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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Falling Icicle" data-source="post: 3654304" data-attributes="member: 17077">I think you misunderstood the point I was trying to make. I am not suggesting that players use metagame knowledge to get around not having spellcraft. I am explaining how and why the spellcraft skill works. The *character,* not the player, witnesses a spell's components and/or effect, and from seeing that, depending on the success or failure of his spellcraft check, is able or not to identify the spell. How much sense can this make if spell effects and components are ad hoc and determined by the caster every time he casts a spell? How can one learn something that has no set rules and is always changing? How can one learn to tell a fireball from some other, slightly different spell if a fireball can look like whatever its caster wants it to?And you completely ignored the Spell Thematics feat, which is a fine example of my point. This is a feat which allows a caster to do the very thing you say all casters have an inherent ability to do. And why does spell thematics make spellcraft checks to identify your spells more difficult? That's because changing a spell's appearance makes it much more difficult to identify, for obvious reasons. Imagine you are a wizard, and you see someone throw a green flaming skull that explodes in a burst of green fire. Shouldn't you be thinking to yourself, hmm, well it seems kind of like a fireball, but fireball is supposed to be a red bead that explodes in red fire. What is going on here? Could this be some strange new spell I have never heard of before? Likewise, if a spell's verbal and somatic components could be any gesture or words the caster makes up on the spot, how could you possibly know what he is casting and counterspell him? The entire foundation of the spellcraft skill depends upon magic following rules and being consistent.</blockquote>

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