D&D 5E Speed of Magical Attack Spells Emanating from a Caster

[Leatherhead]

At the speed of plot?

This, but unironically. Magic is metaphysical. Measuring it using something as mundane as time would be maddening.
For example: Counterspell. That would have to work by traveling backwards in time.

 

[BlivetWidget]

Disappointingly, meteor swarm (in 1e-3e, and 5e at least) actually shoots out from the caster's hand.

I have some good news for you. 5e Meteor Swarm: "Blazing orbs of fire plummet to the ground at four different points you can see within range." (look ma, no hands!)

 

[Oofta]

This, but unironically. Magic is metaphysical. Measuring it using something as mundane as time would be maddening.
For example: Counterspell. That would have to work by traveling backwards in time.

While counterspell isn't as flavorful as I might like (and is a whole other topic and one I've considered creating alternate house rules for), wizard spell battles are a pretty common trope. Nothing has to reverse time, the spell is just being interrupted or perhaps intercepted.

 

[Leatherhead]

While counterspell isn't as flavorful as I might like (and is a whole other topic and one I've considered creating alternate house rules for), wizard spell battles are a pretty common trope. Nothing has to reverse time, the spell is just being interrupted or perhaps intercepted.

While that works for a normal spell with all the other components (and possibly a tracer effect), it's hard to justifying how it works on a Power Word. Also the fact you can Counterspell a Counterspell that is countering a spell you are casting. It's ironically easier to swallow if you think of it as a bit of time traveling.

 

[Oofta]

While that works for a normal spell with all the other components (and possibly a tracer effect), it's hard to justifying how it works on a Power Word. Also the fact you can Counterspell a Counterspell that is countering a spell you are casting. It's ironically easier to swallow if you think of it as a bit of time traveling.

Meh. You're either countering the physical aspect of the spell or interrupting it's casting. Casting isn't instantaneous.

In any case that's just how I see it. Caster A starts to cast, caster B interrupts it. No time travel involved. YMMV.

 

[Dausuul]

Well we all know how technically ignorant management is. So I'm sticking to my [blaster] guns.

Han Solo also used "laser" in Empire ("That was no laser blast! Something hit us!").

My headcanon is that at some point in the past, lasers were the preferred form of energy weapon. Then somebody invented the blaster and it was better for (reasons), but everyone had got in the habit of saying "laser" and it stuck even when they weren't lasers any more.

 

[Oofta]

Han Solo also used "laser" in Empire ("That was no laser blast! Something hit us!").

My headcanon is that at some point in the past, lasers were the preferred form of energy weapon. Then somebody invented the blaster and it was better for (reasons), but everyone had got in the habit of saying "laser" and it stuck even when they weren't lasers any more.

I agree that lasers exist in the star wars universe, but Han still had a blaster not a laser.

That and Lucas was sloppy with dialog, logic and consistency of terms in the Star Wars universe was not his strong suit. Oh, and the fact that I'm not a Star Wars mega-fan should be obvious by now.

Of course the real reason they're blasters is that it's more cinematic to have bolts of energy flying around the screen. Same reason bullets make sparks whenever they hit metal in film but almost never in real life.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

While that works for a normal spell with all the other components (and possibly a tracer effect), it's hard to justifying how it works on a Power Word. Also the fact you can Counterspell a Counterspell that is countering a spell you are casting. It's ironically easier to swallow if you think of it as a bit of time traveling.

I've always imagined it as shooting the hex out of the air. You throw a ball, and someone throws a ball to block that ball, so you throw a third ball to intercept the second ball before it hits the first. The third ball would necessarily be moving more quickly than the first ball.

 

[Leatherhead]

I've always imagined it as shooting the hex out of the air. You throw a ball, and someone throws a ball to block that ball, so you throw a third ball to intercept the second ball before it hits the first. The third ball would necessarily be moving more quickly than the first ball.

That begs the question of why not just throw the second ball faster so that the third ball can't get it?
The first ball might be different, but the second and third balls are the same.

 

[Celebrim]

Around 300 mph. As someone pointed out, slightly faster than the high tech "blaster bolts" in Star Wars, but no where near bullet fast. Still, at that speed a spell effect travels the length of a football field in two seconds, so it's plenty fast. I would expect that it probably varies a bit between spells with longer ranged spells typically faster than shorter ranged ones, but the actual specifics have never interested me.

I should note again that I play a homebrewed version of 3e, and one of my many changes is that I've reduced the maximum range of a great many spell effects. Many spells have reduced range and medium and long range are much shorter than in 3e RAW. The purpose of this was to increase parity between spellcaster 'artillery' and martial missile weapon users. You may want to vary your answer (and I might want to vary my own answer) if your spell ranges can be quite long.