Are concentration spells the only spells that cancel upon the casters death? How about spells that can be dismissed? all spells?

All spells last for their stated duration unless dismissed or dispelled. If a spellcaster dies while maintaining a "Concentration" or "Concentration + X" spell, the spell will end in the relevant amount of time (instantly or after X time units, respectively). Otherwise, it will continue until the duration runs out.

All spells last for their stated duration unless dismissed or dispelled. If a spellcaster dies while maintaining a "Concentration" or "Concentration + X" spell, the spell will end in the relevant amount of time (instantly or after X time units, respectively). Otherwise, it will continue until the duration runs out.

+1

That's how I've always played it. Have seen nothing in the rules that says spells with a duration end after character death.

OTOH, some spells become irrelevant.

Last session a PC got dominated. There was a ton of duration left, but BBEG got killed in the middle of the fight (he still had Champions left, though) so the duration became irrelevant. PC is still technically under its effects.

Look at it another way. If I start the microwave to heat up a bowl of soup then suddenly have a heart attack, the microwave continues until someone else stops it or it hits the end of its time, because that's what it is programmed to do.

Non-concentration spells are "fire-and-forget". Sure, you can come back later to some of them and make adjustments, but otherwise they just do what they are programmed to do without any more input from you. Otherwise, a wizard would have to deal with the bookkeeping of round-by-round "spell point expenses" to "fuel" his spells.

FWIW,

Rez

Interesting ones include levitation. ;)

Interesting ones include levitation. ;)

2 sessions ago an opposing wizard sent his familiar on a strafing run against the massed PCs. It had a high AC and lots of protections due to a magical collar. Nevertheless, the party tore it to shreds ... literally.

Following its Fly-by Attack the party loosed several magic missiles and volumes of full-attack {i]Rapid Shots[/i] upon it, despite other foes around. The gull's protect vs. arrows was overwhelmed, and it died. It stopped flying and began to fall, triggering the feather fall in the collar.

At this point, the main archer in the party still had additional attacks (from haste IIRC), so he fired again and again at the slowly falling corpse of the familiar. They've had a problem in previous adventures with magic items healing "dead" opponents and bringing them back into the fight. A square hit and a near-max crit later, the gull had effectively been shot out of the collar and cut to ribbons. Feathers and bits of shredded seagull went everywhere, falling into the estuary below.

Meanwhile, the bloodied, empty collar kept floating down on its own.

Judgement call, I know.

FWIW,

R.

OTOH, some spells become irrelevant.

Last session a PC got dominated. There was a ton of duration left, but BBEG got killed in the middle of the fight (he still had Champions left, though) so the duration became irrelevant. PC is still technically under its effects.

It wouldn't always become irrelevant. A dominated character would continue to follow orders it had been given until the orders are complete or the duration ends/is dispelled, regardless what happens to the dominator.

We house-ruled that dismiss-able spells end upon death, which is a favor to the PCs. It just seemed more fun that way, because it was kind of anti-climatic to defeat an evil wizard but then still have to deal with an ongoing enchantment or mop up his summoned creatures, which aren't even worth xp.

Meanwhile, the bloodied, empty collar kept floating down on its own.

That was a satisfyingly compelling story. I'm glad I visited this thread. As the owner of a show-car, I'd like to add "death to all gulls".

Rezdave wrote:

Last session a PC got dominated ... PC is still technically under its effects.

It wouldn't always become irrelevant. A dominated character would continue to follow orders it had been given

First command was "Kill the owners of this boat." Another character fired a spell that grappled the BBEG and two minions but had one target left. He tagged the dominated PC. The next command, "Roll overboard", was deemed clearly suicidal (smart BBEG, but got a little panicked and gave a command he should have known wouldn't work) and so negated.

BBEG focused on freeing himself, but was dead before he could give another command, and since he'd changed the "kill" command that was no longer active. PC is still technically dominated but effectively freed.

That was a satisfyingly compelling story ... I'd like to add "death to all gulls".

Glad you liked it.

I'm OK with gulls, which I also find eminently practical, but have a greater aesthetic fondness for butterflies and scissors.

R.