Can you cast a spell while casting another spell?
Say you are casting Sleep and your buddy gets pushed off a cliff. Can you cast Feather Fall (immediate action)? Does this in any way affect the Sleep spell?
Most spells are a standard action to cast. It's quite unlikely that your buddy could get pushed off a cliff during your casting.
Sleep, however, is a 1 round casting time spell. The CRB says "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."
So your buddy could get himself pushed off a cliff while you're casting a one-round spell.
Again from the CRB "When you begin a spell that takes 1 round or longer to cast, you must continue the concentration from the current round to just before your turn in the next round (at least). If you lose concentration before the casting is complete, you lose the spell."
Casting a spell as an immediate action *MIGHT* work similarly to casting a spell as a swift action. The CRB reference is "Using an immediate action on your turn is the same as using a swift action and counts as your swift action for that turn." Note however that this technically only applies to immediate actions ON YOUR TURN and not those used when it is not your turn (the whole reason immediate actions exist).
From the CRB "A spell with a casting time of 1 swift action doesn’t count against your normal limit of one spell per round. However, you may cast such a spell only once per round. Casting a spell with a casting time of 1 swift action doesn’t provoke attacks of opportunity."
The rule about only one spell per round is not explicitly stated anywhere, only alluded to. See this thread for details.
It's also possible to be casting a spell that takes minutes to cast. The CRB reference says "A spell that takes 1 minute to cast comes into effect just before your turn 1 minute later (and for each of those 10 rounds, you are casting a spell as a full-round action, just as noted above for 1-round casting times). These actions must be consecutive and uninterrupted, or the spell automatically fails."
With all that out of the way, I would interpret the casting of an immediate action spell to be an interruption, causing the interrupted spell to automatically fail (be expended to no effect).
I agree with Slim Gauge
In all that, where is it that it says that the longer casting time spell is interrupted?
You absolutely can cast two spells a round. Casting a quickened spell and then a standard action spell (or vice versa) is explicitly allowed.
Free actions can be taken in the middle of another action. Immediate actions can be taken whenever a free action can be taken, but have a hard limit of one per round.
When you begin a spell that takes 1 round or longer to cast, you must continue the concentration from the current round to just before your turn in the next round (at least). If you lose concentration before the casting is complete, you lose the spell.
If you loose concentration you loose the spell.
SlimGuage and I would rule that casting another spell causes you to be unable to concentrate on the original spell, but it's not clearly spelled out one way or another.
Generally it's not a problem because most spells don't have a 1 round casting time.
Aside from being offended by casting two spells, where is the rules support for that position? Casting another spell is not one of the things that triggers a concentration check, nor is it listed as one of the things that can cause a spell to fail.
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
I agree with SlimGauge and Claxon, but I'll add some rules support:
ConcentrationThe spell lasts as long as you concentrate on it. Concentrating to maintain a spell is a standard action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity. Anything that could break your concentration when casting a spell can also break your concentration while you’re maintaining one, causing the spell to end. See concentration.
You can’t cast a spell while concentrating on another one. Some spells last for a short time after you cease concentrating.
It appears that concentrating to cast a spell, and concentrating to maintain a spell work very similar. Both can be interrupted by taking damage - or other things that require a concentration roll.
And you can't cast another spell while concentrating on an existing one.
So while it doesn't explicitly state you can't cast a spell while casting another one, the rules regarding concentrating and casting heavily imply that.
So you either need to stop concentrating/casting the first spell, or you don't get to cast the second one.
I agree with SlimGauge and Claxon, but I'll add some rules support:
ConcentrationThe spell lasts as long as you concentrate on it. Concentrating to maintain a spell is a standard action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity. Anything that could break your concentration when casting a spell can also break your concentration while you’re maintaining one, causing the spell to end. See concentration.
You can’t cast a spell while concentrating on another one. Some spells last for a short time after you cease concentrating.
It appears that concentrating to cast a spell, and concentrating to maintain a spell work very similar. Both can be interrupted by taking damage - or other things that require a concentration roll.
And you can't cast another spell while concentrating on an existing one.
So while it doesn't explicitly state you can't cast a spell while casting another one, the rules regarding concentrating and casting heavily imply that.
So you either need to stop concentrating/casting the first spell, or you don't get to cast the second one.
I wasn't sure myself, but that's good reasoning. I think you got the right of it.
Looks solid to me then. Thanks.