[RPG] How do the Crag Cat and Chain Lightning spell interact

dnd-5emonstersspellstargeting

The Crag Cat (SKT, p. 240) is a CR 1 creature that has the unique feature of Spell Turning:

The cat has advantage on saving throws against any spell that targets only the cat (not an area). If the cat's saving throw succeeds and the spell is of 7th level or lower, the spell has no effect on the cat and instead targets the caster.

Emphasis mine.

Chain Lightning is a spell that targets a single target initially, but also hits several other targets afterward.

You create a bolt of lightning that arcs toward a target of your choice that you can see within range. Three bolts then leap from that target to as many as three other targets, each of which must be within 30 feet of the first target. A target can be a creature or an object and can be targeted by only one of the bolts.

I am curious how the spell and creature interact:

  1. If the cat is the target of a residual bolt – can the residual bolt reflect back toward the caster?
  2. If the cat succeeds the initial save – does the spell reflect to the caster and then target several others, which could potentially be the cat again?
  3. Who decides where the spell jumps to should the cat successfully reflect the initial bolt – the cat or the caster?
  4. Does the cat get another reflecting save should a secondary bolt target it after the initial reflected bolt?

Best Answer

The crag cat's Spell Turning feature will almost never apply to chain lightning

The most literal reading is that the crag cat's Spell Turning ability applies to chain lightning if and only if the cat is the only target chosen. If multiple targets are chosen when the spell is cast, the ability does not apply. However, casting chain lightning on only a single target is quite a wasteful use of the spell and is therefore unlikely to ever occur in practice. (What's the point of chain lightning that doesn't chain?) This means that in almost all cases, the cat's ability will not apply to chain lightning, even though it would technically be possible under specific circumstances.

Note that the distinction between the primary and secondary bolts of lightning is irrelevant here. All targets are chosen simultaneously when the spell is released, and if there are any secondary bolts, then the spell has multiple targets and the cat's ability does not apply. It doesn't matter whether the secondary bolts logically occur after the primary bolt. Mechanically, the targets are chosen simultaneously and the damage occurs simultaneously.

The erratum for Twinned Spell may or may not apply

The sorcerer's Twinned Spell metamagic uses a similar wording to describe which spells it can be used on:

When you cast a spell that targets only one creature...

and this was later clarified in an erratum:

To be eligible, a spell must be incapable of targeting more than one creature at the spell’s current level. For example, magic missile and scorching ray aren’t eligible, but ray of frost and chromatic orb are.

If we apply this erratum to the similar wording in the crag cat's Spell Turning ability, then the ability would never apply to chain lightning regardless of how many targets are selected. Simply the ability to select multiple targets would make it ineligible. Unfortunately, the erratum doesn't say whether this clarification applies specifically to twinned spell or generally to any ability with a similar wording. Either ruling would be reasonable for a DM to make. Luckily, as mentioned above, the only time it would matter is when the crag cat is the only target chosen for a chain lightning spell, which is almost never going to happen.

(Thanks to @KamilDrakari for pointing this out.)

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