Reality Break: Perhaps a Slight Overstatement
Usable By: Wizard
Spell Level: 8
School: Conjuration (dunamancy:chronurgy)
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 60 feet
Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute
Components: V, S, M (a crystal prism)
You shatter the barriers between realities and timelines, thrusting a creature into turmoil and madness. The target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw, or it can't take reactions until the spell ends. The affected target must also roll a d10 at the start of each of its turns; the number rolled determines what happens to the target as shown on the Reality Break Effects table.
At the end of each of its turns, the affected target can repeat the Wisdom saving throw, ending the spell on itself on a success.
Reality Break Effects
| d10 | Effect |
|---|---|
| 1-2 | Vision of the Far Realm. The target takes 6d12 psychic damage, and it is stunned until the end of the turn. |
| 3-5 | Rending Rift. The target must make a Dexterity saving throw, taking 8d12 force damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful save. |
| 6-8 | Wormhole. The target is teleported, along with everything it is wearing and carrying, up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space of your choice that you can see. The target also takes 10d12 force damage and is knocked prone. |
| 9-10 | Chill of the Dark Void. The target takes 10d12 cold damage, and it is blinded until the end of the turn. |
Review by Sam West, Twitter:@CrierKobold
Twisting a creature's mind into all the possible variations of themself across all time and space, all possibilities, all of what could have been, what is, what isn’t, what never was, all of it sounds wild. Realms with altered physics, different conceptions of game mechanics like “hit points”, variations on spells and abilities, changes to form, figure, what it means to exist: that’s what I’d look to if I wanted to “break reality” in my fantasy games. Reality Break in Explorer’s Guide to Wildemont doesn’t so much break reality; it just kind of breaks bones over time. That’s neat, I guess, but the fantasy doesn’t meet the effects at all.
What you’re getting for your 8th level spell slot is a save or die that will do some amount of damage and possibly apply some condition or teleport the target each round. When I see “roll a dice to determine an effect” mechanics, I’m prepared to be disappointed, and Reality Break is no exception. With outcomes as bland as “10d12 cold damage, and it is blinded until the end of the turn” (which rules as written doesn’t even leave it blind on other people’s turns), I’m just left wondering why? Why couldn’t this be more interesting?
Variance as a balancing tool can allow for more extreme outcomes that are undetermined; a temporary blind is far from extreme. Even with the stunned result, you’re denying a creature's actions and dealing 6d12 damage; that’s powerful, but not particularly interesting. With only four outcomes, this could have just been mapped on to a d4; the most common result from the d10 roll is Rending Rift, which only deals 8d12 force damage. That’s it. And it's the most likely outcome. All of these effects are same-ish, with the only meaningfully unique one simply denying the creature its turn with a stun for a few damage dice. Otherwise a 30 ft. teleport and prone isn’t too noteworthy by this tier, and a temporary blind is just imposing disadvantage on a few attack rolls at best.
For this to be “worth it” to cast you’ll probably want two or three rounds of damage with some combination of conditions. It doesn’t take much; the damage here is solid over two rounds, and potentially stunning a creature can be a massive advantage. If you’re okay risking an 8th level slot on a save or die that can potentially do nothing, this can be fine, but a lot has to go right for it to live up to its mechanical potential. Reality Break comes nowhere close to delivering on the fantasy in its name, though. If you want to change the rules of the game or make unexpected crazy shit happen, take something like Reverse Gravity instead.
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