Any number of willing creatures you choose within range form a magical bond with each other for the duration. You can end the spell early by dismissing it (no action required). A creature must know at least one language to be affected by the spell. Until the spell ends, the members of the bond can communicate either physically or telepathically through the bond, whether or not they have a common language, and can switch between physical and telepathic communication at any time. For the duration, a white magical string appears on one of each creature's wrists. These strings are connected to each other, 30 feet in length, intangible, and not destructible by any magical or non-magical means.
For the duration, anyone who is part of this bond is unable to lie to or otherwise deceive others who are also part of it, including not being able to fake facial expressions (such as faking surprise) or make gestures or movements with the intent to deceive (such as nodding their head to indicate "yes" while they know the answer to be "no"). While part of the bond, the true form of all members is revealed to those within the bond but not to those outside of it. If the true form of a member is hidden behind a spell (such as Disguise Self or Alter Self) rather than a racial trait, the effects of that spell are suppressed for the duration of this spell if that spell's level is at or below the spell slot level this spell is cast with. If a member attempts to speak a lie, they instead stay silent, and the string on their wrist glows red. If a member attempts to tell half-truths or otherwise does not tell the truth directly, they are able to, but the string on their wrist glows orange. If a member attempts to lie through writing or drawing, the tool used ceases to work while their intent is to deceive (e.g., ink would disappear as soon as it touched any surface).
While a member of the bond is speaking to another member, creatures outside of the bond can only hear whispering voices. Any attempt to perceive, use divination magic, or use any other magical or non-magical means not described in this spell to learn what is being said fails. In addition, any magic that would allow a member of the bond to deceive or otherwise block, dampen, suppress, or work around the effects of the spell fails.
At any point, a member of this bond can decide to unbind themselves (no action required), after which their string turns to ash, and they are no longer under the effects of the spell. After the string turns to ash, the disconnected ends of the bond's string connect with each other.
A Wish spell can bypass any effect of the spell or the entire spell itself.
Previous Versions
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11/23/2022 12:12:16 AM
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1.4.0
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11/23/2022 10:49:50 PM
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10
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1.4.1
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Coming Soon
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Posted Nov 23, 2022Changelog (v1.4.2)
Original Message
Conception
I first came up with this idea and started making it back in August 2021. I worked on and off for about a month before stopping. I sent some screenshots of it to some people in my D&D group, as well as in a D&D Discord server I manage, and got some valuable feedback. Unfortunately, after that it got abandoned and I kinda forgot about it. Skip forward to about an hour ago, when I decided I wanted to work on it again, and after a bunch of modifications, I have finally decided to share it with the community. I'm looking forward to and hoping for some good constructive criticisms and feedback on my second ever published work.
Inspiration
I got the inspiration from a Netflix show called The Order, when in an episode two people formed a pact/bond, in which whatever happened to one person's body happens to the other person's body. I thought, "Hey, that could be a cool D&D spell!" and got to writing.
Use cases
What I envisioned this spell would be used for is social situations where a number of people want or need to be honest with each other, like a more powerful version of Zone of Truth, except all targets of the spell have to be willing. I suspect this spell will be used more by NPCs than PCs due to the length, complexity, and situational nature of it, but I hope some PCs can find use for it as well!
Why 3rd level?
Well, until a few hours ago it was a 2nd-level spell, but I decided that it's way more powerful compared to something like Zone of Truth, which is 2nd level, but not powerful enough to warrant 4th level, also due to the requirement of willing targets. Another reason is that I don't want it to be something that will never be picked as a spell due to other spells simply being better and way less situational, and the higher level you go, the fewer the spell slots you have, and the fewer the spells you can pick. I think 3rd level is a good place for it.
Why not include unwilling creatures as targets, like Zone of Truth?
The whole idea of this spell is that it's supposed to be used for things where trust, honesty, and communication are vital, such as cooperative missions. Or for drinking games... that works too. Of course, it can also be used for things such as interrogation, where if someone has committed a crime and a bunch of people are suspected, someone could cast this spell, and if a person doesn't consent, they may become the main suspect. Either way, I want it to be a fully consensual spell because I think it's more interesting, and if someone wants to stretch the limits of the spell, it'll be a bigger creative challenge.
This spell sucks, I know how to make it better!
Cool! I am fully open for feedback and constructive criticism. Feel free to comment your thoughts on it and what could be changed, and I'll be sure to give it a read. If I get a lot of feedback, I might make a new version of the spell combining all of it.
Thank you!
Thank you so much for taking a look at my spell! As I said, it's my second ever published work, with almost a dozen other works that are currently private until I end up continuing work on them, but if I see that people like this spell, I might be more motivated to make more! Thank you so much and have a good day!