Does anyspell cast the spell as arcane or divine? [2005 thread]

[Aereas]

II have been arguing with my DM on weather a spell prepared with anyspell is casted as an arcane or divine spell.

The spell description mentions arcane many times, and never says that the spell is divine, but he seems convinced that the spell casted with anyspell is converted to being a divine spell.

Any light you could shed on this would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Thanee]

Arcane of course. Anyspell itself is divine, but not the spell prepared (and allowed to cast) with it.

Bye
Thanee

 

[AuraSeer]

That depends on the wording of anyspell. If it specifically says it lets you cast an arcane spell, then it's arcane. But if it says it allows you to duplicate the effects of an arcane spell, or similar wording, then it's still divine; you're casting a divine anyspell that just happens to look very very similar to magic missile (or whatever).

Obviously I haven't the text in front of me to check which is the case.

 

[Thanee]

It lets you prepare and cast arcane spells. You even need a spellbook or similar source, in order to prepare the arcane spell when you cast Anyspell.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Lela]

So, affected by Arcane Spell Failure?

 

[Aereas]

In my continued arguments to convince him its arcane, he came up with these 7 reasons why he says its divine.

Anyspell is Divine. It only allows a Divine caster to prepare and cast an arcane spell and is not an arcane spell in and of itself, and a number of reasons prove it:
1)It can only be cast as a Domain spell (Domain spells being the exclusive province of DIVINE spellcasters).
2)Requires DF (Divine Focus). No arcane spell requires or uses a Divine Focus; only Divine spells.
3)When cast, it works "as though" cast by a Wizard of your Cleric level, not "as" cast by a Wizard....
4)DC set by Wisdom. Divine spell DCs are set by Wisdom, Arcane spells are not.
5)A holy symbol is required to substitute for material components. As above with Divine Focus, arcane spells do not use holy symbols for material components.
6)If it was an arcane spell, it would be able to be cast by Wizards and Sorcerers (or Bards, etc.), but it can only be cast by a CLERIC (which is a Divine caster) with the Spell Domain.
7)It is not an arcane spell, it is a Divine spell that lets a Divine caster prepare and cast an arcane spell.


Personaly I think his last reason contradics all his other reasons....

Does anyone know if the spell is under the open game liscence so that I can post it here for those who do not have access to it?

 

[AuraSeer]

You are correct, your player is wrong.

The important bit is that anyspell lets you cast the spell as if you were a Wizard. If that were all the spell said, you would assume that you work exactly lke a wizard: you cast arcane magic, use your Int modifier to set the DC, supply all material components, and suffer spell failure. But that's not all the spell says, so a couple of things are different.

Anyspell says it changes the stat you use to set the DC, and changes the requirement for material components. It does not change the result spell's magic type, so the result spell remains arcane. Everything not changed by anyspell works exactly the same as for a wizard.

Your player's argument #3 is nonsense. If you substitute "as though" for "as", the meaning of the sentence remains precisely the same.

Most of the rest of his arguments are irrelevant. They apply to anyspell itself (which is a domain spell, etc), but not to the result spell, which is prepared and cast on its own. If I use anyspell to prepare a fireball, that does not mean fireball is a domain spell.

You're right about his argument #7. It's a true statement, but it does not mean what he wants it to mean.

 

[ksbsnowowl]

I find it interesting that everyone here has sided with it being arcane; I find it funny because WotC has stated that the spell is a divine spell in all ways.

This is important, because if it were cast as an arcane spell, then any cleric with the spell domain could enter Mystic Theurge and other PrC's with similar requirements without multiclassing (though to get a benefit from MT, the character would need to multiclass for one level in an arcane class).

I'll try to find the FAQ this was answered in, but I know for a fact that is the official ruling.

 

[Gez]

In my continued arguments to convince him its arcane, he came up with these 7 reasons why he says its divine.

Anyspell is Divine. It only allows a Divine caster to prepare and cast an arcane spell and is not an arcane spell in and of itself, and a number of reasons prove it:

1. is false. Sure, anyspell is a divine spell and can only be cast as a domain spell. But the spell you prepare and are able to cast through anyspell can be prepared outside of a domain slot -- cf. any wizard, sorcerer, wu jen, warmage, or bard without any domain spell slot that still are able to cast said spell.
2. could be accepted, but is shaky.
3. is just plain wrong. It's arguing for the sake of arguing.
4. is like 2, acceptable but shaky. Sure enough, arcane spellcasters who get to cast divine domain spells through use of the Arcane Disciple feat do not benefit from this nicety.
5. is another example of the same thing as 4. It's a convenience.
6. is just plain old wrong. Is he talking about anyspell (which is divine all right), or about the arcane spell that you can prepare and then cast thanks to anyspell? The latter, by definition can be cast by arcane spellcaster, since it must be on the sor/wiz list to be able to be prepared by anyspell.
7. is true, and just proves he's confusing anyspell and anyspell's effect.

Does anyone know if the spell is under the open game liscence so that I can post it here for those who do not have access to it?

No, it isn't OGC. But you can still post it anyway under the normal copyright laws, as it would be fair use, provided the quote is a short and accurate excerpt correctly credited.

 

[Thanee]

I find it interesting that everyone here has sided with it being arcane; I find it funny because WotC has stated that the spell is a divine spell in all ways.

Yep, it doesn't suffice for PrC requirements. But I think that is mostly, because the character does not have the ability to prepare and cast arcane spells. This ability is only granted temporarily by the Anyspell, which does not suffice to enter an arcane spellcasting class.

Anyspell is a divine spell.
The spell prepared via Anyspell is arcane (unless they actually changed that, but I'm not aware, that they did).

Bye
Thanee