I have a Pact of the Blade Warlock with a +2 Rapier. I want to equip a Ruby of the War Mage to make the rapier my spellcasting focus, which I believe should also grant the +2 bonus to spells cast through the weapon. I have the Ruby in one of my attunement slots and the rapier equipped, but my spell attack modifier is unchanged. My questions are:
Is it intended that the ruby allows you to apply the +2 of a magic weapon to spell casting attack bonus?
If so, is there an additional step I need to take besides having the ruby attuned and weapon equipped?
This is actually a pretty interesting question; here's why:
The text of a +x weapons has this to say:
You have a +x bonus to attack and damage rolls made with this magic weapon.
The ruby of the war mage allows you to use the +x weapon as your spellcasting focus.
Text from the PHB has this to say about spellcasting focus: A character can use a component pouch or a spellcasting focus (found in chapter 5, “Equipment”) in place of the components specified for a spell.
So the question boils down to this:
When you cast a spell with an attack roll, is that spell attack made "with" the weapon? We could ignore the ruby altogether - When you cast a spell with an attack roll, is that spell attack made "with" your arcane focus?
My interpretation of the rules as written would be yes - assuming that the spell requires material components, since that seems to be the only time that the focus is applicable.
I would be VERY interested to hear other opinions about whether or not spells with material components are cast "with" a spellcasting focus.
There seems to be precedent for this. The Wand of the War Mage is one of the few arcane foci that apply magic item bonuses to attack bonus. Based on how the gem is written, "allows you to use a simple or martial weapon as a spellcasting focus for your spells" plus how magic weapons are written "You have a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with this magic weapon." and the fact you have to use an attunement slot would seem to me that it would be a reasonable interpretation of the rules.
@JeremyECrawford Using a weapon as a material component for a spell, including as a spellcasting focus, doesn't count as attacking with that weapon, unless the spell explicitly says you attack with it. DnD
Here's a question. Does the Ruby of the War Mage work in the same, or a similar way as the War Caster feat?
And if Not, is there an item that Could, saving me from having to give up my ability score improvement in order to take the War Caster feat and better maintain Concentration Spells in battle?
All right so what I did to work around this as I went into the Homebrew section and created an exact copy of the item all the rules and restrictions as well as the need to be attuned and then I added a modifier to it which states that it gave a bonus to spell attacks and that's how I was able to equip for lack of a better term the ruby of the war mage and have the bonus from the magical weapon applied
I have a Pact of the Blade Warlock with a +2 Rapier. I want to equip a Ruby of the War Mage to make the rapier my spellcasting focus, which I believe should also grant the +2 bonus to spells cast through the weapon. I have the Ruby in one of my attunement slots and the rapier equipped, but my spell attack modifier is unchanged. My questions are:
This is actually a pretty interesting question; here's why:
The text of a +x weapons has this to say:
You have a +x bonus to attack and damage rolls made with this magic weapon.
The ruby of the war mage allows you to use the +x weapon as your spellcasting focus.
Text from the PHB has this to say about spellcasting focus: A character can use a component pouch or a spellcasting focus (found in chapter 5, “Equipment”) in place of the components specified for a spell.
So the question boils down to this:
When you cast a spell with an attack roll, is that spell attack made "with" the weapon? We could ignore the ruby altogether - When you cast a spell with an attack roll, is that spell attack made "with" your arcane focus?
My interpretation of the rules as written would be yes - assuming that the spell requires material components, since that seems to be the only time that the focus is applicable.
I would be VERY interested to hear other opinions about whether or not spells with material components are cast "with" a spellcasting focus.
There seems to be precedent for this. The Wand of the War Mage is one of the few arcane foci that apply magic item bonuses to attack bonus. Based on how the gem is written, "allows you to use a simple or martial weapon as a spellcasting focus for your spells" plus how magic weapons are written "You have a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with this magic weapon." and the fact you have to use an attunement slot would seem to me that it would be a reasonable interpretation of the rules.
@JeremyECrawford Using a weapon as a material component for a spell, including as a spellcasting focus, doesn't count as attacking with that weapon, unless the spell explicitly says you attack with it. DnD
Here's a question. Does the Ruby of the War Mage work in the same, or a similar way as the War Caster feat?
And if Not, is there an item that Could, saving me from having to give up my ability score improvement in order to take the War Caster feat and better maintain Concentration Spells in battle?
All right so what I did to work around this as I went into the Homebrew section and created an exact copy of the item all the rules and restrictions as well as the need to be attuned and then I added a modifier to it which states that it gave a bonus to spell attacks and that's how I was able to equip for lack of a better term the ruby of the war mage and have the bonus from the magical weapon applied
But since it's an exact copy of a already issued item it has to stay in your private collection and cannot be shared amongst the community
Holy thread necromancy, Batman!
Necromancy ain't all bad, but I do think the zombies need to get back to the graveyard. I'm going to lock this tread to keep them out.
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