Passwall: Glory Hole of the Titans
Usable By: Wizard
Spell Level: 5
School: Transmutation
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 30 feet
Duration: 1 hour
Components: V, S, M (A pinch of sesame seeds)
A passage appears at a point of your choice that you can see on a wooden, plaster, or stone surface (such as a wall, a ceiling, or a floor) within range, and lasts for the duration. You choose the opening’s dimensions: up to 5 feet wide, 8 feet tall, and 20 feet deep. The passage creates no instability in a structure surrounding it.
When the opening disappears, any creatures or objects still in the passage created by the spell are safely ejected to an unoccupied space nearest to the surface on which you cast the spell.
Review by Samuel West, Twitter: @CrierKobold
Utility spells in 5e have a lot of competition. Consider the X-Men or some other super powered group; if they have a power, you can probably get it via a spell. If I had a power like flight when Magneto is floating around on metal shoes bending all metal to his will, I’d feel pretty bad about my power. Passwall is that feeling as a spell; sure, it's neat, and it's cool from a mundane perspective, but in the context of other D&D spells and abilities, it's just kind of meh. Other abilities just happen to do what it does, and do it in a cooler way.
Passwall does one thing: it digs a hole. A shovel, pick, dynamite, or large badger also can dig holes. To then want Passwall over said mundane options, you’re going to need a wall that you don’t want to damage, can’t normally be dug through, or you’re in a hurry to get through. If either of the first two are true, you’re likely facing against magically reinforced spaces or heavily fortified safes. The builders probably would want to account for magical access in magical worlds, making Passwall unable to perform its single purpose in many cases.
Speaking of magic, if areas aren’t warded against it, teleportation does a pretty good job getting through walls. Dimension Door gets you and a friend where you want to go over a huge distance, and Misty Step can cover the same tunnel length if you’re going in alone. If you’re infiltrating a place with a door, both of these seem like easier options than Passwall; teleport in, open the door. Both for a lower level slot than Passwall.
Sometimes you do just need a quick getaway plan. Passwall is a tool that can help there, but it is environment dependent. You need to want to get out of a building or other area contained within only 20 feet of material, otherwise you’re just digging a dead end.
The spell's duration kind of works against it as well; if your goal is to be inconspicuous, leaving a giant hole in the wall for an hour is far cry from that. In the off chance it isn’t discovered, you do have a predetermined exit, which can assist in heist like adventures.
All things considered, Passwall is still neat. In a pinch with some camouflage it can be both a great hidey hole to take a short rest in, or offer a unique entry point for a specific adventure. You’ll find Passwall is at its best when you’ve got floorplans, time sheets, shift change documents, and other information on hand when planning a robbery. Out of that niche circumstance, sometimes you’ll get out of a sticky situation with it, and it does offer a bulk means of that style of magic which can be hard to come by for a 5th level slot. Passwall is niche, and hard to use, but you’ll occasionally find times to get something out of it.
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