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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Charlaquin1" data-source="post: 7272791" data-attributes="member: 6911733">Personally, I give brief descriptions of what an NPC spellcaster is doing when they cast a spell. Let’s say I’ve got a cultist casting Burning Hands. “The cultist holds up his hands, thumbs touching and fingers spread as he utters a few arcane syllables under his breath. What do you do?”This is gives them all the information they need to make an informed decision about how to react, and the opportunity to do so. Many players, being familiar with this description, might cast Counterspell right away, or they might describe a brief action like raising their shield or trying to duck out of the way, which if the Reaction would reasonably help,  I might give a small bonus  for, like Advantage on the save. If, however, they don’t recognize the spell by its description, they are free to ask.“As a Sorcerer, am I familiar with this gesture?”If the character is capable of casting the spell (a Sorcerer, Warlock, Ranger, or Bard has it on their Known Spells list; a Wizard has it in their Spellbook; a Cleric, Druid, or Paladin has it on their Class spell list at a level they can cast) I tell them.“Having  cast this  spell yourself many times, you recognize it as Burning Hands. Do you have a Reaction?”Alternatively, If tthe character is not able to cast the spell, I usually say they don’t know what it is, but still provide them the opportunity to do something.”This gesture isn’t used for any of the spells you know. Would you like to use a Reaction anyway?”What this rule will do for me is set a standard DC for a passive check to see if the character recognizes the spell despite not having the ability to cast it. I wouldn’t require a Reaction for that, nor would I call for a dice roll; as a rule, I only call for rolls when the character is actively doing something, and I don’t make players use actions/reactions for passive checks. That said, if a player asked, “Can I try to figure out what the spell might do based on its verbal and somatic components?” or something similarly active, then I would require a reaction and call for a rolled check.”If you would like to use a Reaction to compare what he’s doing to similar spells you’ve seen, you can make a DC (insert number here) Intelligence Arcana check to figure out what it most likely does.”</blockquote>

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