[RPG] When would someone in a Sculpt Spell’s ‘pocket of safety’ take damage

dnd-5espellswizard

According to an Evocation Wizard's Sculpt Spell class feature, they can create pockets of safety that allow the chosen creatures to:

…automatically succeed on their saving throws
against the spell, and they take no damage if they would normally take
half damage on a successful save.

I'm reading this to say:

  • If there's a save, those in these 'pockets' automatically make it.
  • If making a save would result in half damage, the 'pockets' take no damage.

So, if I'm reading this correctly, why not just say that those in the 'pockets' take no damage if there's a save? Why all the extra words?

When would someone in a Sculpt Spell's 'pocket of safety' take damage?

Best Answer

Sculpt spell protects against more than damage

Spells can have effects other than damage. Automatically making a saving throw usually means these are negated. Let's take the humble thunderwave as our example:

[each target creature] must make a Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, a creature takes 2d8 thunder damage and is pushed 10 feet away from you. On a successful save, the creature takes half as much damage and isn't pushed.

If Sculpt Spells had only said the creature doesn't take damage if the spell causes a save, pocketed targets would still have to make the save against being pushed.