105
votes
Accepted
Is a pregnant creature considered a single entity for spells such as Banishment?
This kind of situation is up to the DM.
D&D 5E isn't designed to handle these sort of situations. The system doesn't have any built-in mechanics for pregnancy, or whether pregnant creatures can ...
- 31.6k
105
votes
Is it possible for a swallowed caster to cast Fireball outside of a Giant Toad?
You can't fire a fireball through a toad's mouth
The rules don't technically define 'swallowed', but in plain English, swallowed things are concealed by the relevant anatomy. Therefore, if a creature ...
- 76.1k
88
votes
Can you prevent players using cantrips to tell whether a creature is disguised as an object?
Don't use the rule in the first place.
If you are not running adventures league you have great leeway to adapt the rules. Object vs. creature vs. illusion and whatever else is one of the rules ripe ...
- 30.3k
80
votes
Is a pregnant creature considered a single entity for spells such as Banishment?
Let's set pregnancy aside for a moment and consider some other aspects of this issue.
If you have harmful microbes in your body, does this spell leave them behind? If so, then it's effectively a ...
- 4,638
68
votes
Is there no way to have a single casting of the Feather Fall spell affect a whole group of people who decide to jump off a cliff during combat?
If your whole party jumps off a cliff combat has ended
There is the unlikely scenario where the enemy jump after them, but as soon as the party declare their intention to jump off a cliff and feather ...
- 30.3k
65
votes
Accepted
Can I cast the Light cantrip on an 11-foot pole?
No, you can't cast light on it.
If the spell intended to say "an object that fits within a 10-foot cube", it would say that, or something like it. The phrase "no larger than 10 feet in ...
- 78.3k
63
votes
Does the Scrying spell require you to have a clear path to the target in order to work?
The range of Scrying is "self", so the caster targets him/herself first
The spellcasting rules says that the target must be withing range:
The target of a spell must be within the spell's range
...
- 70.8k
58
votes
Can Ogre clerics use Purify Food and Drink on humanoid characters?
'Rules as written' it's pretty tenuous, 'rules as intended' it's definitely out. Allowing this could easily break your game.
Before I get into the details, consider the general principle that there ...
- 25.2k
57
votes
Accepted
Do you have to see the person, the armor, or the metal when casting heat metal?
Rules-as-written, you must be able to see the target of heat metal.
Heat metal says:
Choose a manufactured metal object, such as a metal weapon or a suit of heavy or medium metal armor, that you can ...
- 154k
56
votes
Accepted
Is there no way to have a single casting of the Feather Fall spell affect a whole group of people who decide to jump off a cliff during combat?
I ready my movement until Sorcerer's turn to walk off the cliff.
You are correct to observe that feather fall can be tricky to coordinate during the heat of battle, and that without proper ...
- 154k
55
votes
Accepted
Can a conga line of creatures cursed by the same Shield of Missile Attraction transport ammunition instantaneously across the globe?
Note: I changed the answer to include the first cursed target. Mea culpa if this makes this answer less appealing.
No, the arrow targets either the first or the second peasant in line.
The ranged ...
- 12.2k
53
votes
Accepted
Can a character cast Bless on themselves?
Yes, the caster can include themselves in most spells that target creatures. From the PHB's Spellcasting chapter, the section on Targets (page 204):
Targeting Yourself
If a spell targets a creature ...
- 145k
52
votes
Accepted
Can I only target other creatures, not myself, when casting spells such as Invisibility that target "a creature you touch"?
Yes, you can touch yourself.
The PHB clarifies this under page 201:
Targeting Yourself
If a spell targets a creature of your choice, you can choose yourself, unless the creature must be ...
- 28.7k
52
votes
Is a pregnant creature considered a single entity for spells such as Banishment?
The pregnant creature and its unborn progeny remain together because as DMs, we strive to keep our games Humane
There are a number of questions that we would be forced to ask and resolve if we ...
- 53.1k
50
votes
Accepted
Who is targeted when Scrying's target is ambiguous?
It is up to the DM.
The ultimate answer here is "it's up to you," but let's explore it a bit since this could go a number of ways.
The description for Scrying includes (emphasis mine):
You ...
- 6,599
49
votes
Accepted
Can Polymorph end spells that require the target to be humanoid?
RaW, unclear. Unofficial Crawford rulings, the spell is suppressed.
There have been conflicting answers about the topic on Twitter. On one hand, you have Mearls saying the spell would stick:
Nope, ...
- 47k
49
votes
Accepted
When a spell asks for targets, can I choose the same target multiple times?
Only if the spell says so
There are spells that can direct multiple attacks against the same target, but they use different language. Instead of saying to choose a number of targets, such a spell ...
- 64.2k
48
votes
Are undead and creatures immune to charm excluded from the HP count of Sleep?
Looking at those two fragments:
Creatures within 20 feet of a point you choose within range are affected(...)
A creature’s hit points must be equal to or less than the remaining total for that ...
- 2,910
48
votes
Accepted
Is there a rule that enables Sending to ignore the spell targeting rules regarding Total Cover?
For my money, you have a good point—they should have explicitly said something about cover
To be clear, this is purely a matter of technicality. Under no circumstances should anyone rule that sending ...
- 361k
46
votes
Accepted
What happens if you cast Counterspell on a creature that is not casting a spell?
Xanathar's Guide to Everything (p. 86) addresses this issue in the section "Invalid Spell Targets":
If you cast a spell on someone or something that can’t be affected by the spell, nothing ...
- 63.9k
46
votes
Accepted
Can a Fireball be cast at the air to bypass cover?
Yes, you can do this
Well, first of all, the fireball spell description states:
The fire spreads around corners.
Rules designer Jeremy Crawford has unofficially clarified on Twitter what this means:
...
- 50.3k
46
votes
Accepted
Is there a standard way to handle spells that have willing creatures as targets but no ruling for unwilling ones?
Spells only do what they say they do
A spell's description lists everything that the spell does. The spellcasting section on targets reads:
A typical spell requires you to pick one or more targets to ...
- 5,782
41
votes
Accepted
Can I cast Slow on an invisible target?
The Sorcerer can discriminate between invisible targets provided that they know the invisible targets are there
Once you are aware of an invisible creature, provided they are not hidden, you know ...
- 28.5k
41
votes
Who controls a summoned steed’s familiar?
This does not work.
The spell Find Steed allows you to cast a spell and have it also affect your steed.
While mounted on your steed, you can make any spell you cast that
targets only you also ...
- 19.7k
40
votes
Accepted
Does a character have line of sight on enemies directly behind them?
The rules assume that facing direction doesn't matter.
Therefore they routinely use "creature you can see" to mean "creature you could see, if you were to look in that direction". For example, ...
- 22.4k
39
votes
Can spells be cast through a Wall of Force?
A wall of force blocks magic by granting total cover.
Although this is an old question, I discovered a relevant ruling while researching another question, and would like to add it here for ...
- 84.5k
39
votes
What happens if a part of the ocean is zapped by the Witch Bolt spell?
Just as in the 3.5e version of this question, in 5e we have the situation where being in water has no special effect on electricity spells.
Why not?
Because being in water only affects natural ...
- 361k
38
votes
Accepted
Can I cast Darkness in my mouth so I can turn it on/off each round without having to use an action?
This Would Not Work
...but not because of the way the Darkness spell works.
This wouldn't work because of an issue with the way combat happens. Combat is taken in turns, but it doesn't actually ...
- 494
38
votes
Accepted
Is "all targets must be within an X-unit diameter (circle)" equivalent to "all targets must be within X-units of each other"?
No, "all targets within 30 feet of each other" is a more flexible criterion
We can show that the two criteria are not equivalent with a simple counterexample: suppose 3 targets are each 30 feet away ...
- 64.2k
37
votes
Would Spawn of Kyuss worms infesting a Paladin die?
(these answers, IMO, also apply to the Monk's Purity of Body)
RAW: Paladins are probably susceptible to Kyuss Worms
Because of… Reasons. 5th edition did away with a lot of verbose text present in ...
- 21.4k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible