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In the most recent errata update to the Sword Coast Adventurers guide, Green-Flame Blade and Booming Blade have received errata to their range and spell text, being altered from

Range: 5 feet

to

Range: Self (5 foot radius)

Furthermore, the text of GFB and BB have been altered from

As part of the action used to cast this spell, you must make a melee attack with a weapon against one creature within the spell's range, otherwise the spell fails.

to the phrase

You brandish the weapon used in the spell’s casting and make a melee attack with it against one creature within 5 feet of you.

How do these changes alter the way that these spells are used, and how they interact with features or feats, such as Spell Snipers effect of doubling a spells range.

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    \$\begingroup\$ You might have missed that, for the material component, the weapon now has to have a value of at least 1sp. \$\endgroup\$ Commented Nov 11, 2020 at 17:18
  • \$\begingroup\$ This feels too broad and a duplicate of existing questions that just need to be updated to reflect the errata. \$\endgroup\$
    – NotArch
    Commented Nov 11, 2020 at 17:28
  • \$\begingroup\$ I think this should be closed. It's asking about lots of interactions, which if asked individually, most would be closed as dupes of questions that are being or have been updated already. \$\endgroup\$ Commented Nov 11, 2020 at 18:34
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    \$\begingroup\$ I think lots of other questions should be closed as a duplicate of this question that is suited to the stack and well within scope. I voted to leave open -from review. \$\endgroup\$
    – Akixkisu
    Commented Nov 11, 2020 at 18:47
  • \$\begingroup\$ @NautArch sure, when I organically come across them and remember this question, then I will vote them as duplicates. A question that consolidates lots of cases also leaves room for more specific questions about cases that don't fit the general question. \$\endgroup\$
    – Akixkisu
    Commented Nov 11, 2020 at 19:13

1 Answer 1

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Distant Spell and Spell Sniper do not work.

The sorcerer's distant spell metamagic says:

When you cast a spell that has a range of 5 feet or greater, you can spend 1 sorcery point to double the range of the spell.

Spell Sniper says:

When you cast a spell that requires you to make an attack roll, the spell’s range is doubled.

Having a range of self means these features no longer work with BB and GFB.

War Caster does not work.

War Caster says:

When a hostile creature's movement provokes an opportunity attack from you, you can use your reaction to cast a spell at the creature, rather than making an opportunity attack. The spell must have a casting time of 1 action and must target only that creature.

Since BB and GFB now have a range of self, they target the caster, not "only that creature" as required by War Caster.

It should be noted that lead rules desiugner Jeremy Crawford has stated on twitter that his intent is that War Caster would still work with booming blade.

Twinned spell does not work.

Twinned Spell metamagic says:

When you cast a spell that targets only one creature and doesn’t have a range of self, you can spend a number of sorcery points equal to the spell’s level to target a second creature in range with the same spell (1 sorcery point if the spell is a cantrip).

Twinned Spell doesn't work with a range of self.

Clearer interaction with a new Bladesinger feature.

In the same errata, the Bladesinger Wizard received a change to its Extra Attack ability:

Starting at 6th level, you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn. Moreover, you can cast one of your cantrips in place of one of those attacks.

The removal of the phrase "as part of the action used to cast this spell" makes the interaction between this feature and BB or GFB more clear - the spell is not being cast with the Cast a Spell action, rather it is being cast in place of an attack as part of an attack action.

They probably don't work with most improvised weapons.

The material component was changed as well, from "a weapon", to:

a melee weapon worth at least 1 sp

So if you are using an improvised melee weapon, it must be worth at least 1 sp or you can't use BB or GFB. For example, a rock isn't but a table might be. Of course, your DM may interpret "a melee weapon worth at least 1 sp" as requiring it to have a value as a melee weapon - a table might be worth 10 gp as a table but nothing as a weapon. Your DM may also say that a table used as an improvised weapon is not actually a melee weapon at all.

This also means they do not work with the spell shadow blade.

A definitive answer to the question about standing up from prone.

See here: Does standing up from prone trigger the secondary damage from the Booming Blade cantrip?

Now, BB reads:

If the target willingly moves 5 feet or more before then, the target takes 1d8 thunder damage, and the spell ends.

It is now abundantly clear that standing up from prone does not trigger the secondary damage.

Counterspell probably works.

With the original wording, there was some question as to whether the melee attack was part of the spell (and thus countered by counterspell) or part of the somatic component (implying that the counterspell would counter any extra damage but the attack would still go through). This has been discussed at length in this Q&A: If Booming Blade or Green Flame Blade are counterspelled, does the attack still go through?

With the new errata, the concensus there seems to be shifting toward counterspell stopping the attack entirely.


For further reading, and seeing some interpretations that differ from those mentioned here; some of the above questions (and others) have been addressed elsewhere:

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat. Feel free to continue to use it for the work on and around this answer. \$\endgroup\$
    – Someone_Evil
    Commented Nov 12, 2020 at 15:28
  • \$\begingroup\$ This is wrong, at least in reference to War Caster: twitter.com/JeremyECrawford/status/1326595384790056960 \$\endgroup\$
    – Nacht
    Commented Nov 12, 2020 at 22:28
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Nacht Jeremy Crawford is wrong :P, I’ll edit the answer to mention his tweet, but I think he’s wrong about his own rules. \$\endgroup\$ Commented Nov 12, 2020 at 22:48
  • \$\begingroup\$ @ThomasMarkov haha okay fair enough. Does that mean you consider Burning Hands to target the spellcaster? \$\endgroup\$
    – Nacht
    Commented Nov 12, 2020 at 23:47
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    \$\begingroup\$ Even in the errata, booming blade and green flame blade refer to the creature being attacked as "the target". \$\endgroup\$
    – smbailey
    Commented Nov 13, 2020 at 16:28

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