Level
2nd
Casting Time
1 Action
Range/Area
300 ft
Components
V
Duration
Concentration
1 Minute
School
Transmutation
Attack/Save
STR Save
Damage/Effect
Control (...)
Choose one creature you can see within range. Yellow strips of magical energy loop around the creature. The target must succeed on a Strength saving throw, or its flying speed (if any) is reduced to 0 feet for the spell’s duration. An airborne creature affected by this spell safely descends at 60 feet per round until it reaches the ground or the spell ends.
Why doesn't this spell scale? I feel it should...
How would you have it scale? Increase the number or creatures targeted by 1 for level above 2nd?
Yes, exactly!
This seems really week compared to Hold Person
Is this spell specifically made for only airborne creatures? The “(if any)” makes it a little confusing in that aspect
The tradeoff is supposed to be that, with its massive range, it can actually target flying creatures far out of reach. But good luck getting any creature to be affected by this spell. Most flying creatures you want to use this on have such a high STR that they'll likely succeed, and even if you get them, what then? They safely float down to the ground and requires concentration to boot. It's a very niche 2nd level spell, and not that impressive at all.
Personally I would suggest to anyone who wants to use it to try homebrewing it one of two ways: remove the concentration, or remove the safe falling. Probably not both, unless you're harsh like that lol.
This is a different use case than hold person. This lvl 2 spell could ground a dragon if it rolled poorly enough.
Could this be used as a single target feather fall? I'd imagine the 60ft decent would take affect, even if you didn't have a flying speed to begin with?
I guess I can use this as a counter to my party's aaracockra?
Does the target descend immediately or on their turn?
Excellent spell to ground a dragon using Sorcerers Heightened Metamagic or Wizards Portent. (as long as you have the dragon use up it's three legendary resistances). doesn't need to scale, at all, as there is NO FURTHER SAVES for the remaining 10 rounds.
Late reply but technically yes. The target cannot fail the saving throw on purpose, so it's not a guaranteed thing, but the reduced flying speed and safe descent are two separate effects.
What are people's thoughts of this spell having the added benefit of holding a person to zero ground movement? Not paralyzed like hold person. The target would still be able to fight with their arms. Or would/could it literally bind them directly to the ground (prone and unable to fight)?
Ultimate anti-demilich spell. As long as your spell save DC is higher than 15, it will automatically fail. Then, it either uses a legendary resistance on a 2nd level spell or is unable to move and gets destroyed from 35 feet away.
If someone without a flying speed were hit with this spell but they were somehow airborne anyway (like being levitated by someone else, perhaps) they would be forced down to the ground.
Yup... that's pretty much exactly what the spell is for. "Gargoyles, Aarakocra, and Harpies, oh my!"
Epic
All my friends this spell is bad because there's Hold Person instead, but if you have a character with a high DC, you can bully flying creatures like you can't imagine. First of all, if they fail the initial save, they can't reroll it. It's also a good way to force bosses to burn all their counters and resistances. Also, Hold Person is only on a humanoid (and Hold Monster is a bit high-level for my taste), and they can reroll the save every single turn. You can even use metamagics if you're a sorcerer to target more flying enemies or make the save even more impossible. If you aren't a sorcerer, you can take the Metamagic Adept feat too! All around, love this spell. So underrated!
This is what I am curiuous about. Could this spell be used on a falling creature to prevent them from taking fall damage?