Fellow players, DMs and admins, I'm curious whether anti-magic fields temporarily or permanently stop a concentration spell after casting...
In a recent game, my battle smith artificer cast shining smite after successfully striking a monster. The monster had an anti-magic field in a sixty foot cone while front facing and turned to my character. I presumed it ended the spell's effect, but I did not lose concentration from being struck or being disrupted in other ways. For future game play, how should concentration spells be treated while in a field's reach?
A Antimagic Field has no effect on Concentration per se, but most ongoing spells are suppressed in the area. While an effect is suppressed, it doesn’t function, but the time it spends suppressed counts against its duration.
Depending on the case, it would have no effect on the spell. The creature (sounds like a beholder) would be affected by Shining Smite, not you. Unless the creature's anti-magic field included itself in the area (I would assume not), the spell would continue to function. It would shed light in a 5-foot radius, except for the area covered by the Cone. Attack rolls against it would have advantage. It would not be able to benefit from the Invisible condition.
Whenever you wonder whether a spell’s effects can be dispelled or suspended, you need to answer one question: is the spell’s duration instantaneous? If the answer is yes, there is nothing to dispel or suspend. Here’s why: the effects of an instantaneous spell are brought into being by magic, but the effects aren’t sustained by magic. The magic flares for a split second and then vanishes. For example, the instantaneous spell Animate Dead harnesses magical energy to turn a corpse or a pile of bones into an Undead creature. That necromantic magic is present for an instant and is then gone. The resulting creature now exists without the magic’s help. Casting Dispel Magic on the creature can’t end its mockery of life, and the Undead can wander into an Antimagic Field with no adverse effect.
Another example: Cure Wounds instantaneously restores Hit Points to a creature. Because the spell’s duration is instantaneous, the restoration can’t be later dispelled. And you don’t suddenly lose Hit Points if you step into an Antimagic Field!
In contrast, a spell like Conjure Woodland Beings has a non-instantaneous duration, which means its effect can be ended by Dispel Magic and temporarily disappears within an Antimagic Field.
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Fellow players, DMs and admins, I'm curious whether anti-magic fields temporarily or permanently stop a concentration spell after casting...
In a recent game, my battle smith artificer cast shining smite after successfully striking a monster. The monster had an anti-magic field in a sixty foot cone while front facing and turned to my character. I presumed it ended the spell's effect, but I did not lose concentration from being struck or being disrupted in other ways. For future game play, how should concentration spells be treated while in a field's reach?
A Antimagic Field has no effect on Concentration per se, but most ongoing spells are suppressed in the area. While an effect is suppressed, it doesn’t function, but the time it spends suppressed counts against its duration.
Depending on the case, it would have no effect on the spell. The creature (sounds like a beholder) would be affected by Shining Smite, not you. Unless the creature's anti-magic field included itself in the area (I would assume not), the spell would continue to function. It would shed light in a 5-foot radius, except for the area covered by the Cone. Attack rolls against it would have advantage. It would not be able to benefit from the Invisible condition.
How to add Tooltips.
My houserulings.
@ChuMaster there's an example in the SAC (last paragraph):