In a PFS game tonight, there was a brief discussion about what "one full round casting time" meant.
I stated that it meant that you had to spend a full round action casting the spell, and that it didn't come into effect until just before the start of your next turn.
The GM thought it might mean that it took effect immediately, after you spent the full-round action. He also mentioned something about it possibly being different than it was in v3.5; something about Paizo simplifying it the system by making metamagic spells and 1 round casting time spells the same, or something like that (my hearing is not great, and my memory is worse).
So what is the rule on this, and how is it supposed to be run in Pathfinder?
A spell that takes 1 round to cast is a full-round action. It comes into effect just before the beginning of your turn in the round after you began casting the spell.
It's pretty explicit right in the CRB.
I had that confusion when I was first starting pathfinder. Some spells are "1 round" and some say "1 full round." They're the same thing, though, no specified difference in the magic chapter.
The only time I know of a full-round action casting time is spontaneous casters using metamagic.
Your GM was confused. Full round and 1 round casting times are two distinct things.
Full round does what your GM thought t did, come into effect immediately after you finish the full round action.
Joana quoted the relevant rue for 1 round casting time. The biggest difference is that every enemy gets a chance to interrupt the casting of a 1 round casting time on their turn, they do not have to have readied actions.
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I think thorin001 and Sevus have the right of it. Here is a relevant quote regarding the full-round casting time required for spontaneous casters using metamagic feats.
Sorcerers and Bards: Sorcerers and bards choose spells as they cast them. They can choose when they cast their spells whether to apply their metamagic feats to improve them. As with other spellcasters, the improved spell uses up a higher-level spell slot. Because the sorcerer or bard has not prepared the spell in a metamagic form in advance, he must apply the metamagic feat on the spot. Therefore, such a character must also take more time to cast a metamagic spell (one enhanced by a metamagic feat) than he does to cast a regular spell. If the spell's normal casting time is a standard action, casting a metamagic version is a full-round action for a sorcerer or bard. The only exception is for spells modified by the Quicken Spell metamagic feat, which can be cast as normal using the feat.
For a spell with a longer casting time, it takes an extra full-round action to cast the spell.
So a standard action casting time becomes a full-round action but is distinguished from a 1-round casting time (which Joana's quote states is also a full-round action). Both use a standard + move action so how are they different? The difference is whether the spell takes effect during the turn that casting began or just before the beginning of the caster's next turn.
Examples:
Fireball normally has a casting time of 1 standard action. A Sorcerer casting a Maximized Fireball now needs both her standard action and her move action to cast the spell, and the Fireball detonates at the end of that full-round action. The entire casting, from start to finish, takes place during the Sorcerer's turn.
Enlarge Person normally has a 1-round casting time. A Sorcerer casting an unmodified Enlarge Person spell uses her standard action and her move action for that round, but the target doesn't grow until just before the start of the Sorcerer's next turn. As thorin001 pointed out, because the spell isn't yet complete, opponents have opportunities to disrupt the casting during their turns without needing readied actions.
No, well sort of but not how you want.
A full round action is using your move and standard actions. A 1 round action takes 1 entire round to happen, and goes off right before your turn in the next round.
The rules are confusing on this as written but:
A spell that takes 1 round to cast is a full-round action. It comes into effect just before the beginning of your turn in the round after you began casting the spell. You then act normally after the spell is completed.
Parsing the rules basically is telling you it takes a full round action (on your turn to perform) but that you must continue casting for the entire round till just before your next turn, and that you can be interrupted during that time.
right, but what he's pointing out is that it doesn't actually seem to say anywhere in the text that the difference is when the spell takes effect.
edit: it only says that there is a difference and when one round cast times resolve.
A full-round action is a thing that exists beyond magic, and we know how it works in those other situations. Charges, full-attacks, coups de grace, etc : those all are full-round actions, yet they take effect immediately.
There's nothing stating spontaneous metamagic works any differently, so let's not add complexity where there's none.
1 round casting actions are the specific rule that trump the general. And remember, they are not always full-round, as you can split them into 2 standards - another unique specificity of theirs.
Full-round metamagics follow the normal full-round rules.
1 round casting is an exception to those rules, and works differently.
...
As a sidenote, "all x are y, so all y must be x" is pretty much never a good reasoning, seductive as it may be. It's in fact a line of thought one should always be wary of.
The full-round action rules tell us "a spell that takes one round to cast is a full-round action." In other words, 1-round casting time = full round action. Doesn't that mean that full round action = 1-round casting time? This seems like fundamental logic.
A square is a rectangle, but a rectangle is not always a square.
right, but what he's pointing out is that it doesn't actually seem to say anywhere in the text that the difference is when the spell takes effect.
edit: it only says that there is a difference and when one round cast times resolve.
I mean if that's the point, then it's not much of a point. You have to go look at other locations to know how full round and 1-round actions are adjudicated.
Edit: Unless I'm misunderstanding what you're saying.
Perhaps a different way of explaining would help.
Normal casting rules: When the action necessary to cast the spell (standard, swift etc.) the spell effect happens.
1 Round (casting time) spells: When the actions are spent, it comes into effect just before the beginning of your turn in the round after you began casting the spell.
Spontaneous meta magic: Full round action, but explicitly not a 1 round casting time.
Therefore we don't look at the 1 round rules at all when we are using spontaneous meta-magic and fall back on the default rules. When the action is spent, the effect happens.
The full-round action rules tell us "a spell that takes one round to cast is a full-round action." In other words, 1-round casting time = full round action. Doesn't that mean that full round action = 1-round casting time? This seems like fundamental logic.
i wrote no such thing.
right, but what he's pointing out is that it doesn't actually seem to say anywhere in the text that the difference is when the spell takes effect.
edit: it only says that there is a difference and when one round cast times resolve.
I mean if that's the point, then it's not much of a point. You have to go look at other locations to know how full round and 1-round actions are adjudicated.
Edit: Unless I'm misunderstanding what you're saying.
i mean... i understand how it works, but it seems to me that you're all being a bit dismissive about how vague/potentially contradictory the rules actually are.
the section on spontaneous metamagic only says: If the spell's normal casting time is a standard action, casting a metamagic version is a full-round action for a sorcerer or bard. (This isn't the same as a 1-round casting time.)
that doesn't define the difference.
in the magic section, we have: A spell that takes 1 round to cast is a full-round action. It comes into effect just before the beginning of your turn in the round after you began casting the spell.
that doesn't make it clear either.
that you and i discerned that the difference is when the spell resolves is not due to the RAW being explicitly clear on that.
that doesn't actually change my point, though. neither of the other relevant sections hints that there's a third place one ought to look for the answer to this, so it's vague and easily confusing to people who don't already know.
edit: but thank you Jared Walter 356 for finally being the first person to point us to the rules text that actually says the thing.