Command: Sit, Ubu, Sit

Usable By: Cleric, Paladin

Spell Level: 1

School: Enchantment

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: 60 feet

Duration: 1 round

Components: V

You speak a one-word command to a creature you can see within range. The target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or follow the command on its next turn. The spell has no effect if the target is undead, if it doesn’t understand your language, or if your command is directly harmful to it. Some typical commands and their effects follow. You might issue a command other than one described here. If you do so, the GM determines how the target behaves. If the target can’t follow your command, the spell ends.

Approach. The target moves toward you by the shortest and most direct route, ending its turn if it moves within 5 feet of you.

Drop. The target drops whatever it is holding and then ends its turn.

Flee. The target spends its turn moving away from you by the fastest available means.

Grovel. The target falls prone and then ends its turn.

Halt. The target doesn’t move and takes no actions. A flying creature stays aloft, provided that it is able to do so. If it must move to stay aloft, it flies the minimum distance needed to remain in the air.

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 2nd level or higher, you can affect one additional creature for each slot level above 1st. The creatures must be within 30 feet of each other when you target them.

Review by Sam West, Twitter: @CrierKobold

STOP. Okay, now continue. Congratulations, you’ve now functionally been a part of the Command spell! All you do is say a verb you’d like a creature to undertake. It makes a save, and if it fails, it spends at least part of its next turn doing that action. The examples it gives are approach, drop, flee, grovel, and halt, but you aren’t limited to these words: you can hypothetically say any action you can think of, and potentially get wild and wacky results (so long as the creature isn’t aware that whatever action its about to take may bring harm to it).

If you’re in combat, you’ll want commands that eat a creature's entire turn and also give you some other kind of advantage. You can always just say halt to eat all of its actions and movement, so if your goal is to influence an encounter, this is the floor you’re working with. Flee and approach both eat a creature's turn and change its position: this is likely going to have some small upside over halt. Grovel knocks them prone and wastes their turn, which on its own can have a major impact on a fight against a big bad, and drop disarms a creature, which has varying amounts of utility. With this foundation, as a DM I’d go into custom commands with three guiding principles:

A creature spends its entire turn obeying the command
A attempts to perform the action as soon as it is able
A creature will not knowingly enact harm on itself

I know in the spell description it specifies it only needs to spend part of its turn doing the action, but based on the given examples, in order for the players to feel creative and rewarded for coming up with interesting and fun alternatives, I think you’ll want to make them as good or better than the written options.

Having a creature attempt the action as soon as it is able also falls in line with the examples; a creature doesn’t approach you first to grovel, it simply drops prone and grovels. If instructed to strike, it’ll attempt to hit whatever is closest to hit, not approach first and then strike.

This can get messy, but will make this spell feel really fun to use. It is a save or die, after all, and sometimes it’ll get cast and nothing will happen. Making the reward large to will help make the bards, clerics, and paladins feel commanding which is the whole point here. You’re trading your action and a spell slot for it: it needs to have a bigger impact than just casting a cantrip or making an attack roll.

The up-cast version of this also changes the nature of the spell in a huge way; getting an entire group to turn tail and flee or wack each other can be absolutely worth upper level slots. I think it probably caps out at around third level, as after that the kinds of area control effects get better and better, but getting the three ogres to smash each other with their clubs, potentially doing more than just waste all threes turns, has a GIGANTIC impact on a fight.

Command is sweet. This is exactly the kind of control spell I want to see on clerics, bards, and paladins. I like that it feels different on each, too, with paladins coming with a righteous holier than thou attitude, and bards coming with a more subtle, cunning, beguiling magic. It's neat. If you haven’t played around with command, give it a try!

5e Spells

Command: Sit, Ubu, Sit