Earth Tremor: Shake Things Up

Usable By: Bard, Druid, Sorcerer, Wizard

Spell Level: 1

School: Evocation

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: 10 feet

Duration: Instantaneous

Components: V, S

You cause a tremor in the ground in a 10-foot radius. Each creature other than you in that area must make a Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, a creature takes 1d6 bludgeoning damage and is knocked prone. If the ground in that area is loose earth or stone, it becomes difficult terrain until cleared.

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 2nd level or higher, the damage increases by 1d6 for each slot level above 1st.

Review by Sam West, Twitter: @CrierKobold

Let's be honest: we’ve all taken a giant stick and smashed it into the ground as a kid, pretending to knock back all the evil monsters out of our imagination around us. This is a classic fantasy look, and for good reason. Earth Tremor’s thematic rules; it's the “You Shall Not Pass” moment, the sweeping knockback fantasy games are known for. It delivers on this fantasy about as well as a 1st level spell can, too.

Prone as a condition is one of the cooler ones. It isn’t entirely negative: being prone imposes disadvantage on ranged attacks against you, and grants advantage to melee attacks against you. The potential here is crazy. At its best, you can be granting advantage to your monks, paladins, and barbarians and absolutely decimating swaths of monsters. At its best, Earth Tremor is a solid 1st level option you can use all throughout the game, and it really only gets better with age. This comes with two monumental caveats: the initiative order and the spell’s range.

What's neat about prone (and most other conditions) is they tend to impose advantage or disadvantage on stuff. That means at all stages in the game it’ll affect monsters more or less equally. As your party gains levels, your monks, rangers, fighters, paladins, and barbarians are getting more and more attacks. Party members are starting to summon things that make bunches of attacks. You yourself can summon a suite of angry mephits as a druid or wizard to take advantage of knocking stuff prone by pecking them to death with eight, sixteen, or twenty four angry elementals. Basically the more melee attacks you can make in a round, the better the prone condition gets, and likewise the better Earth Tremor gets. However, these attacks may not mean shit when we consider the first caveat: initiative.

The monumental downside to the prone condition is it’s really easy to end. For no actions and half your movement, you can just get up, ending the condition entirely. Functionally, it’ll last until the prone creatures turn. If all the enemies have turns between you and your party members, this spell can randomly have its effectiveness gutted. If all your allies are between you and the prone creatures, this can be a savage beating of a support spell. Most likely you’re getting something in the middle, but it makes this spell’s effect fairly volatile.

The spell’s range obviously is the second major limiting factor; it's one I adore. To maximize Earth Tremor, you got to get in there like swimwear. You have to be deep in the enemy lines to get as many creatures prone as possible if that’s the goal. It won’t always be the best option you have, but builds using teleportation magic or defensive options like Shield can weaponize Earth Tremor on another front by leveraging it as a slowing effect. The obvious trade off here is you are endangering yourself, and likely will want either your friends up close and ready to smash or have an escape plan. Without one, you’re inviting a savage beating in exchange for the tiniest bit of damage and an AOE trip attack.

I really love Earth Tremor. Dealing a small amount of damage means you always get something out of it. It encourages risky plays, and rewards being built around defensively. It enables your other teammates well, and while you probably don’t want to be using this all too much in the early tiers of play, as you pass 5th level and your party mates are getting two or three attacks each, this can enable advantage on a whole bunch of strikes and radically upgrade in power. You’ll probably never want to up-cast it, because the bulk of the power is in the condition, but it’ll still pop up as a solid action at a cheap cost you’re happy to use at most stages in the game. This spell won’t be for everyone, as the volatile and risk associated with it can be a bit much, but it might be for you. I love it, and highly recommend it.

5e Spells

Earth Tremor: Shake Things Up