Knock: Oh, the Places You’ll Go!
Usable By: Bard, Sorcerer, Wizard
Spell Level: 2
School: Transmutation
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 60 feet
Duration: Instantaneous
Components: V
Choose an object that you can see within range. The object can be a door, a box, a chest, a set of manacles, a padlock, or another object that contains a mundane or magical means that prevents access.
A target that is held shut by a mundane lock or that is stuck or barred becomes unlocked, unstuck, or unbarred. If the object has multiple locks, only one of them is unlocked.
If you choose a target that is held shut with arcane lock, that spell is suppressed for 10 minutes, during which time the target can be opened and shut normally.
When you cast the spell, a loud knock, audible from as far away as 300 feet, emanates from the target object.
Review by Sam West, Twitter:@CrierKobold
We’ve eclipsed the need for Knock. Tables don’t need this effect anymore; it doesn’t enhance games, but replace a popular fantasy with a spell cast. I have seen a single player cast Knock once, and it literally just felt like a waste of a spell slot to get through a door that had a dozen mundane options to gain entry through.
The lockpick exists. The entire rogue class gets thieve’s tools proficiency specifically to deliver this fantasy. A 2nd level spell that breaks a single lock will either be worthless, as there will be multiple locks on an object to mitigate it, or invalidate the rogue by replacing their cool thing with just one prepared spell. No rogue in the party to invalidate? Well now the other martial characters like the barbarian, fighter, and paladin don’t have an opportunity to flex and kick it in. You lose out on the investigation checks that identify the jailer, the survival checks to hunt down whatever creature is hiding with the key. Is there a backdoor? Anyone have a warpick, or another tool to break it down? There are so many ways already to get through a locked door, all of which will fulfill a variety of characters' fantasies more than just a wave of a hand and the expense of a resource to move forward.
Arcane Lock plays rock paper scissors with Knock and lockpicks; lockpicks can break multiple locks, but not Arcane Lock. Knock breaks any one lock, including Arcane Lock, but not multiple locks. Having two spells that act as a unique lock/key system don’t end up feeling like rewarding abilities or fun to use features if they’re used primarily to counteract each other. The existence of Knock makes Arcane Lock a liability; why would any major magical society aware of Knock's existence ever bother with Arcane Lock? Getting Arcane Lock to protect your stuff only to have it broken into with Knock anyway feels unfair, as it defeats the entire purpose of the other spell. It leads to unnecessary conflict that the game doesn’t benefit from.
Knock could be deleted tomorrow and the game would be better off for it. RPGs are moving past the days of find key, open door, and moving towards more complex magical puzzles requiring different elements to come together to progress. Knock is a skeleton key for specifically any one lock at a time. That just doesn’t have a home in a game flush with better exploration tools and ways to circumnavigate the locks mundanely, not to mention groups actually engaged and excited to track down the real key the DM hid somewhere nearby.
Thank you for visiting!
If you’d like to support this ongoing project, you can do so by buying my books, getting some sweet C&C merch, or joining my Patreon.
The text on this page is Open Game Content, and is licensed for public use under the terms of the Open Game License v1.0a.
‘d20 System’ and the ‘d20 System’ logo are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
and are used according to the terms of the d20 System License version 6.0.
A copy of this License can be found at www.wizards.com/d20.
