Catapult: Yeet and Greet

Usable By: Artificer, Sorcerer, Wizard

Spell Level: 1

School: Transmutation

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: 60 feet

Duration: Instantaneous

Components: S

Choose one object weighing 1 to 5 pounds within range that isn’t being worn or carried. The object flies in a straight line up to 90 feet in a direction you choose before falling to the ground, stopping early if it impacts against a solid surface. If the object would strike a creature, that creature must make a Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, the object strikes the target and stops moving. When the object strikes something, the object and what it strikes each take 3d8 bludgeoning damage.

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 2nd level or higher, the maximum weight of objects that you can target with this spell increases by 5 pounds, and the damage increases by 1d8, for each slot level above 1st.

Review by Sam West, Twitter: @CrierKobold

God Catapult is fun. It's nothing fancy or special, but sometimes you just want to throw shit around with your mind. That's Catapult.

The bulk of uses it has are hitting stuff in combat that is up to one-hundred and fifty feet from you. That’s a solid range attached to mediocre damage on an attack roll. There’s always a chance you’ll cast this and miss. Unlike other attack spells, namely Chromatic Orb, this still interacts with the world. Having those rare moments when a buddy disarms a foe and you throw their dagger across the map at their archer friend in the back makes it so even if you miss, you’re doubling up the effective disarm. It would be way cooler if you could take things out of creatures hands, as a five pound limit would make the disarming applications poor anyway, but even with the limitations this can be a useful bit of text.

Out of initiative, Catapult is a way to move light things quickly and far. Throwing something ninety feet is more than a turn of dashing for most people. When the game of poker goes south and all the gold is on the line, Catapulting the bag across the room to a buddy instantaneously can facilitate a smash and grab approach many adventures favor. Sometimes you just need to break a window, but don’t want to make it clear what direction the projectile came from; using an object sixty feet from you to break something ninety feet from it can mask your location entirely and leave the vandalized perplexed.

Upcasting it is pretty awful. 2nd level spells offer better attack roll damage than this. It has the minute benefit of getting five extra pounds of weight to move, though, meaning sometimes you’ll want to use the object yeeting effect badly enough you’re willing to pay a 4th or 5th level slot to do it.

Plenty of characters want to do the mental magic thing, and this is a pure, clean method for it. Stranger Things has D&D and psychic abilities at the forefront of pop culture, not to mention the ever present Star Wars fans looking to force throw. This isn’t a game warping spell, but does just enough more than attack to justify taking it. If you’re skeptical of its utility, I’d recommend trying it out. The combat implications are fine, and every now and then you’ll go “Oh, wow, throwing something far away actually is helpful here!”

5e Spells

Catapult: Yeet and Greet