Level
3rd
Casting Time
1 Bonus Action
Range/Area
Self
Components
V, S
Duration
1 Minute
School
Evocation
Attack/Save
Melee
Damage/Effect
Grappled
You summon a spectral hand that remains with you as you move, floating in the air or resting upon a shoulder. For as long as the spell lasts, whenever an enemy attacks you, you may use your reaction to do one of the following:
- Block: The spectral hand attempts to block the attack. Make a melee spell attack roll – if the result equals or beats the triggering attack roll, then the attack hits the spectral hand instead of you.
- Grapple: If the attacker is within 30 feet and of Medium size or smaller, you may direct the spectral hand to grapple the creature, using a melee spell attack roll instead of any athletics check(s). So long as the attacker remains grappled by the spectral hand the hand may not be used to make reactions.
The spectral hand has 15 hit points and is resistant to all non-magical damage, immune to all conditions, and may not be chosen as a target except by Dispel Magic. If the hand is reduced to 0 hitpoints the spell ends.
At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 4th level or higher, the hitpoints of the hand increase by 5 for each slot level above 3rd.
Previous Versions
| Name | Date Modified | Views | Adds | Version | Actions |
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11/28/2021 1:14:50 PM
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13
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0
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1.0
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Coming Soon
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Posted Dec 8, 2021This is my own 5th edition take on the old Halaster's Grappling Hand spell (from 2nd edition I believe); it's a spectral hand that follows you around and can block attacks or grapple an enemy attacker as a reaction. It's not super durable, but can only take damage as a result of blocking, so it's essentially a form of limited temporary hitpoints that does not require concentration.
There is some potential for abuse as it could be stacked with False Life and an Abjurer's Arcane Ward for three damage buffers on a single character, however in practice the hand is more limited than the other two, and not terribly durable for the 3rd level or higher slot that it requires. Plus it only lasts for a minute, so burning a higher slot on it makes more sense only when you think you might need to block a large amount of non-magical damage.
Due to the way the spell works, you may not need to upcast it often; because a blocked attack hits only the hand, there is no spillover of any excess damage, so 1 hitpoint is enough to block an entire attack. The main reason to upcast this is when you except to be the target of multiple rounds of damage, ideally non-magical (due to the hand's resistance) as this way it can last longer and block more attacks for the single spell slot.
While blocking damage is good, the secondary ability to grapple as a reaction using spell attack rolls is also very handy; this makes it a potentially quite effective control ability, though it can only grapple one enemy at a time following the normal grappling rules, and can't block while grappling.