Antimagic Field

[J-H]

Has anyone ever actually seen this used? It's a great ability, but then they give it to a full caster who has no native support to take advantage of it (no multiattack, not typically a good grappler, no way to keep enemies in the area, etc.).

[Darth Credence]

Has anyone ever actually seen this used? It's a great ability, but then they give it to a full caster who has no native support to take advantage of it (no multiattack, not typically a good grappler, no way to keep enemies in the area, etc.).

I have not seen it used, but I read about it once: https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0627.html

That would be the way to use it, IMO. Getting through a force cage, a wall of fire, or any other magical barrier. Expensive spell, but not a lot else will get you out of a force cage.

[Rafaelfras]

It saved our party from a TPK

[notthegiant]

If you're fighting an enemy with a lot of summoned minions, you could use Antimagic Field to dismiss a big chunk of them with one action and no saving throw. If you're fighting a powerful spellcaster like an Archmage or Lich, you can make them completely helpless or at least significantly nerfed.

[Telok]

Its basically "wizard upcast spirit guardians" with the required component of a strength melee character that can grapple. You cast it and dodge a lot while the melee pounds something. Boring. Fails vs lots of stuff though, especially things that aren't explicitly tagged with "magic". Which means its only particularly useful against npcs casting actual spells or a plot device that's explicitly a magic item. Plus it makes the game stop while everyone recalculates everything with magic plusses (armor, weapons, saves) and the GM has to rule on a whole bunch of class abilities (are the temp hp from the celestial warlock class feature magic? supernatural like monk features?) being on or off.

Another issue is by debuffing your melee dude of all his magic items, bless, & etc., they're back to the **** saves vs mind control & mental save stuff unless said effect is a spell or explicitly a spell-like magic effect.

tldr: yeah, seen it used, sucks ass without a super specific setup & vs a very specific subset of monsters that getting smaller all the time

[JackPhoenix]

You can use it as a lich to save yourself from having to wait for respawn. Assuming you don't wink out of existence as a "creature created by magic", you're now immune to both weapons (because any weapon that attacks you is no longer magical) and magic (and holy water is made by magic, too). You're severely limited in what you can do (you lose the paralyzing touch as well as your magic, lair and legendary actions), but you can punch someone to death over the next hour. What are they going to do, poke you with a torch? Watch out for lava pits, though.

[JNAProductions]

You can use it as a lich to save yourself from having to wait for respawn. Assuming you don't wink out of existence as a "creature created by magic", you're now immune to both weapons (because any weapon that attacks you is no longer magical) and magic (and holy water is made by magic, too). You're severely limited in what you can do (you lose the paralyzing touch as well as your magic, lair and legendary actions), but you can punch someone to death over the next hour. What are they going to do, poke you with a torch? Watch out for lava pits, though.

I would not rule that a lich is immune to non-magical weapons in a mundane way.

The Tarrasque, maybe.
But a lich, hell no.

[JackPhoenix]

I would not rule that a lich is immune to non-magical weapons in a mundane way.

The Tarrasque, maybe.
But a lich, hell no.

There's nothing "mundane" about the lich's existence in the first place. If it doesn't wink out in AMF (and it should), there's no reason why it shouldn't retain their immunity.

[JNAProductions]

There's nothing "mundane" about the lich's existence in the first place. If it doesn't wink out in AMF (and it should), there's no reason why it shouldn't retain their immunity.

Antimagic Field stops spells and other magical effects.
It doesn’t get rid of magic entirely-otherwise it would blank itself out as soon as it was cast.

A zombie or lich doesn’t just crumple to death in the field-their magical animus isn’t the same as a spell. But the lich’s wards and such that empower its flesh to supernaturally durable are disabled by a field.

This isn’t the only ruling, but I feel it’s better than the other two options you’ve presented.
One being that any magical creature just dies in a field, and two being that a lich and similar creatures are close to indestructible in a field.

[JackPhoenix]

Antimagic Field stops spells and other magical effects.
It doesn’t get rid of magic entirely-otherwise it would blank itself out as soon as it was cast.
Read what the spell does.


A zombie or lich doesn’t just crumple to death in the field-their magical animus isn’t the same as a spell. But the lich’s wards and such that empower its flesh to supernaturally durable are disabled by a field.
Of course not. AMF doesn't destroy anything; creatures summoned or created by magic temporarily wink out of existence while in the field. There are no "wards and such" anywhere in lich's description. If anything like that existed, it would be mentioned somewhere, as that would be rather important consideration when fighting a lich.


This isn’t the only ruling, but I feel it’s better than the other two options you’ve presented.
One being that any magical creature just dies in a field, and two being that a lich and similar creatures are close to indestructible in a field.
It's ruling with zero basis in the text. Nobody said anything about any creatures dying in the field.

[Mindflayer_Inc]

Has anyone ever actually seen this used? It's a great ability, but then they give it to a full caster who has no native support to take advantage of it (no multiattack, not typically a good grappler, no way to keep enemies in the area, etc.).

As a player, I use it with a Cleric when there's something I don't want a creature with magic to have. Combine it with the Dodge action in combat and laugh at the enemies.

It's not always about being optimal, it's about sending a message, even if that message is "nah nah nah you can't get me".

[Quietus]

As a player, I use it with a Cleric when there's something I don't want a creature with magic to have. Combine it with the Dodge action in combat and laugh at the enemies.

It's not always about being optimal, it's about sending a message, even if that message is "nah nah nah you can't get me".

Was preparing to say exactly this. I'm playing a death cleric and have used this against spellcasting opponents, including liches. It helped that we had access to an artifact weapon that stays magical in the AMF, though.

[sithlordnergal]

I've never used it myself, its just not worth turning off all of your spell casting. It'd be a lot better if you could choose a point and cast it there, but its always centered on yourself.

[schm0]

Antimagic Field stops spells and other magical effects.
It doesn’t get rid of magic entirely-otherwise it would blank itself out as soon as it was cast.

A zombie or lich doesn’t just crumple to death in the field-their magical animus isn’t the same as a spell. But the lich’s wards and such that empower its flesh to supernaturally durable are disabled by a field.

As others have noted before, the idea that a lich is supernaturally augmented by magic, which in turn can be "disabled" by an antimagic field, is not really a thing. A lich is a creature, and thus its supernatural abilities are intrinsic to it's nature, much like the fire breath of a red dragon, or a shadow's ability to sap strength.

If the lich casts a spell on themselves, or benefits from a magic item, those are temporarily supressed while within the boundaries of the field, but the creature remains a lich and retains all its other powers and abilities (except as described by the antimagic field).

They can, for instance, still benefit from their paralyzing touch if the target is outside the field, and they can still cast spells at creatures and objects not affected by the field. They can not, however, cast dimension door or plane shift due to the limitation on teleportation magic.

But to the larger point, antimagic fields are cool and they can be devastating to a party of casters if used tactically.

[Segev]

AMF in general does not shut down creatures. Those that are shut down have explicit call-outs, like various animated objects.

[Mindflayer_Inc]

AMF in general does not shut down creatures. Those that are shut down have explicit call-outs, like various animated objects.

Replied and didn't make my point all that clear so I deleted it upon review.

Dodge Action helps shut down creatures rather well.

Dodge Action + AMF

Dodge Action + Mirror Image (when you run out of AMF slots)

The different options are delicious when playing a Trickery Cleric and trying to keep something away.

[Segev]

Replied and didn't make my point all that clear so I deleted it upon review.

Dodge Action helps shut down creatures rather well.

Dodge Action + AMF

Dodge Action + Mirror Image (when you run out of AMF slots)

The different options are delicious when playing a Trickery Cleric and trying to keep something away.

Apologies; I wasn't responding to your comments with that. I was responding to discussion of whether undead would stop working. They wouldn't.

You're absolutely right that being very hard to hit and/or being immune to non-magic attacks while having magic not work near you shuts down any efforts to harm you and possibly your allies.

[Chronos]

It's definitely better on a cleric than on a wizard, since the nonmagical parts of a cleric's chassis are stronger than the corresponding parts of a wizard's chassis. A cleric in an antimagic field is still missing most of their power, but they retain a little.

And of course, if all of the enemy (or at least, all of the enemies that are dangerous enough to matter) are spellcasters, but half of the party isn't, then it's good team play, even if it's boring for you.