"Swift" Spells Question

[RigaMortus]

All spells take a specific amount of time to cast. Without some sort of outside help, such as applying a metamagic feat to the spell, there is no way to cast a spell faster or slower than is described in it's spell block.

 

[sullivan]

All spells take a specific amount of time to cast. Without some sort of outside help, such as applying a metamagic feat to the spell, there is no way to cast a spell faster or slower than is described in it's spell block.

...so then the rest of the standard action is spent admiring the beauty of the spell effects?

 

[atom crash]

A Swift Action is like a Free Action, but you may only take 1 Swift Action in a round. Spells which require a Swift Action are designed with that choice in mind (that, if you cast this spell, you can't also cast that spell).

I've always assumed that the rule allowing a single Swift Action per round was not so much to force a choice about which Swift Action spell to cast, but merely to limit how many spells you could get off in a round. The designers obviously don't want anyone to be able to get off more than two spells in any given round, and being able to cast two is going to cost you.

That's why I agree with Plane Sailing and silentspace and would allow without hesitation acharacter to cast a Swift Action spell as a standard action. If you use a standard action to cast a Swift Action spell, you're using your standard action that you could be using for something else, just like being able to take a second move action rather than a standard action. Therefore I see it as a balanced option.

Another limiting factor is that most Swift Action spells I recall from my reading of Complete Arcane seem designed to help a character use a particular standard action (sorry, I don't have my book at hand, but I believe the spell that makes an opponent think he's flanked has a Swift Action casting time; can someone double check?). It struck me that the Swift Action spells seemd to be designed for optimal use to be cast in the same round as the attack or action they benefit. Casting two such spells in a single round would deny the character the opportunity to benefit from them until the next round.

 

[Jdvn1]

The problem is that, with a Swift Action, by definition you are limited to 1 per round.

Eventhough the core books weren't built with Swift Actions in mind, I think the "you can substitute your standard action for another move ation" rule seems to imply "you can substitute a longer-timed action for a shorter-timed action."

Basically: You want to use your standard action for a swift action? Go ahead. Would you allow your player with Quick Draw to pull out his weapon as a standard action? Yeah, if he really wanted to. The other day, I was playing my Druid who has Fast Wild Shape -- he can do it as a move action; however, I was in a gladatorial-type arena and was playing to the audience. So what did I do? Before the battle formally started, I spent three full-round actions to Wild Shape.

Is it RAW? Well, I don't think RAW was even built for it, but I think it's in the spirit of the rules, at least.