Hello magic casters of all shapes and sizes! Welcome to my spellbook and thank you so much for checking out the 71st episode of our second level spell series. Today we’re going to be taking a look at quite arguably the most overpowered second level spell in the game. Depending on kind of how i go about rulling it, maybe with the exception of phantasmal force but that is to be taken on a case-by-case basis.
Today we’re looking at spike growth spell dnd which sounds relatively unassuming, it is usable by the druid and the ranger which is how you know it’s gonna be great druid and ranger have access to some of the most flavorful spells in the game and it is found in the good old players handbook. Now without further ado let’s actually take a look at these mechanics and break down exactly how the spell works.
Table of Contents
Mechanics
- Level: 2nd
- Casting Time: 1 Action
- Range/Area: 150 ft (20 ft Radius)
- Components: V, S, M *
- Duration: 10 Minutes (Concentration)
- School: Transmutation
- Attack/Save: None
- Damage/Effect: Control
The damage is 2d4 per five feet of movement while within the spells area of effect. That’s pretty nuts. The effect at a glance is as followed:
Create an area of thorns that deals damage and becomes difficult terrain. A creature can make a perception check to spot the disguised terrain.
Your cast time is one action, The range is an insane 150 feet and the radius is a more than impressive 20 feet. The duration is ten minutes and sadly it is concentration but all things considered it’s great.
The components are the holy trinity so somatic, material and verbal. If you’re curious about that material component it is seven sharp thorns or seven small twigs each sharpened to a point. And the school is transmutation and the damage type is piercing which is technically considered magical damage by the way just so everyone’s on the same page about that. Now let’s take a quick look moment here and look at the full description and better flesh out this spell.
Description
The ground in a 20-foot radius centered on a point within range twists and sprouts hard spikes and thorns. The area becomes difficult terrain for the duration. When a creature moves into or within the area, it takes 2d4 piercing damage for every 5 feet it travels.
The transformation of the ground is camouflaged to look natural. Any creature that can’t see the area at the time the spell is cast must make a Wisdom (Perception) check against your spell save DC to recognize the terrain as hazardous before entering it. * – (seven sharp thorns or seven small twigs, each sharpened to a point)
Needless to say super incredible! So if a person weren’t through essentially just dead sprint through the whole twenty feet radius you’d be looking at 8d4 piercing damage which is pretty incredible. There is an argument to be made for whether or not forced movement procs this effect, i personally would roll against it.
Not so much because of anything the wording seems to imply but more so because typically it doesn’t also it would make the spell way too overpowered if it did. For example you could just use a cantrip like something like infestation and just cause the person to run around in there and potentially just kill them that way. You can also check out this shillelagh 5e.
However logically it does make sense that it would have like damage so. I don’t know ask your DM about it, see what they think. One of the best things about this spell is it is camouflaged which makes it an ideal trap and to be honest perception checks are kind of weird because there’s an argument to be made that a person wouldn’t always be actively perceiving everything. Also check out thorn whip 5e.
So as long as your spell save DC was above their passive perception, i would think that it would go fairly unnoticed for the most part. In any case let’s take a quick look at some alternative uses here and see exactly we can come up with.
Alternative Uses
So i think one of the best ways to use this is to be used to take down multiple enemies. Especially at early levels the spell is quite frankly just overpowered and underrated. You could essentially wipe out a whole horde of goblins with this a relatively little problem.
Another great way to use this is casting it on an enemy’s kind of camp before you rate it. This is probably the best at a night when they’re all gonna be sleeping in their tents or huts or what-have-you and then as soon as they run out they take immense damage. I think that’s pretty cool!
Also if you want to use it as a trap in some sort of maze, labyrinth or something else like that maybe even a pit trap this would be a great way to use it as well.
Conclusion
That being said, if you have any alternative uses, ideas, thoughts, comments, concerns regarding on how to get spike growth 5e please put it down beneath in the comment section. Thank you so much everyone i hope you all have a great day and as always happy casting. Keep reading spider climb 5e | entangle 5e | plant growth 5e |