Tag: spell

dnd 5e – Can the Witch Sight warlock invocation see through the Mirror Image spell?

In the last part of Mirror Image’s description, it says (emphasis mine):

A creature is unaffected by this spell if it can’t see, if it relies
on senses other than sight, such as blindsight, or if it can perceive
illusions as false, as with truesight.

Witch Sight is not a sense to be relied on – rather, it augments the sense of sight:

You can see the true form of any Shapechanger or creature concealed by Illusion or Transmutation magic while the creature is within 30 feet of you and within line of sight.

So the remaining condition is whether or not it allows perception of “illusions as false, as with truesight”.

Truesight is described as follows:

A creature with Truesight can, out to a specific range, see in normal and magical Darkness, see Invisible creatures and Objects, automatically detect visual illusions and succeed on Saving Throws against them, and perceives the original form of a Shapechanger or a creature that is transformed by magic. Furthermore, the creature can see into the Ethereal Plane.

This description explicitly gives Truesight the feature “automatically detect visual illusions” in addition to the ability to perceive “the original form of a Shapechanger or creature”, the latter of which is almost a word-for-word copy of Witch Sight.

In summary: Truesight sees through Mirror Image because it can “perceive illusions as false”, due to its ability to “automatically detect visual illusions”. Witch Sight can only “see the true form”, and thus cannot see through Mirror Image. If a Shapechanger used Mirror Image, Witch Sight would see duplicates of the Shapechanger’s true form, but would still see the duplicates.

dnd 5e – Does the ability check DC of Dispel Magic scale with the slot level or the original level of the spell cast?

The DC to dispel a spell effect is based on the spell’s slot level.

Dispel magic says:

Any spell of 3rd level or lower on the target ends. For each spell of 4th level or higher on the target, make an ability check using your spellcasting ability. The DC equals 10 + the spell’s level.

The rules for spell slots say:

When a spellcaster casts a spell using a slot that is of a higher level than the spell, the spell assumes the higher level for that casting. For instance, if Umara casts magic missile using one of her 2nd-level slots, that magic missile is 2nd level. Effectively, the spell expands to fill the slot it is put into.

So a spell that is normally 1st level cast with a 4th level slot is a 4th level spell. Therefore the DC to dispel it would be 10 + 4 = 14. A spell’s level is determined by the level of the slot used to cast it.

dnd 5e – Can I use Spell Mastery, Expert Divination, and Mind Spike to regain infinite 1st level slots?

So, I was planning on making a divination wizard build in D&D 5e, but something dawned on me. Could I technically cast infinite level 1 spells, by choosing Mind spike as a spell mastery and have Expert divination

Spell mastery: (Level 18) Choose a level 1 and Level 2 spell. I can cast this at the lowest level without expending a slot. This allows you to cast a level 1 spell and level 2 spells as many times as you want

This means I can just spam mind spike. But there’s more. If you read expert divination:

Expert divination: When you use a level 2 or above divination spell, you regain a spell slot of a spell lower than that level

With Mind Strike being a Divination spell, it works with Expert Divination. It also does a 3d8 damage (though it does require concentration which sucks)

So technically, couldn’t I just spam mind spike, while continuously regaining first level spells? I don’t think I’ll do this in the campaign because if this technically works, it is pretty broken, as I’ll be able to spam a first level spell (like shield for example) or if I multiclass into Cleric, be able to spam Cure wounds forever if I use Mind spike each turn (which is crazy) or other spells using the first level spell slot. Though I do want to know if this is possible, and I haven’t been able to find a question / research based on this.

dungeons and dragons – Spell Mastery + Mind Spike + Expert Divination

So, I was planning on making a divination wizard build but something dawned on me. Could I technically cast infinite level 1 spells, by choosing Mind spike as a spell mastery and have Expert divination

Spell mastery: (Level 18) Choose a level 1 and Level 2 spell. I can cast this at the lowest level without expending a slot. This allows you to cast a level 1 spell and level 2 spells as many times as you want

This means i can just spam mind spike. But there’s more. If you read expert divination-

Expert divination: When you use a level 2 or above divination spell, you regain a spell slot of a spell lower than that level

With Mind Strike being a Divination spell, it works with Expert Divination. It also does a 3d8 damage (though it does require concentration which sucks)

So technically, couldn’t i just spam mind spike, while continuously regaining first level spells? I dont think i’ll do this in the campaign because if this technically works, it is pretty broken, as i’ll be able to spam a first level spell (like shield for example) or if i multiclass into Cleric, be able to spam Cure wounds forever if I use Mind spike each turn (which is crazy) or other spells using the first level spell slot. Though i do want to know if this is possible, and i haven’t been able to find a question / research based on this

dnd 5e – How much can you carry using the fly spell?

The spell doesn’t say. There might be several places to get some guidance.

  • The carrying capacity rules on PHB p176

On the one hand, this makes a certain amount of sense, especially lacking any other rule. On the other hand, carrying capacity refers to physically carrying stuff around, using muscle power. The fly spell, on the other hand, is magically powered flight. There’s nothing to assume it relies on the flyer’s physical attributes at all.

  • The levitate spell says 500 lbs

There’s no clue as to why levitate includes a weight limit and fly doesn’t.

  • Carpets of flying (DMG p157) have various weight limits

The various carpets range in speed and capacity, with capacity ranging from 200 to 800 lbs. They can also carry over their capacity at a reduced speed.

  • Quaal’s Feather Token (DMG p188) can carry 500 lbs

So, in the end, the gm will need to make a ruling based on the specific situation.

dnd 5e – Does the spell Feather Fall prevent damage from falling down stairs?

Inspired by this Q&A: How to handle falling down stairs?

Feather fall says:

Choose up to five falling creatures within range. A falling creature’s rate of descent slows to 60 feet per round until the spell ends. If the creature lands before the spell ends, it takes no falling damage and can land on its feet, and the spell ends for that creature.

It has a casting time of 1 Reaction:

which you take when you or a creature within 60 feet of you falls.

In my answer to the above Q&A, I document three (stair) cases where the characters can fall down stairs and take damage.

From Tales from the Yawning Portal:

The eastern stairs are shrouded in dim light, which can’t be made brighter by any means. Any character who mounts the stairs falls down and rolls back onto the floor, taking 3 (1d6) bludgeoning damage.

From Rime of the Frostmaiden:

The stairs, which descend 90 feet to area G10, are slippery. The slippery ice is difficult terrain. When a creature moves on these stairs for the first time on a turn, it must succeed on a DC 10 Dexterity (Acrobatics) check or fall prone. If the check fails by 5 or more, the creature also tumbles 10 feet down the stairs and takes 3 (1d6) bludgeoning damage.

From Rise of Tiamat:

Steps are cut into the wall of the chute, creating steep, icy stairs that drop down 100 feet in a tight spiral. Because this entrance is seldom used, the steps become increasingly obscured by frost as the characters descend. At the 40-foot mark, a character must attempt a DC 12 Dexterity (Acrobatics) check to maintain a grip on the dangerously uneven footholds. Failure means the character loses his or her footing, sliding and tumbling 60 feet to the bottom and taking 21 (6d6) bludgeoning damage.

In the example from Yawning Portal the word “falls” is used to describe our descent of the stairs. In the latter two examples, the word “tumbles” and the phrase “sliding and tumbling” are used instead. As noted in my answer to the linked question, the module guidance for falling down stairs is very similar to the usual rules for falling.

Does feather fall work to prevent falling-down-stairs damage?

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dnd 5e – if you use Enhance Ability: Cat’s Grace on a creature that rolls initiative, does that creature lose the better roll when the spell ends?

You already made the Dexterity check; its result does not change

The enhance ability spell states:

(…) The target has advantage on Dexterity checks. (…)

And the section on Initiative states (emphasis mine):

(…) When combat starts, every participant makes a Dexterity check to determine their place in the initiative order. (…)

(…) The DM ranks the combatants in order from the one with the highest Dexterity check total to the one with the lowest. This is the order (called the initiative order) in which they act during each round. The initiative order remains the same from round to round. (…)

Outside of initiative explicitly remaining the same, this also just makes sense. The game does not tell you to record the rolls you make when rolling with (dis)advantage so it should not expect you to remember a result from quite possibly hours ago (real-time). The result of a roll you already made does not change by new modifiers being added. Similarly, casting enhance ability on somebody during combat does not suddenly allow them to reroll their initiative with advantage.

dnd 5e – When can a magical effect be targeted with the dispel magic spell?

Inspired by the following:

The dispel magic spell states:

Choose one creature, object, or magical effect within range. Any spell of 3rd level or lower on the target ends. For each spell of 4th level or higher on the target, make an ability check using your spellcasting ability. The DC equals 10 + the spell’s level. On a successful check, the spell ends. (…)

The question for me is what sorts of magical effects can be targeted, we already have (at least) two somewhat related questions:

The first is just a general explanation that dispel magic ends spells that cause magical effects by targeting their magical effect. It does not address what magical effects you can target, but instead addresses what happens if you’ve already targeted an effect. The latter question asks specifically about the haste spell and has an answer stating:

(…) The haste spell isn’t creating a magical effect in the space (that is things like illusions, walls of fire, etc.). If you would like to argue otherwise you are very quickly into the realm of things 5e doesn’t define properly (ie. what is an object, magical effect, etc.?). (…)

My question is basically whether or not this is true. Are there rules that help answer the question “Does X create a magical effect that can be targeted with dispel magic?”

How do I know if I can target an effect with dispel magic?

dnd 5e – How exactly does the Dispel Magic spell work with multiple effects?

The answer by guildsbounty gets Jeremy Crawford’s statement on what dispel magic is supposed to do, which is remove every spell. This is also how I believe the actual rules text should be read, so I want to address the grammatical structure of the sentence, because its construction is a bit awkward and butts up against some oddities in the English language.

You are correct that any refers to a singular thing. However, when any X of a collection Y (here X = spell, Y = spells on the target) does something, or has something done to it, the meaning of this construction in English is for that thing to be done or to happen to all of them. The logic here is that the statment, being true for any of them and not limited in number (e.g. not using any one or similar), it continues to be true for each one in turn.

Ultimately, though, this is hugely context-dependent, and even being a fairly nit-picky grammarian, I struggle to articulate precisely why this statement must be read this way. English doesn’t work in rules, but rather in precedent and pattern, so all I can say is that having done a lot of reading of English rules language, for that sentence from dispel magic to have precisely this sense and no other is how I read the sentence.

For clarity, though, Wizards of the Coast definitely should have used each here rather than any, or perhaps even better, all. If nothing else, not everyone using these rules is a fluent English speaker, and the vagaries of any, each, and all are very common traps for people still learning the language (though really, everyone is “still learning” this language).

dnd 5e – Is a Wild Shaped druid effectively immune to the Detect Thoughts spell?

RAW, if a form’s Languages section is blank, that form is immune to detect thoughts.

This is the rules as written ruling. A druid wildshaped into a wolf cannot speak any languages, so detect thoughts does not apply, as detect thoughts says:

You can’t detect a creature with an Intelligence of 3 or lower or one that doesn’t speak any language.

As for telepathy, it probably depends on the wording of the particular feature granting telepathy. If I’m DMing, it doesn’t matter because…

I would rule that the druid is not immune to detect thoughts.

This is a situation where I would rule against the RAW ruling. Wildshape has this feature:

you retain your alignment, personality, and Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma scores.

Despite taking the form of a Beast, you retain all of your mental ability scores – you are still just as wise and intelligent as you were in your normal form. To me, this means that a druid wildshaped into a bear does not think like a bear, rather thinks just as they did in their normal form. I would rule that you still think in whatever language you usually think in, so are still vulnerable to detect thoughts.