If you are a sorcerer you can use subtle spell to cast without being noticed, while other casters have no official way to do so. Unless you are being directly observed it makes sense that you would be able to cast some spells without drawing attention to yourself. There are several skills I can see being possible rolls for this, but I wanted to see what other people use. Arcana, deception, sleight of hand, and steath could all plausibly be used. Do you mandate one of those, do your players get to pick the one they are better at if they can come up with a decent description of their actions?
Of course there is the caveat that depending on the spell and situation it could be an automatic fail.
I will have the player describe what they're doing, or attempting to do and try to work in an appropriate skill based off of that.
A Bard trying to hide their spell inside a song they're playing, roll me a high enough performance and it may work. Show that you've used your magic (minor illusion) and then try something more, you'll have an easier time of it. I believe it's going to be hard, no matter how good you are, to pull off a spell without being noticed unless you're using subtle spell.
Hiding the hand motions, sleight of hand. Hiding your voice behind something like a song, performance. Hiding your act behind the noises of cannons being shot, gimme an intelligence. I don't have a set idea or metric to decide, it is very fluid and based on what my players are attempting. It's the DC that I have a metric for, it always starts at a 15 and goes up from there.
I base it on what component they are trying to hide. If they are trying to avoid overt hand motions for somatic components a Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) would be used for that but if they're close enough to hear you and you want to try and hide the mumbling of arcane words for verbal component that would be Intelligence (Stealth) to see if you can get the sound level right: loud enough to cast the spell but low enough to not be heard. This is intelligence because it's a mental process to figure this out but stealth because if you have training in how to muffle your sounds and breathing (proficiency in stealth) then this would assist you. A Dex (SoH) could also be used for material components. All of these could be contested by the observers' perception. If you're trying to hide more than one you make separate rolls for each and need to succeed on all of them to hide the spell casting. Whether you get the option will very much depend on the situation.
I would give some spells a situational pass like if somebody was seducing and distracting somebody they could work in a Charm person freely for advantage on the persuasion/deception. This is just because I find having to do Charm person outside of the social situation first, given that the spell informs the target of spell usage afterwards, is enough to make it too awkward to use without DM shenanigans - the target knowing the spell was cast on it afterwards is enough of a drawback and I see no need to make it harder to use or at penalty to use for the social interaction it's specifically designed for.
As for a bard song to work in - again some spells like enchantment I'd let them use for free (the whole point of a bard is that their magic songs are what causes the spell, seems silly to me to make it awkward to use a magically infused song when the whole concept of a bard is makng magically infused songs...) but I'd let any spellcaster work magic into a performance with a Deception check (to hide the words/gestures into the performance). I use Deception rather than Performance because I see deception as the intent to deceive or use subterfuge and performance as the intent to sing/dance/whatever well, the former lending the intent more appropriately for the action you are taking.
Very much a DM thing as there are no rules for it, officially. There's no wrong or right way just whatever you think fits for your game/style.
I love subtle as a spell casting use. Someone cast silence on you subtle spell cast and your golden. Another caster watching you to do a counterspell, subtle spell and you do whatever you was doing.
In my games, casting magic is obvious. Spells with verbal components require clear and careful diction. You don't have to shout, but you can''t whisper or mumble. Arcane language is obvious and most of the time will not be mistaken for "just some foreign language".
OK, assume a 5x5 grid. Your companions are in grid A1 & A4, Enemies in B 2-3 & you the spell caster are in E5.
Now assuming that your teammates have already attacked and you haven't, would not the enemy be focused on those who are adjacent. If so, if they are engaged in combat, if your casting a spell, shouldnt their attention be on who is in their face? So logically, a spellcaster should be ignored until the 1st shot is made (similar to having advantage when flanking
For verbal component, it really depends on background noise and distance to the listener. In a silent room, a person 10’ away will hear you unless he is deaf. In a crowded market place with dozens of people talking, a person 100’ has almost no chance of hearing you, but he might be able to see you speaking and surmise that you are casting a spell. Wear a hood or mask so observers can’t see your mouth.
Somatic components could be concealed by baggy sleeves. Maybe that’s why baggy sleeved robes tend to be stereotypical caster clothing.
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If you are a sorcerer you can use subtle spell to cast without being noticed, while other casters have no official way to do so. Unless you are being directly observed it makes sense that you would be able to cast some spells without drawing attention to yourself. There are several skills I can see being possible rolls for this, but I wanted to see what other people use. Arcana, deception, sleight of hand, and steath could all plausibly be used. Do you mandate one of those, do your players get to pick the one they are better at if they can come up with a decent description of their actions?
Of course there is the caveat that depending on the spell and situation it could be an automatic fail.
Detect Magic.
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I will have the player describe what they're doing, or attempting to do and try to work in an appropriate skill based off of that.
A Bard trying to hide their spell inside a song they're playing, roll me a high enough performance and it may work. Show that you've used your magic (minor illusion) and then try something more, you'll have an easier time of it. I believe it's going to be hard, no matter how good you are, to pull off a spell without being noticed unless you're using subtle spell.
Hiding the hand motions, sleight of hand. Hiding your voice behind something like a song, performance. Hiding your act behind the noises of cannons being shot, gimme an intelligence. I don't have a set idea or metric to decide, it is very fluid and based on what my players are attempting. It's the DC that I have a metric for, it always starts at a 15 and goes up from there.
I base it on what component they are trying to hide. If they are trying to avoid overt hand motions for somatic components a Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) would be used for that but if they're close enough to hear you and you want to try and hide the mumbling of arcane words for verbal component that would be Intelligence (Stealth) to see if you can get the sound level right: loud enough to cast the spell but low enough to not be heard. This is intelligence because it's a mental process to figure this out but stealth because if you have training in how to muffle your sounds and breathing (proficiency in stealth) then this would assist you. A Dex (SoH) could also be used for material components. All of these could be contested by the observers' perception. If you're trying to hide more than one you make separate rolls for each and need to succeed on all of them to hide the spell casting. Whether you get the option will very much depend on the situation.
I would give some spells a situational pass like if somebody was seducing and distracting somebody they could work in a Charm person freely for advantage on the persuasion/deception. This is just because I find having to do Charm person outside of the social situation first, given that the spell informs the target of spell usage afterwards, is enough to make it too awkward to use without DM shenanigans - the target knowing the spell was cast on it afterwards is enough of a drawback and I see no need to make it harder to use or at penalty to use for the social interaction it's specifically designed for.
As for a bard song to work in - again some spells like enchantment I'd let them use for free (the whole point of a bard is that their magic songs are what causes the spell, seems silly to me to make it awkward to use a magically infused song when the whole concept of a bard is makng magically infused songs...) but I'd let any spellcaster work magic into a performance with a Deception check (to hide the words/gestures into the performance). I use Deception rather than Performance because I see deception as the intent to deceive or use subterfuge and performance as the intent to sing/dance/whatever well, the former lending the intent more appropriately for the action you are taking.
Very much a DM thing as there are no rules for it, officially. There's no wrong or right way just whatever you think fits for your game/style.
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I love subtle as a spell casting use. Someone cast silence on you subtle spell cast and your golden. Another caster watching you to do a counterspell, subtle spell and you do whatever you was doing.
In my games, casting magic is obvious. Spells with verbal components require clear and careful diction. You don't have to shout, but you can''t whisper or mumble. Arcane language is obvious and most of the time will not be mistaken for "just some foreign language".
Since I cant draw on here :)
OK, assume a 5x5 grid. Your companions are in grid A1 & A4, Enemies in B 2-3 & you the spell caster are in E5.
Now assuming that your teammates have already attacked and you haven't, would not the enemy be focused on those who are adjacent. If so, if they are engaged in combat, if your casting a spell, shouldnt their attention be on who is in their face? So logically, a spellcaster should be ignored until the 1st shot is made (similar to having advantage when flanking
For verbal component, it really depends on background noise and distance to the listener. In a silent room, a person 10’ away will hear you unless he is deaf. In a crowded market place with dozens of people talking, a person 100’ has almost no chance of hearing you, but he might be able to see you speaking and surmise that you are casting a spell. Wear a hood or mask so observers can’t see your mouth.
Somatic components could be concealed by baggy sleeves. Maybe that’s why baggy sleeved robes tend to be stereotypical caster clothing.