Control Water: H2Owned

Usable By: Cleric, Druid, Wizard

Spell Level: 4

School: Transmutation

Casting Time: 1 Action

Range: 300 feet

Duration: Concentration up to 10 minutes

Components: V, S, M (a drop of water and a pinch of dust)

Until the spell ends, you control any freestanding water inside an area you choose that is a cube up to 100 feet on a side. You can choose from any of the following effects when you cast this spell. As an action on your turn, you can repeat the same effect or choose a different one.

Flood. You cause the water level of all standing water in the area to rise by as much as 20 feet. If the area includes a shore, the flooding water spills over onto dry land. If you choose an area in a large body of water, you instead create a 20--‐‑foot tall wave that travels from one side of the area to the other and then crashes down. Any Huge or smaller vehicles in the wave’s path are carried with it to the other side. Any Huge or smaller vehicles struck by the wave have a 25 percent chance of capsizing. The water level remains elevated until the spell ends or you choose a different effect. If this effect produced a wave, the wave repeats on the start of your next turn while the flood effect lasts.

Part Water. You cause water in the area to move apart and create a trench. The trench extends across the spell’s area, and the separated water forms a wall to either side. The trench remains until the spell ends or you choose a different effect. The water then slowly fills in the trench over the course of the next round until the normal water level is restored.

Redirect Flow. You cause flowing water in the area to move in a direction you choose, even if the water has to flow over obstacles, up walls, or in other unlikely directions. The water in the area moves as you direct it, but once it moves beyond the spell’s area, it resumes its flow based on the terrain conditions. The water continues to move in the direction you chose until the spell ends or you choose a different effect.

Whirlpool. This effect requires a body of water at least 50 feet square and 25 feet deep. You cause a whirlpool to form in the center of the area. The whirlpool forms a vortex that is 5 feet wide at the base, up to 50 feet wide at the top, and 25 feet tall. Any creature or object in the water and within 25 feet of the vortex is pulled 10 feet toward it. A creature can swim away from the vortex by making a Strength (Athletics) check against your spell save DC.

When a creature enters the vortex for the first time on a turn or starts its turn there, it must make a Strength saving throw. On a failed save, the creature takes 2d8 bludgeoning damage and is caught in the vortex until the spell ends. On a successful save, the creature takes half damage, and isn’t caught in the vortex. A creature caught in the vortex can use its action to try to swim away from the vortex as described above, but has disadvantage on the Strength (Athletics) check to do so.

The first time each turn that an object enters the vortex, the object takes 2d8 bludgeoning damage; this damage occurs each round it remains in the vortex.

Review by Sam West, Twitter:@CrierKobold

Control Water has some neat nautical applications, but despite doing a lot of stuff specifically with water, I can’t justify preparing it outside niche waterbound settings.

The spell kind of does five things. Flood lets you raise water levels and create a repeating wave that can displace ships and cause some trouble for smaller vessels. Part Water lets you become Moses, parting the Red Sea (if the metaphorical Red Sea is within a 100 foot cube). Redirect flow lets you change the direction of liquid for a while which has some neat consequences. Finally, Whirlpool offers you the tools to make a whirlpool that deals a bit of damage and sucks stuff into it, which is nifty.

My biggest concern with Control Water is while all of the effects have some interesting applications, they are predominantly going to come up in specific settings only. Flood, Part Water, and Whirlpool have extremely limited uses outside of an aquatic campaign, while Redirect Flow requires a very specific space to work at all, despite it having the most potential outside of that environment.

If you can get any of the effects to matter, they have a gigantic impact. Flipping huge or smaller vessels can keep giant swaths of enemies off your ship. Whirlpools can be a massive hazard that can fill most of a space to mitigate aquatic advance or otherwise batter enemies around you. Part water is probably the worst of all the options, but I can still conceive of a few places where it’d at least be convenient to have alongside redirect flow and flood in some sunken city scenarios where your goal is to get into a structure submerged for a brief amount of time.

This spell is appropriately costed I think, and if you’re constantly navigating the sea or a giant underground lake or something, this can be a pretty fun tool that does lots of stuff for one spell slot. If you’re adventuring in almost any other adventuring setting where water isn’t the main backdrop, I think this spell will be at its best challenging to use, and at its worst functionally uncastable. Fortunately it's for prepared casters, at least, so if you find you’re in the right environment, give it a shot.

5e Spells

Control Water: H2Owned