Illusory Dragon: Frightened by My Own Shadow

Usable By: Wizard

Spell Level: 8

School: Illusion

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: 120 feet

Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute

Components: S

By gathering threads of shadow material from the Shadowfell, you create a Huge shadowy dragon in an unoccupied space that you can see within range. The illusion lasts for the spell’s duration and occupies its space, as if it were a creature.

When the illusion appears, any of your enemies that can see it must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or become frightened of it for 1 minute. If a frightened creature ends its turn in a location where it doesn’t have line of sight to the illusion, it can repeat the saving throw, ending the effect on itself on a success.

As a bonus action on your turn, you can move the illusion up to 60 feet. At any point during its movement, you can cause it to exhale a blast of energy in a 60-foot cone originating from its space.

When you create the dragon, choose a damage type: acid, cold, fire, lightning, necrotic, or poison. Each creature in the cone must make an Intelligence saving throw, taking 7d6 damage of the chosen damage type on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.

The illusion is tangible because of the shadow stuff used to create it, but attacks miss it automatically. it succeeds on all saving throws, and it is immune to all damage and conditions. A creature that uses an action to examine the dragon can determine that it is an illusion by succeeding on an Intelligence (Investigation) check against your spell save DC. If a creature discerns the illusion for what it is, the creature can see through it and has advantage on saving throws against its breath.

Review by Sam West, Twitter:@CrierKobold

8th level spells need to be pretty powerful in this day and age. Facing down creatures when you’re level 15+ means you’re going to be needing the best tools for handling a huge array of diverse kinds and quantities of threats. Sometimes the best way to handle a bunch of kinds of monsters is to have access to your OWN; Illusory Dragon is exactly that, and it's horrifying .

Unlike a lot of other illusions, Illusory Dragon puts a tangible dragon into the world under your control. Sure, it’s made of “shadow stuff” and can be inspected like a regular illusion, but its damage and fear effects are here to stay for however long you can keep concentration up.

Dealing 7d6 damage of a type of your choice in a 60 ft. cone attached to a dragon with a 60 ft. move speed is CRAZY good; with three rounds, you’re getting 21d6 damage put out where you want it in gigantic areas. If this sticks up for 6 rounds, you can be spending your bonus actions to get the same damage a single Meteor Swarm meteor deals. That’s really good. The flexible damage types also mean you can basically guarantee whatever you’re facing isn’t going to be immune or resistant to the damage, and at this tier of play, that can be a life saver.

Worst case scenario with Illusory Dragon you’re getting an immediate dragon with a cone 7d6 save out to 180 feet from you and a giant AOE fear. Creatures then can waste actions attempting to discern it as an illusion (which is honestly a great deal for you) or otherwise just suffer a constant barrage of elemental magic. This is an exceptional summoning spell doing everything you’d want a summoning spell to do in combat, and while its applications outside of initiative are pretty poor, sometimes you just want a Spiritual Weapon that’s a 7d6 damage flamethrower. When in the mood for that, seek out Illusory Dragon; it slaps.

5e Spells

Illusory Dragon: Frightened by My Own Shadow