Level
8th
Casting Time
1 Action
Range/Area
60 ft
Components
V, S
Duration
Concentration
10 Minutes
School
Conjuration
Attack/Save
None
Damage/Effect
Banishment (...)
You banish a creature that you can see within range into a labyrinthine demiplane. The target remains there for the duration or until it escapes the maze.
The target can use its action to attempt to escape. When it does so, it makes a DC 20 Intelligence check. If it succeeds, it escapes, and the spell ends (a minotaur or goristro demon automatically succeeds).
When the spell ends, the target reappears in the space it left or, if that space is occupied, in the nearest unoccupied space.
Must be a pretty tiny maze if it only requires 1 action to successfully escape from. I feel like a 3 success/3 failures would feel alright, an 8th level spell that removes a single creature for a minimum of 3 rounds doesn't sound so bad.
Well it is one of the few spells that don't require a save to avoid, it is guaranteed to work for at the very least one round. Also it requires an intelligence check rather than a skill check or a saving throw so most enemies are only going to be able to add 0-5 to the check as you don't add your proficiency bonus to raw ability checks. Even if you cast it on another Wizard with a 20 Intelligence (assuming they don't try to counterspell it or anything) they have to roll a 15 or higher to escape so they only have a 25% chance of success. I'm surprised more people don't talk about this spell.
Ah those are very good points, didn't consider how difficult the Intelligence check would be, this also means it is completely unaffected by legendary resistance or similar effects. Thanks for expanding my view!
Baphomet would be proud!
I feel like the intelligence check DC should be the wizard's spell save DC rather than a static 20. Feels a bit weird.
Perhaps, then again it's better than any wizard DC bar some save DC increasing spells, as at best a wizard will have a 19DC.
Another reason is DC20 is the DC set in DMG for Hard Task, though that is for an ability check with proficiency. Technically as this is a stat check instead, I'd say this probably qualifies at the next rank up (dc25 label), Very Hard Task.
I DMed an encounter where an order of 48 high-level wizards cycled through constantly recasting Maze on a Tarrasque. Since Nat 20 auto-successes and LRs don't apply to ability checks the Tarrasque was permanently stuck in a never-ending maze. Love this spell.
is it possible to plane shift out of this?
Similar to the previous question.
Can a player cast Banishment on themselves while inside a Maze (spell).
The wording of the spell doesn't say, you cannot do anything other than try to escape; "The target can use its action to attempt to escape."
But it also says; "The target remains there for the duration or until it escapes the maze." which leads me to believe, it cannot do anything other than try to escape the maze?
Kind of confusing to be honest.
Story; Hero is in the Lair of a Demon, in the Abyss. A mage casts Maze on the Hero, to delay him and plan. The Hero decides to not take action to escape, and instead decides to cast Banishment on himself. The Hero is a Fey, so after the 1min. he stays inside the Fey Wild and doesn't return.
I tried to debate this.
Hero casts Banishment on himself, spell is cast but doesn't take effect. Mage drops the Maze spell, Hero reappears then Banishment procs and Hero is gone (which in my world, won't work while inside the Abyss). So here, does Banishment proc since it was cast while inside Maze or does the power of the Abyss counter it?
Back to the main question, can a player cast Banishment on themselves, or any other kind of spell while inside Maze to help them "escape"
it's a demiplane, so it's a different place than the abyss. There's nothing in the spell that says or implies you can't use banishment, so i would say it works. but imo if banishment doesn't work in the abyss, i don't see how maze could work.
Maze is temporary.
Banishment, can be permanent.
That's how I looked at it.
oh that makes sense. didn't really think about it like that.
Super late reply here, but I imagine time in the maze isn't necessarily the same as it is outside. The 6 seconds outside world round could have potentially been hours.
Haha, no worries, you make a very good point :)
Why tf do minotaurs succeed automatically... wasn't Asterion supposed to be trapped in the maze?
they have experience with mazes :)
Late response, but to try and fully answer your final question: the maze spell states, "The target can use its action to attempt to escape", which to me means the spell grants the target a special action with which they can attempt to escape the maze and end the spell. The spell however does not state anywhere that the target's actions are otherwise prohibited.
A similar example would be the entangle spell, which restrains targets and then also states, "A creature restrained by the plants can use its action to make a Strength check against your spell save DC. On a success, it frees itself". The target has the option to attempt to escape with its action, but can also perform any other action it wants, including teleporting.
Barbarian's rage is an example that specifically limits actions by stating, "If you are able to cast spells, you can’t cast them or concentrate on them while raging".
With this in mind, you can still perform any other action you want while in the demiplane of maze, however most of them probably won't help you escape. Spells and effects such as banishment, that allow you to teleport to a different plane, would allow you to leave the maze, which I would consider escaping, and therefore end the spell.
Finally the last line, "When the spell ends, the target reappears in the space it left or..." indicates the target returns no matter how the spell ended, so a target trapped in the maze could also cast dispel magic on themself in an attempt to end the spell.
You might have already made your own conclusions but I hope this post helps anyone else with a similar query.
Has anyone else considered using this on a willing target to get a stable but down player out of a fight for example? or to idk get a char that is low but can heal themselves up out of the fight temporarily to use prep spells and then after a fixed time drop the spell. Idk seems like a usefull thing that makes the spell more versatile. Am I missing some other spell that does that but better?
While I appreciate the idea of casting Banishment on one's self to escape, you cannot successfully cast this spell on yourself.
Banishment requires concentration. and the subject being banished is incapacitated for the duration of the spell, which breaks concentration and ends the Banishment. The spell reads, "target reappears in the space it left"; thus, you'd be back in the Maze you were in as that was the space you left when casting Banishment.
Feeblemind + maze = pocket dude