Thunder Step: Step Right Up
Usable By: Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard
Spell Level: 3
School: Conjuration
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 90 feet
Duration: Instantaneous
Components: V
You teleport yourself to an unoccupied space you can see within range. Immediately after you disappear, a thunderous boom sounds, and each creature within 10 feet of the space you left must make a Constitution saving throw, taking 3d10 thunder damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. The thunder can be heard from up to 300 feet away.
You can bring along objects as long as their weight doesn’t exceed what you can carry. You can also teleport one willing creature of your size or smaller who is carrying gear up to its carrying capacity. The creature must be within 5 feet of you when you cast this spell, and there must be an unoccupied space within 5 feet of your destination space for the creature to appear in; otherwise, the creature is left behind.
At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 4th level or higher, the damage increases by 1d10 for each slot level above 3rd.
Review by Sam West, Twitter: @CrierKobold
I’ve written at length as to why I love teleportation spells so much: they’re typically one way tickets to the best seat in the house. Misty Step is a cheap and easy move wherever you’d like. Dimension Door takes you wherever you want to go in a MASSIVE area, and lets you bring a friend along for the ride! The only thing these two spells were missing were some meaningfully impactful additions that’d contribute to combat. Coming in at the 3rd level between these two is Thunder Step, and what a magnificent contribution it brings.
This is the middle child between Misty Step and Dimension Door with 3d10 thunder damage stapled on for good measure. You get only a 90 ft move down from Dimension Door’s 500, but up from Misty Step’s 30. You get to bring a buddy, but it’ll cost you an action as opposed to Misty Step’s bonus action. So many things to consider!
Ultimately this will be a spell for warlocks, sorcerers, and wizards out there who like getting in the thick of it for a bit, and want a tool to help them easily get out, but with a bang. Damage dealt while retreating still pushes combat towards your team’s victory, and the mobility can help you and a friend stay in the fight longer than you would had you remained inside the group of baddies. For infiltration and world exploration, the movement being majorly reduced has a pretty big impact on its utility. Making a massive boom that alerts anything within earshot of your presence also adds some considerations to using it to get to hard to reach places while exploring. It still can do all of the things you’d want from a teleportation effect for the most part, though, and can do the job in a pinch.
All in all, Thunder Step just does it all right. It is comparable but not wildly better than either of the other two teleportation options. It has the right amount of damage attached to it, the right distance, and the right action cost for it to be a consideration for the one teleport spell on my sheet. If you’re in the market to deal some damage alongside jumping a third of a football field, Thunder Step is what you’re after.
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