aoe

Sets the area of effect for the weapon in squares. The default value is 0 (a single monster). A value of x will hit up to x monsters near the target. There are also many special values that can be used for other kind of areas. See Table Area of Effects (page 6). Those that are written as e.g. 30xx must be written as a 4 digit number e.g. “aoe 3005” for a cone of 5 squares.

— modding manual, page 4 (as a weapon command)