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One of my players is playing a Sorcerer who knows the sickening radiance spell (XGtE, p. 164):

When a creature moves into the spell’s area for the first time on a turn or starts its turn there, that creature must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or take 4d10 radiant damage, and it suffers one level of exhaustion and emits a dim, greenish light in a 5-foot radius. This light makes it impossible for the creature to benefit from being invisible. The light and any levels of exhaustion caused by this spell go away when the spell ends.

(This spell has a 10-minute duration and is a concentration spell.)

He has also chosen the Careful Spell metamagic option:

When you cast a spell that forces other creatures to make a saving throw, you can protect some of those creatures from the spell’s full force. To do so, you spend 1 sorcery point and choose a number of those creatures up to your Charisma modifier (minimum of one creature). A chosen creature automatically succeeds on its saving throw against the spell.

Sickening radiance forces creatures in the area to make a saving throw each round that it starts their turn in the area of effect.

If the Sorcerer wants their teammates to succeed on the saving throw against sickening radiance each round, do they have to spend a sorcery point each round? Or do the player characters get to pass the check automatically after the initial sorcery point is spent, since it was cast as a Careful Spell?

V2Blast
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VVilliam
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    @V2Blast - I looked at the duplicate question and agree they are similar but I could not determine if there was a generally accepted answer. I like the answer given below but I see in the comments that you cast some doubt on the validity of the answer. Is it okay to leave the question up to see if others know of some applicable rulings? – VVilliam Jun 08 '19 at 22:40
  • If they are fundamentally the same question (i.e. "does Careful Spell spell work on repeated saving throws against a spell?"), then they are indeed duplicates. As the other question is still open, answers can still be given there; I've also suggested Allan post his answer there as well. Also, I'm not really casting doubt on Allan's answer (I agree with it); the comment and my subsequent edit of the answer were merely clarifying that Crawford's tweets aren't "official rulings", whatever that counts for. – V2Blast Jun 08 '19 at 22:45

1 Answers1

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No, and Careful Spell probably doesn't work like that

The first part of Careful Spell states:

When you cast a spell

The cost of Careful Spell is applied only when you cast the spell, the same as all metamagic.

However, arguably the same language indicates it only works when the spell is actually cast and not later on since it is applies when the spell is cast, not in later rounds.

This is confirmed to be the intent by this tweet by rules designer Jeremy Crawford:

Careful Spell is used the turn you cast a spell and is intended to affect saving throws made that turn.

However, as of the 2019 Sage Advice Compendium, Jeremy Crawford's tweets are no longer considered official rulings, so this tweet is merely unofficial guidance.

Community
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Allan Mills
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