The duration of symbol is "until dispelled or triggered"; this means that if the symbol was triggered then the spell has already ended, so there is nothing for dispel magic to get rid of (update: except for the 10 minute glow Plaguescarred pointed out).
There's also no effect to end as such, at least not a magical one; the spell's effect is causing creature(s) to be incapacitated, but there's no persisting magical effect that keeps them that way or similar. You might imagine the spell as causing an overwhelming burst of pain through a creatures nervous system; while magic triggered the burst, the impact on their system (the pain) is no longer magical, they're already in pain, they're just now waiting until they can recover from it.
Even being in an [Tooltip Not Found] field wouldn't nullify the effect, because the effect itself isn't magical anymore, as the magical part has already happened. An antimagic field in this case would only prevent additional symbols from being triggered (or affecting anyone) in the area, it wouldn't affect an existing pain condition. There aren't many spells that can help actually, which is probably the main reason why the pain effect can still be useful even though stunned (arguably a stronger condition) is also an option.
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The duration of symbol is "until dispelled or triggered"; this means that if the symbol was triggered then the spell has already ended, so there is nothing for dispel magic to get rid of.
The spell says ''Once triggered, the glyph glows, filling a 60-foot-radius sphere with dim light for 10 minutes, after which time the spell ends. '' which means it could still be dispelled.
The duration of symbol is "until dispelled or triggered"; this means that if the symbol was triggered then the spell has already ended, so there is nothing for dispel magic to get rid of.
The spell says ''Once triggered, the glyph glows, filling a 60-foot-radius sphere with dim light for 10 minutes, after which time the spell ends. '' which means it could still be dispelled.
That would only be for the ongoing part (light and area); the actual chosen symbol effect is instantaneous (only applies to creatures within the area when it is triggered, or that enter the area), once you're affected, ending the symbol does nothing for you.
Former D&D Beyond Customer of six years: With the axing of piecemeal purchasing, lack of meaningful development, and toxic moderation the site isn't worth paying for anymore. I remain a free user only until my groups are done migrating from DDB, and if necessary D&D, after which I'm done. There are better systems owned by better companies out there.
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The duration of symbol is "until dispelled or triggered"; this means that if the symbol was triggered then the spell has already ended, so there is nothing for dispel magic to get rid of.
The spell says ''Once triggered, the glyph glows, filling a 60-foot-radius sphere with dim light for 10 minutes, after which time the spell ends. '' which means it could still be dispelled.
That would only be for the glowing/light effect though; the effect of the chosen symbol is instantaneous (only applies to creatures within the area when it is triggered, after which it doesnot only that the spell says '' not trigger again).
Not only light but the other effects since the spell says;
''Each creature in the sphere when the glyph activates is targeted by its effect, as is a creature that enters the sphere for the first time on a turn or ends its turn there.''
I am honestly not sure how best to align this with the various answers given in the SAC regarding the use of Dispel Magic. Here is what I have found in the SAC so far:
While these all point towards an effect produced by a triggered Symbol being dispellable, the issue as everyone has already pointed out is that the spell Symbol itself ends when it is triggered. None of the SAC examples above deal with a spell that produces an effect that continues after the spell itself has ended, so they may not be applicable. Also I would appear to be in the minority in arguing that the effect produced when Symbol is triggered is a magical effect.
The effect is magical, but Dispel Magic can only end an active spell. In this instance, the effect produced isn’t tied to the spell’s duration, and that distinction moves the effect outside of Dispel Magic’s sphere of influence, as I understand it.
The effect is magical, but Dispel Magic can only end an active spell. In this instance, the effect produced isn’t tied to the spell’s duration, and that distinction moves the effect outside of Dispel Magic’s sphere of influence, as I understand it.
Yeah,I find it odd how Dispel Magic can target "magical effects" but the description says it ends spells. I feel this particularly clashes with the SAC ruling that Dispel Magic ends the effect of Bless on the targeted creature and not the spell itself. But how I feel has nothing to do with RAW and I guess I just don't like how Dispel Magic was written.
Still, Antimagic field clearly suppresses magical effects and it has been argued that it wouldn't suppress the effect produced by a triggered Symbol.
The spell Symbol doesn't end when triggerred but after 10 minutes.
Once triggered, the glyph glows, filling a 60-foot-radius sphere with dim light for 10 minutes, after which time the spell ends. Each creature in the sphere when the glyph activates is targeted by its effect, as is a creature that enters the sphere for the first time on a turn or ends its turn there.
So once triggerred, for 10 minutes or if dispelled before then, each creature that enters the sphere for the first time on a turn or ends its turn there is targeted by its effect,.
It's not a one time effect. It's a lasting effect that definitely can be dispelled before being triggerred and after as well when the glyph activates and glows in a 60-foot-radius phere.
But the effect on targets shouldn't be dispelleable.
The effect is magical, but Dispel Magic can only end an active spell. In this instance, the effect produced isn’t tied to the spell’s duration, and that distinction moves the effect outside of Dispel Magic’s sphere of influence, as I understand it.
Yeah,I find it odd how Dispel Magic can target "magical effects" but the description says it ends spells. I feel this particularly clashes with the SAC ruling that Dispel Magic ends the effect of Bless on the targeted creature and not the spell itself. But how I feel has nothing to do with RAW and I guess I just don't like how Dispel Magic was written.
Still, Antimagic field clearly suppresses magical effects and it has been argued that it wouldn't suppress the effect produced by a triggered Symbol.
"Magical effect" is to describe something like Darkness or Moonbeam; it's not an object or creature, but it's something distinct and targetable in the evironment.
To answer the last question in the OP first, there is no spell or item or ability or any other method within officially released 5e material that I know of that can "cure" the incapacitated condition. If there is some ongoing effect or other condition that is causing this then reversing that situation can usually indirectly cure this condition. Or, you must simply wait out the specified duration for how long this condition will last. Usually the effect which caused this condition will specify what is required to cure it. In this case of the Symbol of Pain you are pretty much stuck just waiting for 1 minute before recovering from this condition.
Out of curiosity, I started digging around and comparing this to other spells. I was curious if and how Dispel Magic might "cure" various ongoing Conditions.
The thing that got me thinking about this is that I can remember playing the old Gold Box games from back in the day which were implemented based on old rules from previous versions of D&D. In those games, if a character got hit by a Hold Person spell, they became paralyzed and therefore "helpless". However, if you were quick, you could cast Dispel Magic on that victimized creature and the paralysis and helpless status would be removed. Other status ailments seemed to be curable in this way also. I'm not sure what the interpretation was back then -- perhaps spells such as Hold Person created ongoing magical effects or enchantments which persisted for a certain duration that caused these status ailments and it was this enchantment that was dispelled and not necessarily the status ailment itself.
D&D 5e seems to be designed a bit differently in that most of the time the actual spell itself must be ongoing, often requiring concentration, in order for such an enchantment to remain in place. For example, in the 5e version of Hold Person (an Enchantment spell), the duration of the spell itself is 1 minute and it requires concentration to maintain. When it lands, it can cause an ongoing Condition where the target is Paralyzed "for the duration". In addition, future saving throws are allowed where "on a success, the spell ends on the target". So Hold Person is now very clearly designed such that the ongoing Condition is directly tied to the ongoing spell itself. This implies strongly that Dispel Magic can "cure" this Paralysis, but for different reasons than in older versions of the game.
So, in 5e, whether or not Dispel Magic will "cure" a Condition seems to depend on whether or not there is an ongoing spell that is continually causing the Condition which would end if and when the spell ends. The wording for Dispel Magic is a bit weird in that a magical effect can be targeted, but "any spell . . . on the target ends".
Going down the rabbit hole, after scanning through the list of spells available under Basic Rules, I found 36 spells which caused an ongoing condition (4 of which perhaps don't fit this theme perfectly). I'm sure that there are others that I've missed. (Spells I looked at include: charm person, color spray, sleep, blindness, calm emotions, hold person, invisibility, pyrotechnics, silence, (suggestion), warding wind, web, fear, hypnotic pattern, wall of sand, (confusion), dominate beast, greater invisibility, watery sphere, awaken, contagion, dominate person, geas, hallow, modify memory, telekinesis, eyebite, flesh to stone, (mass suggestion), (Otto's Irresistible Dance), divine word, antipathy, dominate monster, holy aura, power word stun, imprisonment)
It turns out that in most of the descriptions for these spells it's pretty clear that Dispel Magic would successfully end the condition which was brought about by the spell. The wording usually indicates that the effect ends when the spell ends or in some other similar way the ongoing effect is directly tied to the spell. For example, with Charm Person a humanoid is "charmed by you until the spell ends". So there is an explicit link. The Condition persists while the magical effect affects the target. The spell is an enchantment which is ongoing for 1 hour before it ends on its own. Dispel Magic could end this effect on the target immediately and this would cause the Charmed Condition to end. In other cases, this link is heavily implied by the existence of the ongoing saving throw mechanic. Hold Person is one of those. At first it's not clear whether or not the humanoid is paralyzed as sort of a burst effect or if the spell itself must be ongoing in order to keep that creature paralyzed. But then at the end of the description it says "At the end of each of its turns, the target can make another Wisdom saving throw. On a success, the spell ends on the target." So this heavily implies the link where ending the spell early would also immediately end the condition. Many of these spells have wording like this. In the case of Hold Person, other clues are that it's an enchantment spell that lasts for a 1 minute duration requiring concentration. So this tells the story that we are not just zapping a creature and now it's paralyzed -- instead there is an ongoing spell that is literally holding the person which causes it to be paralyzed only until "the spell ends". Other times there is an ongoing spell that affects an area such as with Silence or Web. In the case of Web it gets tricky because the spell description leaves a lot that must be pieced together and certain aspects of how it functions are merely implied. It's a Conjuration spell whose duration lasts for 1 hour, requiring concentration. There is one edge case mentioned that can cause a situation where "the spell ends at the start of your next turn". If you read between the lines, the webs created by the spell are magical in nature, exist only while the spell is ongoing and disappear when the spell ends. If you combine these assumptions with the description that "the creature is restrained as long as it remains in the webs" then that means that Dispel Magic should work to "cure" this restrained condition immediately.
Out of the 36 spells that I looked at, only 7 of them appeared to be written in such a way that the condition caused by the spell would be ongoing after the spell itself ends so that Dispel Magic would not work to immediately reverse the condition. These include Color Spray (maybe), pyrotechnics, awaken, modify memory, flesh to stone, divine word, and power word stun. In some cases a major clue is that the duration of the spell itself is listed as "instantaneous". Pyrotechnics, awaken, divine word and power word stun fall into this category. For example, in the case of Awaken, it is a transmutation spell so there is no ongoing enchantment -- the thing's form is changed. The duration is instantaneous. So, you touch a beast or plant and it instantaneously awakens. That's the entire lifespan of the spell itself and now the thing has happened. As a consequence, "The awakened beast or plant is charmed by you for 30 days". So, this is a case where Dispel Magic probably should not work -- the condition is ongoing even though the spell has ended.
Coming back to the OP now, I believe that Symbol of Pain works like this also, even though it's a bit more complex. It combines a few of the above concepts. The spell is listed as having a duration of "until dispelled or triggered". So, in glyph form the spell is ongoing. But awkwardly and counterintuitively, the process of being triggered lasts for 10 minutes. So, the spell doesn't actually end immediately as soon as it's triggered -- instead, the glyph is triggered, 10 minutes elapse, and then the spell ends. We know this because the spell description says "Once triggered, the glyph glows, filling a 60-foot-radius sphere with dim light for 10 minutes, after which time the spell ends". So, during this process the spell is still ongoing. However, the area effect works differently than many of the conjuration or enchantment spells mentioned earlier that simply affect a creature that is located within the area. Instead, in the case of Symbol, the glowing glyph actually targets creatures. These targeted creatures then suffer an ongoing consequence and they can be re-targeted again each round to reset the timer on that consequence. So, even though the glow hangs around for a while, the targeting of the creature happens in an instant and the duration of the effect is not tied in any way to the ongoing spell. Instead of wording such as "for the duration of the spell" or "until the spell ends" like we see in so many of the other spells mentioned above, in the case of Symbol of Pain the incapacitated condition lasts "for one minute" and this occurred as a consequence of being targeted. So, in my opinion even if a creature avoided the affected area for the first 9 minutes and 54 seconds after it began glowing, if it enters the area at that moment and is therefore immediately targeted by the glow, then the creature will be incapacitated for 1 minute even though the glow disappears and the spell ends 6 seconds later because the ongoing consequence is not linked with or continually caused by the spell.
So this was my super long-winded way of saying that I agree with the consensus in this thread that Dispel Magic will not shorten the amount of time that a creature is incapacitated by the Symbol of Pain.
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Someone fails the save against the Symbol: Pain.
I know you can dispel the Symbol, but does that leave the victims still incapacitated?
How would you remove the incapacitation?
A target of a triggerred Symbol Pain is incapacitated for 1 minute on a failed save. Dispelling the Symbol will not affect the pain suffered.
The duration of symbol is "until dispelled or triggered"; this means that if the symbol was triggered then the spell has already ended, so there is nothing for dispel magic to get rid of (update: except for the 10 minute glow Plaguescarred pointed out).
There's also no effect to end as such, at least not a magical one; the spell's effect is causing creature(s) to be incapacitated, but there's no persisting magical effect that keeps them that way or similar. You might imagine the spell as causing an overwhelming burst of pain through a creatures nervous system; while magic triggered the burst, the impact on their system (the pain) is no longer magical, they're already in pain, they're just now waiting until they can recover from it.
Even being in an [Tooltip Not Found] field wouldn't nullify the effect, because the effect itself isn't magical anymore, as the magical part has already happened. An antimagic field in this case would only prevent additional symbols from being triggered (or affecting anyone) in the area, it wouldn't affect an existing pain condition. There aren't many spells that can help actually, which is probably the main reason why the pain effect can still be useful even though stunned (arguably a stronger condition) is also an option.
Former D&D Beyond Customer of six years: With the axing of piecemeal purchasing, lack of meaningful development, and toxic moderation the site isn't worth paying for anymore. I remain a free user only until my groups are done migrating from DDB, and if necessary D&D, after which I'm done. There are better systems owned by better companies out there.
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The spell says ''Once triggered, the glyph glows, filling a 60-foot-radius sphere with dim light for 10 minutes, after which time the spell ends. '' which means it could still be dispelled.
That would only be for the ongoing part (light and area); the actual chosen symbol effect is instantaneous (only applies to creatures within the area when it is triggered, or that enter the area), once you're affected, ending the symbol does nothing for you.
Former D&D Beyond Customer of six years: With the axing of piecemeal purchasing, lack of meaningful development, and toxic moderation the site isn't worth paying for anymore. I remain a free user only until my groups are done migrating from DDB, and if necessary D&D, after which I'm done. There are better systems owned by better companies out there.
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Not only light but the other effects since the spell says;
''Each creature in the sphere when the glyph activates is targeted by its effect, as is a creature that enters the sphere for the first time on a turn or ends its turn there.''
You can end the spell with Dispel Magic, but the effects are save or suck and not dependent on the spell remaining active.
Lesser Restoration removes one condition, in this case I suppose it would be incapacitated
The lesser restoration spell doesn't end the is incapacitated condition, only the blinded, deafened, paralyzed, or poisoned conditions.
I am honestly not sure how best to align this with the various answers given in the SAC regarding the use of Dispel Magic. Here is what I have found in the SAC so far:
While these all point towards an effect produced by a triggered Symbol being dispellable, the issue as everyone has already pointed out is that the spell Symbol itself ends when it is triggered. None of the SAC examples above deal with a spell that produces an effect that continues after the spell itself has ended, so they may not be applicable. Also I would appear to be in the minority in arguing that the effect produced when Symbol is triggered is a magical effect.
The effect is magical, but Dispel Magic can only end an active spell. In this instance, the effect produced isn’t tied to the spell’s duration, and that distinction moves the effect outside of Dispel Magic’s sphere of influence, as I understand it.
Yeah,I find it odd how Dispel Magic can target "magical effects" but the description says it ends spells. I feel this particularly clashes with the SAC ruling that Dispel Magic ends the effect of Bless on the targeted creature and not the spell itself. But how I feel has nothing to do with RAW and I guess I just don't like how Dispel Magic was written.
Still, Antimagic field clearly suppresses magical effects and it has been argued that it wouldn't suppress the effect produced by a triggered Symbol.
The spell Symbol doesn't end when triggerred but after 10 minutes.
So once triggerred, for 10 minutes or if dispelled before then, each creature that enters the sphere for the first time on a turn or ends its turn there is targeted by its effect,.
It's not a one time effect. It's a lasting effect that definitely can be dispelled before being triggerred and after as well when the glyph activates and glows in a 60-foot-radius phere.
But the effect on targets shouldn't be dispelleable.
"Magical effect" is to describe something like Darkness or Moonbeam; it's not an object or creature, but it's something distinct and targetable in the evironment.
To answer the last question in the OP first, there is no spell or item or ability or any other method within officially released 5e material that I know of that can "cure" the incapacitated condition. If there is some ongoing effect or other condition that is causing this then reversing that situation can usually indirectly cure this condition. Or, you must simply wait out the specified duration for how long this condition will last. Usually the effect which caused this condition will specify what is required to cure it. In this case of the Symbol of Pain you are pretty much stuck just waiting for 1 minute before recovering from this condition.
Out of curiosity, I started digging around and comparing this to other spells. I was curious if and how Dispel Magic might "cure" various ongoing Conditions.
The thing that got me thinking about this is that I can remember playing the old Gold Box games from back in the day which were implemented based on old rules from previous versions of D&D. In those games, if a character got hit by a Hold Person spell, they became paralyzed and therefore "helpless". However, if you were quick, you could cast Dispel Magic on that victimized creature and the paralysis and helpless status would be removed. Other status ailments seemed to be curable in this way also. I'm not sure what the interpretation was back then -- perhaps spells such as Hold Person created ongoing magical effects or enchantments which persisted for a certain duration that caused these status ailments and it was this enchantment that was dispelled and not necessarily the status ailment itself.
D&D 5e seems to be designed a bit differently in that most of the time the actual spell itself must be ongoing, often requiring concentration, in order for such an enchantment to remain in place. For example, in the 5e version of Hold Person (an Enchantment spell), the duration of the spell itself is 1 minute and it requires concentration to maintain. When it lands, it can cause an ongoing Condition where the target is Paralyzed "for the duration". In addition, future saving throws are allowed where "on a success, the spell ends on the target". So Hold Person is now very clearly designed such that the ongoing Condition is directly tied to the ongoing spell itself. This implies strongly that Dispel Magic can "cure" this Paralysis, but for different reasons than in older versions of the game.
So, in 5e, whether or not Dispel Magic will "cure" a Condition seems to depend on whether or not there is an ongoing spell that is continually causing the Condition which would end if and when the spell ends. The wording for Dispel Magic is a bit weird in that a magical effect can be targeted, but "any spell . . . on the target ends".
Going down the rabbit hole, after scanning through the list of spells available under Basic Rules, I found 36 spells which caused an ongoing condition (4 of which perhaps don't fit this theme perfectly). I'm sure that there are others that I've missed. (Spells I looked at include: charm person, color spray, sleep, blindness, calm emotions, hold person, invisibility, pyrotechnics, silence, (suggestion), warding wind, web, fear, hypnotic pattern, wall of sand, (confusion), dominate beast, greater invisibility, watery sphere, awaken, contagion, dominate person, geas, hallow, modify memory, telekinesis, eyebite, flesh to stone, (mass suggestion), (Otto's Irresistible Dance), divine word, antipathy, dominate monster, holy aura, power word stun, imprisonment)
It turns out that in most of the descriptions for these spells it's pretty clear that Dispel Magic would successfully end the condition which was brought about by the spell. The wording usually indicates that the effect ends when the spell ends or in some other similar way the ongoing effect is directly tied to the spell. For example, with Charm Person a humanoid is "charmed by you until the spell ends". So there is an explicit link. The Condition persists while the magical effect affects the target. The spell is an enchantment which is ongoing for 1 hour before it ends on its own. Dispel Magic could end this effect on the target immediately and this would cause the Charmed Condition to end. In other cases, this link is heavily implied by the existence of the ongoing saving throw mechanic. Hold Person is one of those. At first it's not clear whether or not the humanoid is paralyzed as sort of a burst effect or if the spell itself must be ongoing in order to keep that creature paralyzed. But then at the end of the description it says "At the end of each of its turns, the target can make another Wisdom saving throw. On a success, the spell ends on the target." So this heavily implies the link where ending the spell early would also immediately end the condition. Many of these spells have wording like this. In the case of Hold Person, other clues are that it's an enchantment spell that lasts for a 1 minute duration requiring concentration. So this tells the story that we are not just zapping a creature and now it's paralyzed -- instead there is an ongoing spell that is literally holding the person which causes it to be paralyzed only until "the spell ends". Other times there is an ongoing spell that affects an area such as with Silence or Web. In the case of Web it gets tricky because the spell description leaves a lot that must be pieced together and certain aspects of how it functions are merely implied. It's a Conjuration spell whose duration lasts for 1 hour, requiring concentration. There is one edge case mentioned that can cause a situation where "the spell ends at the start of your next turn". If you read between the lines, the webs created by the spell are magical in nature, exist only while the spell is ongoing and disappear when the spell ends. If you combine these assumptions with the description that "the creature is restrained as long as it remains in the webs" then that means that Dispel Magic should work to "cure" this restrained condition immediately.
Out of the 36 spells that I looked at, only 7 of them appeared to be written in such a way that the condition caused by the spell would be ongoing after the spell itself ends so that Dispel Magic would not work to immediately reverse the condition. These include Color Spray (maybe), pyrotechnics, awaken, modify memory, flesh to stone, divine word, and power word stun. In some cases a major clue is that the duration of the spell itself is listed as "instantaneous". Pyrotechnics, awaken, divine word and power word stun fall into this category. For example, in the case of Awaken, it is a transmutation spell so there is no ongoing enchantment -- the thing's form is changed. The duration is instantaneous. So, you touch a beast or plant and it instantaneously awakens. That's the entire lifespan of the spell itself and now the thing has happened. As a consequence, "The awakened beast or plant is charmed by you for 30 days". So, this is a case where Dispel Magic probably should not work -- the condition is ongoing even though the spell has ended.
Coming back to the OP now, I believe that Symbol of Pain works like this also, even though it's a bit more complex. It combines a few of the above concepts. The spell is listed as having a duration of "until dispelled or triggered". So, in glyph form the spell is ongoing. But awkwardly and counterintuitively, the process of being triggered lasts for 10 minutes. So, the spell doesn't actually end immediately as soon as it's triggered -- instead, the glyph is triggered, 10 minutes elapse, and then the spell ends. We know this because the spell description says "Once triggered, the glyph glows, filling a 60-foot-radius sphere with dim light for 10 minutes, after which time the spell ends". So, during this process the spell is still ongoing. However, the area effect works differently than many of the conjuration or enchantment spells mentioned earlier that simply affect a creature that is located within the area. Instead, in the case of Symbol, the glowing glyph actually targets creatures. These targeted creatures then suffer an ongoing consequence and they can be re-targeted again each round to reset the timer on that consequence. So, even though the glow hangs around for a while, the targeting of the creature happens in an instant and the duration of the effect is not tied in any way to the ongoing spell. Instead of wording such as "for the duration of the spell" or "until the spell ends" like we see in so many of the other spells mentioned above, in the case of Symbol of Pain the incapacitated condition lasts "for one minute" and this occurred as a consequence of being targeted. So, in my opinion even if a creature avoided the affected area for the first 9 minutes and 54 seconds after it began glowing, if it enters the area at that moment and is therefore immediately targeted by the glow, then the creature will be incapacitated for 1 minute even though the glow disappears and the spell ends 6 seconds later because the ongoing consequence is not linked with or continually caused by the spell.
So this was my super long-winded way of saying that I agree with the consensus in this thread that Dispel Magic will not shorten the amount of time that a creature is incapacitated by the Symbol of Pain.