Spell critical


Rules Questions


Spell critical says that when you crit you can cast as swift. Great, but then it goes on to say that the target of the crit must be in the area, or the target of the spell, does this mean you cant cast spells with no offensive target? Or does it mean that you can't cast spells that are offensive without targeting the subject. What I'm really wondering is if I can cast true strike and things like that or am I limited to offensive spells.

Also it says that it does not cause AO's, would this be true for a ranged touch?


You could cast a non-offensive spell swiftly, but the Critted target would have to either be its target, or in the area of that spell.

You don't provoke an AO for casting the swift spell, but you would provoke an AO for making a ranged attack when threatened.


So could I cast haste while he is in the area of effect but just not included in the spell effect?


Haste isn't an area of effect spell; it has individual targets. In this case, one of them would have to be the guy you just critted.


Hmm I see... is there any use of this ability aside from offense and if so could you give me an example?

Shadow Lodge

You could cast prestidigitation on the guy to spoil his pants so he auto-fails diplomacy, while also making your (insert weapon here) taste like S#!+ so he might get sickened if you hit his mouth (GM discretion), and cleaning the blood of the party face's clothes so he can make diplomacy checks. Or you could caste a mass cure spell on an undead to hurt him and heal allies. These are kind of offensive, but they are also helpful to non-offensive purposes.

Shadow Lodge

Assuming the creature you just crit is an enemy...

You could cast something like Obscuring Mist, Darkness or Solid Fog (with your opponent in the area) to create defensive concealment. Similarly, Daylight will remove poor visibility that's hampering you.

Arcana Theft is also defensive in addition to offensive since you're hopefully stealing a buff for yourself.

If you're a Samsaran and learned Mass Cure spells off the bard list (using Mystic Past Life), and your target is undead, you can both hurt them and heal your allies.


Hogeyhead wrote:
Hmm I see... is there any use of this ability aside from offense and if so could you give me an example?

Not really, no, it's meant for offense.


Arcana theft is a Magus spell, I would not be using a Magus for this build.

Shadow Lodge

Oh, it's an Eldritch Knight ability. I got it confused with the Magus Arcana Critical Strike which, on further inspection, only allows touch spells.

Other classes might have a few more options, but mplindustries is right that this is intended to be offensive so I don't think there's much other than defensive area spells or the trick with Mass Cure on undead.

Community / Forums / Pathfinder / Pathfinder First Edition / Rules Questions / Spell critical All Messageboards

Want to post a reply? Sign in.
Recent threads in Rules Questions