Can I stop previously cast spells from affecting me by moving into a Globe of Invulnerability?

Question

If I have spell effects on me (say, haste and bless cast by other casters) and move into the radius of a globe of invulnerability, do those spell effects stop affecting me?

Globe of invulnerability says:

Any spell of 5th level or lower cast from outside the barrier can't affect creatures or objects within it, even if the spell is cast using a higher level spell slot.

Since both spells were cast outside of the sphere and are 5th level or lower, they should count. And I would now be a creature inside the sphere. Would the spells stop affecting me? If so, would they start affecting me once I left the globe?

The reason I ask is that my original reading of this spell was that it only prevented creatures being affected if they were in the globe while the spell was being cast, but now I can't see any support for that. Am I missing something?

Answer 1

Slightly Ambiguous, But Previously Cast Spells Probably Still Work

The crux of the matter here is that the word "cast" typically is the same in the past and present tense. As such, the precise wording of globe of invulnerability stopping spells "cast from outside the barrier" could intend to refer to past, present, both, or exclusively one (for example, only spells cast before the globe existed), and it would have exactly the same grammatical structure.

We have guidance, however, in the other sentences of the spell's description. We are told (PHB, p. 245, bold added):

Such a spell can target creatures and objects within the barrier, but the spell has no effect on them.

This sentence uses terms exclusively in the present tense. It doesn't say that the spell can "have targeted" creatures (indicating that they targeted them in the past and are still targeting them), but rather speaks of only spells that are now attempting to target a creature once the globe of invulnerability is in effect. As such, it is likely that both the intended timing of the targeting and being affected are the same: meaning the globe of invulnerability blocks spells against something inside the globe when the other spells are cast.

The other interpretation leads to madness

The grammatical ambiguity permits people to interpret this spell as they wish. But keep in mind that many complex cases could arise if globe of invulnerability blocked previously cast spells. For example, let's say a wizard casts mirror image on themselves, then moves 20 feet and (in the next round) casts globe of invulnerability. Was the spell mirror image cast from outside the globe or not? Such a question is needlessly open to interpretation (can you be said to be "outside" the globe when it doesn't exist? Since the globe appears around you, is the source of mirror image you, or your previous location?), but would not even come up if the globe only blocks subsequent spells.

Answer 2

The globe of invulnerability spell description says:

An immobile, faintly shimmering barrier springs into existence in a 10-foot radius around you and remains for the duration.

Note the massive wording difference between this and the antimagic field spell:

A 10-foot-radius invisible sphere of antimagic surrounds you. This area is divorced from the magical energy that suffuses the multiverse. Within the sphere, spells can't be cast, summoned creatures disappear, and even magic items become mundane. Until the spell ends, the sphere moves with you, centered on you.

Spells and other magical effects, except those created by an artifact or a deity, are suppressed in the sphere and can't protrude into it. A slot expended to cast a suppressed spell is consumed. While an effect is suppressed, it doesn't function, but the time it spends suppressed counts against its duration.

So there is a huge difference between the effects and how they are to be resolved.

Continuing with the globe of invulnerability description:

Any spell of 5th level or lower cast from outside the barrier can't affect creatures or objects within it, even if the spell is cast using a higher level spell slot.

"Cast" is a instantaneous effect. You don't keep "casting" for the entire duration of a spell (concentration notwithstanding). The spell has no indication for how a existing spell should be treated (as antimagic field does), so it should only be effective on a spell at the moment of being cast.

Answer 3

While in the globe, ongoing spells don't affect the target.

For spells such as charm person or bless that have ongoing duration, they do not affect the target while they're within the sphere.

Spells do what they say they do

• Is the target of the spell inside of the barrier?
• Was the spell cast from outside the barrier?
• Is the spell 5th level or lower?

If the answer to all of those is yes, then the spell does not affect the target.

The globe does not end the spell nor make the target invalid

The spells with a duration are ongoing. They do not affect the target inside the globe. When the target leaves the globe, they have lost the protection effect of the globe and spells such as haste or bless would affect them again.

Instantaneous spells.

Something like pyrotechnics inflicts the blinded condition. The spell takes effect and over immediately. The result of the spell is the blinded condition, and that would not be removed when the target moves into a sphere.