Stone shield says "A 1-inch-thick slab of stone springs up from the ground, interposing itself between you and an opponent of your choice."
If you don't have an opponent nearby, can you still cast this spell?
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Sign up to join this communityStone shield says "A 1-inch-thick slab of stone springs up from the ground, interposing itself between you and an opponent of your choice."
If you don't have an opponent nearby, can you still cast this spell?
This GM would allow a (paranoid?) caster to cast the stone shield spell even while the caster is, in fact, totally alone.
The stone shield spell is a spell that creates an effect at a range of 0 ft. and not a spell with Target entry of one or more creature (see Aiming a Spell on Target or Targets). Thus the caster needn't "be able to see or touch the target, [nor] must [the caster] specifically choose that target," because the spell has no target. The caster can cast the spell, pick to have the spell's effect try "interposing itself between [the caster] and an opponent" that's hundreds of miles away, on a different plane, or that doesn't actually exist… and for 1 round gain cover from that absent or nonexistent enemy. Yay?
This GM would have a stone shield effect that was designated to affect a nonexistent or absent foe spin around the caster pointlessly, doing nothing and providing no cover against any enemies. Unless the foe the caster picked when the spell stone shield was cast actually does show up during the spell's 1 round duration, the spell will do nothing, essentially failing because "the characteristics of the spell cannot be made to conform" to the reality of the caster's situation.