How does Glyph of Warding work with a Sending spell

dnd-5espellcastingspellstraps

In D&D 5e, the Glyph of Warding spell allows you to store a spell that is cast on whoever triggers the glyph. The limits on the stored spell are rather vague: "The spell must target a single creature or an area."

This would seem to include the Sending spell, which clearly targets a single creature. How would this work?

My assumption is that:

  1. When I cast Glyph of Warding, I also cast the Sending spell at the same time (see this question). I assume that I must make any choices about the spell, aside from the spell's target, at that time. In the case of the Sending spell, this would include the message being sent. (Similarly, in the case of a spell like Summon Fey the kind of fey summoned would be chosen when the glyph is cast, not when it is triggered.)
  2. When the glyph is triggered, the Sending spell gets a target and the casting completes, so whoever triggered the spell gets my saved message.
  3. The person who triggered the glyph gets to respond to the Sending, and I would hear this message in my head, as usual.

Is this right? Or am I missing some nuance in the mechanics?

Best Answer

Yes, this would work

If this would make sense depends on what you have in mind with it.

As others have pointed out, there is a cheaper and simpler method to relay a message to a creature in the place where you would install the glyph: use a Magic Mouth spell. Both can deliver 25 words. It'll cost you only 10 gp vs 200 gp for the glyph, and can be set to be reusable.

However, Magic Mouth will lack the ability of Glyph of Warding to securely discern creature type or alignment, or its ability to make dumb creatures or those that speak other languages understand it, so if these are important to you, you may prefer the more costly glyph.

If what you care about is the response they can send, maybe because you want an ally of yours to trigger the glyph to send you an emergency message while you are away from home, I think that also would work: you still are the caster sending the original message. Just keep in mind that the response is optional, so if an intruder triggered the glyph, they could opt to not respond, and you would be none the wiser.