D&D 5E Planar Binding

[MechaTarrasque]

Mind if I use part of that in my sig?

I would be honored if you would do so.

 

[MechaTarrasque]

So, you're seriously not seeing this as a major black mark on the spell?

A spell that requires a costly component consumed by the casting? Painful.
A spell that requires Concentration? Ouch.
A spell that requires you to bring along somebody else? That's pretty much unprecedented - no other spell requires this.

So, even if you do get it to work, I still gotta grade the spell an "F".

You are welcome to your opinion. It seems to me concentration spells aren't problematic if you only plan on casting one of them. Also, complaining about a plan that involves a teamwork in D&D seems a little uncouth. I will give you the costly component though.

I find it a B-/C+ spell myself. Nice if you can tie up an outsider in some fashion but probably not worth preparing every day.

 

[Zander]

As far as I can tell, Planar Binding (1 hour casting time) can't be used in conjunction with any of the Conjure X spells (Concentration, up to 1 hour duration). The Planar Binding's casting would complete an instant after the conjured creature disappeared, it's duration having expired. It's pretty pathetic really.

That's correct in the RAW, but Sage Advice has opined that Conjure Elemental does work with Planar Binding: http://www.sageadvice.eu/2015/10/14/does-planar-binding-work-with-conjure-elemental/ . If your DM doesn't follow that guidance, it's probably time to find a new campaign.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I would be honored if you would do so.

I can't seem to find signature in settings. May be that it's late, and I'm tired and sick.
Lol or I'm old

 

[Falling Icicle]

I don't see how that follows. If it takes an hour to bind, and the elemental remains for an hour, where do you get the missing one round? I'd understand if Conjure Elemental only lasted for 599 rounds, but in fact it lasts for a full hour.

Holy thread necromancy, batman. I made that post 2 years ago. But anyway, here we go.

You cast conjure elemental. One round (6 seconds later), you begin casting planar binding. This means that the conjured elemental disappears 6 seconds before you finish casting planar binding.

There is a way to make this work, though, and it doesn't even require the DM to be lenient. A magic circle spell that's focused inward prevents the creature from leaving the cylinder. Magic circle normally only lasts 1 hour, so you run into the same problem. However, by casting it in a 4th+ level spell slot, it lasts for 2+ hours, giving you enough time to cast planar binding on the creature you summoned.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

There is a way to make this work, though, and it doesn't even require the DM to be lenient. A magic circle spell that's focused inward prevents the creature from leaving the cylinder. Magic circle normally only lasts 1 hour, so you run into the same problem. However, by casting it in a 4th+ level spell slot, it lasts for 2+ hours, giving you enough time to cast planar binding on the creature you summoned.

exactly as described in the spell description.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

Holy thread necromancy, batman. I made that post 2 years ago. But anyway, here we go.

Necro wasn't my fault.

You cast conjure elemental. One round (6 seconds later), you begin casting planar binding. This means that the conjured elemental disappears 6 seconds before you finish casting planar binding.

There is a way to make this work, though, and it doesn't even require the DM to be lenient. A magic circle spell that's focused inward prevents the creature from leaving the cylinder. Magic circle normally only lasts 1 hour, so you run into the same problem. However, by casting it in a 4th+ level spell slot, it lasts for 2+ hours, giving you enough time to cast planar binding on the creature you summoned.

Magic Circle doesn't extend the duration of Conjure Elemental.

I still don't understand why you're taking a round off between spells. Instead of waiting six seconds to start casting the new spell, just start casting Planar Binding immediately. It takes an hour to cast, and you have the elemental for an hour--it's a perfect match***! If waiting a round makes you lose your elemental six seconds early because your DM is a stickler, then don't do that!

*** I'd understand your viewpoint a bit better if you were trying to argue that the elemental always disappears half a breath before you finish binding it, because you can't really instantly switch spells in literally zero time. And in that case I'll say that your DM is just being a jerk. But six seconds is waaaay too long to be a necessary pause.

 

[Krachek]

A spell like planar binding is a cake for DM.
It dont tell what monster you gain control of, neither how you find,bait or summon them.
It can let you make really cool things, but under DM supervision, that usually piss off some players.

 

[Falling Icicle]

Magic Circle doesn't extend the duration of Conjure Elemental.

It doesn't extend the duration, but it does prevent the elemental from leaving the circle, even by planar travel. Thus, the magic circle should prevent it from disappearing when the conjure spell ends. Magic circle is specifically mentioned in the planar binding spell, after all. I don't think it's too big of a stretch to say that it was intended to work that way.

I still don't understand why you're taking a round off between spells. Instead of waiting six seconds to start casting the new spell, just start casting Planar Binding immediately. It takes an hour to cast, and you have the elemental for an hour--it's a perfect match***! If waiting a round makes you lose your elemental six seconds early because your DM is a stickler, then don't do that!

*** I'd understand your viewpoint a bit better if you were trying to argue that the elemental always disappears half a breath before you finish binding it, because you can't really instantly switch spells in literally zero time. And in that case I'll say that your DM is just being a jerk. But six seconds is waaaay too long to be a necessary pause.

I said 6 seconds because there's 6 seconds between rounds. But whether it's 6 seconds or 1, it doesn't matter. The conjure elemental spell expires just before you can finish casting planar binding. Like you said, you can't instantly switch spells in zero time. As for whether or not the DM should just hand-wave it, I think that it's best for the rules to be written in such a way that no hand-waving or leniency is necessary. I wouldn't be that strict as a DM, but I don't think that someone who is is necessarily a "jerk."

Fortunately, the magic circle spell provides a way to do this that doesn't require any leniency by the DM. Since you can't concentrate on a spell while casting another spell that has a long casting time, I'd recommend the magic circle anyway. It's kind of hard to cast planar binding for an hour while an angry elemental is trying to kill you.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

I agree that Magic Circle is necessary anyway, except in the edge case where you're binding someone else's elemental/fey/celestial/whatever.

(I wouldn't let Magic Circle prevent a conjured creature from disappearing when the conjuration spell expired, but oh well, run it how you want it.)