So, I just saw this post on reddit :
https://www.reddit.com/r/BaldursGat..._little_psa_on_witch_bolt_functionality/Basically, it seems like it's possible to spend an action point to recast Witch Bolt when it would obviously fail (and does) because the target is outside of bound. However, this isn't conveyed by the UI, at all.
The player should be warned that the action will fail because the target is too far.
Ideally, the player shouldn't even be able to spend that action at all.
After all, the game already prevents players from attacking (weapon or spell) a target if the later can't be reached while displaying a "Target is too far!" in red.
This seems to be an issue with Witch Bolt, I don't know if other spells are concerned by that.