Druidcraft: Turn Over a New Leaf
Usable By: Druid
Spell Level: 0 (cantrip)
School: Transmutation
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 30 feet
Duration: Instantaneous
Components: V, S
Whispering to the spirits of nature, you create one of the following effects within range:
You create a tiny, harmless sensory effect that predicts what the weather will be at your location for the next 24 hours. The effect might manifest as a golden orb for clear skies, a cloud for rain, falling snowflakes for snow, and so on. This effect persists for 1 round.
You instantly make a flower blossom, a seed pod open, or a leaf bud bloom.
You create an instantaneous, harmless sensory effect, such as falling leaves, a puff of wind, the sound of a small animal, or the faint odor of skunk. The effect must fit in a 5-foot cube.
You instantly light or snuff out a candle, a torch, or a small campfire.
Review by Sam West, @CrierKobold
Cosmetic spells are some of my absolute favorites. Nothing really sells the in game fantasy of a character to me like having harmless sensory effects coating every inch of everything they do. I want my druid dedicated to growing fungus to have little baby mushrooms grow in their footsteps. I want my circle of the land druid, protector of the forest, to spend their free time helping flowers bloom by simply meditating around them. If I’ve got a circle of the moon druid, I want to have the animalistic instincts we see in dogs and cats before a hurricane. Druidcraft is a way I can have all of these things and more, and while they certainly are extra and more or less just flavorful, I love them.
Creating the weather predicting ball is nifty, and can have some mediocre applications when doing hexcrawl style games. Assisting plants can sell the whimsical druid fantasy, which can aid in creating a specific feeling you’re looking to get for your character that aids in their influence with others. Harmless sensory effects offer the widest breadth of utility, as it functions similar to illusion magic; the more creative the user, the better this can be. Lighting or snuffing small flames is practically mundane, but at a 30 ft. range will come up in a pinch when trying to hide in darkness.
The four modes Druidcraft is giving you vary wildly in usefulness. All of them can provide some limited amounts of utility in exploration, but they aren’t really intended to be major assets that change how you play the game. These are tools to dress your character in whatever magic you want. Do you want to play the stinky hermit hippie type who refuses to bathe and smells like a stable? Do you want to be the Disney princess with nature singing around you? Are you just here to cosplay as Smokey the Bear? Then Druidcraft is for you!
No, this isn’t a game breaking spell, nor is it something you’ll reliably lean on for help in most circumstances. But if you’re looking to sell a specific fantasy and bring a bunch of extra fun, yet niche, effects to play, Druidcraft is exceptional.
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