Hello spellcasters of all shapes and sizes! Welcome to my spellbook and thank you so much for checking out the 39th episode of our cantrip series. Today we’re going to be taking a look at another flavorful druidy nature spell…we’re looking at thorn whip spell dnd 5e guys. Usable exclusively by the druid class and through extension anyone else with access to their spell lists and found in the players handbook. This really is a classic and to be honest one of the most popular druidic spells out there. The mechanics are as followed.
Mechanics
- Level: Cantrip
- Casting Time: 1 Action
- Range/Area: 30 ft
- Components: V, S, M
- Duration: Instantaneous
- School: Transmutation
- Attack/Save: Melee
- Damage/Effect: Piercing
Your damage die is a D6 you start with one get an additional at 5th, 11th and 17th level. For a grand total of 4d6. Your cast time is one action, the range is 30 feet. The duration is instantaneous, the saving throw would just be a melee spell attack versus your opponent AC.
The components are somatic, verbal and material that is the holy trinity ladies and gentlemen. If you’re curious about that material component it is the stem of a plant with thorns. It is not used up in this spell however if you want it to be you know what flavor wise it makes sense.
The school is transmutation and the damage type is piercing. Now let’s take a look at the full description just to give you guys better idea of what this spell is, how it works and of all the flavor that’s bundled into this little thing. Let’s get started.
Description
You create a long, vine-like whip covered in thorns that lashes out at your command toward a creature in range. Make a melee spell attack against the target. If the attack hits, the creature takes 1d6 piercing damage, and if the creature is Large or smaller, you pull the creature up to 10 feet closer to you. The spell’s damage increases by 1d6 when you reach 5th level (2d6), 11th level (3d6), and 17th level (4d6).
Wowzers so very cool! something i’d like to point out now and i will get into it a little bit later is does thorn whip always pull? you can pull up to 10 feet closer to you. Meaning you can pull between 1 to 10. So that’s very useful, there’s a quite a bit of uses for this spell. And flavor-wise it is definitely there. That being said, let’s take a look at some alternative uses here naturally these are up to your DM, if your DM says no…it’s a NO but i think they’re pretty cool regardless. You can also read our article on does thorn whip deal magical damage?.
Alternative Uses
You can advantage of that movement to put an enemy NPC monster or what have you into a trap you’ve set up prior. Alternatively you can actually use this on allies as well. They will take a little bit of damage but since force movement does not provoke attacks of opportunity, you can actually get them out of harm’s way, without worrying about taking the attack of opportunity. So super useful there.
Conclusion
That being said, if you have any crazy ideas for this spell, any alternative uses of your own or any crazy stories involving this cantrip i’d really like to hear down in the comments below and i know everyone checking this article would as well. That being said, i hope you guys have a great day and as always happy casting.
Also check out these primal savagery 5e | shillelagh 5e | entangle 5e | dnd 5e familiar | lightning lure 5e.