Hello Everyone,

I am currently DMing a group (we are all relatively new still), and one of the players just learned about exhaustion (though more as an, "oh, this thing exists" not an "What do you mean I have a level of exhaustion!?"). He mentioned interest in having a spell that gives people exhaustion. While, giving people exhaustion seems a little overpowered to me* however, a spell that keeps people awake I find, is an interesting idea, it would certainly be a very niche spell, though it may be useful (I'm not entirely certain).

Regardless, I came up with this spell:

Insomnia:

Casting time: 1 action (Ritual)

Range: 30 ft

Components: V, S, M (a few coffee beans, some cold water, or some fire)

Duration: Instantaneous

School: Enchantment

You cause a creature to be unable to sleep or rest for 4d6 hours. The target begins to gain Exhaustion points every day it does not get sleep. If the spell persists for more then one day, the target gains a Long-Term Madness until the spell ends. Both the Sleep or Greater Restoration will automatically dispel Insomnia. A Lesser Restoration will require a spellcasting check equal to the Original Caster's Spell DC.

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 3rd level or higher, roll an additional 1d6 for each slot level above 2nd.


- me* (You can potentially kill a dragon in six castings. Though on further reflections, there are ways around that, ie it is a level 6 spell with a CON save which might work (maybe something like Witchbolt (ie, you have to focus on the creature?) I'm not certain if it is a good spell or not, so I'll take thoughts on that as well.)


(I took inspiration from this spell: https://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/3rd-party-spells/rite-publishing-3rd-party-spells/i/insomnia/)

But I'm mostly curious, is this overpowered? Is this underpowered? Is this too niche*? Should I change the level? Should I change the dice? etc etc.

niche* (though I have less problem with niche(ness), the universe that the Game is set in is a sort of Dungeon Punk(ie) (https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DungeonPunk) or Harry Potter(ie) in that Magic is kinda mundane[ish]. Enough so that I could see people going to someone and having this spell cast on them as they pull an all nighter.)


Thank you in advance for reading everything and to any answers I get.

I love the concept and in general the execution. I think I would make it a 1st-level spell, and I would specify that Sleep can be cast directly onto the creature (instead of an AoE) and that it would work to counteract insomnia the same way Dispel Magic works. Same with Lesser Restoration too I suppose.

I think there are some ways to exploit this too much, but the idea is good. Things to consider:

1. Can this spell wake up a sleeping creature? Because if so it can be used to harass creatures, not allowing them to gain over the required sleep time over and over. Not necessarily a bad thing, just smth to consider.
2. No save at all? Just keep casting this on them until they die. There are ways to stop it, but not everyone is a caster with one of the spells needed. Perhaps, due to the increasing tiredness of the creature, the casting is made harder each time you cast it. For each time after the first that you cast the spell on a creature before it can complete a long rest, the creature can make a Charisma (or smth else, it seems fitting to me though) against your spell save DC. On success, the effect is negated. In addition, the save DC gets lower as the creature gets tired. Reduce your save DC for a creature trying to negate this spell by their exhaustion level. Also, once a creature succeeds on their saving throw, they are immune to this effect until they finish a long rest. Maybe you don't need to use all of the suggestions here, but you should at least consider them.
3. What classes gain access to this spell?

I thought they mentioned a Con save, but looking back I see you are correct.

1. I admit I not certain, but my gut leans towards yes it would wake the target up (otherwise you lose however much time they were sleeping for)... But, I could see the spell going either way.

2A. Part of the reason there is no save (I admit, I would lean more towards WIS or CON save, though I can also see CHA) is because, well, the spell doesn't actually start affecting the target until after combat. It will certainly suck AFTER Combat, (though I suppose a party could track a group and continuously keep recasting the spell, which would really mess up whoever the spell is being cast upon). Which would then... make sense for a Spell Save after the first casting... huh... yeah, having a Spell Save (possibly only after the first casting) makes a lot of sense (it also gives the caster a reason to actually Upcast the spell and not just recast it).

- So something like, every time after the first casting that the caster recasts the spell the target makes a (CON, WIS, or CHA) Save to beat the Caster's Spell DC. The Target gains a +1 bonus to the check for every casting after the first.

2B. If you are talking about the spell that actively causes exhaustion, that one would definitely require a save for the exact reason you suggest. Six castings and the target is dead. For that spell, I like the idea of an increased difficulty to cast the spell, a +1 bonus to the targets rolls or a -1 to the Caster's Spellcasting DC? I also like the once a creature succeeds on their saving throw, they are immune to this effect until they finish a long rest.

3. I have absolutely no idea.... That was a blank thought on my part... any recommendations? I could potentially see the spell belong to pretty much any of the spell casting classes...

Edit: Added words.

I considered having the spell be only first level, but I think the possible affects of the spell are a bit too powerful, (if you don't have the counters to the spell, someone could gain a level of exhaustion or more importantly fail to rest, which can be inconvenient but could also be potentially very dangerous). Using sleep as an example of a similar(ish) spell, if the target gets hit OR someone uses an action to wake them up, the spell is countered. Here you either need magic or time to counter the spell. I really like the idea that Sleep needs to be cast directly onto the creature for it to work. Also, yup, that was how I was mentally planning for the countering-spells to work: they didn't actually put you to sleep, they just got rid of insomnia. I also figured Dispel Magic or [spell]Antimagic Field[spell] work but it wasn't a unique counter to the spell.

Another thing you could do to help mitigate it is allow potions or poisons that induce sleep to work against the spell as well.

I think, definitely bard. Playing a shitty song that doesn't go out of your mind and doesn't let you sleep. Maybe druid, possibly warlock. I am not sure whether it really fits sorcerer or not at all. It doesn't fit clerics or paladins, rangers might be able to get it too, artificer also bad. Personally, I'd go for Bard, Druid, Wizard and Warlock, possibly sorcerer too. If you want it to be more limited, Bard Druid and Wizard. As an exclusive Bard is definitely the most fitting.

While not a bad idea, it seems kinda out of nowhere compared to most spells. Though I was considering Remove Curse might get rid of the spell.

I agree with your list: Bard, Druid, Wizard, and Warlock. Though I could claim maybe Paladin as maybe some sort of Keeping Vigil Spell.

Quote from FireCat5 >>

I think, definitely bard. Playing a shitty song that doesn't go out of your mind and doesn't let you sleep. Maybe druid, possibly warlock. I am not sure whether it really fits sorcerer or not at all. It doesn't fit clerics or paladins, rangers might be able to get it too, artificer also bad. Personally, I'd go for Bard, Druid, Wizard and Warlock, possibly sorcerer too. If you want it to be more limited, Bard Druid and Wizard. As an exclusive Bard is definitely the most fitting.

 Artificer too. If anybody could whip up a batch of magical no-doze, it would be an Artificer.

Quote from imadarniceguy >>

I agree with your list: Bard, Druid, Wizard, and Warlock. Though I could claim maybe Paladin as maybe some sort of Keeping Vigil Spell.

 Rangers might have a “night hunting” spell as well.

Doesn't seem overly powerful. Yes, you could potentially kill all kinds of things, but it would take a week for them to die.

Repeated castings would just reset the length of time. The most powerful casting (the highest roll) would replace previous castings. The target would still have to lose rest of a full day to gain each level of exhaustion.

Yeah I could potentially see all of those classes. So potentially: Bard, Druid, Wizard, Warlock, Rangers, and Artificers. And maybe Paladins, but again I can also understand no Paladins.

I'm not fully certain how to write that Repeated castings would just reset the length of time. Unless, what you mean is that, anytime not already done is reset. I.E. if you you cast the spell and they can not rest for say 5 hours and then you wait 2 hours before recasting the spell and roll a 6 then they have another 6 hours.

Quote from imadarniceguy >>

I'm not fully certain how to write that Repeated castings would just reset the length of time. Unless, what you mean is that, anytime not already done is reset. I.E. if you you cast the spell and they can not rest for say 5 hours and then you wait 2 hours before recasting the spell and roll a 6 then they have another 6 hours.

 You don't have to rewrite it, it's part of basic spell rules. The spell with the greater effect or higher roll takes over. 

So in your example, you roll a 5 then wait 2 hours, then a 6 is rolled so the new roll is a 6. The effect is that the remaining of the 5 hours is erased and the 6 hours begins its countdown.

If there are multiple castings of 5, 10, 23, and 8, you do NOT add them together. The 23 would take effect.

So the rule would be that anytime that has been passed is kept but anytime still to be used is replaced, using your numbers - 5, 10, 23, and 8.

The caster casts it at say... 10:00am, for 5 hours, (s)he waits 4 hours (making it 2:00pm), before casting the spell again and gets a 10. The countdown now resets, from 1 hour remaining to 10 hours remaining, caster waits 8 hours (making it 10:00pm) before casting the spell a third time where he gets a 23. he loses the last 2 hours from his 10 and now has 23 hours instead.

Apologies, this is a little bit wordie, but I think it is accurate with what you said, I just want to double check.

https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/dmg/running-the-game#Combat

Combining Game Effects

Different game features can affect a target at the same time. But when two or more game features have the same name, only the effects of one of them—the most potent one—apply while the durations of the effects overlap. For example, if a target is ignited by a fire elemental’s Fire Form trait, the ongoing fire damage doesn’t increase if the burning target is subjected to that trait again. Game features include spells, class features, feats, racial traits, monster abilities, and magic items. See the related rule in the “Combining Magical Effects” section of chapter 10 in the Player’s Handbook.

https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/phb/spellcasting#CombiningMagicalEffects

Combining Magical Effects

The effects of different spells add together while the durations of those spells overlap. The effects of the same spell cast multiple times don't combine, however. Instead, the most potent effect — such as the highest bonus — from those castings applies while their durations overlap, or the most recent effect applies if the castings are equally potent and their durations overlap.

For example, if two clerics cast bless on the same target, that character gains the spell's benefit only once; he or she doesn't get to roll two bonus dice.

Modified version of the spell and hopefully made better.

Insomnia:

Casting time: 1 action (Ritual)

Range: 30 ft

Components: V, S, M (a few coffee beans, some cold water, or some fire)

Duration: Instantaneous

School: Enchantment

You attempt to cause a creature to be unable to sleep or rest for 4d6 hours as they are kept awake and restless. When you cast the spell, the target must make a Constitution saving throw, on a success they resist the affects, while on a failure the target is cursed with the inability to sleep or rest. The target begins to gain Exhaustion points every day it does not get sleep. If the spell persists for more then one day, the target gains a Long-Term Madness until the spell ends. Both a directed Sleep or a Greater Restoration spell will automatically dispel Insomnia. A Lesser Restoration will require the caster to make an ability check using their spellcasting ability against the Insomnia's spell save.

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 3rd level or higher, roll an additional 1d6 for each slot level above 2nd.

Available For: Artificer, Bard, Druid, Ranger, Paladin, Wizard, and Warlock