Recently in a mageduel, a player fired a Glitterdust at me, and I attempted to remove its effects with Dispel Magic without taking out the two buff spells I'd previously cast. We differed on whether or not the spell was independantly targettable (i.e. could I target just the Glitterdust effect, or would I have to take out the effect and all my spells as well?) and the spell seemed to be of two minds on the subject, with the Target or Area stating that the target or area was either a spellcaster, a creature, an object, or a 20-ft radius burst, and the entry for a Targetted Dispel stating that a spell is independantly targettable. The GM ruled for the latter and I lost the duel - but any opinions on which way is the right way? I searched throughout the FAQs and found little on the subject.
Dispelling Just a Spell?
- Thread starter AgentMike
- Start date
Geoff Watson
First Post
Targeted Dispel: One object, creature, or spell is the target of the dispel magic spell.
I think the 'spellcaster' bit in the Target line is a typo; it should be 'spell'.
Geoff.
I think the 'spellcaster' bit in the Target line is a typo; it should be 'spell'.
Geoff.
Lord Pendragon
First Post
You should have been able to target the spell. Targetting a Glitterdust spell is no different than targetting a Summon Monster spell. Dispel Magic let's you target a person and get a chance of dispelling every spell on them, an area and get a chance of dispelling one spell on each of them, or a single spell, and a chance of dispelling that spell alone.
Edit to add: Now if your enemy had managed to cast two spells on you (3.0 haste perhaps,) you'd be in trouble, because you can't target more than one spell with the targetting a spell option. So you'd either have to cast Dispel Magic twice, targetting each hostile spell once, or cast Dispel Magic with yourself as the target, and risk stripping off all your own spells with your enemy's.
Edit to add: Now if your enemy had managed to cast two spells on you (3.0 haste perhaps,) you'd be in trouble, because you can't target more than one spell with the targetting a spell option. So you'd either have to cast Dispel Magic twice, targetting each hostile spell once, or cast Dispel Magic with yourself as the target, and risk stripping off all your own spells with your enemy's.
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Hypersmurf
Moderatarrrrh...
Lord Pendragon said:
There's no 'risk' involved. You automatically succeed in dispelling spells you cast yourself, with a targeted dispel.
-Hyp.
Shallown said:This is the point when I think Spellcraft is important. I tend to allow targeting a spell individually be based on knowing what the spell is. Making a Spellcraft check makes it possible to dispel that spell.
But maybe that's just me.
Later
Nope, sounds very appropriate and follows the counter spell mechanic.
Note that when using a targeted spell, you can only target something you can see or touch. If you failed your save against glitterdust and got blinded, you can't see the spell effect, and there's nothing physical there to touch. So the only way dispel magic will help is if you target yourself, which is a sure way to destroy your buffs.
I had this happen to a BBEG wizard once (from a published WOTC module), fully buffed with something like 15 effects running. He was flying around invisible and blowing the PCs to crap, until he got nailed with glitterdust and went blind. He rolled a natural 1 on his first dispel check, so then had to burn his emergency Quickened dispel too, and ended up totally de-buffing himself in a single round. The fight was over before he could cast another spell. (Not that I'm bitter or anything.... :\ )
I had this happen to a BBEG wizard once (from a published WOTC module), fully buffed with something like 15 effects running. He was flying around invisible and blowing the PCs to crap, until he got nailed with glitterdust and went blind. He rolled a natural 1 on his first dispel check, so then had to burn his emergency Quickened dispel too, and ended up totally de-buffing himself in a single round. The fight was over before he could cast another spell. (Not that I'm bitter or anything.... :\ )
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Patryn of Elvenshae
First Post
Alternatively, you could do an area dispel. In that case, you'd only dispel one of your own buffs - although it would be the most powerful.
Hypersmurf
Moderatarrrrh...
Patryn of Elvenshae said:
Or he could back up twenty feet and do an area dispel centred twenty feet in front of him.
Glitterdust has a radius of ten feet, so twenty feet definitely gets him clear, no matter where he was in the AoE; Dispel Magic has an radius of twenty feet, so it's guaranteed to encompass the Glitterdust spell, and guaranteed not to catch the wizard (thus avoiding dispelling any of his own buffs).
(Even if he does drop the Area Dispel on himself, he's not guaranteed to dispel his most powerful... it depends on the Dispel check. Unlike the targeted dispel, which automatically succeeds against his own spells, the area dispel gives him the option of automatically succeeding.)
-Hyp.
Hyper, Correct me if I'm wrong but I thought the area dispel only affected the spells in its area. So if there was a 5 foot overlap then only that 5 feet would be dispelled.
As far as targetting a spell. If you can target a single spell as the description says then you could touch yourself (Probably wouldn't have a miss chance for being blind.) and dispel the glitterdust that is affecting you. I would probably allow it. But I tend to be lenient in rules interpretations.
I usually go with whatever is fun. Its also a two way street if it works for bad guys it works for players.
Later
As far as targetting a spell. If you can target a single spell as the description says then you could touch yourself (Probably wouldn't have a miss chance for being blind.) and dispel the glitterdust that is affecting you. I would probably allow it. But I tend to be lenient in rules interpretations.
I usually go with whatever is fun. Its also a two way street if it works for bad guys it works for players.
Later
