If you take the Cartomancer feat and imbue a spell into a card does the action of imbuing require the use of a spell slot, because it doesn't say and I don't know if imbuing and storing are the same thing?
If you take the Cartomancer feat and imbue a spell into a card does the action of imbuing require the use of a spell slot, because it doesn't say and I don't know if imbuing and storing are the same thing?
No. It doesn't use a spell slot, you pick a spell and imbue the card. It doesn't even have to be a spell you know.
Hidden Ace. When you finish a long rest, you can choose one spell from your class’s spell list and imbue that spell into a card. The chosen spell must have a casting time of 1 action, and it must be a level for which you have spell slots. The card remains imbued with this spell for 8 hours. While the card is imbued with the spell, you can use a bonus action to flourish the card and cast the spell within. The card then immediately loses its magic.
This would be a check with your DM question before using.
Does imbuing require a spell slot? No one knows because imbuing is not defined anywhere in terms of D&D 5e. Is it intended to use a spell slot? Again, no one knows the thoughts of the designers so I don't know if there is any RAI on it either.
The definition of "imbue" is to permeate or inspire or infuse or saturate. Can you put a spell into an object without expending a spell slot? Similar items like the Ring of Spell Storing require the casting of the spell into the object. The feat does not use the same wording. Instead of "casting" it uses the word "imbue". Perhaps this is because you can choose any spell from your class' spell list without even knowing the spell itself. You obviously can't cast a spell you don't know so if they want the feat/item to use any spell then it obviously can't require the spell to be cast. The feat does require that the spell is a level for which you have spell slots but again the feat doesn't state that a spell slot needs to be expended.
Given that the item description COULD have easily been clearly written to indicate that a spell slot needed to be expended to "imbue" the card (especially since the description mentions the requirement to have such a spell slot but does not mention that one needs to be expended), I would lean towards the interpretation that expending a spell slot is not required. However, that is a ruling based on omission rather than a specific rule.
However, this feat goes from poor/mediocre to good/exceptional if a spell slot is not required. There are few things that increase the power of a tier 4 wizard than access to TWO 9th level spells. Load Wish into the card, it doesn't use a spell slot, allows the casting of any other spell of level 8 and below with no risk, AND it can be cast as a bonus action. On the other hand, if you are involved in a tier 4 game, the DM is probably quite capable of dealing with another 9th level spell - so maybe the concern with power balance is mostly theory crafting.
Given that it only says “cast the spell”, not “cast without using a spell slot” and requires you to be a caster to take the feat and choose a spell for which you have slots, I’d say it still requires a slot at the moment of casting. Still helpful, but doesn’t alter the balance of power nearly as much.
In an adventuring day, you typically have 8 hours of long rest, 2 hours of short rests, up to 8 hours of traveling, and another 6 hours of combat, conversations, shopping (is there a magic item shop in this town?), searching for a safe place to sleep, searching for traps every 20 feets, etc....
This imbued item has an 8 hour duration. If the intent is that you use your spell slot, it would really suck to use your 9th level slot when you wake up to imbue the item, go shopping, walk for a few hours, fight one goblin who really was just minding their own business, take a short rest because somehow the battle master used all their superiority dice on one goblin, walk a couple more hours and finally find that darn lich only to flourish a card as a bonus action and realize it is only a card now because it has been 9 hours.
So maybe, whether the intent was to use a slot or not, we can have the DM adjudicate the rules by tempering how often you can abuse this feat.
I say we don't use the spell slot, and if we abuse it, the DM just has us take 9 hours to find the battle where having an extra 9th level slot might make a difference.
Or we can argue over rules for a bunch of different things that don't wholly apply to this situation and forget about the specific vs general rule that actually applies here.
I would say no spell slot. It’s part of the long rest process (the light activity part narratively speaking), where you regain all your spell slots. Otherwise why would it require the log rest to begin with?
If you take the Cartomancer feat and imbue a spell into a card does the action of imbuing require the use of a spell slot, because it doesn't say and I don't know if imbuing and storing are the same thing?
I know it would be quite powerful if it doesn't require a spell slot but if it does then the feat is nearly useless
No. It doesn't use a spell slot, you pick a spell and imbue the card. It doesn't even have to be a spell you know.
k thanks for the help
This would be a check with your DM question before using.
Does imbuing require a spell slot? No one knows because imbuing is not defined anywhere in terms of D&D 5e. Is it intended to use a spell slot? Again, no one knows the thoughts of the designers so I don't know if there is any RAI on it either.
The definition of "imbue" is to permeate or inspire or infuse or saturate. Can you put a spell into an object without expending a spell slot? Similar items like the Ring of Spell Storing require the casting of the spell into the object. The feat does not use the same wording. Instead of "casting" it uses the word "imbue". Perhaps this is because you can choose any spell from your class' spell list without even knowing the spell itself. You obviously can't cast a spell you don't know so if they want the feat/item to use any spell then it obviously can't require the spell to be cast. The feat does require that the spell is a level for which you have spell slots but again the feat doesn't state that a spell slot needs to be expended.
Given that the item description COULD have easily been clearly written to indicate that a spell slot needed to be expended to "imbue" the card (especially since the description mentions the requirement to have such a spell slot but does not mention that one needs to be expended), I would lean towards the interpretation that expending a spell slot is not required. However, that is a ruling based on omission rather than a specific rule.
However, this feat goes from poor/mediocre to good/exceptional if a spell slot is not required. There are few things that increase the power of a tier 4 wizard than access to TWO 9th level spells. Load Wish into the card, it doesn't use a spell slot, allows the casting of any other spell of level 8 and below with no risk, AND it can be cast as a bonus action. On the other hand, if you are involved in a tier 4 game, the DM is probably quite capable of dealing with another 9th level spell - so maybe the concern with power balance is mostly theory crafting.
Given that it only says “cast the spell”, not “cast without using a spell slot” and requires you to be a caster to take the feat and choose a spell for which you have slots, I’d say it still requires a slot at the moment of casting. Still helpful, but doesn’t alter the balance of power nearly as much.
In an adventuring day, you typically have 8 hours of long rest, 2 hours of short rests, up to 8 hours of traveling, and another 6 hours of combat, conversations, shopping (is there a magic item shop in this town?), searching for a safe place to sleep, searching for traps every 20 feets, etc....
This imbued item has an 8 hour duration. If the intent is that you use your spell slot, it would really suck to use your 9th level slot when you wake up to imbue the item, go shopping, walk for a few hours, fight one goblin who really was just minding their own business, take a short rest because somehow the battle master used all their superiority dice on one goblin, walk a couple more hours and finally find that darn lich only to flourish a card as a bonus action and realize it is only a card now because it has been 9 hours.
So maybe, whether the intent was to use a slot or not, we can have the DM adjudicate the rules by tempering how often you can abuse this feat.
I say we don't use the spell slot, and if we abuse it, the DM just has us take 9 hours to find the battle where having an extra 9th level slot might make a difference.
Or we can argue over rules for a bunch of different things that don't wholly apply to this situation and forget about the specific vs general rule that actually applies here.
I would say no spell slot. It’s part of the long rest process (the light activity part narratively speaking), where you regain all your spell slots. Otherwise why would it require the log rest to begin with?
EZD6 by DM Scotty
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/397599/EZD6-Core-Rulebook?