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Okay this is actually one main question and a corollary.
Main question involves a scenario in a game recently:
PC wizard 8th level in a large open field battle casts flaming sphere. has a 22 int. Necromancer hits him with a spectral hand touch of idiocy, he now has a 16. A round or so later, hits him with a curse for -6 int, now he has a 10. He cannot cast 2nd level spells, can he still move the sphere? Does it drop? Is it still effective with the DCs of a 22? I made a table ruling of it staying with original DC, but I am looking for a RAW determination.
Second question:
In the above scenario, this ability damage doesn't interfere with his ability to cast with a wand.. would casting from a staff be impacted by his current ability score (10 INT) or would it use the minimum required to cast the spell like a wand?
Thank you in advance for any assistance given to pointing me in the right direction for these answers! :)
Ability score damage after-the-fact doesn't matter. At the time of casting, the spell was cast.
Look at things this way: Wizard A casts invisibility on Rogue B. Rogue B starts scouting. Monster C shows up and kills Wizard A. Does Rogue B suddenly become visible? No.
Once a spell is cast, it's cast; it doesn't weaken afterward. Heck, even if you had a spell that required concentration to maintain it, if you fell below the required ability scores to cast it, you wouldn't have a problem.
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Ability score damage after-the-fact doesn't matter. At the time of casting, the spell was cast.
Look at things this way: Wizard A casts invisibility on Rogue B. Rogue B starts scouting. Monster C shows up and kills Wizard A. Does Rogue B suddenly become visible? No.
Once a spell is cast, it's cast; it doesn't weaken afterward. Heck, even if you had a spell that required concentration to maintain it, if you fell below the required ability scores to cast it, you wouldn't have a problem.
Not that I doubt what you are saying, but can you point me towards a reference or FAQ that addresses this issue? Our group is looking for a definitive rules answer.
Thanks!
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Ability score damage after-the-fact doesn't matter. At the time of casting, the spell was cast.
Look at things this way: Wizard A casts invisibility on Rogue B. Rogue B starts scouting. Monster C shows up and kills Wizard A. Does Rogue B suddenly become visible? No.
Once a spell is cast, it's cast; it doesn't weaken afterward. Heck, even if you had a spell that required concentration to maintain it, if you fell below the required ability scores to cast it, you wouldn't have a problem.
Not that I doubt what you are saying, but can you point me towards a reference or FAQ that addresses this issue? Our group is looking for a definitive rules answer.
Thanks!
I think the better thing is, can you find any rule in the book that indicates that your caster stats matter after the spell is cast?
The simple answer is that a spell does what it says it does.
If you want a rule that causes spells to diminish after they have been cast, you'll need to find that rule. What you don't need and (I think) won't find is a rule that says it doesn't happen.
Lots of imaginary rules don't exist, but what you won't find are rules that actually tell that you these imaginary rules don't exist. For example, there is no rule that humans go bald and get bad vision with advanced age, but you won't find a rule that actually says humans DO NOT go bald and get bad vision with advanced age.
Likewise with your spells. You have rules telling you what those spells do, but you don't have rules telling you to apply post-casting affects to the spells.
Not that I doubt what you are saying, but can you point me towards a reference or FAQ that addresses this issue? Our group is looking for a definitive rules answer.
No can do. This isn't spelled out in the rules anywhere. It's pretty much what claudekennilol and DM_Blake are saying; things such as spells do what they say they do.
Let's use a similar example. Imagine someone casts dominate person on your fighter and your fighter fails his saving throw by one. He's dominated, right? So what happens if someone happens to feed your fighter a potion of owl's wisdom, increasing his Wisdom score by 4, and therefore his Will saving throws by 2? Should the domination just suddenly stop because - days into its duration - his Will save would've succeeded?
Sure, you could play that way, and there's nothing in the rules that actually says you don't. They do say that if you fail a save, stuff happens, so that's how we play the game. Stuff happens when it happens, as the text says it happens.
Keeping track of every ability score or statistic modification is just a massive amount of work for little payoff.
What I'm saying is that basically everyone runs the game as though spells become independent of their caster once cast (read: initiated). Sure, many of them allow ongoing control or interaction, like fly, but running the game as if every requirement had to continually be met is... work.
Final example. The invisibility spell has a range of personal or touch. So have the party wizard cast it on your party rogue, touching him. Now have the rogue go scouting. Ooops... he just went out of the wizard's reach. So, invisibility drops, right? 'Cuz you just broke one of the requirements of the spell, right?
Yeah, no. Honest, the game just isn't designed the way your group is thinking it is. There isn't a rule specifically saying so, but the implications are astoundingly painful and widespread.
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RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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He cannot cast 2nd level spells, can he still move the sphere? Does it drop?
To learn, prepare, or cast a spell, the wizard must have an Intelligence score equal to at least 10 + the spell level.
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Is it still effective with the DCs of a 22?
For every 2 points of damage you take to a single ability, apply a –1 penalty to skills and statistics listed with the relevant ability.
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Some spells and abilities cause you to take an ability penalty for a limited amount of time. While in effect, these penalties function just like ability damage...
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Intelligence: Damage to your Intelligence score causes you to take penalties on Intelligence-based skill checks. This penalty also applies to any spell DCs based on Intelligence.
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In the above scenario, this ability damage doesn't interfere with his ability to cast with a wand.. would casting from a staff be impacted by his current ability score (10 INT) or would it use the minimum required to cast the spell like a wand?
Staves use the wielder's ability score and relevant feats to set the DC for saves against their spells.