Nathair’s Mischief: Humble Pie
Usable By: Bard, Sorcerer, Wizard
Spell Level: 2
School: Illusion
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 60 feet
Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute
Components: S, M (a piece of crust from an apple pie)
You fill a 20-foot cube you can see within range with fey and draconic magic. Roll on the Mischievous Surge table to determine the magical effect produced, and roll again at the start of each of your turns until the spell ends. You can move the cube up to 10 feet before you roll.
Mischievous Surge
| d4 | Effect |
|---|---|
| 1 | The smell of apple pie fills the air, and each creature in the cube must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or become charmed by you until the start of your next turn. |
| 2 | Bouquets of flowers appear all around, and each creature in the cube must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw or be blinded until the start of your next turn as the flowers spray water in their faces. |
| 3 | Each creature in the cube must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or begin giggling until the start of your next turn. A giggling creature is incapacitated and uses all its movement to move in a random direction. |
| 4 | Drops of molasses appear and hover in the cube, turning it into difficult terrain until the start of your next turn. |
Review by Sam West, Twitter: @CrierKobold
Conditions: a short-hand mechanic 5e uses to provide easier to digest spells and abilities. They vary from basically imperceptible changes (cough cough DEAFENED) to completely debilitating (paralyzed, petrified). While most are fairly similar, each tends to have a distinct enough difference to justify varying power levels. Nathair’s Mischief offers you four possible conditions; the catch? They’re determined at random!
Nathair’s Mischief creates a 20 ft. diameter cube with random magical nonsense. Each turn, you’ll determine which condition creatures within the space are saving against. One uses the charmed condition, two uses the blinded condition, three offers the incapacitated condition and forces random movement, and four turns the area into difficult terrain.
Without question three offers the most potent effect; denying a creature the ability to take any actions or reactions while simultaneously randomly determining their movement can give your party a massive action advantage. An area of effect incapacitation is insane for a 2nd level slot. Alternatively, you could roll four, and just get a worse version of Entanglement. At minimum, this effect is high risk, high reward.
The other two modes are both about as good as each other with the charmed probably having slightly more applicable uses. A good chunk of creatures are immune to the condition, but for those that aren’t it’ll act as a pacifying effect to deny attacks outright. Blinded creatures are easier to hit and have a harder time hitting, making it a great condition if you’re fighting a handful creatures with multi-attack.
Nathair’s Mischief scratches that random craving itch I get when I want to throw caution to the wind and let dice decide my fate. Difficult terrain is pretty terrible, but all the other modes can be excellent, and will lead to moment to moment shifts in strategy depending on the outcome. For a 2nd level spell, Nathair’s Mischief can be a majorly impactful area control spell, and offer a good chunk of utility to the caster and their party. If you like high variance abilities, but also want to make sure you’re getting something good most of the time, give Nathair’s Mischief a chance.
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