I was checking out the Epic Boons, and I noticed these two expressions. Compare Boon of Spell Mastery with Boon of the Stormborn:
Choose one 1st-level sorcerer, warlock, or wizard spell that you can cast. You can now cast that spell at its lowest level without expending a spell slot.
You have immunity to lightning and thunder damage. You can also cast thunderwave (save DC 15) at will, without using a spell slot or any components.
The first boon doesn't include "at will", while the second one does. Is this significant, i.e. does "at will" have a special meaning, or does the lack of it imply a limitation?
At will implies without a spell slot and vice versa.
That's what I was thinking, but the Stormborn boon uses both phrases, and Spell Mastery does not. WOTC is usually very intentional in their verbiage, hence my question.
Ansley, thank you for the laugh! Most of the ongoing RAW/RAI arguments come because of how poorly WOTC manages both its word choices and it’s consistency with its word choices. In your example Boon of the Stormborn is the well written version clearly stating things both ways - at will AND without using a spellslot. Meanwhile Boon of spell mastery is so poorly written that there multiple possible interpretations of it just as RAW let alone RAI. There may well be a thirty page discussion of that boon buried somewhere deep in the bowels of DDB. If you are the DM run it how you see fit if you ever have to deal with it. If your the player and are lucky enough to be choosing between them talk to your DM about how they interpreted it - what the rest of us have to say is meaningless for your campaign.
Boon of the storm born is very badly worded. It does not say at its lowest level so does that mean you can cast it at 9th level? Can you only cast is atcharacters called Will?
One clear difference is you do not need ANY components, essentially meaning you can subtle cast thunderwave while for spell mastery you still need components.
Boon of the storm born is very badly worded. It does not say at its lowest level so does that mean you can cast it at 9th level? Can you only cast is atcharacters called Will?
WOTC is usually very intentional in their verbiage, hence my question.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHOHOHOHOHOHOHEHEHEHENEHEAHHHAHAHAHAHAHA. That was a good one.
Pfft ha ha ha. No, absolutely not. Not in 5e anyway.
There wording is not careful so as to not be misinterpreted, it is not consistent so all effects that do the same thing are worded the same or even similarly, and their worst sin is using the same terms and phrases for completely unrelated rules.
I expect the reason for these 2 boons having such different wording is the origin of the spell. Spell master requires a spell you can already cast, while stormborn grants the ability to cast a spell regardless of if you knew it already. And because of that difference the writer(s) fell into a different pattern while writing it. That's it.
I attribute the different wording to poor editing and proof reading.
There should be one master proof reader who goes through everything before its published and makes sure of the wording and clarity of spells.
There are different authors for each and every book so of course there will be different wording for every single skill and spell they introduce. A master proof reader could go through and correct or equalize everything with the authors help long before publishing.
As it stands now it looks like they just trust the authors to do this. More than likely they have a big company mentality and assign a new group of people to each project with little to no contact between the groups.
I attribute the different wording to poor editing and proof reading.
They are two abilities granting different things, so of course they are worded differently.
Lets just say that the old author wrote "cast at will' and the new author wrote 'cast at will once a day'. A good editor could go in and change the new one to just say 'cast once a day' and remove a possible point of confusion.
I attribute the different wording to poor editing and proof reading.
There should be one master proof reader who goes through everything before its published and makes sure of the wording and clarity of spells.
There are different authors for each and every book so of course there will be different wording for every single skill and spell they introduce. A master proof reader could go through and correct or equalize everything with the authors help long before publishing.
As it stands now it looks like they just trust the authors to do this. More than likely they have a big company mentality and assign a new group of people to each project with little to no contact between the groups.
They have a chief who’s job it is to make sure things are worded clearly, Jeremy Crawford.
I was checking out the Epic Boons, and I noticed these two expressions. Compare Boon of Spell Mastery with Boon of the Stormborn:
Choose one 1st-level sorcerer, warlock, or wizard spell that you can cast. You can now cast that spell at its lowest level without expending a spell slot.
You have immunity to lightning and thunder damage. You can also cast thunderwave (save DC 15) at will, without using a spell slot or any components.
The first boon doesn't include "at will", while the second one does. Is this significant, i.e. does "at will" have a special meaning, or does the lack of it imply a limitation?
At will implies without a spell slot and vice versa.
That's what I was thinking, but the Stormborn boon uses both phrases, and Spell Mastery does not. WOTC is usually very intentional in their verbiage, hence my question.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHOHOHOHOHOHOHEHEHEHENEHEAHHHAHAHAHAHAHA. That was a good one.
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
Epic Boons on DDB
Ansley, thank you for the laugh! Most of the ongoing RAW/RAI arguments come because of how poorly WOTC manages both its word choices and it’s consistency with its word choices. In your example Boon of the Stormborn is the well written version clearly stating things both ways - at will AND without using a spellslot. Meanwhile Boon of spell mastery is so poorly written that there multiple possible interpretations of it just as RAW let alone RAI. There may well be a thirty page discussion of that boon buried somewhere deep in the bowels of DDB. If you are the DM run it how you see fit if you ever have to deal with it. If your the player and are lucky enough to be choosing between them talk to your DM about how they interpreted it - what the rest of us have to say is meaningless for your campaign.
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.
Boon of the storm born is very badly worded. It does not say at its lowest level so does that mean you can cast it at 9th level? Can you only cast is atcharacters called Will?
One clear difference is you do not need ANY components, essentially meaning you can subtle cast thunderwave while for spell mastery you still need components.
Rotfl yes you can only cast it at me 😳😁🤪
hrmmmmmm, Thunderwave only has verbal and somatic components - does that (the no components piece) mean I can cast it as a thought?
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.
The rules for upcasting in https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rules/spellcasting#CastingaSpellataHigherLevel
Since you aren't using a slot, you can't "upcast" the spell.
Pfft ha ha ha. No, absolutely not. Not in 5e anyway.
There wording is not careful so as to not be misinterpreted, it is not consistent so all effects that do the same thing are worded the same or even similarly, and their worst sin is using the same terms and phrases for completely unrelated rules.
I expect the reason for these 2 boons having such different wording is the origin of the spell. Spell master requires a spell you can already cast, while stormborn grants the ability to cast a spell regardless of if you knew it already. And because of that difference the writer(s) fell into a different pattern while writing it. That's it.
I attribute the different wording to poor editing and proof reading.
There should be one master proof reader who goes through everything before its published and makes sure of the wording and clarity of spells.
There are different authors for each and every book so of course there will be different wording for every single skill and spell they introduce. A master proof reader could go through and correct or equalize everything with the authors help long before publishing.
As it stands now it looks like they just trust the authors to do this. More than likely they have a big company mentality and assign a new group of people to each project with little to no contact between the groups.
They are two abilities granting different things, so of course they are worded differently.
Lets just say that the old author wrote "cast at will' and the new author wrote 'cast at will once a day'. A good editor could go in and change the new one to just say 'cast once a day' and remove a possible point of confusion.
They have a chief who’s job it is to make sure things are worded clearly, Jeremy Crawford.
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
Epic Boons on DDB
And he doesn’t play by he rules RAW at his own table by his own admission- yeash
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.