New Spells: More Arcane Evocations
PDF Link | D&D Beyond: Arcane Weapon, Charge Magic, Energy Spiral, Feedback
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Sorcerers, warlocks, and wizards of 5th edition Dungeons and Dragons have a wide variety of offensive spells to choose from that utilize fire, frost, lightning, and other elemental magics, especially when playing with D&D Unleashed. Still, spellcasters throughout fantasy fiction, such as the mages of World of Warcraft or the sorcerers of Dark Souls, often wield pure arcane energy to attack their opponents. Already sorcerers and wizards can cast the classic magic missile spell and warlocks can cast eldritch blast to assault their foes with force damage, the damage type associated with pure magical energy. With today’s preview, alongside the other arcane energy spells that we’ve previewed already, you can build a spellcaster who specializes entirely in the weaving of pure arcane energy.
The first spell, arcane weapon, is a simple cantrip designed to compete with poison spray and fire bolt. This spell mimics many of the sword sorceries in Elden Ring, and allows spellcasters such as artificers to reflavor their own version of weapon usage. The greatest downside of this spell, which counterbalances its high damage and useful damage type, is its extremely short range. A range of 5 feet forces the spellcaster into melee range of almost any target, opening them up to opportunity attacks and all manner of dangers. The second spell, charge magic, is also an offensive cantrip, but with a much less straight-forward design. This spell allows you to store energy for a cantrip on the next turn, and works best when you might otherwise have few options in a turn. When an enemy is invisible, or while you wait for a banishment spell to end, or during your spare turns in a time stop spell, you can charge up your next cantrip to deal more damage using this spell instead of readying an action.
Energy spiral, the third spell, is a relatively simple spell to deal damage in an area, but with a noticeable twist (pun intended). This 4th-level spell functions very similarly to lightning bolt, but it is broken up into multiple line pieces that allows the spell to twist between allies and enemies or turn around corners. Finally, the 5th-level spell feedback is an upgraded and more powerful form of the 3rd-level counterspell. Feedback doesn’t just prevent your target from casting a spell, but also damages them according to the power of the spell they attempted to cast. However, sometimes it can be less effective than simply using counterspell, such as if the target succeeds on their saving throw and the resulting disadvantage causes your ability check to fail, allowing the target to cast a spell of 6th-level or higher.
PDF Link | D&D Beyond: Arcane Weapon, Charge Magic, Energy Spiral, Feedback
