Difference between revisions of "Yagura:SRD:Casting Spells"

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=====Readying to Counterspell=====
 
=====Readying to Counterspell=====
  
You can follow the normal rules to ready an action in cast an opponent casts a spell. You can declare your readied action to be a counterspell, in which case the only difference between this and the normal counterspell rules is that an attack of opportunity is not used but your normal actions are.
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You can follow the normal rules to ready an action in case an opponent casts a spell. You can declare your readied action to be a counterspell, in which case the only difference between this and the normal counterspell rules is that an attack of opportunity is not used but your normal actions are.
  
 
Of course, you can also cast any other spell as a readied action in order to force your opponent to make a Concentration check, or you can use the ''dispel magic'' spell to counter a spell being cast (see the spell description).
 
Of course, you can also cast any other spell as a readied action in order to force your opponent to make a Concentration check, or you can use the ''dispel magic'' spell to counter a spell being cast (see the spell description).

Revision as of 07:43, 1 October 2014

Casting Spells

Whether a spell is arcane or divine, and whether a character prepares spells in advance or chooses them on the spot, casting a spell works the same way.

Choosing a Spell

First you must choose which spell to cast. If you’re a prepared spellcaster, you select from among spells prepared earlier in the day. If you’re a spontaneous spellcaster, you can select any spell you know, provided you are capable of casting spells of that level or higher.

To cast a spell, you must be able to speak (if the spell has a verbal component), gesture (if it has a somatic component), and manipulate the material components or focus (if any). Additionally, you must concentrate to cast a spell.

If a spell has multiple versions, you choose which version to use when you cast it. You don’t have to prepare or learn a specific version of the spell.

Once you’ve cast a spell you gain strain based on the spell's level and your caster level. If you have not yet reached your spellcasting strain threshold you may cast the spell again, or any other spell you have available to cast.


Concentration

To cast a spell, you must concentrate. If something interrupts your concentration while you’re casting, you must manage the interruption with a Concentration check. The more distracting the interruption, the higher the DC, and when attempting to cast a spell you always add the level of the spell to the DC. If you fail the check, you suffer a -2 penalty to the save DC and to the spell power. If you fail the check by more than 5, you lose the spell without effect.

Injury

If while trying to cast a spell you take damage, you must make a Concentration check DC 10 + 1 per 3 points of damage taken + spell level being cast. The interrupting event strikes during spellcasting if it comes between when you start and when you complete a spell (for a spell with a casting time of 1 full round or more) or if it comes in response to your casting the spell (such as an attack of opportunity provoked by the spell or a contingent attack, such as a readied action).

If you are taking continuous damage half the damage is considered to take place while you are casting a spell. Repeated damage does not count as continuous damage.

Grappling or Pinned

If you are being grappled you may only cast spells without somatic components and whose material components (if any) you have in hand. Even so, the Concentration check DC is equal to the highest of your opponents' grapple checks + spell level being cast.

Other Distractions

Other distracting events can require a Concentration check to avoid an interruption, starting at DC 5 + spell level being cast

  • DC +0 - Minor distractions (in a busy but peaceful crowd of people, in a high wind with blinding rain or sleet)
  • DC +5 - Vigorous motion (riding on a moving mount, taking a bouncy ride in a wagon, on a small boat in rough water, below-decks in a storm-tossed ship, or simply being jostled in a similar fashion), violent weather (wind-driven hail, dust, or debris)
  • DC +10 - Violent motion (on a galloping horse, taking a very rough ride in a wagon, on a small boat in rapids or in a storm, on deck in a storm-tossed ship, or being tossed roughly about in a similar fashion), being entangled


Casting Defensively

Casting a spell while within an area threatened by an enemy provokes an attack of opportunity. This attack can be avoided by casting defensively, which requires a successful Arcana, Geomancy, or Thaumaturgy skill check DC 15 + spell level being cast. If you succeed you provoke no opportunity attacks; if you fail you provoke as normal.


Counterspells

It is possible to cast any spell as a counterspell. By doing so, you are using the spell’s energy to disrupt the casting of a spell (or the use of a spell-like ability) by another character. Counterspelling works even if one spell is divine and the other arcane.

You can counter any spell that traces its line of effect through your square. This counterspelling area can be extended by 5 feet by wielding a magic wand or a magic weapon with which you are proficient (wizards commonly use staves for this purpose). Reach or ranged weapons can be used but still only extend the counterspelling area by 5 feet. To counter a spell, you make an Attack of Opportunity on the spell against an armor class equal to the spell's saving throw DC, or the DC it would have if the spell allowed for a saving throw. As this is not a melee or ranged spell you add your casting ability modifier to your base attack bonus to determine your attack bonus. If the spell is of a higher level than you can cast, your attack automatically misses. If you hit, you gain strain as if you had just cast a spell of equal level to the spell you are counterspelling (the final level of the spell after metamagic feats have been applied is the level of the spell for these purposes), and the spell is successfully dispelled.

When a spell is dispelled by an opponent the spell is cast (or ability used) but takes no effect.

You need not cast any specific spell in order to counterspell, you simply take strain. However, thematically the idea is that the same spell, a very similar spell, or a spell with an opposing effect is used, and for dramatic purposes a successful counterspell should be described in this fashion.

Readying to Counterspell

You can follow the normal rules to ready an action in case an opponent casts a spell. You can declare your readied action to be a counterspell, in which case the only difference between this and the normal counterspell rules is that an attack of opportunity is not used but your normal actions are.

Of course, you can also cast any other spell as a readied action in order to force your opponent to make a Concentration check, or you can use the dispel magic spell to counter a spell being cast (see the spell description).

Caster Level

A spell’s power often depends on its caster level, which for most spellcasting characters is equal to your class level in the class you’re using to cast the spell.

You can cast a spell at a lower caster level than normal, but the caster level you choose must be high enough for you to cast the spell in question, and all level-dependent features must be based on the same caster level.

In the event that a class feature, domain granted power, or other special ability provides an adjustment to your caster level, that adjustment applies not only to effects based on caster level (such as range, duration, and damage dealt) but also to your caster level check to overcome your target’s spell resistance and to the caster level used in dispel checks (both the dispel check and the DC of the check).


Spell Failure

If you ever try to cast a spell in conditions where the characteristics of the spell cannot be made to conform, the casting fails and the spell is wasted.

Spells also fail if your concentration is broken and might fail if you’re wearing armor while casting a spell with somatic components.


The Spell’s Result

Once you know which creatures (or objects or areas) are affected, and whether those creatures have made successful saving throws (if any were allowed), you can apply whatever results a spell entails.


Special Spell Effects

Many special spell effects are handled according to the school of the spells in question Certain other special spell features are found across spell schools.

Attacks

Some spell descriptions refer to attacking. All offensive combat actions, even those that don’t damage opponents are considered attacks. Attempts to turn or rebuke undead count as attacks. All spells that opponents resist with saving throws, that deal damage, or that otherwise harm or hamper subjects are attacks. Spells that summon monsters or other allies are not attacks because the spells themselves don’t harm anyone.

Bonus Types

Usually, a bonus has a type that indicates how the spell grants the bonus. The important aspect of bonus types is that two bonuses of the same type don’t generally stack. With the exception of dodge bonuses, most circumstance bonuses, and racial bonuses, only the better bonus works (see Combining Magical Effects, below). The same principle applies to penalties—a character taking two or more penalties of the same type applies only the worst one.

Bringing Back the Dead

Several spells have the power to restore slain characters to life.

When a living creature dies, its soul departs its body, leaves the Material Plane, travels through the Astral Plane, and goes to abide on the plane where the creature’s deity resides. If the creature did not worship a deity, its soul departs to the plane corresponding to its alignment. Bringing someone back from the dead means retrieving his or her soul and returning it to his or her body.

Level Loss

Any creature brought back to life usually loses one level of experience. The character’s new XP total is midway between the minimum needed for his or her new (reduced) level and the minimum needed for the next one. If the character was 1st level at the time of death, he or she loses 2 points of Constitution instead of losing a level.

This level loss or Constitution loss cannot be repaired by any mortal means, even wish or miracle. A revived character can regain a lost level by earning XP through further adventuring. A revived character who was 1st level at the time of death can regain lost points of Constitution by improving his or her Constitution score when he or she attains a level that allows an ability score increase.

Preventing Revivification

Enemies can take steps to make it more difficult for a character to be returned from the dead. Keeping the body prevents others from using raise dead or resurrection to restore the slain character to life. Casting trap the soul prevents any sort of revivification unless the soul is first released.

Revivification against One's Will

A soul cannot be returned to life if it does not wish to be. A soul knows the name, alignment, and patron deity (if any) of the character attempting to revive it and may refuse to return on that basis.


Combining Magical Effects

Spells or magical effects usually work as described, no matter how many other spells or magical effects happen to be operating in the same area or on the same recipient. Except in special cases, a spell does not affect the way another spell operates. Whenever a spell has a specific effect on other spells, the spell description explains that effect. Several other general rules apply when spells or magical effects operate in the same place:

Stacking Effects

Spells that provide bonuses or penalties on attack rolls, damage rolls, saving throws, and other attributes usually do not stack with themselves. More generally, two bonuses of the same type don’t stack even if they come from different spells (or from effects other than spells; see Bonus Types, above).

Different Bonus Names

The bonuses or penalties from two different spells stack if the modifiers are of different types. A bonus that isn’t named stacks with any bonus.

Same Effect More than Once in Different Strengths

In cases when two or more identical spells are operating in the same area or on the same target, but at different strengths, only the best one applies.

Same Effect with Differing Results

The same spell can sometimes produce varying effects if applied to the same recipient more than once. Usually the last spell in the series trumps the others. None of the previous spells are actually removed or dispelled, but their effects become irrelevant while the final spell in the series lasts.

One Effect Makes Another Irrelevant

Sometimes, one spell can render a later spell irrelevant. Both spells are still active, but one has rendered the other useless in some fashion.

Multiple Mental Control Effects

Sometimes magical effects that establish mental control render each other irrelevant, such as a spell that removes the subjects ability to act. Mental controls that don’t remove the recipient’s ability to act usually do not interfere with each other. If a creature is under the mental control of two or more creatures, it tends to obey each to the best of its ability, and to the extent of the control each effect allows. If the controlled creature receives conflicting orders simultaneously, the competing controllers must make opposed Charisma checks to determine which one the creature obeys.

Spells with Opposite Effects

Spells with opposite effects apply normally, with all bonuses, penalties, or changes accruing in the order that they apply. Some spells negate or counter each other. This is a special effect that is noted in a spell’s description.

Instantaneous Effects

Two or more spells with instantaneous durations work cumulatively when they affect the same target.