5e Call Lightning, with out moving, how far can I target? Move 300 feet away, now where can I target? installed twitter for thisthe spell specifically says you can call it down to the same point or a different one; continues at original, but if change must be in range
— Mike Mearls (@mikemearls) October 25, 2017
So 120 feet away if I am standing at the center of the casting? And still within 120 feet of me if I moved 300 feet away from center? Yes
— Mike Mearls (@mikemearls) October 25, 2017
This interpretation rapidly leads to logical absurdity.
Cast the spell, summon the stormcloud overhead, step through a Gate spell or other transplanar portal, close the portal, summon bolts of lightning from thin air. Totally legal by RAW, but utterly nonsensical.
Personally, I think if the range of the spell effect is based on the caster, then the stormcloud overhead should move with the caster.
Alternatively, if the stormcloud is intended to be stationary, then make the cloud itself be the point you measure from for determining range – either measured from any chosen point in the cloud, or from the very center of it.
I have to agree with D. Walker. My translation of the spell as written was that the stormcloud is intended to be stationary, and that any point within the cloud was where the range began, allowing for 120 range plus the cloud’s 60ft radius for 180 ft range in all directions from the initial cast epicenter.
The logical conclusion from this interpretation when coupled with the rest of the spell which reads “if you are outdoors in stormy conditions when you cast the spell, you take control of that storm instead” would then follow that if a 20 mile radius storm over the ocean during naval combat (for example) took place, the druid would have unlimited range for all intents and purposes, being limited only by a spot they could identify within the storm’s range.
While not as logically absurd as being able to cast lightning bolts from a completely different plane, adding 120 range from any point within a natural storm (including it’s outer edges) makes far more sense than 120 range from epicenter especially when a natural storm could be much larger than that 120 range.
Therefore I think it must either be that the spell allows a caster to summon lightning bolts within 120 range of themself regardless of how far (or planar, or through time) they move from their initial cast in the 10 minute duration, as stated above regardless of how absurd it seems,
Or else ANY POINT WITHIN the stationary (or natural) storm activated upon initial cast of Call Lightning serves as the 120 range limit, regardless of where the caster is and limited only by the caster’s ability to “choose a point you can see within range.”
It gets especially dicey when we consider the spell reads “a bolt of lightning flashes down to that point from the cloud” when considering the implications of traveling through a portal or moving too far away from the cloud, hence my inclination to use any point within a stationary storm (conjured or natural) plus 120 range as the range the bolt could logically flash from the cloud to a target, and forcing a target to move >120 range from the storm’s edge in order to be considered out of range of a called lightning bolt.
Just my humble interpretation
Since the official errata contradicts this, but leaves the situation unclear I other ways, it would be nice for an official answer on how the spell now works…