Galder's Speedy Courier: 30 Nanoseconds or Less
Spell Level: 4
School: Conjuration
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 10 feet
Duration: 10 minutes
Components: V, S, M (25 gold pieces, or mineral goods of equivalent value, which the spell consumes)
You summon a Small air elemental to a spot within range. The air elemental is formless, nearly transparent, immune to all damage, and cannot interact with other creatures or objects. It carries an open, empty chest whose interior dimensions are 3 feet on each side. While the spell lasts, you can deposit as many items inside the chest as will fit. You can then name a living creature you have met and seen at least once before, or any creature for which you possess a body part, lock of hair, clipping from a nail, or similar portion of the creature’s body.
As soon as the lid of the chest is closed, the elemental and the chest disappear, then reappear adjacent to the target creature. If the target creature is on another plane, or if it is proofed against magical detection or location, the contents of the chest reappear on the ground at your feet.
The target creature is made aware of the chest’s contents before it chooses whether or not to open it, and knows how much of the spell’s duration remains in which it can retrieve them. No other creature can open the chest and retrieve its contents. When the spell expires or when all the contents of the chest have been removed, the elemental and the chest disappear. The elemental also disappears if the target creature orders it to return the items to you. When the elemental disappears, any items not taken from the chest reappear on the ground at your feet.
At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using an 8th-level spell slot, you can send the chest to a creature on a different plane of existence from you.
Review by Sam West, Twitter:@CrierKobold
Need a hasty deposit? Have too much gold floating around in your pockets? Want to send a basket of muffins to your betrothed from across faster than your heartbeats when thinking of them? For five easy payments of five gold pieces, you too can use Galder’s Speedy Courier to get your goods where you need to, when you need to!
The Lost Laboratory of Kwalish is an adventure module whose proceeds go to the Extra Life charity; Galder’s Speedy Courier is a nifty little spell from it. I truthfully don’t think the spell is particularly good, especially considering its level and minimal duration, but if you’re in a game with geopolitical drama across multiple states or continents, having an instantaneous means of getting something somewhere could be valuable.
At its worst, this is a slightly more expensive one-sided Sending. You can always stick a note (or a few books worth of notes) in the chest to get information to somebody instantly. It then also has the upside of instantly transporting critical magic items and McGuffins away from villains can open up some bargaining opportunities otherwise harder to deal with. This feels similar to Secret Chest and Sequester to me; it's a means of getting something instantly away from you. There just aren’t all that many circumstances where that’s valuable outside of bargaining.
If you and your party have decided to go into commerce, Galder’s Speedy Courier can literally be instant delivery. You can outdo even Amazon with your shipping times. Beyond just hiding away valuables from people or getting information or critical items to people instantaneously, I think Galder’s Speedy Courier will struggle to earn a spot in your spellbooks.
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