What a disappointing, yet flavorful, spell. Good for NPCs and Dungeon Masters, but if you're in a campaign and this spell becomes useful, you're playing a very interesting campaign.

I can think of some uses as a PC - mostly involving being followed, or defending a building.

As it is, I'm here as a DM and this spell is going to screw up my players attempts at running away from the BBEG. =)

I do wish this was a ritual spell.

Player and DM here, I love this spell. Just wondering though as Im using it to secure a tavern our party owns. Can you stack castings of this spell on the entryway you cast it on. There's nothing in the spell that says I cant stack castings, and I have the time in game to spend the spell slots for it

What I want to use it for is have Magic Mouth cast on a statue near the tavern door that speaks a message like "Welcome to our tavern" when someone comes within 2ft of it during our business hours. Could I have 1 arcane lock cast 4 times on the door and have each subsequent locks password be 1 word of the message. So "Welcome" "to" "our" "tavern" would unlock all of the separate locks thus increasing the locks DC by 40 overall instead of 10?

That sounds like a really fun idea, and if the DM allows it, I'mma say go for it. Creative solutions like that keep the game alive and fresh.

Though do keep in mind that every time anyone at all says any of the chosen passwords near the door, one of the spells still becomes unraveled. For example, the sentence "You want to visit that tavern tomorrow?" shuts down two of the four locks.

You can’t stack the same spell effect as a rule 

I feel that this spell, as well as knock should have a mechanic similar to counterspell to where it can be cast at higher levels. For example, if arcane lock is cast with a 9th level spell slot, a 9th level knock will be needed to be cast in order to unlock it, and if cast at a lower level, an ability check using your spellcasting ability would need to be made. The DC equaling 10 + knock's level at the time of casting.

am making an eldrich knight build with the net, will the arcane lock spell be dispelled if the object targeted is no longer used as an entryway or gate?

if i fashon an door out of my net, then take my net back, will the net still be under an arcane lock spell and require an DC 20 strength check to break open?

and if so, what happens if i had an lock attached to the net that is not really doing anything? will it be DC 25, even if we did not do anything with it? will it still be DC 25 if i remove the lock from the net? i know i cannot stack this with more arcane lock spells becuase of the spellcasting rules that state that i cannot benefit from the same spell twice, but can i have an lock affected by arcane lock despite being miles from any doorway?

and what if i steal an door from its hinges? will it still be subject to arcane lock then?

what is my life that i have to ask these questions?

what kind of game are you playing where there is such an haste that you must cast arcane lock and have no time for an brief nap afterward?

If I ever make it to wizard level 18 this would be nice for spell mastery. I would lock everything. Even doors I have no business with.

The best use of this spell is from getting it from being a level 5 tiefling of mammon. You cast it once per long rest without material components being needed. Works great if you want to do stuff like extort an innkeeper for cash after you lock the door to their upstairs rooms (or a merchant so that customers can't enter their shop). A lot of hijinks to be had.

Quote from TheGrizzlyBearSpy >>

Player and DM here, I love this spell. Just wondering though as Im using it to secure a tavern our party owns. Can you stack castings of this spell on the entryway you cast it on. There's nothing in the spell that says I cant stack castings, and I have the time in game to spend the spell slots for it

What I want to use it for is have Magic Mouth cast on a statue near the tavern door that speaks a message like "Welcome to our tavern" when someone comes within 2ft of it during our business hours. Could I have 1 arcane lock cast 4 times on the door and have each subsequent locks password be 1 word of the message. So "Welcome" "to" "our" "tavern" would unlock all of the separate locks thus increasing the locks DC by 40 overall instead of 10?

I think technically that falls under the rules of, “effects with the same name don’t stack”.  But, i suppose you could just many mundane locks.

Or better, progressively smaller doors, one behind another.

Here's my question. Can it be dispelled by the wizard that casts it as an action, or do you need to use dispel magic to end the effect? While it doesn't say you have to, I figured you would. Me and a friend got in a debate on this since RAW it doesn't say you can as an action. But he argues that you could since you cast the spell and know the effects for it. Anyone have input here?

You would need dispell magic to be rid of it. Concentration spells can be dismissed at anytime with no action required. This spell would persist even if the caster dies. Though the spell says that you can designate people who can bypass it so I don't know why you would want to disable it.

I played as a Wizard in a mid-level campaign.  My character fell in love with one of the other PCs.  In so doing, in one of their shopping trips in a major city, my wizard bought an engagement ring and cast Arcane Lock on the box it was stored in - he did not designate any password.  During a substantial boss fight, he turned to the College of Lore Bard, the one that he was in love with, and handed her the locked jewelry box and stated, "If I don't make it out of this alive, I want you to have this and know that I am giving it to you with the deepest of sentiment."  TL;DR my wizard was disintegrated in the boss fight and, though it took some time, the Bard figured out to Dispel the Arcane Lock.

Just an RP situation in which you'd want to dispel this effect.

Additionally, no one states that it has to be an ally that dispels the effect.  An enemy could encounter the effect and thwart your attempts by casting dispel magic or knock.

Someome with a Staff of the Magi could use this spell at will in order to lock down an entire town if they were patient enough. Not sure why they'd do that but there are a lot of crazy Archmages out there. Sounds fun.

Now I am curious on how this spell interacts with the key to the door. Does the key let you bypass the spell or does the spell make the key useless?

Arcane lock someone's armor belt and cast Heat Metal on them.

“I’m not locked in here with you.” “YOUR LOCKED IN HERE WITH ME!” Don’t deny that fact you wanted to say that awesome quote from Rorschach from Watchmen when using this spell lol!

Just designate a password. That's the easiest response.