Ceasing concentration off turn


Rules Questions


I apologize if this has been answered before; I did some searching and couldn't find it.

If you are maintaining a spell with a duration of "Concentration" in combat, can you only cease concentration (and end the spell) on your own turn? Let's leave aside for a moment why you'd want to (I've got a sort of screwy situation in my head where this might be useful, but now I'm honestly just curious). My instinct is that you can't because nothing says you can and the default is that you can't act off turn. In the duration section of the magic rules, it says:

d20pfsrd.org wrote:
A spell that depends on concentration is dismissible by its very nature, and dismissing it does not take an action, since all you have to do to end the spell is to stop concentrating on your turn.

So, if something doesn't take an action, can I do it off turn?

Liberty's Edge

Only if you go unconscious or for some other reason lose the ability to concentrate, AFAIK. Not as a voluntary action


Godferret wrote:

I apologize if this has been answered before; I did some searching and couldn't find it.

If you are maintaining a spell with a duration of "Concentration" in combat, can you only cease concentration (and end the spell) on your own turn? Let's leave aside for a moment why you'd want to (I've got a sort of screwy situation in my head where this might be useful, but now I'm honestly just curious). My instinct is that you can't because nothing says you can and the default is that you can't act off turn. In the duration section of the magic rules, it says:

d20pfsrd.org wrote:
A spell that depends on concentration is dismissible by its very nature, and dismissing it does not take an action, since all you have to do to end the spell is to stop concentrating on your turn.
So, if something doesn't take an action, can I do it off turn?

Even non-actions such as 5-foot steps and knock an arrow must be done on your turn.


Thank you both for your prompt response. That is what I thought but I wanted to confirm.

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