Source
r/DnDAcademy•
essemdd

Can a player character recognize spell components from another character?

Let's say character A and B both know the same spell that has a verbal component. If Either of them would cast that spell, do their hand movements and say their magical mumbo jumbo, that verbal and somatic component would always be the same and they both know what is happening, should the other character be able to know which spell is being cast if they can hear and see the somatic components?

Posted Aug 21, 2019, 3:58 PM UTC

23
budwillius•

Yes, why not?

1
OddNothic•

Think I remember a Crawford tweet saying that they can make an Arcana check as an reaction or an action on their turn to try and identify a spell being cast within their sight/hearing.

Checked: it was codified in Xanthar’s Guide, p85 “perceiving a faster at work,” and “identifying a spell.”

Reaction while it’s being cast, action on PC’s turn to figure it out from the effects.

DC is 15+ spell level. If it’s a spell that is in the class list of the caster, the PC gets to make the check at advantage.

“Being able to cast spells doesn’t by itself make you adept at deducing exactly what others are doing when they cast a spell.”

Which, in addition to the context where it is used, I take to mean that every caster has their own flair when casting.

1
rpguser•

I think RAW, you can spend a reaction for an arcana check, to determine the spell. IMO that is terrible in practice. Particularly because if you use your reaction, to learn the enemy is teleporting away, you don't have a reactin anymore to do something about it!

I let my players do a free check every round. For example they can use history, religion or nature to see if the characters know something about the creatures they are fighting. In my experience, this encourages a lot of more strategic playing and lets players use their backgrounds in creative ways (e.g. If they are familiar with the region, they get advantage).

I treat spells the same. If they haven't used their free check, they can try to figure out what spell it is for free, and then counterspell it as a reaction. On the flip side, I play enemies the same way: if players are casting something important, they can try to know what it is and decide to react to it.

As a note, another alternative is to use "passive" abilities. So if someone is casting a spell, you "passive arcana" has to beat (15+spell level) for you to immediately know the spell. I like rolling for it, but if the battle ever got tedious with too many rolls, I would allow passive checks too.

1