DND 5E Spells – How is Surface Area of Distort Value Spell Determined?

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When I cast Distort Value on an object, how big can the object be, can I cast it, for instance, on a almost conical shape which has a small flat top side that is no more than 1 foot, but has an overall size of many feet?

You cast this spell on an object no more than 1 foot on a side

Are the illusionary flourishes or unsightly features only present on the chosen side or do they cover the whole object/ a different surfaces area?

Best Answer

I don't think that there's going to be an official answer to this by the DnD 5e developers (e.g. Sage Advice), because the Acquisitions Incorporated book was written by the Penny Arcade team, and was simply published by WotC.

My interpretation of it, however, is as follows:

Your spell affects an object, and covers the entire object. That object must have dimensions of no more than one foot in any direction on each of its sides. So, for a cone, you can't have a diameter of more than one foot on the base, and the sloped sides can't be more than one foot from the point of the cone to the base, measured along the sides of the cone.

This means that, depending on the shape of the object in question, it can be possible to cast this on an object that is bigger than 1 foot across - for instance, you could cast it on an icosadecahedron (d20) whose triangular faces each have a length of 1 foot.

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