Imprisonment: Alakatraz!

Spell Level: 9

School: Abjuration

Casting Time: 1 minute

Range: 30 feet

Duration: Until dispelled

Components: V, S, M (A vellum depiction or a carved statuette in the likeness of the target, and a special component that varies according to the version of the spell you choose, worth at least 500 gp per Hit Die of the target)

You create a magical restraint to hold a creature that you can see within range. The target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or be bound by the spell; if it succeeds, it is immune to this spell if you cast it again. While affected by this spell, the creature doesn’t need to breathe, eat, or drink, and it doesn’t age. Divination spells can’t locate or perceive the target.

When you cast the spell, you choose one of the following forms of imprisonment.

Burial. The target is entombed far beneath the earth in a sphere of magical force that is just large enough to contain the target. Nothing can pass through the sphere, nor can any creature teleport or use planar travel to get into or out of it. The special component for this version of the spell is a small mithral orb.

Chaining. Heavy chains, firmly rooted in the ground, hold the target in place. The target is restrained until the spell ends, and it can’t move or be moved by any means until then. The special component for this version of the spell is a fine chain of precious metal.

Hedged Prison. The spell transports the target into a tiny demiplane that is warded against teleportation and planar travel. The demiplane can be a labyrinth, a cage, a tower, or any similar confined structure or area of your choice. The special component for this version of the spell is a miniature representation of the prison made from jade.

Minimus Containment. The target shrinks to a height of 1 inch and is imprisoned inside a gemstone or similar object. Light can pass through the gemstone normally (allowing the target to see out and other creatures to see in), but nothing else can pass through, even by means of teleportation or planar travel. The gemstone can’t be cut or broken while the spell remains in effect. The special component for this version of the spell is a large, transparent gemstone, such as a corundum, diamond, or ruby.

Slumber. The target falls asleep and can’t be awoken. The special component for this version of the spell consists of rare soporific herbs.

Ending the Spell. During the casting of the spell, in any of its versions, you can specify a condition that will cause the spell to end and release the target. The condition can be as specific or as elaborate as you choose, but the GM must agree that the condition is reasonable and has a likelihood of coming to pass. The conditions can be based on a creature’s name, identity, or deity but otherwise must be based on observable actions or qualities and not based on intangibles such as level, class, or hit points.

A Dispel Magic spell can end the spell only if it is cast as a 9th-level spell, targeting either the prison or the special component used to create it.

You can use a particular special component to create only one prison at a time. If you cast the spell again using the same component, the target of the first casting is immediately freed from its binding.

Review by Samuel West, Twitter: @CrierKobold

I wouldn’t fault you for ignoring Imprisonment as it is the length of a PHD student’s thesis. This spell isn’t made for players nor monsters; this is a spell that exists for world building alone. You can technically take it, I just don’t know when you’d ever actually want to use it when death is a pretty solid option.

For all the text, each effect is functionally the same. You might trap an entity in an “impossible” to escape place. If you’re looking to stick the lich somewhere and don’t feel like hunting down the phylactery, your best bets are probably minimus containment or burial, but in all five cases you’re getting the same effect. Each mode sets up potential immortal beings trapped in various locations to fit specific settings. The spell could do away with all the modes and offer them instead as examples of “inescapable prisons”, which would make the spell shorter while remaining functionally the same. Because they’re all here as options, it seems like the intended purpose is to inspire tales of myth and create legends in your world while having a concrete set of rules for it.

If you’re the caster for some reason, from a rules perspective you can make it so there isn’t any way to escape outside a 9th level Dispel Magic. The escape clause is optional, but when made has to be reasonable. This is a contradictory design. Is there any good reason why you can’t offer an impossible means of escape if you’d otherwise just not give any? It seems like a waste of paper to me.

Let's say you buy into the fantasy and want to create one of these moments as the climax of your game. First, you probably need to be against a monster who either can’t die, or is easily resurrected. Next, you need to beat said monster up to the point where you can restrain it for a full minute (ten rounds), and ensure it has no remaining legendary resistances. Then, you need to take out a loan from the local bank to pay the tens of thousands of gold needed to create the materials to lock away your foe. Finally, you have to pray it fails its saving throw, otherwise you’re now in debt, have to rest to get your 9th level spell back, and have to do so while your holding captive something so powerful death can’t stop it. So much has to go right here; it's wildly impractical to assume it is going to happen. Sure, you could go around throwing random people in the tavern deep underground for 500g a pop, but is that really worth your 9th level spell slot?

Imprisonment feels like it should be lore in the DMG or rules described in a book. If you want it to be part of the final conclusion to a campaign, if you’re the DM, offer it as a bonus spell to be unlocked and learned through other means. Having to waste a spell slot and a known spell on this feels pretty terrible when you could instead have Wish or Time Stop.

5e Spells

Imprisonment: Alakatraz!