September Spell Collection

To be honest, this post is a palate cleanse in the midst of a longer writing project. A friend of mine who suffers from polymorphous light eruption thought it sounded like a D&D spell and agreed that I should turn it into one, and since I’m not going to write a post with just one spell… well, here we are.

Polymorphic Light Eruption

7th-level transmutation (bard, druid, sorcerer, wizard)

Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 30 feet
Components: V, S, M (a prism)
Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute

You create a light source in a space within 30 feet of you that you can see. It provides bright light in a constantly changing hue within a 60-foot radius, and dim light for an additional 60 feet. One creature of your choice in the area of the bright light rolls a Constitution saving throw; a shapechanger or a creature with 0 hit points automatically succeeds this save, and a willing creature that isn’t a shapechanger can choose to fail.

On a failed saving throw, the creature is transformed into a beast or ooze of your choice whose challenge rating is 6 or less, and less than or equal to the target’s challenge rating. The transformation lasts for the duration, or until the target drops to 0 hit points or dies.

The target assumes the hit points of its new form. When it reverts to its normal form, the creature returns to the number of hit points it had before it transformed. If it reverts as a result of dropping to 0 hit points, any excess damage carries over to its normal form. As long as the excess damage doesn't reduce the creature's normal form to 0 hit points, it isn't knocked unconscious.

The creature is limited in the actions it can perform by the nature of its new form, and it can't speak, cast spells, or take any other action that requires hands or speech. The target's gear melds into the new form. The creature can't activate, use, wield, or otherwise benefit from any of its equipment.

Each round after the round you cast this spell, you can use your bonus action to choose another target for this spell, which must be a creature you can see in the spell’s bright light. This doesn’t end the transformation of any previous targets.

Force Rush

1st-level evocation (bard, ranger, sorcerer, warlock, wizard)

Casting Time: 1 bonus action
Range: Self
Components: S
Duration: Instantaneous

Carried and protected by telekinetic force, you move 30 feet in a straight line, in any horizontal direction. This movement doesn’t provoke opportunity attacks. You deal 1d10 force damage to any creature and 2d10 force damage to any object in your path, and you burst through any objects reduced to 0 hit points by this damage. The spell prevents any damage you would take from moving through objects or into dangerous areas. If you end your movement from this spell in a damaging area, you take damage as if you have entered it.

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 3rd level or higher, it deals an additional 1d10 damage to creatures in your path, and 2d10 damage to objects in your path, for every two spell levels higher than 1st.

Lifeleech Thorns

7th-level necromancy (druid, warlock)

Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 60 feet
Components: V, S, M (a holly bough)
Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute

Grasping thorny vines sprout from the ground in a 20-foot square, starting from a point within range. For the duration, these vines turn the area into difficult terrain.

A creature in the area when you cast the spell must succeed a Strength saving throw or take 8d6 piercing damage and become restrained. When a creature restrained by this spell ends its turn, it can make another Strength saving throw, ending the restrained condition on a success.

On each of your turns until the spell ends, you can use a bonus action to choose yourself or one creature you can touch. That creature regains 5 hit points for each creature currently restrained by your spell.

On each of your turns until the spell ends, you can use your action to move the target area to a new 20-foot square. The previous target area ceases to be difficult terrain, though restrained creatures in that area are still restrained.

Fate’s Arrow

4th-level divination (artificer, bard, cleric, druid, ranger)

Casting Time: 1 bonus action
Range: Self
Components: V, S
Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute

The next time you hit with a ranged weapon attack during the spell’s duration, the weapon’s ammunition, or the weapon itself if it’s a thrown weapon, grants you a prescient knowledge of the creature’s fate. For the spell’s duration, you gain the following:

· Each time you make an attack roll against the target that is not a critical hit, the number of d20 results that cause a critical hit increases by 1, counting downward from 20.

· Once per turn when you miss the creature with an attack, you can use your reaction to reroll, keeping the higher result.

· When you critically hit the target, you deal an additional 2d10 damage.

Design Notes

The goal with fate’s arrow is to be a boss-killer buff. I’d need to see it in play to figure out if it hits that mark, or if it’s just a lot of excess complication (tracking your gradually-expanding crit range). It comes out of wanting some support for archer Valor bards, and trying to get to some archery spells for rangers that are worth using other than just swift quiver. Giving it to clerics is a nod to the War cleric in my Birthright game – hi Marsupialmancer! Lastly, it’s consciously referencing arrow of destiny, a 29th-level bard power in 4e.

Lifeleech thorns is also an adaptation of a cool 4e spell. Damage + restraining + vampiric healing seems like a good high-end druid effect, but it’s also a lot of different ways the spell can be broken all at once. What I’m saying is that I’m not entirely satisfied with it, but I like the core idea a lot.

Force rush is just Sharp Shadow from Hollow Knight, without the incorporeality. I feel like I’ve seen this concept in Sword Art Online and the like a lot. It also comes from talking to a friend about the relative paucity of low-level telekinesis-themed effects (without getting into reskinning, I mean).

Polymorphic light eruption imagines the light as responsible for the eruption of polymorphing, but in a different way than the real-life polymorphous light eruption means. Also, if this is something that you suffer from, please accept my deep sympathy – it has made my friend intensely miserable and I don’t wish that on anyone.

In terms of balance, I’m trying to stake out a position between polymorph at 4th and mass polymorph at 9th. It accomplishes a mass polymorph, just slower. It might be a whole mess – of all of the spells here, I can live with this one being a joke for my friend’s benefit.