Gravity Sinkhole: Sucks to be You
Usable By: Wizard
Spell Level: 4
School: Evocation (dunamancy:graviturgy)
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 120 feet
Duration: Instantaneous
Components: V, S, M (a black marble)
A 20-foot-radius sphere of crushing force forms at a point you can see within range and tugs at the creatures there. Each creature in the sphere must make a Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, the creature takes 5d10 force damage, and is pulled in a straight line toward the center of the sphere, ending in an unoccupied space as close to the center as possible (even if that space is in the air). On a successful save, the creature takes half as much damage and isn't pulled.
At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 5th level or higher, the damage increases by 1d10 for each slot level above 4th.
Review by Sam West, Twitter:@CrierKobold
The wizened mathematician looks to the sky, gnarled gray staff in hand. The approaching bandits have come to rip apart his precious equipment; they assumed he was an easy mark. Some old academic, hidden away in his observatory, powerless, defenseless. With a twinkle in the wizard's eye, he gently holds up a black marble in one hand, framing it above his staff towards the snarling brigands. A second later, the marauders were hoisted collectively together towards a dense, black sphere materializing above them, stuffing them into a tight ball and breaking every bone in their bodies in the process.
Black holes are super metal. Using magical force to pull enemies into a vortex and squish them together is an incredible fantasy. Gravity Sinkhole is roughly as much damage in a similar area to a 3rd level Fireball, but comes with a fun movement tool tacked on for the slight damage drop.
With the bulk of the spell's interest centering on the pull, its hard to say this spell is particularly good. It's really cool, but for what ultimately is a single time use mass Grasping Vine has me somewhat let down. The area is fairly large, and this can really mess with creatures positioning, but they aren’t slowed or knocked prone or anything after the pull. Should they still live, they can land back on the ground and run back at you.
If you can get this to pull creatures through a wall or other damaging effect, this is actually crazy. It will cost you a lot, but getting bonus damage from something like a Wall of Fire or Blade Barrier with a higher level slot can leave some encounters absolutely decimated. Outside of specifically taking spells to build around this with, if you’re just using it outside of other persistent magical effects, the pull is unremarkable.
At the end of the day if you think the imagery here is awesome, and want a decent damage spell, this is a slightly worse Fireball most of the time. If your aim is to do as much damage as possible, enhance a Prismatic Wall or Wall of Force, or have some other payoff for pulling creatures to a smaller area, this can easily find a home on your sheets. The cost is fairly low when the floor is “barely worse Fireball”, but if you already have Fireball and aren’t looking to dive into multi-turn planning with strategic wall placements, you probably don’t want this.
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