Confusion: Dude, What’s a Car?
Usable By: Bard, Druid, Sorcerer, Wizard
Spell Level: 4
School: Enchantment
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 90 feet
Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute
Components: V, S, M (three nut shells)
This spell assaults and twists creatures’ minds, spawning delusions and provoking uncontrolled action. Each creature in a 10-foot-radius sphere centered on a point you choose within range must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw when you cast this spell or be affected by it. An affected target can’t take reactions and must roll a d10 at the start of each of its turns to determine its behavior for that turn.
1: The creature uses all its movement to move in a random direction. To determine the direction, roll a d8 and assign a direction to each die face. The creature doesn't take an action this turn.
2-6: The creature doesn't move or take actions this turn.
7-8: The creature uses its action to make a melee attack against a randomly determined creature within its reach. If there is no creature within its reach, the creature does nothing this turn.
9-10: The creature can act and move normally.
At the end of each of its turns, an affected target can make a Wisdom saving throw. If it succeeds, this effect ends for that target.
At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 5th level or higher, the radius of the sphere increases by 5 feet for each slot level above 4th.
Review by Sam West, Twitter:@CrierKobold
We all know the kind of player that wants to revel in chaos. These are the players looking to mingle with wild magic, take enormous risks for their minimum payoff, seek out whatever the dumbest, most grandeur possible solution to the most mundane problem and go at it with no reservations. Confusion should be a tool that these characters want, a point of mass hysteria and chaos. When cast, though, you get a 10 ft. radius sphere that will most often result in creature’s acting stunned, or acting fairly normally. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, mind you; a spell that save or dies a 10 ft. radius sphere, with failing the save often resulting in a stunned or better condition, is entirely reasonable, but the fun of the confusion getting characters to do something wacky really only happens on 7s or 8s, when they attack a random creature. Otherwise, they’re skipping their turn, moving then skipping their turn, or just acting normally, and none of those results are particularly exciting.
If you’re in the market for a 4th level spell that somewhat debilitates a fairly small area most of the time, Confusion does that. What I think it should be is so much more; more results getting creatures to take different actions amidst their spontaneous confusion is a must, and having any result that causes a creature that already gets a save to act normally probably shouldn’t be here.
Bards are the main class I see this spell showing up on, for both the chaos and utility reasons, and there it is entirely fine. Druids have a hard time giving up their concentration for this, and sorcerers and wizards often don’t want to be spending their highest level slots on this kind of utility. If unbridled, high variance chaos is what you’re looking for, Confusion is pretty disappointing. If you’re instead looking to lock down three to four creatures with one save or die, Confusion can mostly deliver on that.
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