I'd say top of the round. Of course RAW may have an obscure specification contrary to this. but my logic is that, if it does damage "each round", then it does its damage of the round before anybody can interfere with the damage dealing process (dispel the spell, douse flames, whatever).
It takes effect at the beginning of the caster's turn.
Beginning of the caster's turn.
It takes effect at the beginning of the caster's turn.
There seems to be a consensus that I'm wrong... looks like there IS a rule that I managed to overlook.
It's an interpolation of this rule:
When the rules refer to a "full round", they usually mean a span of time from a particular initiative count in one round to the same initiative count in the next round. Effects that last a certain number of rounds end just before the same initiative count that they began on.
Basically, if it ends just before the caster's initiative, it must "tick" on the caster's initiative.
It's an interpolation of this rule:
When the rules refer to a "full round", they usually mean a span of time from a particular initiative count in one round to the same initiative count in the next round. Effects that last a certain number of rounds end just before the same initiative count that they began on.Basically, if it ends just before the caster's initiative, it must "tick" on the caster's initiative.
Unless the caster has changed his initiative (ready or delay), in which case the spell continues to tick on the original initiative step.
6 hours for a consensus, detailed answer including rules citation, and explanation of the edge case exceptions.
Nice.
High five for the rules nerds!
I'd say top of the round. Of course RAW may have an obscure specification contrary to this. but my logic is that, if it does damage "each round", then it does its damage of the round before anybody can interfere with the damage dealing process (dispel the spell, douse flames, whatever).
There are two 'types' of rounds used in the rules.
1) The top of the initiative to the bottom.2) The start of an individual characters turn till the start of their next turn.
Usually when the rules talk about rounds they are referring to the 2nd version.
i.e, When does a spell with duration X rounds end? At the start of the Xth turn for the character.
How long does a bardic performance last? Till the beginning of their next turn (if they do not maintain it).
When does poison damage tick? At the initiative count it was applied on - e.g, if the poison were a character, it would tick at the beginning of each of its turns.
etc.
The rules almost never care about the count from top of init to bottom of init.
as Azothath mentioned a few spells specify when the damage ticks, but otherwise I agree with the concensus.
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Most of the conditions I mentioned are effects that come from other sources, not spells. (Bleed and Poison, for example) I do agree with the concenus, myself, but each situation needs to be looked at separately to see where the effect comes from and how it is inferred to the target.
I believe most spell effects will happen on the caster's turn, something that is universally done for most spells that have continuing effects. The exceptions usually involve the environment (like Grease) or giving effects that are tracked separately from the spell itself (Like Bleed).