Forbiddance: D&D’s Electric Fence
Usable By: Cleric
Spell Level: 6
School: Abjuration (ritual)
Casting Time: 10 minutes
Range: Touch
Duration: 1 day
Components: V, S, M (A sprinkling of holy water, rare incense, and powdered ruby worth at least 1,000 gp)
You create a ward against magical travel that protects up to 40,000 square feet of floor space to a height of 30 feet above the floor. For the duration, creatures can’t teleport into the area or use portals, such as those created by the Gate spell, to enter the area. The spell proofs the area against planar travel, and therefore prevents creatures from accessing the area by way of the Astral Plane, Ethereal Plane, Feywild, Shadowfell, or the Plane Shift spell.
In addition, the spell damages types of creatures that you choose when you cast it. Choose one or more of the following: celestials, elementals, fey, fiends, and undead. When a chosen creature enters the spell’s area for the first time on a turn or starts its turn there, the creature takes 5d10 radiant or necrotic damage (your choice when you cast this spell).
When you cast this spell, you can designate a password. A creature that speaks the password as it enters the area takes no damage from the spell.
The spell’s area can’t overlap with the area of another forbiddance spell. If you cast forbiddance every day for 30 days in the same location, the spell lasts until it is dispelled, and the material components are consumed on the last casting.
Review by Sam West, Twitter: @CrierKobold
Dungeons and Dragons always has had some issues at upper tiers of play, largely based around ludicrously powerful magical spells that reshape how the fundamentals of play look. To counteract the randombullshitgo nature of upper tier magic, spells like Forbiddance exist, and may I just say the game can’t get enough of this kind of spells.
Forbiddance acts as a defensive tool against extraplanar villains, teleporting masterminds, and diabolic summoners. It flays extraplanar creatures trying to exist in the space, and creates a zone where the denizens of the material can live peacefully. The spell has great practical uses in specific dungeon environments, and can lead to strategic plans dedicated to infiltrating a lair full of monsters and destroying them all should you get ten minutes of respite.
The world building elements the spell adds offer the DM a suite of great ways to clearly set boundaries and reel in specific kinds of magic that may be leading to some balance disparities between players. If summoning magic is running rampant, Forbiddance can easily act as a valve to shut off that kind of effect in specific environments to create different challenges. If the party plans on just teleporting into the dragon’s treasure vault, grabbing the goods, and teleporting out, they’ll be in for a rough time when they find the dragon was prepared for this basic magical intrusion.
If you’re a player, while it won’t be a spell you cast often, when you do cast Forbiddance it’ll feel incredible. As a DM, there are few spells better built for creating clear limits to other powerful effects that exist in the game. Plus, now your party's tiny plot of land they got in session one can be a defensible sanctuary from the spawning hell demons you all accidentally released when things went sour fighting Asmodeus.
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