Magic and Spellcasting

Ability Modifier to Spell Damage

• You always add your ability modifier to the damage or healing of your spells and cantrips.
• Even if a single casting can target the same creature or object multiple times, this damage only applies once per creature or object for any given casting.
• Classes that had class or subclass features to add ability modifier to damage have those features replaced; see the Classes chapter.

Concentration

• If you would cast or initiate a spell or ability requiring concentration while you are already concentrating on an effect, you can expend one Hit Die to concentrate on two distinct spells or abilities at the same time. Regardless of how long you keep the spells going, the hit die is spent.
• When concentrating on two effects, you make Concentration checks at disadvantage and lose both effects on a failure.
• If you are already concentrating on two effects, you must let one drop to initiate a new concentration effect.
• This also applies to martial stances; see Martial Exploits.

Counterspell Struggle

• It is possible, by core, to counterspell a counterspell.
• In Iroa, however, this always causes a Wild Magic surge even if neither caster involved is a wild magic practitioner.

Flavoring Spells

• When you learn a spell, you can apply some minor flavor to it to keep it in theme with your character's concept. This flavor cannot usually change the actual mechanical details of the spell.
• For example, maybe all of your magic has a golden glow, and even objects you create have a golden sheen, and your spellcasting focus must always have gold on it somewhere. Or maybe as a dragon magic sorcerer, you manifest an illusory dragon head that breathes out your attack spells.
• However, you can mechanically change the element of a spell when you learn it. If you are a storm mage, I am perfectly okay with you learning a spell like burning hands as a freezing gust, and fireball as a storm of dancing lightning. All of the other details of the spell stay the same except the element, and the choice of element is permanent and cannot be changed on the fly unless you have the appropriate Sorcerer metamagic.
• Specific damage types are interchangeable in this way if you are not a Sorcerer:
  • Force and each Physical type (Bludgeoning, Piercing, or Slashing) are interchangeable.
  • Acid can become or be adapted from Fire, Lightning, Necrotic or Poison.
  • Cold can become or be adapted from Fire, Necrotic, Poison or Thunder.
  • Fire can become or be adapted from Acid, Cold, Lightning or Radiant.
  • Lightning can become or be adapted from Acid, Fire, Radiant or Thunder.
  • Necrotic can become or be adapted from Acid, Cold, Poison or Psychic.
  • Poison can become or be adapted from Acid, Cold, Necrotic or Psychic.
  • Psychic can become or be adapted from Necrotic, Poison, Radiant or Thunder.
  • Radiant can become or be adapted from Fire, Lightning, Psychic or Thunder.
  • Thunder can become or be adapted from Cold, Lightning, Psychic or Radiant.
• Certain types of Sorcerer (e.g., dragon sorcerer) have more free reign here, and can reconcept any damage type to their subclass's favored damage type. Other classes may have more specific trades they can make, such as necrotic and radiant being interchangeable for paladins but only in one direction chosen at 1st level.

Multiple Spells in a Turn

• The incredibly confusing and contradictory rules about when it's allowed to cast multiple spells in a turn (multiclass abuse) and when it's not (when a bonus action becomes involved) are discarded.
• You can cast multiple leveled spells on your turn, if you have the actions to do so, but the sum of the spell levels cannot exceed the highest spell level you can cast.
• Cantrips are 0th level spells, so can always be mixed and matched with leveled spells, provided you have the actions to do so.
  • For example, a 3rd level caster (max spell level 2) could cast spiritual weapon as a bonus action (2 spell levels), but then could only cast a cantrip like fire bolt at most as their standard action (0 spell levels, for a total of 2).
  • Meanwhile, a 9th level caster (max spell level 5) could cast spiritual weapon as a bonus action (2 spell levels), then follow it up with a fireball as their standard action (3 spell levels, for a total of 5).
  • The same 9th level caster who also has the Fighter's Action Surge could cast fireball (3 spell levels), then action surge, and follow it up with scorching ray (2 spell levels, for a total of 5), but then would now not be able to cast spiritual weapon, but they could still use a bonus action cantrip like shillelagh (0 spell levels, for a total of 5).
• Reactions happen outside the usual turn order, and so they are not subject to the cumulative spell level limit.
  • Even if you were to somehow get a second reaction, you can still only take one reaction on any given creature's turn, so you would still not be able to exceed your maximum spell level in reaction spells in a turn.

Somatic Components

• If you are wielding a wand, staff, talisman, or some other flavorful item that is designated as your spell focus, like say an orb filled with dirt from your home, or a bangle of many mystically engraved rings, you can perform the somatic components of your spells with the hand holding your focus.
  • This corrects the strange rule from the PHB where you can do this if the spell has material components but not otherwise.
• You can wear your focus, however, you must still have a free hand to manipulate said focus.
• However, if both hands are holding something that is not a spell focus, such as if you are wielding a weapon and shield, or two weapons, you (usually) must have the Warcaster feat to cast spells with somatic components, or you must put a weapon away.
  • The exception is if your class grants a feature to use a weapon or shield as a focus (e.g., Pact of the Blade warlock), or if the weapon is itself enchanted as a spell focus, or the weapon is specifically a staff.

Upcasting and Inferior Spells

• I am a firm believer that only some published spells having upcasting rules and not others was a missed opportunity. I am willing to come up with upcasting rules for most spells that don't have them, if you want to keep using the spell later in your career. This is especially relevant to Warlocks.
• Some spells are also just patently directly worse than other spells of their level, to the point they are more equivalent to a spell of a lower level. I am willing to assess the balance of a spell or cantrip if its flavor is closely in theme with your character, but I will not do this for every spell - only the really egregiously pathetic cases.
• I am not going to go through all the spells and do this in advance, but I will assess spells on a case by case basis as either of these comes up.