Editing HorizonVirtual:Rewrite Descriptions (section)

==AIMING A REWRITE==
You must make some choice about whom the rewrite is to affect or where the effect is to originate, depending on the type of rewrite. The next entry in a rewrite description defines the rewrite’s target (or targets), its effect, or its area, as appropriate.

'''Target or Targets:''' Some rewrites have a target or targets. You execute these rewrites on programs or objects, as defined by the rewrite itself. You must be able to see or touch the target, and you must specifically choose that target. You do not have to select your target until you finish executing the rewrite.

If the target of a rewrite is yourself (the rewrite description has a line that reads Target: You), you do not receive a saving throw, and rewrite resistance does not apply. The Saving Throw and Rewrite Resistance lines are omitted from such rewrites.

Some rewrites restrict you to willing targets only. Declaring yourself as a willing target is something that can be done at any time (even if you’re flat-footed or it isn’t your turn). Unconscious programs are automatically considered willing, but a character who is conscious but immobile or helpless (such as one who is bound, cowering, grappling, paralyzed, pinned, or stunned) is not automatically willing.

Some rewrites allow you to redirect the effect to new targets or areas after you execute the rewrite. Redirecting a rewrite is a move action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity.

'''Effect:''' Some rewrites create or summon things rather than affecting things that are already present.

You must designate the location where these things are to appear, either by seeing it or defining it. Range determines how far away an effect can appear, but if the effect is mobile it can move regardless of the rewrite’s range.

''Ray:'' Some effects are rays. You aim a ray as if using a ranged weapon, though typically you make a ranged touch attack rather than a normal ranged attack. As with a ranged weapon, you can fire into the dark or at an invisible program and hope you hit something. You don’t have to see the program you’re trying to hit, as you do with a targeted rewrite. Intervening programs and obstacles, however, can block your line of sight or provide cover for the program you’re aiming at.

If a ray rewrite has a duration, it’s the duration of the effect that the ray causes, not the length of time the ray itself persists.

If a ray rewrite deals damage, you can score a critical hit just as if it were a weapon. A ray rewrite threatens a critical hit on a natural roll of 20 and deals double damage on a successful critical hit.

''Spread:'' Some effects, notably clouds and fogs, spread out from a point of origin, which must be a grid intersection. The effect can extend around corners and into areas that you can’t see. Figure distance by actual distance traveled, taking into account turns the rewrite effect takes. When determining distance for spread effects, count around walls, not through them. As with movement, do not trace diagonals across corners. You must designate the point of origin for such an effect, but you need not have line of effect (see below) to all portions of the effect.

'''Area:''' Some rewrites affect an area. Sometimes a rewrite description specifies a specially defined area, but usually an area falls into one of the categories defined below.

Regardless of the shape of the area, you select the point where the rewrite originates, but otherwise you don’t control which programs or objects the rewrite affects. The point of origin of a rewrite is always a grid intersection. When determining whether a given program is within the area of a rewrite, count out the distance from the point of origin in squares just as you do when moving a character or when determining the range for a ranged attack. The only difference is that instead of counting from the center of one square to the center of the next, you count from intersection to intersection.

You can count diagonally across a square, but remember that every second diagonal counts as 2 squares of distance. If the far edge of a square is within the rewrite’s area, anything within that square is within the rewrite’s area. If the rewrite’s area only touches the near edge of a square, however, anything within that square is unaffected by the rewrite.

''Burst, Emanation, or Spread:'' Most rewrites that affect an area function as a burst, an emanation, or a spread. In each case, you select the rewrite’s point of origin and measure its effect from that point.

A burst rewrite affects whatever it catches in its area, even including programs that you can’t see. It can’t affect programs with total cover from its point of origin (in other words, its effects don’t extend around corners). The default shape for a burst effect is a sphere, but some burst rewrites are specifically described as cone-shaped. A burst’s area defines how far from the point of origin the rewrite’s effect extends.

An emanation rewrite functions like a burst rewrite, except that the effect continues to radiate from the point of origin for the duration of the rewrite. Most emanations are cones or spheres.
A spread rewrite spreads out like a burst but can turn corners. You select the point of origin, and the rewrite spreads out a given distance in all directions. Figure the area the rewrite effect fills by taking into account any turns the rewrite effect takes.

''Cone, Cylinder, Line, or Sphere:'' Most rewrites that affect an area have a particular shape, such as a cone, cylinder, line, or sphere.

A cone-shaped rewrite shoots away from you in a quarter-circle in the direction you designate. It starts from any corner of your square and widens out as it goes. Most cones are either bursts or emanations (see above), and thus won’t go around corners.

When executing a cylinder-shaped rewrite, you select the rewrite’s point of origin. This point is the center of a horizontal circle, and the rewrite shoots down from the circle, filling a cylinder. A cylinder-shaped rewrite ignores any obstructions within its area.

A line-shaped rewrite shoots away from you in a line in the direction you designate. It starts from any corner of your square and extends to the limit of its range or until it strikes a barrier that blocks line of effect. A line-shaped rewrite affects all programs in squares that the line passes through.

A sphere-shaped rewrite expands from its point of origin to fill a spherical area. Spheres may be bursts, emanations, or spreads.

''Programs:'' A rewrite with this kind of area affects programs directly (like a targeted rewrite), but it affects all programs in an area of some kind rather than individual programs you select. The area might be a spherical burst, a cone-shaped burst, or some other shape.

Many rewrites affect “living programs,” which means all programs other than constructs and undead. Programs in the rewrite’s area that are not of the appropriate type do not count against the programs affected.

''Objects:'' A rewrite with this kind of area affects objects within an area you select (as Programs, but affecting objects instead).

''Other:'' A rewrite can have a unique area, as defined in its description.

''(S) Shapeable:'' If an Area or Effect entry ends with “(S),” you can shape the rewrite. A shaped effect or area can have no dimension smaller than 10 feet. Many effects or areas are given as cubes to make it easy to model irregular shapes. Three-dimensional volumes are most often needed to define aerial or underwater effects and areas.

'''Line of Effect:''' A line of effect is a straight, unblocked path that indicates what a rewrite can affect. A line of effect is canceled by a solid barrier. It’s like line of sight for ranged weapons, except that it’s not blocked by fog, darkness, and other factors that limit normal sight.

You must have a clear line of effect to any target that you execute a rewrite on or to any space in which you wish to create an effect. You must have a clear line of effect to the point of origin of any rewrite you execute.

A burst, cone, cylinder, or emanation rewrite affects only an area, programs, or objects to which it has line of effect from its origin (a spherical burst’s center point, a cone-shaped burst’s starting point, a cylinder’s circle, or an emanation’s point of origin).

An otherwise solid barrier with a hole of at least 1 square foot through it does not block a rewrite’s line of effect. Such an opening means that the 5-foot length of wall containing the hole is no longer considered a barrier for purposes of a rewrite’s line of effect.