Personally, I would always make a Deafened caster roll a percentile die to make the spell go off properly, again, tied to logic. If you've ever spoken to a truly deaf person who speaks, you will know their enunciation, infliction and so forth tends to be way off "normal" speech. With spellcasting being so particular, requiring the proper inflictions and tones, being entirely deaf would certainly hinder one's ability to properly speak the verbal bits.
As the character levels, the DC for this drops accordingly, so at level 3-4 the caster might face a 16 DC, while by level 8, with a lot of experience casting, the DC would be only 12 or so. I'd likely drop it entirely by 15, as by then the caster would have more than enough experience to simply feel the vibrations of their own voice well enough to competently cast the spell. Maybe set a DC 3 over their bonus, so only a 1 or 2 on the d20 would allow for anything weird happening.
I, too, prefer to have strong logic in my games, so there are a decent number of situations and such that I handle a little differently to what RaW states. As well, anything that my PC's face, NPC's also face, making such spells as Deafness a bit more useful.
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Talk to your Players.Talk to your DM. If more people used this advice, there would be 24.74% fewer threads on Tactics, Rules and DM discussions.
Personally, I would always make a Deafened caster roll a percentile die to make the spell go off properly, again, tied to logic. If you've ever spoken to a truly deaf person who speaks, you will know their enunciation, infliction and so forth tends to be way off "normal" speech. With spellcasting being so particular, requiring the proper inflictions and tones, being entirely deaf would certainly hinder one's ability to properly speak the verbal bits.
As the character levels, the DC for this drops accordingly, so at level 3-4 the caster might face a 16 DC, while by level 8, with a lot of experience casting, the DC would be only 12 or so. I'd likely drop it entirely by 15, as by then the caster would have more than enough experience to simply feel the vibrations of their own voice well enough to competently cast the spell. Maybe set a DC 3 over their bonus, so only a 1 or 2 on the d20 would allow for anything weird happening.
I, too, prefer to have strong logic in my games, so there are a decent number of situations and such that I handle a little differently to what RaW states. As well, anything that my PC's face, NPC's also face, making such spells as Deafness a bit more useful.
Folks can run it however they like ... but any additional requirements to cast a spell when deafened are clearly house rules, nothing more and nothing less. People can argue about the logic and how they would modify the way things work for their game but that is all it is.
A truly deaf person has trouble enunciating because they may never have heard what things sound like - they are doing an awesome job being understood and I can't imagine what sort of challenge that would be. It isn't even remotely similar to someone who temporarily can't hear.
In addition, the comment "spellcasting being so particular, requiring the proper inflictions and tones" is also entirely up to the DM. Logically, it is pretty much impossible to exactly duplicate the exact sounds each and every time. How hydrated your vocal chords are might easily affect the precise tone created. What happens if you have a head cold? Incapable of casting spells? Allergies? Congestion? Just wake up? Do casters in your game have to take 10 minutes after they wake up before casting spells since their voice isn't quite right? If a DM is going to impose a penalty on a caster casting a spell due to being temporarily deafened they may want to consider all of the other possible effects on the character and in the environment that will inevitably make their voice sound differently.
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TL;DR How magic works in any game world is entirely up to the DM. The rules define a certain baseline which the DM can change as they wish. Some house rules might make more or less sense depending on how the DM decides that magic works in their world.
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My personal take on magic in D&D is that the power is released due to the will of the character through either mental manipulation of the weave (int caster), calling on a divine being or force of nature (wis caster) or drawing on the character's force of will and personality (cha caster). In order to focus their efforts a caster uses verbal, somatic and material components that combine with the caster's intention and create the magical effect. Each of these components will be similar each time they cast a spell but they don't need to be identical (verbal components do supply a certain combination of pitch and resonance - but the combinations of "mystic words" that might supply that is as large or as small as the DM wants to make it) . Similarly, different casters will have different variations on the V,S,M components used that will be similar but not identical. Each caster has their own method of internalizing the components used in their magic so you can't learn a spell just by watching someone else cast it. It takes focused effort to internalize and figure out the sounds and movements that will work for that individual caster. This is why it takes time and effort to copy a spell from a spell book - every individual caster is a little different. It is also why, in my games, it requires some effort to identify a spell being cast since even knowing the spell doesn't mean that another caster would use the identical words or gestures though the material component (if required) is the same.
Personally, I would always make a Deafened caster roll a percentile die to make the spell go off properly, again, tied to logic. If you've ever spoken to a truly deaf person who speaks, you will know their enunciation, infliction and so forth tends to be way off "normal" speech.
But you're using real world logic with changes that generally occur over long periods of time to analyze instantaneous magical changes in a make believe world. I don't think that's really a worthwhile endeavor to try to add rules to make the game more realistic when the game already has an attempt at rules as realistic as the authors want them.
The game already has ways of changing characters ability to cast spells and a deafened condition. If the game authors wished for those to interact, they'd have written those sets of rules to interact.
I don't think the stipulation applies to anything other than being able to HEAR yourself cast the spell. If you can't hear yourself, you can't adequately say the verbal components of the spell. So make sure your owl is in range of your voice, while also being able to see the enemies, then you're totally fine.
No, that's not a rule. Even being deafened doesn't restrict spellcasting.
Perhaps, but I'm foregoing rules and using logic. If the spell silence (which deafens you), stops you from using the verbal component in spells, then LOGICALLY, anything else that deafens you causes the same effect. Unless you're like a well practiced spell caster, then I'd throw in a percentile die to see if you can accurately say the incantations for said spell. Which to clarify how they work are: "a very particular combination of sounds, with specific pitches and resonance that set the threads of magic in motion." <-- that's not an easy task.
Yeah, your logic is....well....illogical. Ever talk to someone who is wearing earplugs or was exposed to a loud noise and they can't hear temporarily and they talk louder than is necessary? (a common gag in movie and tv shows). They can still talk. Deafened does not mean they are unable to talk, just unable to hear. The silence spell also makes it so you can't make sounds like speaking, your lips move, but nothing comes out. That's what prevents casting spells with V component and not deafened.
Kind of reminds me of a coworker who liked to say in jest "I'm sorry, I didn't hear you, I didn't have my glasses on."
If you want to get technical, then let's bring up Dr. Alfred Tomatis and the Tomatis Effect. To keep it short: "The voice can only reproduce what the ear can hear." - Dr. Tomatis; an Otolaryngologist. I never said being deafened keeps you from being able to talk, but just like singing - if you can't hear yourself sing, you're going off key no matter what you do. If you can't hear a note, you can't sing that note.
i.e. - Logic. THUS the percentile die!
But don't worry friends, the deafened condition rarely comes up in campaigns anyway except through Silence and Warding Wind. Rarely does anyone choose the deafness choice in blindness/deafness, so there's really no need to argue about who's logical and who's not. It's D&D. Other than core rules, every other one is merely suggestion. (And deafness is not a core rule).
You make a good point and although it’s not RAW if a DM wants to add percentile dice as home brew that’s cool too. I know my DM doesn’t follow RAW on many things and although I might DM something differently I have no issues with it.
Personally, I would always make a Deafened caster roll a percentile die to make the spell go off properly, again, tied to logic. If you've ever spoken to a truly deaf person who speaks, you will know their enunciation, infliction and so forth tends to be way off "normal" speech. With spellcasting being so particular, requiring the proper inflictions and tones, being entirely deaf would certainly hinder one's ability to properly speak the verbal bits.
As the character levels, the DC for this drops accordingly, so at level 3-4 the caster might face a 16 DC, while by level 8, with a lot of experience casting, the DC would be only 12 or so. I'd likely drop it entirely by 15, as by then the caster would have more than enough experience to simply feel the vibrations of their own voice well enough to competently cast the spell. Maybe set a DC 3 over their bonus, so only a 1 or 2 on the d20 would allow for anything weird happening.
I, too, prefer to have strong logic in my games, so there are a decent number of situations and such that I handle a little differently to what RaW states. As well, anything that my PC's face, NPC's also face, making such spells as Deafness a bit more useful.
Talk to your Players. Talk to your DM. If more people used this advice, there would be 24.74% fewer threads on Tactics, Rules and DM discussions.
Folks can run it however they like ... but any additional requirements to cast a spell when deafened are clearly house rules, nothing more and nothing less. People can argue about the logic and how they would modify the way things work for their game but that is all it is.
A truly deaf person has trouble enunciating because they may never have heard what things sound like - they are doing an awesome job being understood and I can't imagine what sort of challenge that would be. It isn't even remotely similar to someone who temporarily can't hear.
In addition, the comment "spellcasting being so particular, requiring the proper inflictions and tones" is also entirely up to the DM. Logically, it is pretty much impossible to exactly duplicate the exact sounds each and every time. How hydrated your vocal chords are might easily affect the precise tone created. What happens if you have a head cold? Incapable of casting spells? Allergies? Congestion? Just wake up? Do casters in your game have to take 10 minutes after they wake up before casting spells since their voice isn't quite right? If a DM is going to impose a penalty on a caster casting a spell due to being temporarily deafened they may want to consider all of the other possible effects on the character and in the environment that will inevitably make their voice sound differently.
----
TL;DR How magic works in any game world is entirely up to the DM. The rules define a certain baseline which the DM can change as they wish. Some house rules might make more or less sense depending on how the DM decides that magic works in their world.
---
My personal take on magic in D&D is that the power is released due to the will of the character through either mental manipulation of the weave (int caster), calling on a divine being or force of nature (wis caster) or drawing on the character's force of will and personality (cha caster). In order to focus their efforts a caster uses verbal, somatic and material components that combine with the caster's intention and create the magical effect. Each of these components will be similar each time they cast a spell but they don't need to be identical (verbal components do supply a certain combination of pitch and resonance - but the combinations of "mystic words" that might supply that is as large or as small as the DM wants to make it) . Similarly, different casters will have different variations on the V,S,M components used that will be similar but not identical. Each caster has their own method of internalizing the components used in their magic so you can't learn a spell just by watching someone else cast it. It takes focused effort to internalize and figure out the sounds and movements that will work for that individual caster. This is why it takes time and effort to copy a spell from a spell book - every individual caster is a little different. It is also why, in my games, it requires some effort to identify a spell being cast since even knowing the spell doesn't mean that another caster would use the identical words or gestures though the material component (if required) is the same.
However, that is just how I interpret magic.
But you're using real world logic with changes that generally occur over long periods of time to analyze instantaneous magical changes in a make believe world. I don't think that's really a worthwhile endeavor to try to add rules to make the game more realistic when the game already has an attempt at rules as realistic as the authors want them.
The game already has ways of changing characters ability to cast spells and a deafened condition. If the game authors wished for those to interact, they'd have written those sets of rules to interact.
You make a good point and although it’s not RAW if a DM wants to add percentile dice as home brew that’s cool too. I know my DM doesn’t follow RAW on many things and although I might DM something differently I have no issues with it.
EZD6 by DM Scotty
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/397599/EZD6-Core-Rulebook?