Metamagic and casting actions question

[Normal Pathetic Caster]

A bit of a dumb question, but there does not seem to be definitive ruling in the playtest material so I will ask here.

Can a spell have duplicate casting actions such as 2 somatic casting actions?

[DM_Blake]

I'm not aware of any spell that has duplicate spellcasting actions.

Most spells seem to tell you exactly which spellcasting actions you need to take and you cannot swap them out - you must use the ones listed.

Some spells, like Magic Missile, tell you that you must use Verbal but you can choose to increase the effectiveness "by a Material
Casting action, a Somatic Casting action, or both.". That wording clearly precludes using two of the same spellcasting actions.

I'm unaware of any spell that would allow duplicate spellcasting actions.

Can you provide an example of when you would do this? What spell would benefit from this?

[Normal Pathetic Caster]

My mistake, I ended up only posting 1/2 the question. Lets look at the metamagic Reach Spell,

"You add a Somatic Casting action to the casting of the triggering spell to increase its range by 30 feet. If the spell normally has a range of touch, you instead extend its range to 30 feet, and if the touch spell normally requires an attack roll or a touch attack roll, it now requires a ranged attack roll or a ranged touch attack roll, as appropriate."

I guess what I am asking is that can one add the Reach Spell that already has a somatic casting action such as Magic Weapon? And as a follow up if not, then what is even the point of having metamagic when all the metamagics add a somatic casting action and 95%+ of all spells already have a somatic casting action?

[Edge93]

You can have multiple of the same action in a situation like that I believe. This is also implied by the fact that most casting classes can use their Divine/Primal focus or innate magic to replace material casting actions with an equal number of somatic casting actions even though any spell with material action already has somatic.

[DM_Blake]

Yeah, I'd agree that this would let you have a second Somatic action if you're adding Reach Spell to a spell that already has a Somatic action.

However, I still don't think you can go above 3 actions total. Maybe 4 if there is something that gives you the Quick condition without limiting it the way Haste does?. In any case, you need to complete all your spellcasting actions in the same round; they can't carry over.

So, as long as your spell only has one or two actions, you can add metamagic even when that causes you to have two of the same spellcasting actions.

The alternative is that they meant it to be a limitation. E.g., you can't use metamagic on any spell that already has a Somatic action. But if that were the case, they should have said so. Since they didn't, I assume it's not a limit.

[Edge93]

DM_Blake wrote:

Yeah, I'd agree that this would let you have a second Somatic action if you're adding Reach Spell to a spell that already has a Somatic action.

However, I still don't think you can go above 3 actions total. Maybe 4 if there is something that gives you the Quick condition without limiting it the way Haste does?. In any case, you need to complete all your spellcasting actions in the same round; they can't carry over.

So, as long as your spell only has one or two actions, you can add metamagic even when that causes you to have two of the same spellcasting actions.

The alternative is that they meant it to be a limitation. E.g., you can't use metamagic on any spell that already has a Somatic action. But if that were the case, they should have said so. Since they didn't, I assume it's not a limit.

I'm wondering if Quicken Spell would let you metamagic a 3-action spell (As long as the metamagic spell's trigger doesn't specify the spell has to take 2 or less actions).

And of course even if you can find the actions to do it you can't use multiple metamagics on one spell since you can only use one free action per trigger.

[Draco18s]

You can absolutely add a Somatic action to a spell that already has one. Go for it. Heck, some classes turn one type into another (Clerics can replace M with S: instead of 'have the thing' you 'wave your holy relic around').

Its just that no spell as its base action set is SS, VV, or MM.