[RPG] Does a Ring of Spell Turning work on spells upcast to target an additional creature

dnd-5emagic-itemsspells

The Ring of Spell Turning says the following:

While wearing this ring, you have advantage on saving throw against any spell that targets only you (not in an area of effect). In addition, if you roll a 20 for the save and the spell is 7th level or lower, the spell has no effect on you and instead targets the caster.

If a spell like Hold Person is cast using a 3rd level slot to target 2 creatures, but one has a Ring of Spell Turning, will they have advantage on the save?

Is the answer the same if the spell targets more than one creature via another method such as a sorcerer's Twinned Spell?

Note that the description has the clarification within it, "(not in an area of effect)". Page 201 of the PHB seems to provide definitions for various areas of effect, none of which really apply to the Hold Person example.

Best Answer

No, the Ring of Spell Turning does not work on spells that target more than one creature for any reason

you have advantage on saving throw against any spell that targets only you (not in an area of effect)

So the ring gives you advantage on saves from spells that only target you but that is not an area of effect.

A typical spell requires you to pick one or more targets to be affected by the spell's magic. A spell's description tells you whether the spell targets creatures, objects, or a point of origin for an area of effect (described below).

Many spells can target multiple creatures in their effects and these are not considered to be targeting an area.

If a spell like hold person, which targets creatures and not an area, is upcast such that it allows an additional target then that spell is now targeting more than one person. Thus, the Ring of Spell Turning will not grant advantage against it.

When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 3rd level or higher, you can target one additional humanoid for each slot level above 2nd

Jeremy Crawford has confirmed that up casting a spell would indeed increase the number of creatures targeted by that spell:

Can a spell at its current level target more than one creature? If yes, you can't twin it.

This is in reference to the twinned spell restriction that says:

When you Cast a Spell that Targets only one creature and doesn’t have a range of self...

Crawford says that upcast spells that target more than one person cannot be twinned. That means that spells that are upcast that target more than one person do indeed count as one spell that is targeting more than one creature.

Going back to the question at hand, this means that an upcast spell that targets more than one creature definitely will NOT be a spell on which the ring will give you advantage.

Regarding a twinned spell:

...you can spend a number of sorcery points equal to the spell’s level to target a second creature in range...

The untwinned or not upcast versions of the spell may only target one creature, but upcasting or twinning them causes that spell to target more than one creature.

Thus, regardless of the reason, if the spell does not target only, then it is not affected by the ring. This is the case with hold person in both upcast and twinned varieties.