What does it mean by knowing the true name of the demon? If the player chooses to end the spell, does it just leave in a puff of smoke? If the demon succeeds the saving throw, will it disappear after 1d6 rounds if the caster looses concentration. any further explanation on this spell would be much appreciated. Also does the caster and the demon need to share a common language?
Demon True Names are mentioned in the Monster Manual, page 53 (or here, at the bottom of the section). According to it, most demons have a true name they keep secret, but ancient tomes may reveal it, or it may be gained from a charmed demon itself.
Summon Greater Demon includes this line: "the demon disappears when it drops to 0 hit points or when the spell ends". Ending your concentration on a spell doesn't require an action and can be done at any time. So, yes, you can normally end the spell at any time and the demon disappears. However, the spell also mentions that an uncontrolled demon (one that has succeeded its saving throw, and thus has escaped your control) will linger for 1d6 rounds if you stop concentrating on the spell (or lose your concentration otherwise).
The caster doesn't need to share a demon's language to cast the spell, or communicate with the demon (via most demons' Telepathy trait), but you need it to issue commands to the demon, since the spell mentions "verbal command" and doesn't explicitly say it can understand you. If you don't, it just attacks anyone that attacks it.
Bonus: The material component of the spell, despite having no explicit cost, can't be substituted by an Arcane Focus or the like, since it's a part of the spell's casting. Jeremy Crawford has confirmed such here.
Bonus 2: Goblins, Orcs, et al., are humanoid. Just thought to mention that.
The material component of the spell, despite having no explicit cost, can't be substituted by an Arcane Focus or the like, since it's a part of the spell's casting. Jeremy Crawford has confirmed such here.
I think what that tweet says is that you can't draw the circle without the blood, not that you can't cast the spell. He didn't say to cast the spell you needed it, just to create the circle.
Old post at this point I know, but a misreading, and therefore misunderstanding of the spell brought me here. You are correct though, per RAW and the tweet, in that you on that the blood is only needed for the circle, not the spell cast normally, unless you don’t have an arcane focus of course. This spell is easily confusing I think 🙂
As a GM when i run with the D&D components, i rule that components that have an explicit expiration - such as within one day in this case- are treated for component pouches (and also "focus" substitution though that is more of a rules stretch) as if they were in the "consumed" category.
iI fully acknowledge that is not strictly RAW but it does seem to fit the spirit of those rules. The component pouch rule implies it is a source you refresh but when refreshing requires an action or event - like killing a humanoid every day - that seems to easily fall into the position of "you cannot reload that here" situational ruling.
This can also have implications for Banishment. where having an item that is distasteful to a given target is not necessarily easily done.
But, Gms and players need to be on the same page about how this works in any given campaign way before they hit an issue.
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What does it mean by knowing the true name of the demon? If the player chooses to end the spell, does it just leave in a puff of smoke? If the demon succeeds the saving throw, will it disappear after 1d6 rounds if the caster looses concentration. any further explanation on this spell would be much appreciated. Also does the caster and the demon need to share a common language?
Let's see those one at a time.
Demon True Names are mentioned in the Monster Manual, page 53 (or here, at the bottom of the section). According to it, most demons have a true name they keep secret, but ancient tomes may reveal it, or it may be gained from a charmed demon itself.
Summon Greater Demon includes this line: "the demon disappears when it drops to 0 hit points or when the spell ends". Ending your concentration on a spell doesn't require an action and can be done at any time. So, yes, you can normally end the spell at any time and the demon disappears. However, the spell also mentions that an uncontrolled demon (one that has succeeded its saving throw, and thus has escaped your control) will linger for 1d6 rounds if you stop concentrating on the spell (or lose your concentration otherwise).
The caster doesn't need to share a demon's language to cast the spell, or communicate with the demon (via most demons' Telepathy trait), but you need it to issue commands to the demon, since the spell mentions "verbal command" and doesn't explicitly say it can understand you. If you don't, it just attacks anyone that attacks it.
Bonus:
The material component of the spell, despite having no explicit cost, can't be substituted by an Arcane Focus or the like, since it's a part of the spell's casting. Jeremy Crawford has confirmed such here.
Bonus 2:
Goblins, Orcs, et al., are humanoid. Just thought to mention that.
I think what that tweet says is that you can't draw the circle without the blood, not that you can't cast the spell. He didn't say to cast the spell you needed it, just to create the circle.
Old post at this point I know, but a misreading, and therefore misunderstanding of the spell brought me here. You are correct though, per RAW and the tweet, in that you on that the blood is only needed for the circle, not the spell cast normally, unless you don’t have an arcane focus of course. This spell is easily confusing I think 🙂
As a GM when i run with the D&D components, i rule that components that have an explicit expiration - such as within one day in this case- are treated for component pouches (and also "focus" substitution though that is more of a rules stretch) as if they were in the "consumed" category.
iI fully acknowledge that is not strictly RAW but it does seem to fit the spirit of those rules. The component pouch rule implies it is a source you refresh but when refreshing requires an action or event - like killing a humanoid every day - that seems to easily fall into the position of "you cannot reload that here" situational ruling.
This can also have implications for Banishment. where having an item that is distasteful to a given target is not necessarily easily done.
But, Gms and players need to be on the same page about how this works in any given campaign way before they hit an issue.