@Delioth I think you're misinterpreting that definition. Merriam-Webster is a descriptivist dictionary. (While a prescriptivist dictionary tries to assert what is true about a language regardless of how people use it, descriptivist dictionaries are mainly interested in reflecting everyday common usage.) Since that is the first and primary definition, it's reflecting the primary everyday common usage of "transparent" -- which means "we can see through it to what's on the other side".
@KorvinStarmast Probably because the question isn't really about Stone Sorcerer, so much as Stone Sorcerer is just the incidental catalyst for the question.
Imagine a multiclassed Paladin/Sorcerer instead if you need a "canonical" version of that combo.
To suggest it is defining "transparent" as "no scattering factor at all" would be to suggest people care about laboratory-condition optics science on a day to day basis.
@KorvinStarmast @Xirema was right. I reverted though because I was unsure if it was actually best. I don't think it's necessary, but I'm not sure if it's harmful.
@doppelspooker Oh yeah - I know I'm certainly misrepresenting the definition, if not actually misinterpreting it (I stand by the interpretation as pedantic, even though it's intuitively wrong)
@Delioth If it's misaligned from how we use the term most often in our day-to-day usage, it's misaligned from Merriam Webster.
That's the basis on which I can trivially say MW isn't trying to define a meaning of "transparent" that excludes, say, magnifying glasses or eyeglasses.
@doppelspooker Or at some point you realize that you're in a semantic discussion with someone who enjoys them }:-) because the initial question was satisfactorily answer a few dozen lines ago.
@KorvinStarmast Sorry, maybe bad timing. I'm having a slightly frustrating time IRL. Super noisy environment while I'm trying to get stuff done doesn't go together well.
Twinned Spell doesn't work with a spell that targets more than 1 creature. Green-flame blade targets 2. #DnD https://twitter.com/SeldenNeil/status/663494041179463680
Though I think it does have a good reason. If you start twinning things that target more than one thing you are going to get really serious overpowering problems I think. I can't think of another way to do it that would make things clearer.
@Rubiksmoose Twinning Scorching Ray would give six, not three, scorchers, right? (Don't we have a Q on that where if there is only one target, you can twin scorching ray?)
@KorvinStarmast Crawfords definition of "targets one creature" is pretty wack. As far as he is concerned, any spell that could affect more than 1 thing is ineligible for Twinned Spell.
@ColinGross Yeah that is what I keep coming back to as well. I'm not s ure there is a better way to do this and I think this is the exact thing they are designing around.
Jeremy goes into excruciating detail on this subject, and clarifies that if the spell has the potential to do anything to anyone beyond a single chosen target, it can't be twinned
wait, but does that undo the ability to twin hex and hunters mark?
In light of the recent Sorcerer nerf w/ Draconic Bloodline + Scorching ray I went in search of a damage boost. I figure Twinned Spell (PHB, p. 102) + Hex (PHB, p. 251) is a good combo.
(Note that Hex can only target a single creature at any level, so it should work with Twinned Spell.)
My plan ...
@ColinGross I'm fine with not twinning AoEs, but anything that specifically targets 1 creature (and is meant to target 1 creature, like Ice Knife) qualifies for Twin in my book.
Twinned Spell test: can the spell affect only one creature at the spell's current level, and is its range not self? If yes, TS works. #DnD https://twitter.com/mrprotoman/status/852657423089324032
@NautArch That also brings up the question of whether it matters if the spell is only affecting one creature at the time or if it's considering a theoretical maximum.
Like what if you're just targeting the BBEG with Fireball?
@ColinGross "Meh"? If they're investing a high-level spell slot as well as sorcery points, that's a lot of investment anyways. Maybe put a stipulation that for things like Magic Missile, any one creature can only be targeted by 1 full spell's worth, but that seems like too much restriction. Probably more of a "you can do this, guys, if you aren't buggers about it. WotC technically has a different interpretation"
@NautArch That also brings up the question of whether it matters if the spell is only affecting one creature at the time or if it's considering a theoretical maximum.
@GreySage Huh. Could've sworn it was self and the only reason the wizard's familiar could Dragon Breath was because you can target familiars with self spells.
@GreySage I agree with this so much. They never define what is or isn't considered a target of a spell and it really makes adjudicating some features a huge pain.
You guys are thinking so small on Twinned Spell, trying to work out what spells it can and can not affect. Meanwhile, Cyanic is proposing that Twinned Spell works by taking two split timelines, one where the spell targets A, the other where the spell targets B, and merging them together into the same timeline.
@Xirema Twinned Spell is actually a slow time ritual wherein the caster communes with the personification of magic and convinces it to undergo IVF instead of natural birth to increase the chance of twin spells all within in the span of a bonus action.
The only issue with rules that I see with that (awesome) interpretation of twinned spell is... why wouldn't it work with any AoE effects? I could certainly imagine merging the timelines while there are fireball beads going towards 2 separate locations
@Xirema Yeah, but the rules expressly disallow that with the "one target" restriction. I mean, I'm personally open to allowing all spells to Twin (and just overlapping area rather than stacking), but the interpretation doesn't match the RAW
@Carcer There are other features that make this complicated but the PHB and JC are the ones that confuse the thing because fireball explicitly calls the creatures in its area targets. The PHB also implies later that all creatures in an AOE are considered targets. And JC backs this up.
No, burning hands targets the creatures in its AOE
Burning hands is noted as having targets specifically in the DMG
The DMG specifically calls out the creatures affected by burning hands to be targets in an example:
For example, if a wizard directs burning hands (a 15-foot cone) at a
near...
@NautArch yeah. I love to see new people getting into homebrew but they really need to put in the work to know how to do it well in 5e. There are some new design principles that should be followed
Luckily it isn't an issue most of the time, but it does come up. For example, if AOEs only had a single target (a point in space for example) they could all be twinned.
@DavidCoffron What if I made this ranger subclass that has a special ability to automatically kill one enemy per long rest? And if they don't use the ability, they keep the use?
I find Crawford's ruling on the transmutation dragon breath not being twinnable to be a farce. The spell effect is on the creature that will be able to breath like a dragon. It's like Haste, which can be twinned. A hasted barbarian can hurt other creatures; a dragon breath barbarian can hurt other creatures. Bad, Bad ruling and poor logic.
@KorvinStarmast at the very least he does seem to be making a very fine distinction with that ruling. and it isn't clear where the line is being drawn.
@KorvinStarmast On the other hand, he might just say: "you're right! You can Twin haste either." lol
Probably still better than the old Games Workshop rule conflict resolution chart.
Rule problem -> resolve it the way it would actually happen -> If you still have questions, email us, because we disconnected the phone -> Please don't point out two different people gave you two different answers -> We're done helping you at this point, besides the other player probably hates you now and won't play.
"Find the nearest Ultramarines player if your game doesn't have any. Inform them they won. Failing that, find the nearest Dawn of War player and inform them the Blood Ravens win."
Dragon's breath has two sets of targets: the creature you give the breath weapon to and the creatures in the area of effect created by the spell. #DnD https://twitter.com/zoozeki/status/944278238905352192
Dragon's breath can affect more than one creature with the exhalation. It therefore can't be twinned. #DnD https://twitter.com/TheSandwichPira/status/944271465708322816
Telekinesis can affect multiple creatures over the course of its duration. It's not eligible for Twinned Spell. #DnD https://twitter.com/HeathDawson/status/915697666193010688
@Carcer Crawford is pretty regularly consistent. The problem is that he rarely answers a question directly. He'll usually defer back to some regurgitation of the rules in the handbook/etc. Which wouldn't be so bad, except that often, if someone's going to ask for a rule's clarification, it's specifically because the rules-as-written were ambiguous/unclear.
I think I got into a fight with someone here over whether Empowered Spell could affect all damage dice for Eldritch Blast or not. Crawford issued a ruling for Chaos Bolt that says "all damage dice of a spell are eligible", which technically answers the question, but doesn't address the specific concern (namely the damage being split across multiple attack rolls) so when someone tries to address a different spell, the ruling becomes difficult to apply.
@Xirema I'm still kinda miffed about his GWF ruling on divine smites. I think it's silly especially when a big part of his 'logic' was too many dice rerolls isn't fun because it slows down the table.
@Maximillian I like the bounded accuracy aspect of 5e overall, including lowering the numbers (makes small changes more meaningful) but reducing the number of rolls misses the point, I think.
Especially since "more rolls" is easily fixed with "roll more of your dice at once".
My Paladin keeps Bless up pretty regularly, so whenever I attack, I roll 6 dice at once, 3 of each color: (1d4 (Bless) + 1d20 (attack roll) + 1d8 (Longsword weapon damage)) * 2.
I just match the colors together, and I know A) if I hit, and B) how much damage I did with that attack.
@Rubiksmoose I think Crawford's logic is dumb but there's the answer. I don't like how Crawford uses the word "affect" but hex does target multiple creatures over the duratiom
Twinned Spell test: can the spell affect only one creature at the spell's current level, and is its range not self? If yes, TS works. #DnD https://twitter.com/mrprotoman/status/852657423089324032
@Rubiksmoose it causes the dragon's breath problem.
Dragon's breath can "affect" multiple creatures, but doent "target" them
@Maximillian VtC: Duplicate
@NautArch come to think of it, why is this not a fighter subclass. There is precedent for subclasses focused on one weapon (Arcane Archer). It would make way more sense and be very easy to balance around Arcane Archer
@NautArch Interesting, and it is very similar to Arcane Archer. I don't know why the OP is using materials from a kit instead of charges or uses, and having so many recover on a short rest is pretty broken.
A player wanted to use Wild Shape as an unlimited supply of feathers for our ranger to make his own arrows with and it sparked a discussion on whether or not parts of a Druid that are removed from said Druid's Wild Shape persist after the Druid is no longer in Wild Shape.
I have been unable to f...
@Rubiksmoose This opens the idea of the poop disappearing after the druid / bear goes in the woods ... that was a part of the answer that I don't think gets enough credit.
@DavidCoffron You only get a few spell slots. They balanced versus the resource exhaustion of the 6-8 encounters ... not a 5 minute adventure day. Plus polymorph is an iconic D&D spell, sorta like fireball and lightning bolt.
Just means my intelligent NPCs try to focus the caster which means the fun of being a massive beast is short lived. If the massive beast had the same threat level of the PCs it's be more reasonable for them to actually fight the beast
@DavidCoffron Somedays, I just want to turn our bard into a TRex and let him attack that Frost Giant. Why? Because it's cool! I only get to do it once at 7th level ...
On the subject of spells that can or cannot be Twinned, is Shield of Faith ineligible to be twinned, because the AC increase affects more than one target?
(specifically, it affects the attack rolls of more than one creature)
((Yes, I'm being a smart-butt. That's a rhetorical question))
I move that Protection from Good and Evil also be ineligible, on the grounds that it causes more than one creature, potentially, to receive disadvantage on their attacks.
"I target the universe" "So, you target all the creatures and things? It's an AoE spell then." "No, it's single target, the universe is a single thing."
@Xirema hahaha yeah if a player started saying things like that I would simply sigh get a tall glass of whiskey on the rocks then ask them calmly if they really want to go down that road lol
@Rubiksmoose I think it is any creature affected by the immediate spell effect. All targets hit by an aoe are targets. The creature from hex is a target. All attacked creatures are targets. A creature attacked by spiritual weapon is not a target
It's different from Trading Card Games like Magic the gathering and Yugioh
but I don't think Dragon's Breath and Hex are comparable; the second creature mentioned in Haste isn't a target until declared as one (ie the first one dies)
@NautArch I very specifically do NOT consider those, because you, the person casting the spell, didn't get to choose those targets. You didn't "target" them when casting the spell.
The effect of Dragon's Breath is "give one creature the ability to breathe fire".
@Jason_c_o But you don't know who you want to hit. You know who you want to give the ability to breathe a cone to, but for all you know, that person could be a traitor and you might be on the receiving end
@SirCinnamon Beathing doesn't consume the ability granted by the spell, you have the option to use the action it gives you for the entire spell duration (1min concentration)
@NautArch My gut instinct is that, in that case, you're "choosing a new target" as part of the effect of the spell, therefore it isn't eligible. But TBH if a DM said otherwise, I wouldn't feel strongly enough to contest it.