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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Gus L" data-source="post: 9608141" data-attributes="member: 7045072">So I have no idea what edition you are talking about.  I don't think it really matters though.  As a player, when you find yourself citing to rules minutia to argue against a referee's interpretation you're in the wrong, even if you are technically correct you're wrong.  The referee defines the setting and makes ad hoc decisions about how mechanics work in edge cases such as the one you describe.  Accept what the referee says and figure out a different plan (or run away - it's a beholder!).  I'm not saying this out of a demand for referee supremacy, but because rules lawyering general ruins a lot of the fun of the game. It encourages both players and referee to to take a more antagonistic approach to the game, because it's not just a player problem. When you find yourself having to rely on edge cases and citation to mechanics to survive or have fun in the game (though of course bad decisions - like tussling with beholders - often do lead to character death and that's part of the game) rather then  thinking your way through the problem using your own common sense it likely means that the referee is also being dogmatic and antagonistic. Remember, it's an RPG and the referee has the power to "win" at any time by saying "rocks fall, your characters all die".  This of course makes for a crappy game, but then so does a player who is meta-gaming in ways that the rules don't intend - e.g. the peasant railgun. Both of these sorts of things tend to make for a bad time and they come from playing in bad faith or with an antagonistic attitude.  Yes it's sometime depressing as a referee to set up a complex scenario and have a clever group of players just Gordian Knot it with a greased pig, a bag of chalk, and a couple of spells or whatever ... but that usually feels great for players. Conversely it's sad as a player when your schemes fail, but you can't win the easy wat every time - especially with something as boring as a spell (a direct damage spell I would assume). Now I don't know exactly how a beholder's anti-magic gaze works and I don't know how wizards cast spells but both of those are decisions the referee ultimately will make. The key resolving these kinds of things and a good game is players that trust and allow their referees to make fair decisions ... and a referee that trusts and allows their players to overcome the obstacles they face with good ideas. The proper way to raise issues like the the one you are having is as questions, and the referee should respond in good faith as well - no "gotcha" type tricks.  So something like this might work better then fighting over PHB lines...Player: "So I know I'm caught in the anti-magic ray right now, but can I hold my spell ready to cast in my head so I can release it as soon as the beholder looks away?" Referee: "Nah, you can delay acting until the end of the round, after the beholder's turn, but you'll have to take the full time it normally takes to cast if you do because the ray is disrupting even thinking about the spell"Player: "Not even a bit faster? I've cast this spell a lot, and should know it fairly well?"Referee: "No spells just take the same amount of time to cast under all circumstances" or "Hmm, okay, but it's going to be stressful - make a Save vs. Spells to do it on the initiative right after the beholder looks away (and acts) but if you fail it backfires and burns out three of your other memorized spells or does damage to you."Player: "Okay, Look folks, I can't blast the beholder until the end of the round so do what you can!"I don't know if your referee is being antagonistic, but I'd say a game where you feel the need to argue with rules citations rather then common sense is in trouble.  It's not bad trouble or uncommon trouble, but to figure that out, it  might help to think of things a bit more and ask yourself "Is the referee being fair and is what I want fair?" There's always weird holes in the rules, but like all games "fair play" is a concept that governs those holes and odd situations.</blockquote>

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