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View Full Version : D&D 5e/Next Magic Item - Ring of Spell Channeling (i.e. pass concentration on to an ally)



Greywander
2019-09-15, 01:04 AM
Ring of Spell Channeling
Ring, very rare (requires attunement)

When you attune to this ring, a second, matching ring will appear on one of your fingers. You may give this second ring to another creature, who does not need to attune to it. When you cast a spell, you may channel it through the ring, casting it as if you were in the space of the creature wearing the other ring. When you cast a spell that requires concentration, you may have the creature wearing the other ring concentrate on that spell instead.

When you stop being attuned to the ring, the second ring disappears.

Thoughts on this? Too broken? Too weak? Too rare? Not rare enough? Shouldn't require attunement? Should require both creatures be attuned?

Phhase
2019-09-15, 01:24 PM
Depends on whether or not the ally has to be a spellcaster to concentrate on a spell. Cool idea though.

Composer99
2019-09-15, 03:00 PM
The biggest potential for shenanigans that I can see is giving the other ring to an NPC who won't be getting into trouble, in order to have them concentrate on spells such as Conjure Elemental. Upcast Hunter's Mark is another good pick, although harder to set up.

Because of that, I don't see the need for the other character to have to attune. If you don't want to have these shenanigans, then you would probably want to specify that the other character be a spellcaster.

Beyond that, cool item.

DeTess
2019-09-15, 03:05 PM
In a way, this seems like a more limited version of a ring of spell storing a lot of the time. It has the advantage that you don't need to load it up in advance, but I expect that most of the time you'd have a pretty good idea which spell you'd want to caste from it.

It seems mostly fine as is.

Edit: it might be worthwhile to specify what happens when casting a spell with a range of 'touch' though. Does the non-casting creature need to expend a resource (like a reaction) to make the touch? Can such spells only be cast on the non-casting wearer? And what about spells with a range of 'self'?

Edit2: Also, I'd limit the distance between the two creatures (something like 30-60 feet, I think). Right now the caster could be relaxing on their own personal demiplane while casting spells through a fighter going through the actual adventure.

Greywander
2019-09-16, 03:07 AM
Depends on whether or not the ally has to be a spellcaster to concentrate on a spell. Cool idea though.
Passing concentration off to another caster isn't really that useful, although I'm sure a resourceful party could find a way to exploit it (e.g. selectively doubling up on cleric or wizard spells, with just one wizard and cleric). The intention is to be able to pass concentration on to a character who isn't a spellcaster. Often, this will mean a martial PC, meaning that they're at risk of taking damage and triggering a concentration check. That said, nothing in the current wording prevents this from being used with animals. In fact, thinking about it now, this could really fall foul to the Bag of Rats problem, especially since the second ring doesn't require attunement (meaning you can pass it around to all the rats in your bag in order to concentrate on virtually infinite spells). Probably the best fix is to end concentration if the second ring is removed. Thus, no more passing it around.


The biggest potential for shenanigans that I can see is giving the other ring to an NPC who won't be getting into trouble, in order to have them concentrate on spells such as Conjure Elemental. Upcast Hunter's Mark is another good pick, although harder to set up.
Probably the easiest fix here is to require the spell be cast from the space of the other creature if you pass concentration on to them. E.g. you can have them concentrate on a spell for you, but they have to be close enough to the action for the spell to actually be in range to take effect. Conjuring elementals 1000 miles away from your current position isn't really that helpful when you need them at your location. It is, however, really useful when you need them at the other location and can't be there yourself.


Edit: it might be worthwhile to specify what happens when casting a spell with a range of 'touch' though. Does the non-casting creature need to expend a resource (like a reaction) to make the touch? Can such spells only be cast on the non-casting wearer? And what about spells with a range of 'self'?
For touch spells, I suppose you could make it take a reaction, but you could also just fluff it as the magic itself lashing out from the second ring with no action required from the wearer.

Spells with a range of self are always cast on the caster. I could reword the item to make the second creature act as the caster, but as it's written now you are still the caster, even if you count as casting from their position. So spells with a range of self can still only be cast on you. That said, some such spells with a range of self might create an area of effect around you, and if you're treated as being somewhere else, then so will the spell. I know Trickery clerics have a similar issue with Invoke Duplicity and something like Booming Blade (range of self, but lets you attack another creature), and I'm not sure that question ever found a RAW answer.


Edit2: Also, I'd limit the distance between the two creatures (something like 30-60 feet, I think). Right now the caster could be relaxing on their own personal demiplane while casting spells through a fighter going through the actual adventure.
I hadn't considered this, but I kind of like the idea of using the ring to cast the spell from long distances. Chainlocks can get more mileage out of this, as they can communicate telepathically with their familiars and even share their vision (though RAW it uses an action, so you could only use bonus action spells). It's probably sensible to require them to be on the same plane, but I don't know that distance should be a factor. Remember that just because you count as being in the other creature's space that doesn't mean you get to see through their senses, and many spells require you to see your target. Even the ones that don't, how do you know when to cast the spell, or what spell you should cast, or who to target? Chainlocks could pull this off, but other casters will need to expend more spells to set this up, or be really good at guessing the correct time, spell, and target.

As an aside, what do people think about attuning the ring causing the second ring to appear, versus having the rings already come in pairs? I just wanted to avoid a situation where players find one ring and can't use it because they don't have the other ring. If the rings do come in pairs, maybe there'd be some way to track down the other ring, like always knowing the location of the other ring while attuned to it? It also becomes interesting if you can attune to either ring, either to track down the other ring/wearer, or so you can both channel your spells to the other wearer. It would mean you'd have to be careful not to lose the second ring or let it fall into your enemies' hands.