Casting Subtlety

In many situations, a wizard or priest couldn’t care less who sees him casting a spell. When an archmage is getting ready to electrocute a band of ogres with his chain lightning spell, he usually doesn’t take any steps to conceal what he is doing and casts the spell in the most expedient fashion possible. On the other hand, some situations require great delicacy on the part of the character. When a wizard wants to charm a guard-captain in front of the captain’s detachment of soldiers, he’ll have to be very careful not to tip his hand.

Naturally, some spells are more subtle than others. There are a number of factors to take into consideration—the number of components required, the size of the material components, the length of the casting time, and whether or not the spell requires some unusual behavior or speech on the part of the caster.

Noticing Spells: Who notices when spells are being cast? Generally, anyone who is directly observing the caster notices the strange gestures or air of concentration that characterize a spell. Depending on the lighting conditions and the amount of distractions nearby, an observer might be able to notice the spellcaster’s actions from as far as 30 to 50 feet away. Casual observers—people who are on the scene, but don’t have any particular reason to be watching the spellcaster—rarely notice the spell unless it’s unusually obvious. If it’s important to know whether or not a particular NPC or monster notices the spellcaster’s actions, the DM can make an Intelligence check for that character (Intelligence acts as a measure of a character’s perceptiveness).

Subtlety Rating: A spell’s subtlety rating is the overall measure of how easily the caster’s actions are detected by an observer. In some cases, the spell is automatically detected; any character within 10 feet who specifically watches the spellcaster (for example, someone engaged in melee with the caster, or a vigilant guard) will automatically notice that the character is attempting a spell. However, if an Intelligence check is used to determine whether or not a character notices a spell, the subtlety rating is used as a modifier to the character’s roll.

The spell’s subtlety rating is figured as shown in Table 39 : Spell Subtlety Modifiers.

Casting time is an important factor in the subtlety of a spell, since the longer the character is involved in the spell, the more likely it is that someone will notice him. The number of components involved measures how complicated the spell is and how difficult it is to cast. Last but not least, some spells clearly require some unusual actions or behaviors that may be hard to disguise. However, if the caster can mask his actions by performing them in a place or manner that wouldn’t be suspicious (for example, dancing or clapping in a street carnival, or shouting on a crowded battlefield) this last modifier can be negated.

The spell’s subtlety rating is the total of its modifiers. It is applied to an observer’s Intelligence when rolling an Intelligence check to see if he or she notices the physical act of spellcasting. Remember, in many cases an Intelligence check is completely unnecessary—a wizard who casts a spell in a pitch-black room won’t be seen by anyone, while a priest who uses magic in a crowded town market is probably going to be noticed by someone nearby.

Vorgaad, a necromancer, is enjoying a stout ale in his favorite taproom when a pushy paladin challenges him over some trifling issue of raising decently buried townsfolk and using them for his own evil ends. Vorgaad sighs and orders his minion Azoth to accept the paladin’s challenge. Accompanied by a large number of tavern-goers, all concerned step outside into the torchlit yard of the inn. Vorgaad decides that the paladin will cut Azoth to pieces if he doesn’t do something and decides to use stoneskin on Azoth to even the odds. Stoneskin has a casting time of 1 and requires verbal, somatic, and material components. As a result, its total subtlety rating is 4. In addition, the DM rules that the act of sprinkling granite and diamond dust over Azoth is strange enough for an additional +1 bonus, giving anyone nearby a +5 bonus to their chance to detect Vorgaad’s spell. However, the light in the courtyard, the din of the crowd, and the spectacle of Azoth taunting the paladin all help Vorgaad remain unnoticed; taken together, these reduce the bonus to 0. Any bystander who succeeds in an Intelligence check sees Vorgaad cast his spell.

Note that characters can sometimes deceive intelligent enemies by pretending to cast spells. The would-be trickster should have some idea of what he’s doing; otherwise he’s just flailing his arms around and shouting nonsense (which might be a distraction in and of itself!) It also helps a lot if the target of the charade has seen that particular character use magic before since the whole act is much more credible when it follows a real spell. Consider how fast a band of trolls might scatter if they’d just been fireballed and then observe the same wizard getting ready to cast another spell!

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