PHB II has a spell, that does nothing. ;)

[Jack Simth]

There's also a spell which really doesn't do anything except exist. There's a 4th level spell, castable as an immediate action, which forces a caster to make a concentration check or lose a spell they're casting.

The problem is that any hostile spell will do the same thing to a caster, so any immediate action hostile spell will do this. It seems kind of weak to not make a whole spell devoted to distraction a little bit better.

I'm curious... how many Immediate Action hostile spells are there?

 

[starwed]

Well, none that you can cast at any time. Which is why the spell at least fills a void. (And I suppose you could claim that the spell requires 2 concentration checks... ^_^) But ignoring that, it literally has no effect beyond that inherant in it being an immediate action spell. They could have left the spell description blank and it would have done the same thing.

 

[Jack Simth]

Huh.... so theoretically, you just need an immediate action spell for which the one you want distracted is a valid target and in range... drat, Featherfall requires they currently be freefalling....

 

[Thanee]

But the spell has to be distracting in some fashion to warrant the Concentration check, or not?

Bye
Thanee

 

[starwed]

Found one: there's a third level wizard spell called Halt, also in the PHB2, which is an immediate action to cast.

But the spell has to be distracting in some fashion to warrant the Concentration check, or not?

Well, the rule is this:

If you are affected by a spell while attempting to cast a spell of your own, you must make a Concentration check or lose the spell you are casting. If the spell affecting you deals damage, the DC is 10 + points of damage + the level of the spell you’re casting.

If the spell interferes with you or distracts you in some other way, the DC is the spell’s saving throw DC + the level of the spell you’re casting. For a spell with no saving throw, it’s the DC that the spell’s saving throw would have if a save were allowed.

 

[RigaMortus2]

They need an Immediate Action "Counterspell" spell...

 

[Nonlethal Force]

Eh. I kinda liked the game before we got swift and immediate actions. Things were simpler then. I also don't care for "sudden" metamagics.

 

[airwalkrr]

Even though the spell wakes a character up, it still does nothing. The mechanics for waking up in D&D are not very well explained. I usually say it is a move action to make a Listen check in order to wake up. If you pass, you still have a standard action. If you fail, you can try again and be awake with no actions left. If you fail twice, you are still asleep. Also, whenever PCs are sleeping in combat, I have them roll initiative, but I treat their Dex as a 0 (-5 penalty to initiative).

 

[cmanos]

Sleep spell...

Awakening a creature is a standard action (an application of the aid another action).

So instead of spending a standard action to wake one of your friends who has fallen under the effect of a sleep spell....or even is resting for the evening, you can snap your fingers and wake all your friends int he area of effect with one action.

Pretty handy at low levels when sleep spells are flying around. Also handy if you get attacked when the mage is on watch alone. Like that happens often.

 

[shilsen]

Eh. I kinda liked the game before we got swift and immediate actions. Things were simpler then. I also don't care for "sudden" metamagics.

Different strokes. I like the distinction of swift and immediate actions, but like you, I'm not a fan of the sudden metamagic feats.