Spellcasting

Reference. Part of the GM reference. For the steps of a task, read the GM guide.

Spells come from the Spells tab of the library. A character learns and prepares them in the Spellbook tab, and casts them from the action bar in a fight or from the sheet outside one.

Spellbook tab

The Spellbook tab of the character detail card lists every spell that the class of the character can learn, grouped by spell level. It also lists any spell that the character knows from another source. Each spell is a card with its name and one line with the school, the casting time, and the range. The cards fill one column in the sidebar and several in the full sheet.

A multiclass caster picks the class that a new spell records under. The list offers the caster classes whose spell list has the spell. If no class has it, the list offers every caster class. A spectator sees the details but no actions.

Cast dialog

If you press Cast with no target or recipient ticked, the dialog stays open and shows “Pick at least one target.” No slot is spent. A utility spell or a summons needs no target.

The spell attack bonus is the proficiency bonus plus the spell ability modifier. From exhaustion level 3, the spell attack rolls at disadvantage.

The app follows the bonus action spell rule on the caster’s own turn. After a spell cast with the bonus action, the caster can cast only a cantrip with a casting time of one action for the rest of the turn. A spell of 1st level or higher, a reaction spell, and a spell cast with the second action of Action Surge are all blocked. After a spell of 1st level or higher cast with the action, a bonus action spell is blocked. An action cantrip blocks nothing. The rule does not apply on another combatant’s turn, so Shield stays open after a bonus action spell. A repeat of a spell that an earlier turn paid for is not a new cast, and the rule skips it. Giving back the bonus action on the action bar also clears the spell that it paid for.

A hit of Ray of Sickness also rolls the CON save of the target. The target list shows that save bonus beside the AC. A hit of Vampiric Touch gives the caster hit points equal to half the damage the target took, after its resistances, and the log records the amount.

Sleep and Color Spray roll a pool of hit points in place of a save, and Power Word Kill compares the current HP of the target with its limit of

1. The dialog lists the targets by name only, because none of them rolls a save. The app reads the HP of each target when you click Cast, not when the dialog opens. See Hit-point rules.

A spell can have creature-type rules, which the spell form in the Library sets under No effect on, Only affects, No effect if immune to, Save at disadvantage, and Maximum damage. The app applies them to each target by its creature type. Hold Person and Charm Person affect only humanoids, and a creature with no type still counts, so you decide for it. Sleep passes over undead and creatures immune to Charmed, and the log names the reason. The healing spells have no effect on undead or constructs. Blight skips undead and constructs, and a plant saves at disadvantage and takes the maximum damage. Sunburst and Sunbeam give undead and oozes disadvantage on the save. See Creature types.

A Chill Touch hit stops the target from regaining hit points until the start of the next turn of the caster, and a heal on it logs that it has no effect. An undead target also attacks the caster at disadvantage until the end of the next turn of the caster. The spell form sets this second chip under Extra chip on some creature types, which shows once A hit imposes a condition is ticked. The group names the creature types, the chip name, the turn that ends it, and its mods, which include Stops healing and Attacks the caster at disadvantage. The extra chip has no save.

A buff with a range of Self, such as Shield, offers only the caster as its target. The chip of Shield, Shield of Faith, Mage Armor, or Barkskin changes the AC that the sheet, the combatant cards, and every later attack read. On a creature, Mage Armor replaces the authored AC when 13 plus DEX is higher, and a creature has no shield field, so a shield that is part of the authored AC does not add to the Mage Armor AC. See Armor class.

Aid raises the HP maximum and current HP of its targets while its chip lasts. False Life and Heroism grant temporary hit points, and the log records each grant. Heroism grants them at the start of each turn of its target, and it ends and blocks Frightened. The temporary hit points of a spell end with its chip. See Hit points and immunity.

Faerie Fire gives advantage on attack rolls against each creature that fails its save, and Blur gives disadvantage on attack rolls against the caster. Protection from Evil and Good gives disadvantage only to an attacker whose creature type is on its list, so a creature with no type set gets no disadvantage. Greater Invisibility leaves an Invisible chip. A hit of Guiding Bolt leaves a chip that gives advantage on the next attack roll against the target, and a failed save against Vicious Mockery leaves a chip that gives disadvantage on the next attack roll of the target. Each of these two chips ends on that roll, hit or miss, and the log notes it. A weapon attack and a spell attack both read all of these chips, and the log line of a weapon attack names each chip that slanted it.

Haste gives its target +2 AC, advantage on DEX saves, and one more weapon swing on each of its turns. The combat card counts the extra swing in the swings left. When Haste ends by any path, including a chip that you remove by hand, the target gets a Lethargic chip, and the log notes it. Next turn steps past a lethargic combatant on its next turn, and the chip ends at the end of that turn. The target keeps its concentration and its reactions. See Speed of action.

A spell that the caster still keeps open from an earlier turn, such as Spiritual Weapon, casts as a repeat. The dialog is titled Repeat and has no slot picker and no ritual box. A repeat spends no slot and skips the component and armor checks, because the first cast passed them. It still costs the action or bonus action that the spell names.

The app refuses a cast for these reasons, in this order, and spends nothing on a refusal:

1. A material component is missing. A component with a cost, or one that the spell destroys, must be the item itself. Any other component is covered by a component pouch or a focus.
2. The caster wears armor that it is not trained for.
3. The turn cannot pay the action cost, or the casting time is longer than one turn.

Only a character has an inventory, so a creature is never asked for a component. A cast that consumes its component removes the item from the inventory.

Concentration

A caster, character or creature, keeps at most one concentration spell. A new concentration spell ends the old one.

When a concentration spell ends, the conditions that it put on other creatures end, and the creatures that it summoned leave.

Summons

A summoning spell puts creatures from a library template on the tile of the party, at full health. The built-in example is Conjure Animals, which brings eight Wolf creatures, sixteen with a 5th-level slot, twenty-four with a 7th-level slot, and thirty-two with a 9th-level slot. If the library has no template with the name that the spell gives, the cast dialog refuses the spell.

The side that a summon fights on comes from its caster. A party character’s summons are friendly and stand with the party, so a party druid’s wolves fight beside it. A creature’s summons take the disposition of that creature, so a hostile caster’s summons fight the party. The template keeps its own disposition for creatures that the GM places by hand.

If a fight is running, the summons join the initiative order. See Initiative. The end of the spell removes the creatures that it brought.