I ask because of the Rogue Talent "Spell Storing".
Benefit(s): The rogue can store within himself a single targeted harmless spell of up to 2nd level. The spell must have a casting time of 1 standard action. Anytime a spell that meets these conditions is cast on the rogue, and he does not already have a spell stored, he can choose to store it rather than have it take effect immediately. Anytime afterward, as a standard action, the rogue can have the spell take effect (acting in all ways as if it had just been cast on him).
I was curious if something like Shield or Mirror Image would work (assuming the Rogue either had the proper class, wand, or scroll to cast the spell). Although they are not technically listed as (harmless), it could easily be assumed that any spell with a target of "you" is automatically (harmless).
|
I would definitely NOT say that any personal spell is "automatically harmless". I can't think of anything, but I'm not fully knowledgeable on every spell there is. But I would say that if a spell like Magic Weapon or Magic Fang were personal (I know they are actually touch, but I'm shooting for a concept here, not an actual spell) That those spells may not be considered "Harmless" even though they do not cause harm just by being cast. So a spell might be personal, yet have a goal of increasing the ability to cause harm, therefore not "Harmless"
I would say that both Shield and Mirror Image in your examples are harmless.
(harmless) is part of the description of some spells found in the Saving Throw and Spell Resistance sections.
Both Magic Fang/Weapon are listed as (harmless).
I was wondering if Personal spells were considered to be also; that maybe the Devs didn't bother to list them as such since doing so would be redundant and a waste of ink and space.
I think personal means that the spell is not "targeted". It cannot be cast on the rogue anyway, which is a condition listed in the description.
Obviously the assumption is that the rogue is somehow casting the personal spell on himself.
If the rogue can cast the spell on themselves, then the only benefit would be not provoking while casting. Because otherwise the rogue wouldn't need to use Spell Storing with Personal spells.
I suspect Personal Range spells do not qualify for use with Spell Storing, mostly because they had not anticipated a rogue who was capable of casting spells casting a spell on themselves and then wanting to store it.
Personal spells don't have a saving throw line because they only can ever effect the caster. I would houserule that all personal spells qualify as harmless, but RAW they are not.
If the rogue can cast the spell on themselves, then the only benefit would be not provoking while casting. Because otherwise the rogue wouldn't need to use Spell Storing with Personal spells.
One non-negligible benefit is the lack of components, since the rogue is simply making the spell "take effect".
Getting to ignore somatic components means the rogue is able to trigger the spell with both hands occupied (such as dual wielding blades), and ignoring the spell manifestation means the enemy may not even be aware the rogue just used magic on themselves!
In any event, I definitely would agree that personal spells are harmless by definition, and the lack of tag is due to the saving throw line itself being absent.