Never had an issue with spellcaster scaling until today. A player in the group claims he can cast Eldrich blast twice on his turn. Once as an action, and a second time as a bonus action since it is a cantrip. Allowing him to shoot 4 beams for a d10 each (hes 5th level so 2 beams per cast). This seems vastly stronger than anyone else’s max 2 attacks. After the session which ended early with many players angry this player ruined all encounters, there was much talk of re-rolling into all caster party. One wanting to do the same with a wizards firebolt spell as a bonus every turn, others still browsing.
So, is it possible for a caster to cast multiple spells in 1 turn? From what I was quoted from the phb, its possible to cast any spell as an action, then cast a second spell; as long as the bonus action spell was a cantrip 1 a cast time of 1 action? So 99% of all cantrips? Please tell me this is wrong, because I feel that if anyone else does this our melee characters will never see a fight again before the casters nuke them down.
You were quoted to completely incorrectly.
First, Eldritch Blast has a casting time of 1 action (PHB p.237). You’ve only got one action on your turn, so you can only cast Eldritch Blast once. (“Off the shelf,” that is. There are features, like the Sorceror’s Quickened Spell, that might change this.)
It is possible for a caster to cast multiple spells in one turn, and the conditions are described exactly on PHB p.202:
- one spell has casting time of 1 bonus action,
- you’ve not used a bonus action for anything else this turn (because you can only take one bonus action per turn),
- the other spell is a cantrip,
- the other spell has a casting time of 1 action.
But that’s understandable.
D&D is a great game in many ways. It has never, in my experience, been presented in its published materials in a way that makes sense to someone who doesn’t already know the game. One player misunderstood something, and no other players nor the GM knew the rule well enough to course-correct mid-session.
That’s fine. You now know. Alert your group as soon as possible and be ready for a group conversation about whether this should now be a table-rule, or will this just have been one shining moment in ‘Lock’s career. “Hey, guys, remember that one day when I was in beast-mode? My patron must have been having me on!”
It appears the player has garbled the rules on Bonus Action casting time spells (PHB p.203):
Bonus Action A spell cast with a bonus action is especially swift. You must use a bonus action on your turn to cast the spell, provided that you haven’t already taken a bonus action this turn. You can’t cast another spell during the same turn, except for a cantrip with a casting time of 1 action.
The spell cast using the Bonus Action must have a casting time of 1 Bonus Action. There are very few of these and Eldrich Blast is not one of them.
No. You can only cast a spell as a bonus action if the casting time in the spell description says “1 bonus action.” Eldritch blast does not. If you cast a bonus action spell, the only other spell you can cast that turn is a cantrip. So, if he casts Hex, he can still cast Eldritch Blast that same turn, but not another leveled spell. This is the rule to which your player was referring (and misinterpreted).
There are features of other classes that can affect casting times, but not in the warlock class.
I believe you are misreading what the rules say about casting spells with a bonus action. From the SRD:
A spell cast with a bonus action is especially swift. You must use a bonus action on your turn to cast the spell, provided that you haven’t already taken a bonus action this turn. You can’t cast another spell during the same turn, except for a cantrip with a casting time of 1 action.
It do not say that you can cast a cantrip with a bonus action on your turn. It says that if you cast a spell that has a cast time of a bonus action (eg, Healing Word), you can only cast another spell with your action if it is a cantrip.
Let’s start with the Phb definition of a bonus action.
Various class features, spells, and other abilities let you take an additional action on your turn called a bonus action. Phb, pg 189
So you can only use a bonus action when something says that is a bonus action.
Let’s have a look at the bonus action description under casting time:
A spell cast with a bonus action is especially swift. You must use a bonus action on your turn to cast the spell, provided that you haven’t already taken a bonus action this turn. You can’t cast another spell during the same turn, except for a cantrip with a casting time of 1 action.
So only spells with a casting time of “bonus actions” can be used as a bonus action (healing word, sanctuary and spiritual weapon are examples of this). But if you cast one of this spells, you can only cast a cantrip with your standar action.
So you can’t cast a spell with a casting time of “1 action” as a bonus action, unless special circumstances reduces the casting time to a “bonus action”, like the sorcerer quickened spell feature.
level 5, what class, by the way? – nitsua60 1 hour ago | |||
@nitsua60 Eldritch Blast -> Warlock – Dale M 1 hour ago | |||
@DaleM unless multi… Sorc>2+Wk any would have made this possible in a limited manner. Or Magic Initiate, or…. My only point being there are limited ways to cast Eldritch Blast twice, some number of times. – nitsua60 1 hour ago | |||
@DaleM Eldritch Blast does not explicitly imply warlock: Magic Initiate. – Drunk Cynic 1 hour ago |
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