Magic Circle: The Friend Zone

Usable By: Cleric, Paladin, Warlock, Wizard

Spell Level: 3

School: Abjuration

Casting Time: 1 minute

Range: 10 feet

Duration: 1 hour

Components: V, S, M (holy water or powdered silver and iron worth at least 100 gp, which the spell consumes)

You create a 10-foot-radius, 20-foot-tall cylinder of magical energy centered on a point on the ground that you can see within range. Glowing runes appear wherever the cylinder intersects with the floor or other surface.

Choose one or more of the following types of creatures: celestials, elementals, fey, fiends, or undead. The circle affects a creature of the chosen type in the following ways:

The creature can’t willingly enter the cylinder by nonmagical means. If the creature tries to use teleportation or interplanar travel to do so, it must first succeed on a Charisma saving throw.
The creature has disadvantage on attack rolls against targets within the cylinder.
Targets within the cylinder can’t be charmed, frightened, or possessed by the creature.

When you cast this spell, you can elect to cause its magic to operate in the reverse direction, preventing a creature of the specified type from leaving the cylinder and protecting targets outside it.

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 4th level or higher, the duration increases by 1 hour for each slot level above 3rd.

Review by Sam West, Twitter:@CrierKobold

A core element of Dungeons and Dragons throughout its history is dealing with extraplanar beings: devils, demons, elementals, celestials, etc. Magic Circle foundationally is a protection tool on its own. When paired with other summoning effects or entrances to other worlds, it can act more as a negotiation table. The best diabolists of their time would spend thousands of gold on these just to study and learn the tricks and tools needed to control unstable, often hostile, extra-planar threats. At your average D&D table, this probably doesn’t have a home; in the right setting, though, Magic Circle can be a really fun tool used as part of a greater objective.

The vast majority of summoning spells give you finite control over the creatures summoned. Xanathar’s Guide to Everything introduced some unstable options involving reckless demons or fickle devils typically alongside their own mini blood based version of Magic Circle to protect the caster. Magic Circle pairs nicely with those in situations with prep time before a fight, or when you need demons or devils to perform a specific task. Outside of existing spells, Magic Circle thrives in worlds with frequent contact with the other planes, and rituals outside of spells that can summon or contact these creatures. If you can find an ornery dryad and need its help, setting up a trap to catch it in a magic circle can open up “negotiations” in a safe way, and be an encounter itself.

While most tables won’t have any need to use magic circle to get access to these, the tables that want the magic as a ritual feeling game can incorporate Magic Circle to great effect. If you’re prepping for a fight against a bunch of specific creatures, this can be a fine protective measure to set up, but isn’t really where I see the spell shining brightest. If you’re prepping to defend against a zombie horde, or are looking for the classic demon summoning experience, Magic Circle can find a home on your character sheets. Otherwise, you’ll probably never find places to cast this; it's just too slow to cast and costs too much per use.

5e Spells

Magic Circle: The Friend Zone