Water Breathing: A Breath of Fresh Water
Usable By: Artificer, Druid, Ranger, Sorcerer, Wizard
Spell Level: 3
School: Transmutation
Casting Time: 1 action (ritual)
Range: 30 feet
Duration: 24 hours
Components: V S M (A short reed or piece of straw)
This spell grants up to ten willing creatures you can see within range the ability to breathe underwater until the spell ends. Affected creatures also retain their normal mode of respiration.
Review by Sam West, Twitter: @CrierKobold
Are you going adventuring in the deep ocean, but can’t breathe down there? Don’t worry, if you’ve got a druid or wizard in the party, you’ve got Water Breathing at your disposal! Sure, it's also technically a ranger and sorcerer spell, but those two don’t get ritual casting. Rangers definitely don’t want to be needing to spend a 3rd level slot on this, and sorcerers REALLY don’t want to have to learn this with one of their precious few known spells.
That’s kind of it. Water Breathing opens up play to tables without the tools to play in underwater adventures, and that’s novel. It's not particularly exciting, but it is a clear transition into the mid tiers of play. You’re getting off the bandit infested road closures and goblinoid castles and moving towards adventures with more dynamic elements like a ruined underwater castle or shipwreck in a coral reef.
Water Breathing doesn’t even need to find a home on your sheet for single underwater encounters, though. If you’re just popping under the surface for a few rounds to kill some merrow, every character can hold their breath at least that long; by default, a character can hold their breath 1 + their Con mod minutes under water, meaning everyone gets at least ten rounds below the waves. What it does do, even in that encounter, is open up verbal component spellcasting if you don’t want to start suffocating, so that’s neat, but you can probably manage with non-verbal spells, or just use verbal spells above the water to interact with the stuff below.
If you’re going into a pirate themed arch or some naval exploration mission, Water Breathing probably will come in handy. It's a ritual, making it almost no cost to the druids and wizards of the world, and opens up a whole new world to explore in the waters below. Aquatic adventures in D&D are some of my favorites; they tend to be more three dimensional, have a whole suite of weird and wacky monsters and villains to play with, do fun things with light, fire, cold, and other magical effects, and really pushes your imagination. I’m a big fan. If your DM is too, you’ll probably make a home for Water Breathing on your sheet. If not, don’t!
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