D&D 5E Rynic's Metamagic Compendium

Cognomen's Cassowary · Jan 13, 2017

Rynic said:
I get that, but my only concern is that there are a number of spells that could be written in the same way, for example, Detect Magic has a range of self but it doesn't have radius 30ft in brackets in the range, instead it's mentioned in the body. So, there are spells that say 'Range: Self (15ft radius/cone)' and then there are spells that say 'Range: Self' in addition to the body of the spell where the distance is mentioned.

If you read closely, I think you will see that detect magic does not have a radius or an area of effect. That might seem like a quibbling point, but the effect of the spell is to give the caster an enhanced sense, not to magically alter a discrete region of space around the caster. Though you can conceive of the region sensible with the enhanced sense as virtually spherical, there is no selecting of a point of origin, and there is no indication in the spell description that anything in the area changes appearance to anybody except the caster.

Honestly, though, I cannot say with any certainty that the designers made this distinction consistently.

It's nuts that you can't distant spell burning hands.

Consider that doubling a spell's linear dimension increases its volume eightfold. That is massive value added for a single sorcery point. Of course, play it the way you like at your table, but I see that making distant spell almost mandatory.

I definitely agree that they could have been more explicit about it, but then there are quite a few things that fall under that category.

cooperjer · Jan 14, 2017

Zene said:
If someone is incanting verbal components, I can hear it's a spell being cast and see their lips moving. If someone is waving their hands around Dr Strange style, I can see they're casting a spell. But if a spell only requires material components (a focus), and not verbal or somatic components, it is indistinguishable from just holding the focus. So what is telling me a spell is being cast? How would I know that guy with a hand in his pocket, or that paladin carrying a shield, are casting spells? Like are you envisioning visible magical waves radiating out from the focus or something? I don't think there's anything in the rules that indicates that --and if there were, that would make the designer's decision to call it "Subtle Spell" a very odd decision. Although sure you could houserule it that way if you want to nerf Subtle Spell.

The only detail on regarding a target noticing if a spell is affecting them is written vague enough to allow DM discretion and possible argument with a player. The text from PH 204, second paragraph under the heading Targets, details the specifics, "Unless a spell has a perceptible effect, a creature might not know it was targetd by a spell at all." It goes on to give an example about lightning crackling vs mind reading and then says the spell tells you what happens. The Subtle Spell feature only removes the verbal and somatic components of a spell so it does not interfere with this detail. Therefore, depending on the spell description and the material components used a target may notice if a caster cast a spell. Continuing with the example of lighting example from the book the Lightning Bolt spell describes a line of lightning coming from the caster. However; looking the spell Levitate, there is no description of anything coming from the caster and therefore, I would suggest that a caster using their spell focus as the material component could levitate a creature without that creature being aware of who the caster was.

After some conversation with my sorcerer player, she pointed out that once the ball of bat guano or bolt of lightning leaves the casters hands, it's too late to counterspell the spell because it has been cast. An observing caster would need to perceive the handling of a material component prior to the casting of the spell for it to be countered. In addition, my player indicated she may start throwing bat guano at NPCs just to get them off guard.

MacMind · Jul 28, 2017

Currently playing a hexblade warlock (UA) / shadow sorcerer (UA) multiclass with subtle spell metamagic. His spell focus is a crystal inserted into his eye socket when his eye was ripped out at low level almost killing him. Social spells such as charm person or detect thoughts are child's play without being detected as he is always touching the focus, and he can wade into battle with sword (cha bonus to hit and damage) and shield in hand, and letting spells fly without the need to be holding components. A tyrant both in and out of battle!

gyor · Aug 4, 2017

Blue said:
That looks like you put a lot of work into it! Quite useful for cross-referencing spell choices and metamagic choices to see where you'll get the most bang.

As for Resurrection - reading twin spell, the errata, and the spell description, I would say yes. It's unlikely that someone who knows 7th level cleric spells also has sorcerer metamagic, but it is possible. (Maybe more likely sorcerer/bard with magical secrets.)

Control Weather doesn't force a save and Careful spell specifies that it applies to spells with a save, so I'd say no to that. The second order effects of the weather may require saves, but not the control weather itself. Like using thunderwave to push someone over a ledge - the falling damage isn't from the spell, no save.

For "Finally, I ruled that spells with range of self AND a radius mention in brackets could be extended.", did you mean Distant instead of Extended? While I'd allow this at my table if someone asked, I don't think it's RAW since Distant requires "a spell that has a range of 5 feet or greater".

Would you consider putting it into google docs? I'd love to be able to filter and also cut-n-paste onto a character sheet. I understand it's a lot of work, not pushing.

Oh, slight typo: Branding Smite has "Ys" instead of "Yes".

Thanks for all the work!