What is the area of effect?  Is it a 10 ft radius, a diameter, just a spot 10 ft away?

It targets all of the ground within it's range.  It should hit everybody within 10ft of you, as long as they are touching the ground 

The range on this spell should say "self (10-ft. Radius)". The spell is cast and every creature within 10 feet of you, besides yourself, is effected.

then why havent they fixed it yet? must not be too hard to change some words

The reason why they didn't list it as "Self (10 Feet)" is because then it would become excluded from certain Range Enhancements and certain Effects, such as ones that require a Spell to have a Range of at least 10 Feet, as then the Range would be "Self" with a Target of "10 Feet" when it is in fact more akin to

• Range:
  • 10 Foot Radius
• Target:
  • All Creatures touching the Ground within Range

this is one of those Spells where the Definition is not very clear; causing one to rely upon the more vague Fallback Definitions based upon how it is worded, and the Explicit Definitions mentioned in the PHB/DMG Books.

Why they messed this Spell up, and how they overlooked its vague explanation of what it actually explicitly does, is beyond me. Perhaps someone is capable of getting in touch with Sage Advice on the matter and commenting here with the URL/Screenshot of the Response so we can get some closure on this oversight? Please & Thank You.

Fun Fact: This was likely inspired by Jax's Ground Punch Shockwave in Mortal Kombat, as it achieved this specific effect.

Warding Wind (C) + Earth Tremor = Thou Shalt Stick to Me Like Rice :D

Add this spell to Way of the Four Elements monk for 2 KI?

Question: If you play on a grid, does this effectively cover 5 x 5 squares on the grid?

Quote from Tobold >>

Question: If you play on a grid, does this effectively cover 5 x 5 squares on the grid?

 Per Jeremy Crawford here, yes. "Everything within 10 ft. of you on the ground (aka floor)"

I feel like this spell should be Transmutation instead of Evocation, since it's more based around manipulating matter than it is summoning any kind of energy

What do the component letters mean

Quote from Vex0 >>

What do the component letters mean

 "V, S" means it has both vocal and somatic components. A vocal component requires the caster to speak some sort of magic words or incantations and a somatic component requires the caster to perform certain gestures, usually hand gestures that require a good bit of finesse.

ygggggggggggg

so on a successful save they take 0 dmg? most spells say that on a successful save they take half but this one says nothing

Quote from BarnabusBonecrusher >>

so on a successful save they take 0 dmg? most spells say that on a successful save they take half but this one says nothing

 

 

Beyond 20

 

 

 

 

 

 To me that makes sense. The Bludgeoning damage is from the creature hitting the ground, if they succeed on the Dex save then they do not fall over therefore no damage.

At DM's discretion of course but I'd be tempted to allow the next attack from that creature that saved to be at disadvantage due to being unsteady on their feet.

Quote from UberSeraph >>

Quote from BarnabusBonecrusher >>

so on a successful save they take 0 dmg? most spells say that on a successful save they take half but this one says nothing

 

 

Beyond 20

 

 

 

 

 

 To me that makes sense. The Bludgeoning damage is from the creature hitting the ground, if they succeed on the Dex save then they do not fall over therefore no damage.

At DM's discretion of course but I'd be tempted to allow the next attack from that creature that saved to be at disadvantage due to being unsteady on their feet.

Personally I think that the damage isn't really the point of this spell; the real damage comes from knocking several enemies prone so your allies can set about them with advantage. Remember; if one of your allies would have missed if not for a bonus you gave them, then that's extra damage that you did, never let them forget that 😄

I also like how it can combo with difficult terrain, such as Warding Wind or the Great Tree form of Guardian of Nature; if an enemy is knocked prone in difficult terrain it will take their entire movement to stand back up (as getting up from prone costs half, but the cost is doubled), meaning they can only get away from you by using a Dash (at reduced speed).

That said, I do wish the spell dealt half damage on a failure when upcast to a higher level, as there's basically no incentive to up-cast it since the chance of knocking enemies prone doesn't increase, and the damage is still low compared to other spells.

I don't think standing up costs double movement when in difficult terrain. You don't move, so the difficult terrain doesn't really affect you. The rule for standing up is that it costs movement equal to half your speed. Your speed isn't affected by difficult terrain, so standing up doesn't cost any extra.

Honestly the range should expand as the level increases. An extra 10 ft radius per level  as well as the damage could make it scale really well as it's basically like casting the spell multiple times per level increase. 


erupting earth 3rd level v.s Earth tremor 3rd level ( range scaling)

• Tremor effects a larger area  (30ft v.s 20ft) but erupting can choose where to target 
• Erupting does more damage(  3d12, 17.5 avg v.s 3d6, 10.5 avg) but Tremor knocks targets down 
• Strength save for Tremor v.s Dex save for erupting. 

That's possibly a little op with extended range from sorcerer as you'd get a 100ft range with  a 5th level spell for 1 sorcery  point but I don't think that is designed for AOE's any way  and it's odd that it would be included. 

According to Princes of the Apocalypse, the Range/Area should be Self (10-foot radius)

Forever (and yet seldom) dm here with too much time on my hands, and first of I totally agree that the only thing useful about this is knocking people prone on difficult terrain

Been looking into sorcerers and their spells and did just notice that a lvl 4 sorcerer can make themselves a size larger and cast this spell in the one turn to stupid efficiency.

Enlarge spell on self with 2 sorcery points spent on quickening using up my bonus action

Earth tremor is then cast with another sorcery point into distant spell to "double the range" of a spell.

And now theoretically in the opening round instead of targeting 24 squares around me I've now targeted 96. Unless my math is wrong, I've definitely not calculated the radius, just the squares.

Add the war caster feat and just keep spamming this at 3rd lvl...I'm considering making a bard play nutbush city limits and then my character does the appropriate dance while some other dm cries into their notes this time.