Cordon of Arrows: Seeds of Destruction

Usable By: Ranger

Spell Level: 2

School: Transmutation

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: 5 feet

Duration: 8 hours

Components: V, S, M (four or more arrows or bolts)

You plant four pieces of nonmagical ammunition – arrows or crossbow bolts – in the ground within range and lay magic upon them to protect an area. Until the spell ends, whenever a creature other than you comes within 30 feet of the ammunition for the first time on a turn or ends its turn there, one piece of ammunition flies up to strike it. The creature must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw or take 1d6 piercing damage. The piece of ammunition is then destroyed. The spell ends when no ammunition remains.

When you cast this spell, you can designate any creatures you choose, and the spell ignores them.

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 3rd level or higher, the amount of ammunition that can be affected increases by two for each slot level above 2nd.

Review by Sam West, Twitter: @CrierKobold

Burning Hands is an iconic D&D spell at this point. People dipping their toes into D&D find that this 1st level flamethrower feels great to use, and by using it, can learn a lot about combat tactics, risk versus reward play, and how to juice the most out of your resources. It has a low damage floor of half of 3d6 fire damage, but also has a high damage ceiling of 3d6 times however many creatures you can get in a 15 ft. cone. This is all to show what a decent spell looks like; it offers flexibility, interesting choices, and has dynamic circumstances that allow it shine.

We then get to the main topic: Cordon of Arrows. The floor here is literally nothing; you cast a 2nd level spell, prep the arrows as a trap, and they never fire. The ceiling of damage here is capped at 4d6 at 2nd level; you can’t line up to hit more than one creature, or otherwise feel rewarded for clever placement. To make matters worse, the damage can be dragged out over four turns if you’re fighting a single enemy, and can be mitigated by simply backing up. You need to be 5th level to get access to this spell; a 3rd level character can just up-cast burning hands and immediately blow this spell out of the water.

It is baffling to me just how bad ranger spells are, and Cordon of Arrows is no exception. Yes, it can be “actionless” damage in combat should you set up appropriately, but at the rate of 4d6 for a 2nd level slot you don’t get until 5th level that requires setup long in advance, it just never feels worth it. If you are getting the drop on enemies anyway and could prepare actions, adding a single d6 per enemy (max of four) to a round of attacks from you and your allies is pitiful. Hunter's Mark offers up to 2d6 damage a round by this stage, lasts an hour, and can be moved around as you need. The damage ceiling on Hunter’s Mark (even if you have to up-cast it for no extra benefits) is WAY higher than that of Cordon. You’d need two rounds of hits with your extra attack to get the same damage Cordon of Arrows offers using a 1st level spell that has a longer duration, doesn’t require you to get enemies running at you, and uses a bonus action you likely aren’t using that much anyway.

A major pain point for me with this spell is the fantasy it’s trying to sell is largely unsupported in 5e meaningfully. Rangers often can take the role of the trap setter, the big game hunter. Player’s want to feel like they’ve set a strategic ambush, and be rewarded for building tools into their kit to bring that fantasy to life. Cordon of Arrows is supposed to embellish and empower that fantasy, but does so little it feels pointless. The practical effects just have so little impact you’ll be better off not wasting the fifteen minutes figuring out where you want to place them down and getting to the cool ambush scene faster with less bookkeeping.

If this spell did twice as much damage, it’d still be pretty bad, but at least feel usable. 8d6 damage maximum for a 2nd level spell. You’re a 5th level character at this point, and you had to set up a trap of some kind to get the spell to effectively work. That equates to an upcast Burning Hands hitting two people. If not more damage, make it slow hit enemies or grant some form of advantage against hit enemies to make an impact. As is, Cordon of Arrows would be bad as a 1st level spell, and it's a 2nd level spell attached to half casters. Don’t take it.

5e Spells

Cordon of Arrows: Seeds of Destruction