{"id":4054,"date":"2024-04-17T16:23:45","date_gmt":"2024-04-17T23:23:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/heroes\/?p=4054"},"modified":"2025-06-13T14:44:04","modified_gmt":"2025-06-13T21:44:04","slug":"dd-5e-rules-spells-and-exceeding-range-line-of-sight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/heroes\/2024\/04\/dd-5e-rules-spells-and-exceeding-range-line-of-sight.html","title":{"rendered":"D&D 5e\/5.5e Rules – Spells and Exceeding Range \/ Line-of-Sight!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"KnowPart of an ongoing series of 5e (2014)<\/strong> Rules notes.<\/a>\u00a0 See the end of the post for notes on 5.5e (2024)<\/strong> rules.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

The range and need of line-of-sight is pretty clear when spells are initially cast<\/strong>, but what happens if range is exceeded or line of sight is broken in a spell that lasts more than an instantaneous effect — in particular, with spells that require Concentration to maintain them?<\/p>\n

(In the case that came up in my campaign, the party wanted to maintain a spell as they fled; a more common instance is the affected party fleeing the caster and breaking LoS or exceeding distance.)<\/p>\n

The General Rule<\/h1>\n

It’s pretty straightforward:\u00a0 range and line-of-sight<\/strong><\/em> don’t matter once the spell has been cast<\/strong><\/em>. As\u00a0PHB 203<\/a>\u00a0puts it:<\/p>\n

Once a spell is cast, its effects aren\u2019t limited by its range, unless the spell\u2019s description says otherwise.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So, as a general rule (and\u00a0as confirmed by Jeremy Crawford<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0also confirmed by Jeremy Crawford<\/a>), once you have successfully cast a spell on a spot or a target opponent, it will continue until it naturally ends<\/strong> (i.e., with a\u00a0Concentration<\/a>\u00a0spell, until the time limit is passed or the character drops concentration), regardless of what the range or line-of-sight is. You are maintaining the spell, not the targeting.<\/p>\n

Spells that say otherwise, of course, are otherwise (the specific overrides the general).<\/p>\n

That said, if you and the target are beyond LoS, you don’t know what is going on there. Maybe the guy you threw Heat Metal<\/em> on ran into the next room, took off the armor, and put it on an orphan waif, and your continuing the damage is killing an innocent. Ah, well …<\/p>\n

What about in 5.5e (2024)?<\/span><\/h1>\n

\"dnd<\/a>The basics still look pretty much the same. The notes on spell range<\/a> say:<\/span><\/p>\n

If a spell has movable effects, they aren\u2019t restricted by its range unless the spell\u2019s description says otherwise.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Which kind of looks close to what was there before. It clearly encompasses spells that are described as moving (e.g.,\u00a0Flaming Sphere).\u00a0<\/em>Does that also include spells cast on a target that then moves away? What about the other way around — if the spell is cast on a fixed spot (or unmoving target) and the spell caster moves?<\/span><\/p>\n

They would seem to apply from previous precedent, and because some spells explicitly in their description that they fade or end when a given range is exceeded (e.g., Mage Hand)<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Similarly, from a line of sight perspective, the only mention is in the initial spell casting:<\/span><\/p>\n

A Clear Path to the Target.<\/strong> To target something with a spell, a caster must have a clear path to it, so it can\u2019t be behind Total Cover.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

No mention is made of lingering effects after that, so, presumably, the same is true: a clear path is only needed during the initial casting (targeting).<\/span><\/p>\n

Finally, the Sage Advice Compendium<\/a> notes the following:<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

If you\u2019re concentrating on a spell, do you need to maintain line of sight with the spell\u2019s target or the spell\u2019s effect?<\/span><\/h4>\n

You don\u2019t need to be within line of sight or within range to maintain\u00a0Concentration\u00a0on a spell unless a spell\u2019s description or other game feature says otherwise.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Those are the only rules or rulings on this that I can find for 5.5e. As things change and\/or are pointed out to me, I’ll update this entry.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What happen if you cast an ongoing spell, then wander away?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"both","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":301,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[48,44,78],"tags":[47,50],"class_list":["post-4054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-onedd","category-dd","category-dd-5e-rules","tag-dnd5e","tag-rules"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/heroes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4054","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/heroes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/heroes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/heroes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/heroes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4054"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/heroes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4054\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4332,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/heroes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4054\/revisions\/4332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/heroes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/heroes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/heroes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}