Timeline for Can you combine Polearm Master with War Caster to cast Booming Blade as enemies approach?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
20 events
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| Aug 14 at 19:08 | comment | added | ShadowRanger | @ThomasMarkov: The rules don't say "spells with a range of self target the caster". They say that spells that affect only you have a range of self, but that's not an if-and-only-if relationship. The very next paragraph talks about cones and lines which also have a range of self, indicating the point of origin, but not the target. It describes two entirely unrelated categories of Range: Self spells, those which affect (target) you, and those which originate from you (but only optionally target you). Dogs are a type of pet, but this does not mean all pets are dogs. | |
| Aug 14 at 18:28 | comment | added | Thomas Markov | @ShadowRanger As explained in the linked answer, the rules explicitly state that spells with a range of self target the caster. Booming blade has a range of self. Therefore by modus ponens, booming blade targets the caster, | |
| Aug 14 at 18:11 | comment | added | ShadowRanger | @ThomasMarkov: War Caster isn't written like Twinned Spell though. Twinned Spell explicitly requires both a single target and a range other than Self. War Caster only requires a single target, it doesn't care about the range at all (except insofar as it's tied to someone triggering an opportunity attack in the first place). I don't disagree with your reasoning on Twinned Spell (I prefer that result anyway; having Sorcerers able to physically attack with a weapon twice at the same time is weird), it's just not applicable to War Caster, which only cares about targets, not range. | |
| Aug 14 at 1:53 | comment | added | Thomas Markov | @ShadowRanger I’ve had this argument before, and I’ve written this answer about it. If you don’t think “Self (5 feet)” is a range of self, there’s nothing I or anyone else can say to change your mind. | |
| Aug 14 at 0:57 | comment | added | ShadowRanger | @ThomasMarkov: Yeah, my point is that having a range of "Self (5-foot radius)", not just "Self", does not unambiguously make you a target of the spell at all, unless there is some clear rule guidance on that front I'm missing. Purely Self spells are explicitly documented as targeting you, but that's followed by additional guidance for cone and line spells, which are also range Self with a modifier (e.g. Cone of Cold is "Self (60-foot cone)"), but it does not mean you are a target of the spell by any stretch of the imagination. Booming Blade isn't self-only, Self is just the point of origin. | |
| Aug 14 at 0:12 | comment | added | Thomas Markov | @ShadowRanger War Caster stipulates: “The spell must have a casting time of 1 action and must target only that creature.” Since booming blade now has a range of self, it targets the caster and the creature you attack, so it isn’t eligible for War Caster. | |
| Aug 13 at 22:03 | comment | added | ShadowRanger | @ThomasMarkov: How does that change anything? The new range is Self (5-foot radius), but the target is still the enemy being attacked as far as I can tell. The spell still targets only one creature, a spell's range doesn't inherently define the target(s). Whether it still works with Spell Sniper is open to question (it's a spell that makes an attack roll, so the question is whether "Self (5-foot radius)" can double the radius or not; there aren't a lot of other spells with that sort of range that use attack rolls that can serve as a model), but it seems 100% compatible with War Caster. | |
| S Aug 13 at 16:37 | history | suggested | Tarod | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
Added Spear. It has also a range of 5 ft.
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| Aug 13 at 10:18 | review | Suggested edits | |||
| S Aug 13 at 16:37 | |||||
| Nov 11, 2020 at 7:24 | comment | added | Thomas Markov | On November 10th, booming blade was changed to have a range of self, so it is no longer eligible for warcaster. | |
| Jul 23, 2020 at 7:39 | comment | added | Peter Cordes | Perhaps phrasing it as "wouldn't need" instead of "preclude". Or perhaps just something to point out separately at the bottom of your answer, that you can do this to enemies moving away even more easily (with only one feat and any weapon with max 5ft reach.) I just find it confusing to point out that you don't need Polearm Master to do a different thing in the middle of a list of reasons why it does work. | |
| Jul 23, 2020 at 6:16 | comment | added | Liesmith | @PeterCordes That's my point: War Caster is for all Opportunity Attacks, not specifically for enemies moving away from you (which would preclude the Polearm Master attack-on-approach). Since Polearm Master grants an Opportunity Attack, it works with War Caster. | |
| Jul 22, 2020 at 15:06 | comment | added | Peter Cordes | What's your point with the 2nd bullet? The OP isn't asking about an enemy moving away, but rather an enemy entering your threatened space. For an enemy moving away, War Caster alone is enough to use Booming Blade on them, if you have a reaction left. Enemy movement includes moving out of your reach. | |
| S Apr 23, 2019 at 21:13 | history | mod moved comments to chat | |||
| S Apr 23, 2019 at 21:13 | comment | added | mxyzplk | Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat. | |
| Aug 30, 2018 at 22:07 | vote | accept | Man_Over_Game | ||
| Aug 10, 2018 at 20:09 | history | edited | V2Blast | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
removed mention of Crawford; it's not an exchange "with" him if he didn't say anything
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| Aug 10, 2018 at 20:01 | history | edited | Liesmith | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
added 40 characters in body
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| Aug 10, 2018 at 0:27 | history | edited | Liesmith | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
added 257 characters in body
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| Aug 10, 2018 at 0:14 | history | answered | Liesmith | CC BY-SA 4.0 |