Tasha’s Mind Whip: Whip It Good
Spell Level: 2
School: Enchantment
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 90 feet
Duration: 1 round
Components: V
You psychically lash out at one creature you can see within range. The target must make an Intelligence saving throw. On a failed save, the target takes 3d6 psychic damage, and it can’t take a reaction until the end of its next turn. Moreover, on its next turn, it must choose whether it gets a move, an action, or a bonus action; it gets only one of the three. On a successful save, the target takes half as much damage and suffers none of the spell’s other effects.
At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 3rd level or higher, you can target one additional creature for each slot level above 2nd. The creatures must be within 30 feet of each other when you target them.
Review by Sam West, Twitter:@CrierKobold
Single target save or dies typically completely incapacitate something. Hold Person, as an example, completely decimates a single creature should it fail the save, normally resulting in a series of critical hits dropping it in a single round. Tasha’s Mind Whip offers you a hybrid effect between single target damage and save or die in about as effective a way as you could ask, with an up-cast that makes it fairly usable in the upper tiers. All in all, I’m a fan. Unlike other save or dies, even if a creature passes the save you’re getting half of 3d6 damage, and that’s not nothing.
Eating 2/3 of a creature's options on any given turn often will feel like eating its entire turn. If something needs to be in melee range to take actions, you’re almost always denying them their action that turn so they can move. Melee ranged creatures already in range have to pick between taking an attack of opportunity and then wasting their turn or getting an action or move to keep up with a creature after they move away freely. There aren’t any good outcomes for the most part, and rarely will this feel like nothing at all occurred when used tactically to disengage specific allies or reposition.
Up-casting it increases the potential actions eaten by one per spell level. This can make fights against two or three particularly potent threats a cakewalk by functionally denying an entire turn for their team while also sinking 3d6 damage into each of them.
If you’re cramped for known or prepared spells and are relied on as a damage dealer, this can be a great way to offer utility as well. This pushes your team towards a hit point victory while mitigating enemy opportunities to interact with you. I personally don’t love single target effects like this, as normally I want to knock something out of a fight entirely or deal massive damage to it, but this does both fairly well. If it sounds like something you’d want, give it a whirl.
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