Snare: It’s a Trap!

Usable By: Artificer, Druid, Ranger, Wizard

Spell Level: 1

School: Abjuration

Casting Time: 1 minute

Range: Touch

Duration: Until dispelled or triggered

Components: V, S, M (30 feet of cord or rope, which is consumed by the spell)

While you cast this spell, you use the cord or rope to create a circle with a 5-foot radius on a flat surface within your reach. When you finish casting, the cord or rope disappears to become a magical trap.

The trap is nearly invisible and requires a successful Intelligence (Investigation) check against your spell save DC to be found.

The trap triggers when a Small creature or larger moves into the area protected by the spell. The triggering creature must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw or fall prone and be hoisted into the air until it hangs upside down 3 feet above the protected surface, where it is restrained.

The restrained creature can make a Dexterity saving throw with disadvantage at the end of each of its turns and ends the restrained effect on a success. Alternatively, another creature that can reach the restrained creature can use an action to make an Intelligence (Arcana) check against your spell save DC. On a success, the restrained effect also ends.

Review by Sam West, Twitter: @CrierKobold

Magic replaces a lot of mundane effects in D&D. Mundane flight that would require massive tools or high altitude gliding can be done with a simple Fly spell. Creating a flame would normally require flint, steel, and effort; as a caster you can just poof it into existence. What I find odd is when something that is specifically well described as a mundane event is transformed into a magical one. That is the case for Snare for me; I feel like this should be a mundane tool for crafty rogues and rangers to mess around with, but it’s a spell. Weird.

Feelings of its existence aside, mechanically, Snare is super nifty. It's a real trap spell that succeeds in making traps that can actually be useful. For the low cost of just a 1st level slot you can spam as many Snares as you want across the planet. While you won’t need these most of the time, and won’t always have room, time, or patience to set them up, they can be a decent way to gain some bonus actions at the start of a fight. Preparing the room you’ll be defending with snares can open up some free restraints against oncoming raiders. That can be a powerful effect, albeit fairly rare.

Outside of combat is where I think Snare is actually at its most usable. This is something you stick directly inside a door you know the home’s owner will pass through to surprise interrogate them. Snare is the kind of effect we see in superhero movies where somebody has somebody else dangling from the ceiling by a rope; its a classic look and feel you may want to get in D&D. Snare helps you have it.

Neither of these cases are particularly amazing though, simply because of how infrequently you’ll actually get to use them. The spell chews through rope quickly, takes a minute to set up, and while the effect in a fight its offering is decent, it won’t often feel like its worth the hassle of setting up in the first place. This is an effect I think really would have worked better as a trap. If you’re looking to play the chess master tactician, planning ahead and setting traps, this can be a decent tool in your toolbox to have. Outside of satisfying that specific fantasy, this is probably too clunky and niche for most.

5e Spells

Snare: It’s a Trap!