This spell is pretty fun with the new genie warlock. Get grasp of hadar/repelling blast. Drop the spikes at the right spot and each beam does +4d4 damage from the enemy being pushed/pulled across. 

For starters a first level Druid cannot cast this, must be 3rd level.

Spells like this do not need to be nerfed to overcome. I believe just adapt the enemies the party faces. Have flying foes or a lot of ranged enemies. There are a lot of spells to give enemies to make this hard to benefit from. Darkness, fog cloud, and gust of wind are some that come to mind. I like the idea of flying enemies that pick up the party and drop them in the spikes. Or cast darkness and protect your casters with warding wind.

some spells can be abused but get creative and over come. Give them a few throw away encounters to use it then also give them some to show they can’t rely on it.

This spell plus the Swarmkeepper Ranger equals THE CHEESE GRATER!!!

Quote from LiamPendragon >>

It's a good idea but monsters with higher speeds will take less overall damage. If you have ever ran through a forest, you will know that taking it slow is better than crashing threw.

 Any creature moving on the ground will take 2d4 magic piercing damage per 5ft that it moves. Even if it can cross in less than one turn, it takes the same damage.

Quote from varg1 >>

Quote from LugnutNinetyTwo >>

I don't see why the terrain should have to be dirt or wood. Nothing in the spell description explicitly says that the spikes are organic (i.e., made of vines/branches/etc.).

 I'd house rule it so the caster has to use sharp(ened) stones (instead of sticks) to use it in dungeons.

 I like that. Enhances the utility of a Focus, too.

Yeah like if it ends it's turn in the zone or start it's turn there he gets the damage. Someother spells have that mechanic.

So can this not be cast at higher levels?

Noice

Does anyone know if you take damage from moving out of the area of effect? Say if a creature was just inside the very edge of the AoE, then took a 5ft move out of the area... do they take 2d4 damage?

I can’t find any official ruling or discussion on this. It could be argued either way. 

I changed it a bit too in my games, so that it is not difficult terrain, but a creature can choose to walk through at half speed and only take 1d4 damage per 5 feet instead of 2d4.

That would be up to the DM. I personally would say you dont take damage from moving back, unless you have to cross another field affected by the spell

How do y'all describe the camouflaged nature of the spikes? Because I'm assuming spikes big enough to cause 2d4 piercing damage (average of 5; more than enough to impale a commoner that even enters the area) for every 5 feet moved are probably quite large?

In my head, I've assumed it's something like the spikes remaining just below the ground, then thrusting up when creatures pass nearby, but this doesn't seem in keeping with the "feel" of the spell?

Anyways! How do you guys describe the camouflaged nature of your Spike Growths? :))

under Range: it says 20ft sphere,  the description text says 20ft radius, these are two different things, a 20ft radius would be a 40ft sphere...

Quote from Mirimon >>

under Range: it says 20ft sphere,  the description text says 20ft radius, these are two different things, a 20ft radius would be a 40ft sphere...

 

 

Beyond 20

 

 

 

 

 seems to be the case for all similar spell effects that have a spheric area... why? 

 

 

Beyond 20

 

 

 

 

 

It is a sphere (that is what the symbol is indicating) with a radius of 20 ft. The radius is used to desribe the size of spheres and circles. You don't get 40 ft spheres. They always use the radius.

I'm having a problems with the 20ft radius of the spell, and the PHB simplified rules on movement where diagonal movement is always counted as 5ft of movement. My DM has ruled that even though it's literally equal distance, a monster can move 15ft diagonally to get out of my 20ft radius spell and only take 2d4 3 times instead of 4 times.

The spell says 20ft, every 5 ft take 2d4, but on diagonal it takes 3 squares and I lose damage intended by how the spell works.

Is this addressed anywhere in the rules?

(Not a fan of simplified diagonal movement rule)

This is good when combo'd with Thorn Whip

Quote from skeletonducky >>

How do y'all describe the camouflaged nature of the spikes? Because I'm assuming spikes big enough to cause 2d4 piercing damage (average of 5; more than enough to impale a commoner that even enters the area) for every 5 feet moved are probably quite large?

In my head, I've assumed it's something like the spikes remaining just below the ground, then thrusting up when creatures pass nearby, but this doesn't seem in keeping with the "feel" of the spell?

Anyways! How do you guys describe the camouflaged nature of your Spike Growths? :))

Our group has decided that when the spike growth first forms, it takes the the form of an area of obviously giant and nasty, razor-sharp thorns (in our case shimmering and force-magic, but you don't need to go that far if you want it 100% "natural").  A moment later, those thorns and vines grow a dense foliage of leaves that hides their sharpness.  That way people who see it cast know it's dangerous, but people who don't see cast will see it as dense-but-harmless.

We finally settled on this description when we realized that the area should probably be obvious as difficult terrain in any case, but it's the hazardous nature that's obfuscated by the camouflage. With that in mind, we decided it could look like a natural mass of dense vegetation, and that nature of that difficult terrain could hide the spikes themselves.

Remember that the creature doesn't have to move and can use ranged attacks if they are smart enough to switch. If you are worried about doing too much damage you could houserule it so a creature can hack their way through and not take damage but their move is DRASTICALLY reduced. At its heart this is a control spell that does damage so if you are gonna reduce the damage it should control the enemy more to balance. 

Swarm keeper Ranger - Swarm moves a target up to 15ft (triggers Spike Growth 3x)

I just pulled off something legendary with this I'm a Dao genie warlock with pact of the chain and investment of the chain master so i set up spike growth behind my enemy used my bonus action to have my imp sting cast eldritch blast and since i have the repelling blast invocation it pushed him 10ft through the spikes and I'm 5th level and i used my genies wrath so it was 8d4+2d10+1d4+3+3d6+3 damage with a total of 49 damage