Spell Template

Chose this AOE because it seemed to have the most options for the best price. It seems like a quality piece and I've put it over a 1" grid map and everything fits absolutely perfectly. It looks much more high dollar than it is and has nice little accents like dice around the edges and va dragon at the bottom.Comes in a really stupendous "book" box (held closed by an elastic strap that goes over the front and is attached to the back) with a foam boarder which could be used as a dice tray if desired. Cute if slightly weird picture of a medieval family playing DnD in the tray (decent art though). Also comes with a good sized white polishing cloth incase you get fingerprints on your AOE disk (which is clear, obvi). The outside of the box is minimalist and mostly black, acceptably classy looking.The *only* thing I dislike was that on the inside of the cover the company has some weird list in huge font which - while in perfect English - is awkward enough to scream MADE IN CHINA! Absolutely not a big deal and I'd buy it again in a heartbeat, the list is just a bit cringe on a product you could otherwise pass off as having spent WAAAAAY more on it than you actually did, which is unfortunate of you're planning to give it as a gift.

I had been in the market for an AOE template for quite a while, and eventually settled on this one after reading innumerable reviews. I actually bought two, one for me as a DM, and one for another group with whom I am a player [remember folks, it's always nice to toss your DM a gift from time to time]. The packaging, although somewhat superfluous, is really nice. There is a somewhat sturdy...storage box? For an 8+ inch piece of acrylic and a chamois cloth, the box isn't something I expected to be talking about in my review, but it is noteworthy. Quite nice packaging. I had been planning on just storing the template in a random assortment of gear, but I'll probably keep the box considering how nice it is. As far as the template itself, all of the cube, radius and cones are presented intuitively, with an added d12 randomizer. Had I not read so many reviews, I would have been pleasantly surprised at just how thick and sturdy the template is. Another reviewer had the template next to a standard US quarter coin for reference, and this is easily twice as thick. This is not flimsy at all, and will likely stand up to the test of time. The added cloth will most probably come in handy, as this will seemingly take on fingerprints and smudges very easily. In the dim light of the room where I opened the box, and against the darker backdrop of said box, the markings on the template seemed quite muted and hard to see. However, under proper lighting circumstances and against say, a battlemat, the markings are quite clear. I can't think of a single negative thing to say about this product at the moment. There are a lot of AOE templates out there, but from what I can tell, this is the best overall for my purposes.

Helping my players visualize the effects of their spells is very helpful. They really appreciate it, so that they can avoid other players while casting fireball! And also cone of cold, and many other effects. Easy to read, and very sturdy.

This has been super useful in our home game. The one critique I have is that the indicators doesn't show very well unless it's on a light background. For hand drawn maps on a basic grid that's fine, but if you've got any nice maps with designs it might be harder to see.

Very good. Unlike the other ones. This is NOT foggy at all. Just very clear and easy to read.

I think the cube area template works just fine.In the photos they provide, they have 4 of them out together, flat on a table.To get the Cube Area, just place the the corner of the template, at the center of spell effect area.Rotate the template 3 times, 90 degrees and mark off the area on your game map.Simple enough.Maybe the effect is on ground level centered on you and you want to gauge the area above you.This is exactly the template you are looking for!Heck, you've even got a 120' cube template here! (Can't say that I've encountered a spell that can do that, yet.) But, how else would you do that? This template would have to be 4 times as large! lol.I think this works just fine.Just remember that the corner is the center point of your cube and you're good to go and this template is accurate!Unless I'm missing something, I haven't had my coffee yet.I'm glad to see the cone template is accurate as well (in 2 dimensions.)Most are not. This template marks the method used to define the cone's area effect with blue lines.(This should be a 3D effect, but most minis on the map are at ground level right? Well, what if you're flying? Hmmm. Would this cone hit? Maybe not. Maybe there is another, more accurate template. Or maybe that's just getting a bit too bogged down into the game mechanics. Theater of the Mind time! Roll that Dex Save with advantage!)The cone effect area shouldn't use the blue line to mark far edge of the effect's area on the left or right sides.That would make the sides of the cone longer than the center.The effect is not a triangle, it's a cone.Like an ice cream cone. :)The sides of the cone should be the same length as the center line. Most templates get this wrong. I used to use a drawing compass with a dry erase marker instead of a pencil to mark the area effect. (When we were needing accuracy.) This template is much easier than that."A cone extends in a direction you choose from its point of origin. A cone's width at a given point along its length is equal to that point's distance from the point of origin. A cone's area of effect specifies its maximum length.A cone's point of origin is not included in the cone's area of effect, unless you decide otherwise." -5E PHBThis is why the blue lines are on the template. It is for calculating the width of the arc.I do have another smaller template from another company for the sphere, circle and cube template. It is thicker and I can't see it ever breaking from normal use. That one will probably be used just as much as this one. It's a smaller template for smaller areas.I wish this template was a bit thicker. It bends, just by holding by the corner in the air horizontally. I just know this thing is going to break.It's longer/wider than a 3 ring binder.Despite it's thin plastic, it will be a welcome addition to the table. I think if I broke it, I'd buy it again, but If another company made the same thing, but with thicker plastic, I'd buy the one that was thicker at a slightly higher price.