Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="MerricB" data-source="post: 8417921" data-attributes="member: 3586">Just a couple of rules notes...Many actions of creatures have the wording &quot;+4 ranged spell attack&quot; or similar (see Flameskulls). This does not mean that these actions are spells. It does mean they are magical.&quot;Fire Ray. Ranged Spell Attack: +5 to hit, range 30 ft., one target. Hit: 10 (3d6) fire damage.&quot;(AFAIK, &quot;spell&quot; attack means it uses the spellcasting ability score to determine attack bonus, and that's about it. The magical part comes from Sage Advice's ruling on whether a dragon breath is magical).The new War Priest has a Holy Fire ability that has no attack in it; it's a saving throw. By the same ruling, that action is NOT magical.But the intent of these changes is that Holy Fire is a spell, from what I can gather. Compare with the Death Knight, who throws a &quot;magical ball of fire&quot;. That's not a spell, but it is magical, because the text says it is.&quot;Hellfire Orb (1/Day). The death knight hurls a magical ball of fire that explodes at a point it can see within 120 feet of it.&quot;###I do note that we're delving into things that are badly defined by the rules. Indeed, a large part of them do not exist in a good state in the rule books. It is eye-opening reading the Sage's explanation of &quot;Is the breath weapon of a dragon magical?&quot; and realising that this answer is made up of whole cloth.And, because of this lack of definition in these rules, we're running into a bunch of player abilities (and monster abilities) suddenly reducing in value.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="MerricB, post: 8417921, member: 3586"] Just a couple of rules notes... Many actions of creatures have the wording "+4 ranged spell attack" or similar (see Flameskulls). This does [I]not[/I] mean that these actions are spells. It [I]does[/I] mean they are magical. "[I][B]Fire Ray.[/B] Ranged Spell Attack:[/I] +5[B] [/B]to hit, range 30 ft., one target. [I]Hit:[/I] 10 (3d6) fire damage." (AFAIK, "spell" attack means it uses the spellcasting ability score to determine attack bonus, and that's about it. The magical part comes from Sage Advice's ruling on whether a dragon breath is magical). The new War Priest has a Holy Fire ability that has no attack in it; it's a saving throw. By the same ruling, that action is NOT magical. But the intent of these changes is that Holy Fire is a spell, from what I can gather. Compare with the Death Knight, who throws a "magical ball of fire". That's not a spell, but it is magical, because the text says it is. "[I][B]Hellfire Orb (1/Day).[/B][/I] The death knight hurls a magical ball of fire that explodes at a point it can see within 120 feet of it." ### I do note that we're delving into things that are badly defined by the rules. Indeed, a large part of them do not exist in a good state in the rule books. It is eye-opening reading the Sage's explanation of "Is the breath weapon of a dragon magical?" and realising that this answer is made up of whole cloth. And, because of this lack of definition in these rules, we're running into a bunch of player abilities (and monster abilities) suddenly reducing in value. [/QUOTE]

Verification