Howdy, folks.
Background: I've got an Arcane Archer with Imbue Arrow. If I ready an action to "fire an arrow imbued with Obscuring Mist (a std action) at any enemy that begins to cast a spell," please answer me this:
1) Say the caster was getting ready to target some party members with Slow (1 target/lvl, no two of which can be more than 30' apart). Assuming the arrow hits him, he needs to make a single concentration roll on the higher of the two following results - either the "save DC (if the spell had a save DC, which would be 12 in this case due to my INT of 12)" + the spell level he is trying to cast (in this case level 3) (so the resultant Concentration DC is 15) OR 10+damage taken from the arrow+spell level (3 in this case). In all likelihood, the driving DC would be the damage from the arrow, granted. So let's assume he makes his concentration check. He now finds himself targeting creatures with complete concealment as he is in the middle of a 20' cloud of Obscuring Mist. He cannot target my friends and the spell fails anyway. The text from the SRD: "Target or Targets: Some spells have a target or targets. You cast these spells on creatures or objects, as defined by the spell itself. You must be able to see or touch the target, and you must specifically choose that target. You do not have to select your target until you finish casting the spell." Ok, so this isn't so much a question as it is a statement to set up the next bullet. But please verify that I am correct in saying that since he can no longer see his potential targets, the spell fails regardless of the Concentration check result.
2) Same situation as above only the caster is trying to get off a fireball and not target individual players he cannot see. He's just trying to toss a fireball at a specific vertex he can no longer see at all. But the SRD does not address SIGHT when it talks about burst, spreads, and emanations. It only discusses Line of EFFECT, which is governed by solid stuff.
Essentially he's blind. In my mind he can't do a spread/burst/emanation spell either, but I can't find the text in the SRD to support my hunch. True, he JUST saw the vertex he wanted to target and now it's suddenly blind to him, so one could argue, "well he knew roughly where he wanted to shoot that fireball" but is that enough? It would seem it's NOT enough in the case of Target or Targets as we see from the SRD. It specifically says he has to SEE the target(s).
Thanks in advance for the assistance.
Brian
P.S. When I posted this question to two DMs I play with, they were a bit stumped and both stated that they might, in this case, revert to 3.0 rules on grenades or something like that. They both said, "that's a tough question and you might want to post it on the EnWorld boards."
Background: I've got an Arcane Archer with Imbue Arrow. If I ready an action to "fire an arrow imbued with Obscuring Mist (a std action) at any enemy that begins to cast a spell," please answer me this:
1) Say the caster was getting ready to target some party members with Slow (1 target/lvl, no two of which can be more than 30' apart). Assuming the arrow hits him, he needs to make a single concentration roll on the higher of the two following results - either the "save DC (if the spell had a save DC, which would be 12 in this case due to my INT of 12)" + the spell level he is trying to cast (in this case level 3) (so the resultant Concentration DC is 15) OR 10+damage taken from the arrow+spell level (3 in this case). In all likelihood, the driving DC would be the damage from the arrow, granted. So let's assume he makes his concentration check. He now finds himself targeting creatures with complete concealment as he is in the middle of a 20' cloud of Obscuring Mist. He cannot target my friends and the spell fails anyway. The text from the SRD: "Target or Targets: Some spells have a target or targets. You cast these spells on creatures or objects, as defined by the spell itself. You must be able to see or touch the target, and you must specifically choose that target. You do not have to select your target until you finish casting the spell." Ok, so this isn't so much a question as it is a statement to set up the next bullet. But please verify that I am correct in saying that since he can no longer see his potential targets, the spell fails regardless of the Concentration check result.
2) Same situation as above only the caster is trying to get off a fireball and not target individual players he cannot see. He's just trying to toss a fireball at a specific vertex he can no longer see at all. But the SRD does not address SIGHT when it talks about burst, spreads, and emanations. It only discusses Line of EFFECT, which is governed by solid stuff.
Essentially he's blind. In my mind he can't do a spread/burst/emanation spell either, but I can't find the text in the SRD to support my hunch. True, he JUST saw the vertex he wanted to target and now it's suddenly blind to him, so one could argue, "well he knew roughly where he wanted to shoot that fireball" but is that enough? It would seem it's NOT enough in the case of Target or Targets as we see from the SRD. It specifically says he has to SEE the target(s).
Thanks in advance for the assistance.
Brian
P.S. When I posted this question to two DMs I play with, they were a bit stumped and both stated that they might, in this case, revert to 3.0 rules on grenades or something like that. They both said, "that's a tough question and you might want to post it on the EnWorld boards."
