces, this product manages to cram most of the same functionality into a single plastic circle which is both far cheaper and easier to store.
Until now, everything on this list has been a massive set of plastic templates, ranging from 15 to 25, each relatively large. While those products aren’t disasterously inconvenient to store, they still take up a decent amount of space, and, besides, they’re rather costly.
This single acrylic circle gives you the majority of the functionality you get from the other products for a fraction of the cost, and in a package that’s easier to store and carry. Laying all the cones, squares, and radii on top of each other makes the product a bit harder to decipher, but it’ll be about as good once you get the hang of it, and much more convenient. This product also has visual aids that help you use a D8 to determine a random direction, a small thing that really comes in handy in some games, such as Pathfinder, where Alchemists need to do this every time they miss a bomb throw.
Measures everything for you
Another acrylic circle that carries nearly the same functionality as the large sets featured earlier on this list, this product is designed with a slightly different selection of games in mind.
This product is a lot like the previous one, but with slightly different markings, making it more optimal for games with slightly different mechanics. Where the last item marked eight points around a circle, which is useful for the mechanics many games use to resolve splash damage, this one has twelve directions, similar to the hours of a clock. This is useful for games that reference those mechanically. These are slightly less common, but if your game of choice has them, you’ll find this product helpful.
FAQ
What is the area of effect in games?
The term “area of effect” is used in a wide variety of games, including both tabletop games and video games, to describe effects that target an area of space. Where single-target effects would target a single creature, and other effects may target a specific number of creatures in a variable area, an “area of effect” targets every creature in a specific space, usually without regard to how many creatures are present. Such effects are weaker when used on sparsely populated areas, but can be extremely effective against densely populated ones. The term “area of effect” can be both an adjective describing an ability (eg “I use an area of effect attack”) or a noun denoting the area in question (eg “there are four orcs inside my spell’s area of effect”).
What is the area of effect in D&D?
Tabletop games like D&D use area of effect mechanics to represent spells and other effects that damage, hinder, or even heal everything in a specific area. For example, Fireball damages everything in a 20' radius, and Color Spray potentially debuffs everything in a 15' cone.
