How does magic work?


Rules Questions


After reading through the book I am still confused as to the rolls involved for casting a spell. Can anyone link me to an example of play that shows various types of spells being cast with details on what was rolled, what modifiers were added, what was resisted, etc? If not, maybe someone can tell me what to do with the following scenario.

A level 1 sorcerer attempts to cast Acid Splash on a CR1 Ghoul. The sorcerer has a cha. mod of +4.

Since Acid Splash is a 'Ranged Touch Attack' does he have to roll a 1d20 to see if it hits, adding his charisma modifier to the result? And is this against the Ghoul's 'Touch AC'?


Casting trait raises spells save DC's for those saves that offer saving throws, and adds bonus spells according to a chart somewhere in the beginning of the book. To the best of my memory there aren't any casting rolls that casting trait effects in any way.

With a ranged touch attack, you make an attack roll (adding your BAB and your dex modifier) to see if it hits the target's touch AC (Their AC ignoring Armor, Natural armor, and shield bonuses)


My experience with the D&D system comes from games like Neverwinter Nights (where everything is calculated for the player automatically) and from novels (where details such as rolls and AC are not present). As far as P&P rpg's go, I have only played using the White Wolf d10 system. I want to try P&P D&D because I like the complexity and options available to players, but I am having problems understanding all of the rolls. If I could read a detailed example of play spanning one or more gaming sessions which covered melee/ranged/spell rolls as well as 'role play' rolls from interaction with NPC's, I think I could understand the system better.


Visivicous wrote:

A level 1 sorcerer attempts to cast Acid Splash on a CR1 Ghoul. The sorcerer has a cha. mod of +4.

Since Acid Splash is a 'Ranged Touch Attack' does he have to roll a 1d20 to see if it hits, adding his charisma modifier to the result? And is this against the Ghoul's 'Touch AC'?

Touch Attack simply means that the attack has to be aimed, and can miss. However, armor doesn't help against a spell, so it isn't factored into the Armor Class, hence "touch AC".

It is a ranged attack, and is resolved as a ranged attack, so it uses 1d20 + BAB + Dex, and any other modifiers (like the Point Blank Shot or Precise Shot feats).

The sorcerer's Cha mod would only come into play if the spell allows a Saving throw.

I'm not sure how much you understand yet, but it may be worth noting that a large number of spells don't require a roll by the caster at all (unless they are distracted somehow). In many cases, all a spell requires of the caster is to cross it off his-or-her prepared list, and the target is the one who needs to roll to see if they avoid the effect. The exception is "attack like" spells where the caster actually points some weaponlike spell at the target and can miss — such as your example above.

Hope that helps, and I will try to answer any followup questions.


Maybe you'll find this helful.


You might try looking at the Play by Post forum bud, a bunch of people play campaigns in there, and more often than not the rolls are displayed and generally labelled.

More often than not, the PC's are represented by 'aliases' that the posters use, so by clicking their names (sliding your mouse over their name will let you know if it's an alias or somebody's base name) you can see their statistics and compare to the gameplay.


Thanks everyone, you've really help me out.

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