Casting Through Anti-Magic?

[Artoomis]

Every spell with a range greater than 0 (the caster, or a touch attack) need a line of effect. That's pretty straightforward.

What does that mean for a antimagic field? Good question - but there should be only one answer for all spells. Either it blocks the line of effect because magic is suppressed in it, or it does not block the line of effect because it is not a solid object.

There is no rules differentiation between spells like Magic Missle and Summon Monster as far as line of effect is concerned.

You could rule either way and feel quite right.

 

[Caliban]

That is an interesting question, and not one that seems to be clearly addressed by the rules. Pretty much any ruling will be a DM call.

For that it's worth, it's here's mine:

If the spell or spell effect crosses the AM field to reach it's destination, the spell is instantly suppressed as it enters the field, but it's duration is still counting down. If the spells duration runs out before the AM field is removed, the spell is effectively negated. If the AM spell is removed before the spells duration is up, the spell manifests normally until the end of it's duration

In the case of instantaneous spells, this means they are effectively negated as soon as they hit the field, because their duration will always be up before the AM field can be removed.

If you have a spell effect that doesn't actually travel the distance between the caster and the destination, then AM won't block the Line of Effect.

 

[hong]

Some more questions. Frick, I hate it when I start thinking too hard about D&D.

Suppose I cast a fireball with detonation point inside the AMF. Does it still go boom? (Naturally creatures inside the AMF won't be affected, but will the explosion still hit those outside?)

If I cast it with detonation point beyond the AMF, does it go boom?

Does the type of area effect (emanation, burst, spread, etc) matter?

 

[Forrester]

Just to be irritating, I'll point out that

technically, there is nothing in the AM Field description that says one cannot cast spells OUT of an AM Field.

In other words, while spells are suppressed inside, it doesn't specifically say that spells cast while inside are "countered" in any way.

So, by the rules, you could cast ten Summon Monster spells within the field, drop the AM Field, and have ten monsters spring up to attack in the same round! Surprise surprise .

(Not that I'd allow this, but there's nothing in the spell description absolutely prohibiting it. Unless you argue "do not function" means "cancels/counterspells" and not "suppresses". Good luck.)

 

[Artoomis]

Caliban:

Your answer creates a new rule, but it's pretty reasonable. You differentiate between spells that have some physical manifestation between the caster and target, and those that do not. A pretty good approach, though you'll have to adjudicate which categeory a particular spell falls in; mostly, that willl be easy.

For example:

Magic Missle, Lightning Bolt and Fireball would be suppresed.

Summon Monster, Cloudkill and Major Creation would all work.

A reasonable approach, though I'd prefer to allow either everything or nothing.

 

[The Sigil]

Line of Effect...

Caliban:

Your answer creates a new rule, but it's pretty reasonable. You differentiate between spells that have some physical manifestation between the caster and target, and those that do not. A pretty good approach, though you'll have to adjudicate which categeory a particular spell falls in; mostly, that willl be easy.

For example:

Magic Missle, Lightning Bolt and Fireball would be suppresed.

Summon Monster, Cloudkill and Major Creation would all work.

A reasonable approach, though I'd prefer to allow either everything or nothing.

I agree that I liked Caliban's treatment, but I would prefer to err on the side of simplicity and have a "hard-and-fast" rule rather than a "DM adjudicates" rule. It cuts down on arguments from players.

My personal rulings would be:

Ruling 1: Attempting to cast a spell while within the area of an AM field means that the spell automatically fails as though the caster had failed a Concentration check. The spell slot is used up and nothing happens. Why? It seems to me that the intent of an AM field is to prevent magic entirely, not to delay it.

Ruling 2: Attempting to cast a spell while targeting a target (creature, area or otherwise) within the AM field fails as in #1. Again, this is because it seems that the AM field should prevent magic within its confines.

Corollary 1 to ruling 2: For spells with area effects, the point at center of the area is considered the target. IOW, if the center is set within the AM field, the spell fails totally. This also means that in the case of a continuous effect, the effect winks out entirely as soon as its center enters the AM field (supressed per normal AM rules).

Corollary 2 to ruling 2: If the center of an area spell is set outside an AM field, the spell goes off normally, but the effect does not enter the AM field. IOW, first find the area of the spell, but apply its effects only to the area outside the AM field. The area inside the AM field is completely unaffected.

[Edit: The AM field "blocks" the spell as a wall of force - if, for example, a lightning bolt were cast on one side trying to get through to the other, it would run until it hit the field, then peter out. Similarly, a fireball cast near a corner of a cone could "turn the corner" as a spread to catch creatures "behind" the corner.]

Ruling 3: An AM field does NOT otherwise block a line of effect. I see magic as having a "launch point" (the caster) and a "detonation point" (the target creature or center of the target area) but, in classic quantum-mechanical style, can take any route to get there, including moving through otherwise impenetrable potential barriers (such as an AM field).

IOW: The spell can be surpressed at its launch point (AM at the caster) or its detonation point (AM at the target) but not between as it does not have to actually physically travel the intervening distance... it just appears there (like a good quantum mechanical particle).

[Edit: This also keeps three-dimensional analysis from being a problem... if my halfling is 1 foot in front of the beholder and 2 feet on its right and wants to cast a spell at another halfling 1 foot in front of the beholder and 2 feet to its left (both are out of the AM cone), can he do it (assuming the spell normally has sufficient range)? Well, I could say that the halfling has a line of effect because he can "look under" the cone but it just gets too complex... that's why I like a "quantum theory" rule of magic]

This method is a bit counter-intuitive for those who don't like quantum mechanics, but makes ruling simple and, as I mentioned, the point of my ruling is to make simple, iron-clad decisions.

--The Sigil

 

[Caliban]

Caliban:

Your answer creates a new rule, but it's pretty reasonable. You differentiate between spells that have some physical manifestation between the caster and target, and those that do not. A pretty good approach, though you'll have to adjudicate which categeory a particular spell falls in; mostly, that willl be easy.

For example:

Magic Missle, Lightning Bolt and Fireball would be suppresed.

Summon Monster, Cloudkill and Major Creation would all work.

A reasonable approach, though I'd prefer to allow either everything or nothing.

In that case I would fall on the "it blocks line of effect" side of the debate.

 

[ControlFreak]

Here's what I decided for my group (since they're currently IN this situation):

- If a spell is cast through the Antimagic Field that has no duration (magic missile, fireball, etc) then it fails.

- If the spell does have a duration, that duration starts immediately, but the spell has no effect as long as the field is up. If the field comes down then the spell completes as if it were just cast, but its duration loses any elapsed time.

My group cuts through Beholders like butter, so I need to make things a LITTLE difficult for them

ControlFreak

 

[DizzyKungFu]

Sounds like a really good question for the Sage Advice column or the DnD FAQ. Actually, I'm surprised it's not in one of those already. I looked in the FAQ, but couldn't find anything. Does anybody have a collection of Sage Advice columns to look through?

If it's not there, somebody should definitely bug Skip Williams about it (thesage@wizards.com) until he give out the answer.

 

[The Souljourner]

Re: Line of Effect...

Ruling 1: Attempting to cast a spell while within the area of an AM field means that the spell automatically fails as though the caster had failed a Concentration check. The spell slot is used up and nothing happens. Why? It seems to me that the intent of an AM field is to prevent magic entirely, not to delay it.

I would tend to disagree with your ruling here. This seems to indicate that the wizard was able to start casting the spell, but it was interrupted. It seems to me that there isn't even the possibility of starting to cast a spell. The wizard can go through the motions as usual, but it has as much effect as when the fighter of the party does the same thing - i.e. nothing happens at all.

Of course, it's all up to interpretation as to how exactly the whole memorization thing works.

Personally, on the question in general, I would rule that antimagic field limit the range at which you can start a spell. To the mage it would feel as if he's trying to target something beyond the range of the spell if he tried to target it beyond an anti-magic field.

Of course, spells that originate at the caster still work, you can target anything you see, but as soon as it hits the anti-magic area it winks out of being and that's that. Once the spell energy leaves your control, it's independant, and isn't going to magically (no pun intended) reappear on the other side of the anti-magic field.

I hope that makes sense.

-The Souljourner