spells within spells, and casting failure chance

[subtledoctor]

I'm curious about this interaction.  Let's say I cast a spell that casts a subspell (think Otiluke's sphere, with one subspell for enemies to provide a saving throw and one subspell for allies that bypasses the save; or Chant, which has one subspell with a projectile to carry the enemy penalties, and one subspell with a projectile to carry the ally bonuses).  Now let's say I do that while affected by a 50% casting failure chance from opcode 60 (miscast magic) or opcode 80 (deafness).  Will both the outer spell and the subspell be subject to the casting failure?  If the % chance has to be rolled twice, that means I would effectively have a 25% chance to successfully cast the spell, instead of 50%.

If that's the case then, for good measure, it seems to me that any spells using subspells should include a 0-second or 1-second self-targeted opcode 101 immunity to opcodes 60 and 80. That way, after the initial % roll, if you succeed in casting the outer spell, it ensures the subspells will be successful.  (This seems especially true when the subspells are on a delay, using timing mode 4.)

Is this a legit concern?  Or am I worrying over nothing?

[kjeron]

That form of Spell failure does not apply to direct subspells, doesn't matter what opcode is used to cast them.

It can apply to spells cast separately through op214 (depending on their "type" column).

Ability Target #7 (Caster, no animation) also bypasses spell failure, provided it is instant-cast (casting it through some script actions ignores the instantaneous mechanic, thus making it subject to spell failure.)

 

[subtledoctor]

15 minutes ago, kjeron said:

Ability Target #7 (Caster, no animation) also bypasses spell failure, provided it is instant-cast

To clarify: do you mean when the 'casting time' is zero in the ability header?  (In which case, in order to make sure certain spells are subject to opcodes 60/80, if they use target 7 then I should make sure they have nonzero casting time?

[kjeron]

3 hours ago, subtledoctor said:

To clarify: do you mean when the 'casting time' is zero in the ability header?  (In which case, in order to make sure certain spells are subject to opcodes 60/80, if they use target 7 then I should make sure they have nonzero casting time?

No, it's not related to the listed casting time, even 0 isn't "instant".

If you cast a spell with ability target 7 through the actionbar, it will cast instantly (even if paused), and ignore spell failure.

If you were to cast that same spell through a script with action "Spell()", it would cast at the casting time listed in it's ability header, and be subject to spell failure.

edit: I think casting it through a spell menu (op214) can also force it's listed casting time (depending on type), but don't remember for certain.

Edited January 30, 2020 by kjeron