Spell Spotlight: Enlarge/Reduce

Tags Spell Spotlights author-mike-bernier

Spell Spotlight is a series where we do a deep dive on some of Dungeons & Dragon’s most interesting, useful, and complex spells. Today, we’re looking at enlarge/reduce, a useful spell that allows you to change the size of a creature or object of your choosing. While it might seem simple on the surface, there are plenty of creative ways to make it one of the most potent and versatile spells in your arsenal, both in and out of combat.

Whether you want to make your barbarian friend even more menacing, or you just want to shrink that fish your neighbor caught so you win the fishing contest, enlarge/reduce has got you covered.

What Does Enlarge/Reduce Do?

A gnome artificer and his Iron Defender companion

Enlarge/reduce is a 2nd-level transmutation spell. For up to 1 minute or until you lose concentration, you can cause a creature or object of your choosing to grow larger or smaller. Keep in mind that an unwilling creature, like an enemy you are fighting, can make a Constitution saving throw to avoid this effect. Many creatures you may face in your adventures are quite good at Constitution saving throws, so this spell might not be a reliable option to use against your foes. To add to this, you cannot target an object that a creature has on their person, so you won’t be able to turn your enemy’s weapons into mini toy versions.

Enlarging a target doubles its physical size and drastically increases its weight, thereby increasing its size category by one, meaning that a Medium creature would become Large. The biggest draw here is that the target gains advantage on Strength checks and Strength saving throws, and their weapons deal 1d4 extra damage. The most obvious use of enlarge is to give an ally an edge in battle.

Reducing a target essentially does the opposite of what enlarging it would do. The target’s physical size is halved, its weight is drastically decreased, and its size category goes down by one. Given that the target gets disadvantage on Strength checks and Strength saving throws, and its weapon damage is reduced by 1d4 for the duration, reducing a creature is intended to be used on your enemies.

One of the most contentious aspects of casting enlarge/reduce on a creature is that anything they are wearing or holding also changes size. Creatures that are size Small have disadvantage on attacks with heavy weapons, so the question is: Does this hold true for shrunken weapons? The weapon would retain the heavy property, but it would also scale down with you from Medium to Small. This is probably a question best left up to your DM.

There aren’t many rules for player characters that are a size other than Small or Medium, but we will discuss what we do know.

What Creature Sizes Mean

Creatures in D&D are divided into six size categories: Tiny, Small, Medium, Large, Huge, and Gargantuan. Size dictates quite a few attributes when creating monsters, but when it comes to player characters, size is less of a determining factor.

One of the greatest impacts size has is on carrying capacity and how much a creature can push, drag, or lift. Each size above Medium gets to double these amounts, while Tiny creatures halve these amounts.

Size also affects interactions on the battlefield. Naturally, you take up more space when you are larger, effectively increasing the opportunities for other creatures to count as adjacent to you. You can only grapple and shove creatures that are no greater than one size larger than you, so enlarging a friend may open up the possibility of them being able to grapple a particularly bulky enemy. Additionally, you can move through the space of a hostile creature that is at least two sizes larger or smaller than you, so managing to become Tiny would give you an edge there.

Note that you cannot get bigger than Large using enlarge/reduce, as all playable races are Small or Medium and multiple instances of the spell do not stack with each other.

Who Can Cast Enlarge/Reduce?

Enlarge/reduce is only available to three classes: artificers, sorcerers, and wizards. There are no subclasses that gain this spell, and since it is a 2nd-level spell you won’t be able to access it with a feat like Magic Initiate. Your only option, then, would be to play one of these classes, multiclass into one to get access to 2nd-level magic, or to find an item that has charges of the spell.

Why We Love This Spell

A gnome artificer and her Homunculus Servant

Perhaps the best use for enlarge/reduce in combat is to aid an ally that specializes in grappling when they fight. Even with the Grappler feat, grappling often doesn’t feel like a powerful strategy. By causing your grappling ally to grow, they will not only get advantage on their Strength checks and extra damage on weapon attacks, but they will be able to grapple and shove even larger creatures. If the spell increases your ally’s size from Medium to Large, they will be able to grapple a Huge creature like an adult black dragon! Alternatively, reducing an enemy will give your ally a much easier time in maintaining the grapple.

Using reduce on a Small ally can also be interesting since they will become Tiny. Tiny creatures will have a much easier time moving around the battlefield as they will be able to move through the space of hostile creatures and find cover more easily. Tiny creatures will also be able to squeeze themselves into smaller spaces, opening up a new option for infiltration. 

As far as objects go, the uses for enlarge/reduce are near endless and are only limited by your imagination and your Dungeon Master’s leniency. As with many aspects of D&D, certain things are left up to your discretion and what your table finds fun. For example, Jeremy Crawford was asked in 2016 if a reduce spell can be used to bypass locked doors by shrinking them. He stated that you should ask the player which part of the door they want to reduce as doors are made of multiple objects (source). The basic rules state that “an object is a discrete, inanimate item like a window, door, sword, book, table, chair, or stone, not a building or a vehicle that is composed of many other objects.” A door is mentioned, but it doesn’t clarify whether it means just the door, or also the handles, locks, and other things that might be attached to it. One could argue that a book is also made of multiple objects, namely the cover and the hundreds or thousands of pieces of paper inside. Instead of getting lost in these debates, just make your case to your DM and let them determine if what you are asking is going to negatively influence your game.

FAQ: Enlarge/reduce

Can You Stack Enlarge/Reduce?

No. Two instances of the same spell do not stack. However, you can increase your size category further by stacking the spell with the Rune Knight fighter's 3rd level feature Giant's Might.

Can You Upcast Enlarge/Reduce?

No. There is no higher level version of this spell to get the effect multiple times.

Does Enlarge/Reduce Affect Weapon Damage?

Yes! Creatures deal an extra 1d4 with enlarged weapons and 1d4 less damage with reduced weapons, though the damage can’t be reduced to lower than 1.

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Mike Bernier (@arcane_eye) is the founder of Arcane Eye, a site focused on providing useful tips and tricks to all those involved in the world of D&D. Outside of writing for Arcane Eye, Mike spends most of his time playing games, hiking with his girlfriend, and tending the veritable jungle of houseplants that have invaded his house.

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