Gate Seal 5e
Usable By: Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard
Spell Level: 4
School: Abjuration
Casting Time: 1 Minute
Range: 60 feet
Duration: 24 hours
Components: V, S, M (a broken portal key, which the spell consumes)
You fortify the fabric of the planes in a 30-foot cube you can see within range. Within that area, portals close and can’t be opened for the duration. Spells and other effects that allow planar travel or open portals, such as Gate or Plane Shift, fail if used to enter or leave the area. The cube is stationary.
At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 6th level or higher, the spell lasts until dispelled.
Review by Sam West, Twitter: @CrierKobold
Gate Seal is an interesting little effect. 4th level is fairly high, but in a game dedicated to summoning extraplanar enemies or portals crossing into and out of spaces, there could be a reason to consider adding this to your toolbox.
Once it’s down, you’re locking up existing portals, which can deny “enemy spawning”, which can genuinely be a massive boon to some encounter designs. Other times you can help lock down a villain from fleeing to other planes, acting like a planar anchor.
Or at least it would if it didn’t have a 1 minute cast time.
That cast time. Why? It makes it forced to act as a preventative measure, or as a way to ensure you’re not followed should you get the full minute to cast it. No longer can you reactively set this down when baddies start flowing out of Avernus into your encounter; now, it's a bandaid you can slap on it after you deal with the swarming mobs.
I really, really wish this also shut down teleportation. That would open up its utility a bit outside of Planescape, letting it at least let you set it up as a trap for fey and mages.
Some tables will literally never interact with those kinds of portals, or at least not have any major reason to interact with them in this way. I can envision some games set in Planescape finding locking down gates temporarily just doesn’t have that much value, where encounters focus on varied planar denizens on their home plane or having already invaded elsewhere. If you aren’t actively in a situation where enemies are crossing between worlds, it's utility tanks.
The up-cast is interesting, at least, as its permanence changes what it fundamentally can do. If there are existing portals in use, but not easily replaceable, this can be a solution to close up gapes leaking demons into the world. That’s a useful world-altering tool to have access to, but still not something a lot of adventurers can benefit that well from on an average adventuring day.
By 7th level, I imagine you’ll know if you’re at a table that will find use for Gate Seal. It feels like they undershot the power here substantially. Even in the setting its supposed to flourish in, I don’t want to regularly spend known spells on this if I can help it, and will basically always prefer seeking out scrolls for it or other ways to get this effect for the once or twice a campaign it’s relevant.
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