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Can I use a regular action to cast a spell that uses a bonus action? For example, could I cast 1 bonus action spell with my action and then another bonus action spell with my bonus action?
Can I use a regular action to cast a spell that uses a bonus action? For example, could I cast 1 bonus action spell with my action and then another bonus action spell with my bonus action?
No, you can not substitute bonus actions. You can move up to your speed and take one action and IF an ability gives you a bonus action, you can use that bonus action. This confuses a lot of players who came in during 4e where you had Standard > Move > Minor actions, but 5e does not use the same type of action values. While using the Dash action in 5e is (in essence) the same thing as trading your Standard action for a Move action in 4e, they are actually different in methodology (much as how the Bonus action seems very similar to the Minor action, but it's vastly different).
A key example of this difference is that a power in 4e that gave you two attacks as a result of two-weapon fighting was all a part of a single Standard action, while two-weapon fighting in 5e uses a regular action for any/all main hand attacks, and the bonus action for your offhand attack (or any other bonus action).
The PHB even distinctly states that "you can take only one bonus action on your turn, so you must choose which bonus action to use when you have more than one available" (PHB pg 189).
“It is a better world. A place where we are responsible for our actions, where we can be kind to one another because we want to and because it is the right thing to do instead of being frightened into behaving by the threat of divine punishment.” ― Oramis, Eldest by Christopher Paolini.
Under Bonus Actions it says "You can take only one bonus action on your turn, so you must choose which bonus action to use when you have more than one available.", and under Casting a Spell it says "You must use a bonus action on your turn to cast the spell, provided that you haven't already taken a bonus action this turn. You can't cast another spell during the same turn, except for a cantrip with a casting time of 1 action."
I interpret this is on your turn as a caster you get:
1 Movement
1 Action (i.e. casting a spell that requires an action OR one that requires a bonus action)
then 1 Bonus Action (i.e. if you haven't used your bonus action spell yet, you can use it OR if you have used it, you can use another bonus action ability.
and your Free Action.
This means (for instance as a Wizard):
You need to get out of a battle fast. You start to run (Movement), cast Message (1 Action) to tell your ally that you are retreating, and cast Expeditious Retreat (1 Bonus Action) to speed yourself up.
The next round you can keep running (Movement), cast Shield of Faith on yourself (as an Action even though it is a bonus action to cast), and then use the Dash Action from Expeditious Retreat. You CANNOT cast another spell as a Bonus Action but you CAN use a Bonus Action that isn't a spell.
However, in the PHB on casting spells as a Bonus Action it does say "A spell cast with a bonus action is especially swift.", so I see no reason to bend the rules a bit to be able to cast two Bonus Action spells in one round. Heck, even make it a feat or slap it on an item and give it to the player as a reward.
The rules seem to be that a bonus action can only be used as a bonus action and not a main action. A DM can of course allow otherwise, but there are likely some spells (like Spiritual Weapon) which can cause some issues if able to use twice for example.
Under Bonus Actions it says "You can take only one bonus action on your turn, so you must choose which bonus action to use when you have more than one available.", and under Casting a Spell it says "You must use a bonus action on your turn to cast the spell, provided that you haven't already taken a bonus action this turn. You can't cast another spell during the same turn, except for a cantrip with a casting time of 1 action."
I interpret this is on your turn as a caster you get:
1 Movement
1 Action (i.e. casting a spell that requires an action OR one that requires a bonus action)
then 1 Bonus Action (i.e. if you haven't used your bonus action spell yet, you can use it OR if you have used it, you can use another bonus action ability.
and your Free Action.
This looks right, except that a bonus action does not have to be taken after your standard action, it can be taken any time during your turn as long as the requirements of the specific bonus action are met. (some bonus actions can only be triggered after taking some other specific action, but this is always case by case)
Also movement and actions, including bonus actions can generally be intermixed.
Assuming you had 30' movement speed you could move 10', cast a bonus action spell, move another 10', cast a standard action cantrip, then move a final 10', taking a free action at any point in the process as well.
That would be up to your DM. I'm personally not a fan of my players converting actions, so I would discourage them from doing so. However, I would allow it if the effect was not somehow problematic to the balance, and fun, of the game. If you do have a DM that allows conversion, my belief is that it's always 1:1. An action becomes 1 bonus action no matter what.
BTW, people keep using Spiritual Weapon as a spell that would break the game if you could cast 2 bonus action spells in the same round by casting it 2 times. But the spell says you cannot have 2 of it active at the same time. Here is the text from the spell.
You create a floating, spectral weapon within range that lasts for the duration or until you cast this spell again.
BTW, people keep using Spiritual Weapon as a spell that would break the game if you could cast 2 bonus action spells in the same round by casting it 2 times. But the spell says you cannot have 2 of it active at the same time. Here is the text from the spell.
You create a floating, spectral weapon within range that lasts for the duration or until you cast this spell again.
Thegg
You are right. Still, actions and bonus actions are not interchangeable. bonus action spells cannot be cast in the action.
BTW, people keep using Spiritual Weapon as a spell that would break the game if you could cast 2 bonus action spells in the same round by casting it 2 times. But the spell says you cannot have 2 of it active at the same time. Here is the text from the spell.
You create a floating, spectral weapon within range that lasts for the duration or until you cast this spell again.
Thegg
Round 1: Bonus Action 1: Cast the Spell (when you cast the spell, you can make a melee spell attack within 5 feet of the weapon) Bonus Action 2: Move the weapon up to 20 feet and repeat the attack
Every Round After: Bonus Action 1: Attack with the weapon Bonus Action 2: Attack with the weapon
Two xd8 + modifier attacks per round using your spell attack modifier, with the only cost being Concentration and one spell slot, is kinda powerful. If you used a cantrip (say: sacred flame) that's xd8 damage but without the ability modifier, then bonus action for xd8 + ability modifier. So it's basically extra damage per round equal to your spellcasting modifier (on hit), all things being equal. Increasing your DPR by 5 is actually a noticeable difference.
“It is a better world. A place where we are responsible for our actions, where we can be kind to one another because we want to and because it is the right thing to do instead of being frightened into behaving by the threat of divine punishment.” ― Oramis, Eldest by Christopher Paolini.
It is not much different then using your bonus action to make the Spiritual Weapon attack and then using your regular action to attack with your melee/ranged weapon. It just uses spell attack instead of melee/ranged attack modifier. I would not call that broken.
I understand the rules state only 1 bonus action per turn but exchanging a regular action for a 2nd bonus action does not seem to break anything to me. Most bonus action spells are not the more powerful ones anyway.
I only brought it up because one of my players wanted to cast on 2 people in the same round.
BTW, people keep using Spiritual Weapon as a spell that would break the game if you could cast 2 bonus action spells in the same round by casting it 2 times. But the spell says you cannot have 2 of it active at the same time. Here is the text from the spell.
You create a floating, spectral weapon within range that lasts for the duration or until you cast this spell again.
Thegg
You are right. Still, actions and bonus actions are not interchangeable. bonus action spells cannot be cast in the action.
Also that Spiritual weapon is a Concentration spell. Casting another concentration spell negates the first. Along with taking Damage and other environmental hazards that would break concentration.
BTW, people keep using Spiritual Weapon as a spell that would break the game if you could cast 2 bonus action spells in the same round by casting it 2 times. But the spell says you cannot have 2 of it active at the same time. Here is the text from the spell.
You create a floating, spectral weapon within range that lasts for the duration or until you cast this spell again.
Thegg
Round 1: Bonus Action 1: Cast the Spell (when you cast the spell, you can make a melee spell attack within 5 feet of the weapon) Bonus Action 2: Move the weapon up to 20 feet and repeat the attack
Every Round After: Bonus Action 1: Attack with the weapon Bonus Action 2: Attack with the weapon
Two xd8 + modifier attacks per round using your spell attack modifier, with the only cost being Concentration and one spell slot, is kinda powerful. If you used a cantrip (say: sacred flame) that's xd8 damage but without the ability modifier, then bonus action for xd8 + ability modifier. So it's basically extra damage per round equal to your spellcasting modifier (on hit), all things being equal. Increasing your DPR by 5 is actually a noticeable difference.
When you cast the spell, you can make a melee spell attack against a creature within 5 feet of the weapon. On a hit, the target takes force damage equal to 1d8 + your spellcasting ability modifier.
As a bonus action on your turn, you can move the weapon up to 20 feet and repeat the attack against a creature within 5 feet of it.
So as the spell is cast it can essentially have 2 attacks afterwards I read it as you have your Action (to attack or otherwise) and may use your bonus action to attack with the Spiritual Weapon.
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Shouldn't the Basic Rules have a paragraph on Bonus Actions?
They do:
https://www.dndbeyond.com/compendium/rules/basic-rules/combat/order-of-combat
explains the bonus action. As it is in the PHB.
That is correct--it's there.
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Can I use a regular action to cast a spell that uses a bonus action? For example, could I cast 1 bonus action spell with my action and then another bonus action spell with my bonus action?
Thegg
PHB, page 202. After casting a spell with a bonus action, only cantrips that requires an action can be cast in that same turn.
No, you can not substitute bonus actions. You can move up to your speed and take one action and IF an ability gives you a bonus action, you can use that bonus action. This confuses a lot of players who came in during 4e where you had Standard > Move > Minor actions, but 5e does not use the same type of action values. While using the Dash action in 5e is (in essence) the same thing as trading your Standard action for a Move action in 4e, they are actually different in methodology (much as how the Bonus action seems very similar to the Minor action, but it's vastly different).
A key example of this difference is that a power in 4e that gave you two attacks as a result of two-weapon fighting was all a part of a single Standard action, while two-weapon fighting in 5e uses a regular action for any/all main hand attacks, and the bonus action for your offhand attack (or any other bonus action).
The PHB even distinctly states that "you can take only one bonus action on your turn, so you must choose which bonus action to use when you have more than one available" (PHB pg 189).
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“It is a better world. A place where we are responsible for our actions, where we can be kind to one another because we want to and because it is the right thing to do instead of being frightened into behaving by the threat of divine punishment.” ― Oramis, Eldest by Christopher Paolini.
From these two pages in the PHB:
https://www.dndbeyond.com/compendium/rules/basic-rules/combat/order-of-combat
https://www.dndbeyond.com/compendium/rules/basic-rules/spellcasting/casting-a-spell
I would say that the answer is no.
Under Bonus Actions it says "You can take only one bonus action on your turn, so you must choose which bonus action to use when you have more than one available.", and under Casting a Spell it says "You must use a bonus action on your turn to cast the spell, provided that you haven't already taken a bonus action this turn. You can't cast another spell during the same turn, except for a cantrip with a casting time of 1 action."
I interpret this is on your turn as a caster you get:
1 Movement
1 Action (i.e. casting a spell that requires an action OR one that requires a bonus action)
then 1 Bonus Action (i.e. if you haven't used your bonus action spell yet, you can use it OR if you have used it, you can use another bonus action ability.
and your Free Action.
This means (for instance as a Wizard):
You need to get out of a battle fast. You start to run (Movement), cast Message (1 Action) to tell your ally that you are retreating, and cast Expeditious Retreat (1 Bonus Action) to speed yourself up.
The next round you can keep running (Movement), cast Shield of Faith on yourself (as an Action even though it is a bonus action to cast), and then use the Dash Action from Expeditious Retreat. You CANNOT cast another spell as a Bonus Action but you CAN use a Bonus Action that isn't a spell.
However, in the PHB on casting spells as a Bonus Action it does say "A spell cast with a bonus action is especially swift.", so I see no reason to bend the rules a bit to be able to cast two Bonus Action spells in one round. Heck, even make it a feat or slap it on an item and give it to the player as a reward.
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But likely, 2 bonus action spells on the same round can break the game, like spiritual weapon.
The rules seem to be that a bonus action can only be used as a bonus action and not a main action. A DM can of course allow otherwise, but there are likely some spells (like Spiritual Weapon) which can cause some issues if able to use twice for example.
This is all correct. I appreciate the clarification!
--- --- We want Grung! --- ---
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That would be up to your DM. I'm personally not a fan of my players converting actions, so I would discourage them from doing so. However, I would allow it if the effect was not somehow problematic to the balance, and fun, of the game. If you do have a DM that allows conversion, my belief is that it's always 1:1. An action becomes 1 bonus action no matter what.
BTW, people keep using Spiritual Weapon as a spell that would break the game if you could cast 2 bonus action spells in the same round by casting it 2 times. But the spell says you cannot have 2 of it active at the same time. Here is the text from the spell.
You create a floating, spectral weapon within range that lasts for the duration or until you cast this spell again.
Thegg
Bonus Action 1: Cast the Spell (when you cast the spell, you can make a melee spell attack within 5 feet of the weapon)
Bonus Action 2: Move the weapon up to 20 feet and repeat the attack
Every Round After:
Bonus Action 1: Attack with the weapon
Bonus Action 2: Attack with the weapon
Two xd8 + modifier attacks per round using your spell attack modifier, with the only cost being Concentration and one spell slot, is kinda powerful. If you used a cantrip (say: sacred flame) that's xd8 damage but without the ability modifier, then bonus action for xd8 + ability modifier. So it's basically extra damage per round equal to your spellcasting modifier (on hit), all things being equal. Increasing your DPR by 5 is actually a noticeable difference.
Click Here to Download my Lancer Class w/ Dragoon and Legionnaire Archetypes via DM's Guild - Pay What You Want
Click Here to Download the Mind Flayer: Thoon Hulk converted from 4e via DM's Guild
“It is a better world. A place where we are responsible for our actions, where we can be kind to one another because we want to and because it is the right thing to do instead of being frightened into behaving by the threat of divine punishment.” ― Oramis, Eldest by Christopher Paolini.
It is not much different then using your bonus action to make the Spiritual Weapon attack and then using your regular action to attack with your melee/ranged weapon. It just uses spell attack instead of melee/ranged attack modifier. I would not call that broken.
I understand the rules state only 1 bonus action per turn but exchanging a regular action for a 2nd bonus action does not seem to break anything to me. Most bonus action spells are not the more powerful ones anyway.
I only brought it up because one of my players wanted to cast on 2 people in the same round.
Thegg
Removed for mis-reading spells X\