Celerity spell question

[AngelOfFaith]

Celerity[Transmutation] PHBII 105 gives the caster an extra action for the price of a swift one and the fact that they are dazed the next turn. Lesser gives you a move action, normal gives you a standard one and Greater gives you a full round action.

1.In the description of the normal Celerity(4th lvl spell) it says "When you cast this spell, you can immediately take a standard action, as if you had readied an action. You can even interrupt another creature’s turn when you cast this spell." Does that mean that my initiative moves? If so, what happens if I use it in the middle of someone's turn - does it put my initiative to be just before the creature I have interrupted or after it?

2.If I interrupt another creature's action does that give them the opportunity to change that action? If I use celerity as a response to someone casting a spell so that I can move behind a wall, does that give them the chance to not cast it? If I move away from a charging foe does that make the charge invalid? Can they decide to not make the charge at all or can they decide to charge me at my new position(if it is not out of range)?

3.Celerity says that I can even interrupt other creatures, but Lesser Celerity does not. I am assuming that means I can cast it on my own turn, but then how does the daze affect me? All three variations of the spell state "you are dazed until the end of your next turn". Does that mean I always have to cast this spell after I have used all my actions for my turn(except swift) or else I lose them because I am immediately stunned?

4.How do these spells interact with Channeled Pyroburst[Evocation] PHBII 106? The description of that spell does not mention what happens if you are dazed while still holding the channel - what if I cast the spell for a full round and wait for the next one to complete it and in between I get dazed? By myself or some other creature. I presume even though it doesn't say it requires concentration to channel it, I cannot channel for a full round action then cast Celerity, Greater and unleash the pyroburst as if it had been channeled for two turns. Can I however do this: My turn starts, I cast Celerity, Greater and for the full round action it grants me I start casting Channeled Pyroburst. Then through some means(buffs or feats) I resist the daze and continue my turn using the rest of it to channel for an additional full round action and release the spell as if it were channeled for two turns. And if that interaction is possible, how does that work with Celerity or Celerity, Lesser?

[With a box]

Celerity[Transmutation] PHBII 105 gives the caster an extra action for the price of a swiftimmediate action one and the fact that they are dazed the next turn. Lesser gives you a move action, normal gives you a standard one and Greater gives you a full round action.

fixed that for you. Keep mind that Immediate action can used while someone else's turn (and use next turn's shift action)

[Barbarian Horde]

Just so you know in case you forgot. You can not use an immediate action if you are flat-footed. So in the event that a character is taken by surprise that first attack, that first what ever. They can't use celerity.

[Vhaidara]

Just so you know in case you forgot. You can not use an immediate action if you are flat-footed. So in the event that a character is taken by surprise that first attack, that first what ever. They can't use celerity.

Barring the use of Foresight, which makes you never flat footed.

[Thrice Dead Cat]

Barring the use of Foresight, which makes you never flat footed.

Or nerveskitter, which has an explicit exception allowing the caster to cast it while flat-footed.

[Vhaidara]

Or nerveskitter, which has an explicit exception allowing the caster to cast it while flat-footed.

That doesn't really help with casting Celerity at the start of combat, since it eats your immediate action.

[sleepyphoenixx]

That doesn't really help with casting Celerity at the start of combat, since it eats your immediate action.

You can get around that with Craft Contingent Spell, Celerity triggered on casting Nerveskitter.
Or you can avoid being surprised/flat footed with Foresight, Mark of the Stars or a legacy weapon with the relevant ability.

[AngelOfFaith]

You are all correct - there are limits to Celerity's game-brake-y-ness. I'm not trying to make my DM cry, I was just wondering if I can use it creatively. Though it's alarming it can't save me if I'm flat footed... Does activating a trap make you flat footed? Even if you know it's there? As even if I don't want to cheese my way to victory, I'd like to not die to every lightning trap out there.

[tlhonmey]

I just finished a "no-holds-barred" campaign that involved a lot of celerity hijinks, so I can probably give reasonable answers to most of these.


1: Yes, it moves your initiative, just like a readied action. Strictly speaking it puts your initiative before the person you interrupt, but DM's discretion depending on just what the action they take is and what they're interrupting.

2: It probably depends on the type of action. The rules are a little fuzzy in this area, but the consensus in ready action discussions seems to be "no, you can't cancel the action." Spells will lose their target, charges miss. In my campaigns, I often allow opposed dexterity checks or similar, or resolve both actions simultaneously (The skinny mage runs as fast as he can ahead of the raging, charging barbarian and we see who runs out of movement first.)

3: Lesser Celerity doesn't allow you to interrupt another creature, so you can't use it between their move and standard actions. You can, however, use it between different creature's turns. For dazing, you are dazed until the end of your "next" turn, which would be the one that starts after all the turns you are currently in the middle of are completed. (DM fiat: I am not going to try to wrap my head around timey-wimey stuff and will just choose the interpretation most disfavorable to the player who made me have to think about it.)

4: Channeled Pyroburst isn't cast and concentrate, it's variable casting time. A dazed caster cannot cast, ergo if you get dazed in the middle of casting it, fall back to whatever rules variants you are using on interrupting spells. (Lose, cancel, or delay until later). Some of this may be affected by player feats. Whether you can cast a spell with an immediate casting time while in the middle of another spell is not really covered by the rules. I'd probably make it require a spellcraft or concentration check of some sort, but I've have to think about how to set the DC (total spell levels squared comes immediately to mind). If allowed, yes, you could burn two slots to get a 25% increase to the damage output of that spell. You're going to have to use a Celerity, Greater though since it's two full round actions required to get the boost. I suppose you could also use both a celerity and a lesser celerity. Regardless, it's probably not the most efficient way to do more damage unless time is critical and you don't have spells higher than level 4.

5: (You didn't ask this, but it's important to set what happens) What if mage A casts celerity and, in response, mage B casts celerity. And/or if you have more than one celerity prepped, how many can you burn in a single round? There are multiple ways to handle this, we decided to go with only one in a round, and two people casting it at the same time make a separate initiative roll to determine who goes first. That way we don't end up having to draw out the tree of who cast what when to determine play order. We tried that, it wasn't pretty. Especially if the casters in question are sorcerers and you have more than two of them...

[Vhaidara]

1: Yes, it moves your initiative, just like a readied action. Strictly speaking it puts your initiative before the person you interrupt, but DM's discretion depending on just what the action they take is and what they're interrupting.

Um, neither readied actions nor Celerity move your initiative. They just give you actions outside of turn.


5: (You didn't ask this, but it's important to set what happens) What if mage A casts celerity and, in response, mage B casts celerity. And/or if you have more than one celerity prepped, how many can you burn in a single round? There are multiple ways to handle this, we decided to go with only one in a round, and two people casting it at the same time make a separate initiative roll to determine who goes first. That way we don't end up having to draw out the tree of who cast what when to determine play order. We tried that, it wasn't pretty. Especially if the casters in question are sorcerers and you have more than two of them...

Mage B acts with celerity, then Mage A. Celerity burns your immediate action, and you only get 1 of those per turn.

[Firest Kathon]

Um, neither readied actions nor Celerity move your initiative. They just give you actions outside of turn.

You may want to read up on the rules (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/combat/specialInitiativeActions.htm#ready):



Initiative Consequences of Readying
Your initiative result becomes the count on which you took the readied action. [...] If you take your readied action in the next round, before your regular turn comes up, your initiative count rises to that new point in the order of battle, and you do not get your regular action that round.

[Chronos]

In order to continue casting Channeled Fireburst, you must take the "cast a spell" action in each turn during which you're casting it. Being dazed prevents you from taking actions, so you couldn't continue to cast the Channeled Fireburst. In the specific case of that spell, I think the result would be that it would go off with an effect appropriate to whatever casting time you did get in. For spells with inflexible long casting times, the spell would just be wasted.

[DarkSonic1337]

Celerity is not a readied action, it is an immediate action that grants you an action. Thus it happens in the same circumstances that an immediate action would, with everything that implies.

1. You cannot do it while flat footed (barring contingent celerity as others have pointed out).

2. It does not move your initiative, it merely uses you swift action for your next turn (just in case you figured out how to avoid the daze effect which would prevent you from taking actions anyway).