Reverse Gravity: Suck it, Newton!

Usable By: Druid, Sorcerer, Wizard

Spell Level: 7

School: Transmutation

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: 100 feet

Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute

Components: V, S, M (A lodestone and iron fillings)

This spell reverses gravity in a 50-foot-radius, 100-foot high cylinder centered on a point within range. All creatures and objects that aren’t somehow anchored to the ground in the area fall upward and reach the top of the area when you cast this spell. A creature can make a Dexterity saving throw to grab onto a fixed object it can reach, thus avoiding the fall.

If some solid object (such as a ceiling) is encountered in this fall, falling objects and creatures strike it just as they would during a normal downward fall. If an object or creature reaches the top of the area without striking anything, it remains there, oscillating slightly, for the duration.

At the end of the duration, affected objects and creatures fall back down.

Review by Sam West, Twitter: @CrierKobold

D&D to me is an unending battery of trailer scenes for action movies. I want spells and abilities that mimic the kind of wacky off the wall made for the trailer kind of special effects as that make you tilt your head just thinking about them, and Reverse Gravity may be king of them all to me. Give me the crazy bullshit, don't think about it too hard or your head will break kind of magic.

Flipping gravity in a world taking place in the theater of the mind will absolutely lead to chaos. Having to envision a set of characters, enemies, and an entire environment is one thing; flipping it over and sending it careening a hundred feet in the opposite direction as gravity inverts takes the mental load and multiplies it by a hundred. There will be many moments of “wait, what about that big object in the middle of the room?” and “isn’t there a flowing river right there?” that will require the DM use all the descriptors they learned in highschool physics to describe trajectory in an attempt to paint absolute disaster before them.

Beyond the beautiful catastrophe you impose on the DM when casting, when prepared for, Reverse Gravity can thrash enemies, be a get out of jail free card, and warp some problems in wild ways. Weaponizing fall damage is a tried and true strategy for the munchkins out there looking to make as big numbers as possible, and with a well placed wall spell conjured a hundred feet up, you’re looking at inflicting 10d6 falling damage both ways. Cast it, send your foes skyward, then end it to drop them back to earth! 10d6 damage on its own is just fine, but consider also that you’re disabling enemies caught in the area as well in a bizarre fashion. Creatures with flight already can typically manage this well enough, but landlocked foes are going to be functionally helpless as you send them cascading upward with a well placed gravity shift.

Even in some of the more tame scenarios, Reverse Gravity adds a wild new element to play that can radically affect puzzles, locks, and challenges. Reaching the top of a tower becomes a ton easier when you can launch however many creatures and objects you want up a hundred feet. Running along a ceiling up to a hundred feet long bypasses the majority of ground-based traps and trials beneath you. Liquids in particular are wild with Reverse Gravity, as they’ll tend to flow out everywhere and create an enormous amorphous varied pool of liquid swirling all over the place. It gets WACKY.

Reverse Gravity isn’t for everyone. The spell is BANANAS, and not necessarily in the good way all the time. Constantly having to account for what happens if the whole encounter flips upside down can be a huge mental load for a DM to work with, so I’d recommend using it sparingly. You should absolutely try this one out, though. It's just too cool not to.

5e Spells

Reverse Gravity: Suck it, Newton!