Dispellable Spells

[doktorstick]

Can it be assumed that, unless otherwise stated, all spells that have a duration can be dispelled? For example, wall of stone does not have a duration whereas wall of ice does.

/ds

 

[Kae'Yoss]

To be precise, every spell has a duration. But many spells (like fireball) have duration "Instantaneous" which means the spell is over in an instant (though it's results remain, e.g. the goblin remains burnt). All other spells can be dispelled (unless it's noted otherwise. Sometimes, you have other ways of ending the spell - like in wall of force or prismatic wall/sphere, or slow/haste - instead of or in addition to dispel magic).

 

[Li Shenron]

You can dispel a spell with duration other than "Instantaneous" by casting e.g. Dispel Magic at any time before the end of the duration.

You can dispel also an "Instantaneous" spell, but only by readying a counterspell.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

Counterspelling is not dispelling, since the spell never takes effect.

 

[Li Shenron]

Counterspelling is not dispelling, since the spell never takes effect.

...mmh but you can ready a spell against a spell, make a Spellcraft check, and then if you don't have a suitable counterspell you can cast a Dispel Magic instead, that would prevent the spell to have effects. What's the practical difference?

 

[CRGreathouse]

...mmh but you can ready a spell against a spell, make a Spellcraft check, and then if you don't have a suitable counterspell you can cast a Dispel Magic instead, that would prevent the spell to have effects. What's the practical difference?

Counterspelling (with the same spll, a diametrically opposed spell, or dispel magic) stops a spell from coming into effect, while dispelling it ends the effect prematurely.

 

[Li Shenron]

The difference between ending an effect already happened and preventing an effect before it happens regards what it was before your dispelling, but after it's exactly the same: no (more) effects. I was simply saying that if you want to cancel effects of an INSTANTANEOUS spell, you can counterspell it (I see, it's not really cancelling, it's preventing, but I think he was asking about "dispelling").
Maybe it's my fault, but I thought "dispelling" meant exactly usage of Dispel Magic (or better spell), including usage of Dispel Magic as a counterspell.

 

[LordAO]

Counterspelling attempts to unweave a spell as it is being cast, so if you want to be super technical, it is dispelling regardless of whether you use dispel magic or not.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

Well, there is a difference between dispel and counter:
I use dominate person and force you to jump off that cliff. Then someone dispells my dominate person. Result: You're a stain on the bottom.
I use dominate person and someone counters it. Result: you aren't a stain on the bottom (at least not because of my dominate person spell).

I say there's a little difference here.

 

[Spatzimaus]

It's all semantics.
If you define "dispel" as "causing an existing durational spell effect to expire prematurely", then yes, "dispel" and "counter" are different things. One removes an existing spell, the other prevents a spell from existing.
If you define "dispel" as "use the spell Dispel Magic or its derivatives", then they're not interchangeable, but there's overlap. It'd be possible to dispel without it being a counter (targetted Dispel Magic), counter without being a dispel (using the same spell to counter), or dispel+counter (the counterspell version of Dispel Magic)

Personally I use the first definition, and I think the designers do too.