22
\$\begingroup\$

While I was DMing a 5th Edition game, one of my player's sorcerers cast the spell Silence while they were 5 feet away from an enemy caster. They centered the spell on the space that the enemy caster was in, and a round of combat finished. On the sorcerer's turn, they asked me if they could use a verbal spell while in the Silence area. Their reasoning is that they had cast the spell, so they could prevent it from affecting them.

In this situation, I decided to not allow it because it would unbalance the spell. But I want to know what other people would think about this.

So would the user of the Silence spell be able to prevent it from affecting themselves?

Improve this question
\$\endgroup\$
  • 1
    \$\begingroup\$ Welcome to RPG.SE! Take the tour if you haven't already, and check out the help center for more guidance. \$\endgroup\$ – V2Blast♦ Aug 7 '19 at 1:14
39
\$\begingroup\$

The Sorcerer is indeed Silenced by their own spell.

Nothing in the spell description excludes the Sorcerer from the spell. The only way to get around this is if the Sorcerer also has the Subtle Spell meta-magic skill selected so that they can remove the Verbal component.

Nothing about casting a spell makes you immune to it's effects unless it's stated in the spell description.

Improve this answer
\$\endgroup\$
  • 1
    \$\begingroup\$ Sorry for brevity. "cf" is a Latin abbreviation for "compare". Casting a spell does not make you immune to it. If you drop a Fireball at your feet, you are affected by it. Silence is no different. (I am agreeing with your answer, and upvoted it) \$\endgroup\$ – Black Spike Aug 6 '19 at 22:57
  • 1
    \$\begingroup\$ Ah no worries, just never seen that notation before. Thanks! I learned something today! YAY! \$\endgroup\$ – Lino Frank Ciaralli Aug 6 '19 at 23:03
  • 1
    \$\begingroup\$ As an aside, Sorcerers do get "Careful Spell", so they can spend a Sorcery Point to cause a creature automatically make it's Saving Throw against a spell. Not applicable to Silence (no save), but it might help if the Sorcerer, or an ally, is caught in the Fireball. \$\endgroup\$ – Black Spike Aug 6 '19 at 23:06
  • 1
    \$\begingroup\$ @BlackSpike: On that note, a related question about Careful Spell's interaction with repeated saves: Can a Sorcerer protect their friend from Web by using Careful Spell? \$\endgroup\$ – V2Blast♦ Aug 7 '19 at 1:16
  • 2
    \$\begingroup\$ @nick012000 If you're referring to their Sculpt Spells feature, then it would only work on evocation spells, and silence is an illusion spell, so that wouldn't work. This answer would be the same (excluding the Sorcerer-specific stuff). \$\endgroup\$ – NathanS Aug 7 '19 at 7:30
2
\$\begingroup\$

The text of the spell Silence states that:

Casting a spell that includes a verbal component is impossible there.

And since by the rules of D&D the all the spells can also affect the user and his allies if not stated otherwise, every spellcaster that would find himself in the radius of the spell would not be able to cast spells that require a verbal component.

This could actually be used at your advantage for countering enemy spellcasters, maybe your sorcerer has the meta-magic Subtle Spell. Being the DM I would also allow the meta-magic Careful Spell to be able to target someone and make it immune to the silence spell, but that is up to you.

Improve this answer
\$\endgroup\$
  • 2
    \$\begingroup\$ Welcome! You can take the tour as an introduction to the site and check the help center if you need further guidance. I edited your answer to, among other minor fixes, change the link to D&D Beyond. This is because it appears the previous link included some non-SRD content which is likely not legal. Fell free to edit if you didn't like some of the other changes. Good luck and happy gaming! \$\endgroup\$ – Sdjz Sep 26 '19 at 9:49

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.