You choose an area of water that you can see within range and that fits within a 5-foot cube. You manipulate it in one of the following ways:
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You instantaneously move or otherwise change the flow of the water as you direct, up to 5 feet in any direction. This movement doesn’t have enough force to cause damage.
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You cause the water to form into simple shapes and animate at your direction. This change lasts for 1 hour.
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You change the water’s color or opacity. The water must be changed in the same way throughout. This change lasts for 1 hour.
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You freeze the water, provided that there are no creatures in it. The water unfreezes in 1 hour.
If you cast this spell multiple times, you can have no more than two of its non-instantaneous effects active at a time, and you can dismiss such an effect as an action.
Seeing as how Blindness/Deafness is a spell, and a second level one at that, I would wager that this is not an intended use of the RAI. I would also wager that water in the creatures is intended to be covered under the 'creatures in the water' blanket, but I do like the creativity haha.
If you pour water into a lock and freeze it, can you break the lock? If someone is bleeding, can you freeze their blood and kill them? The water is inside the person, not the other way around.
Is snow considered a source of water?
Of course it is. The spell doesn't restrict target state - you can cast it on ice, whether in cube, shaved (snow), or other form, or on liquid water in a cup, or on fog, or mist, or steam, or a cloud, or if it's *really* hot a plasma. Note that while you can freeze it, you can't boil it, and it's a fine question what happens when the spell expires on frozen steam - does it revert to steam, or just melt?
Spell says it targets water, not blood. I imagine it's up to your GM where the line is between targeting water despite contaminants (e.g. targeting just the water in a barrel of water with a rubber ducky floating in it) and when the spell fizzles - a better question than blood is what happens when you target milk, or oil and water in a flask.
Heya, quick reminder that the spell specifies that you have to be able to see the water source, and blood isn't exactly water, and you cant see the blood inside someones body.
Unless they're bleeding. Blood does contain large amounts of water.
That is true, but the spell does specify that it only works on just water, regardless if blood is around 50% water, it has to be entirely 100% water.
Spell does say cube so 5'x5'x5' = 125cuft, density of water at STP is 62.316 lb/ft3, that's 7789.5 lbs (assuming Earth like Gravity)...
If you ever suspect that someone invisible is in the room with you... Take some water from the waterskin, make it RED AF and splash across the room. In an hour, it'll just be water again, so no damage done. And if someone was invisible in the room, they are definitely visible now.... lol
Exactly my thought. Lol
So...a human is about 60% water. For a more precise breakdown, according to H H Mitchell, Journal of Biological Chemistry, the brain and heart are composed of 73% water and the lungs are about 83% water. The skin contains 64% water, muscles and kidneys are 79%, and even the bones are watery at about 31%.
So...blood bending anyone? The spell does not say anything about an open container. It just says an area of water that you can see that'll fit within a 5 foot cube. of course a DM could be extremely picky and technically say that you don't see the water inside of a person. I guess that's a loophole for the DM to get out of it. But I think that is lame.
I would totally allow this, but add an attack/save with the DC very high. This would not be something easy to pull off. And maybe a lot of in-game training to drop the DC over time. So for example, have the target make a CON save (+5 more) against the spellcaster. So d20+savemod+5. Over time with training/practice that +5 reduces.
The effect could kind of be a modified version of the Puppet spell from Unearthed Arcana. And the target has to make that con check every round to break free.
Redacted
Ice weighs less than water, friend.
that's for 5x5x1, not 5x5x5.
I redid my initial comment though, thanks for the call out.
No. Just no. It's a cantrip.
Why are people citing biology and physics texts to describe a magical effect?
D&D is a universe in which things like fire, water, air, and earth are "elements." It's very clearly also a universe in which blood is never water, but a bodily humor.
Applying physics to imaginary magical spells is both a fool's errand and a waste of imagination. Trying to find ways in which a cantrip can become an insta-kill assassination tool is silly.
Guys. Stop. It's Shape Water. You use it to shape water, not freeze brains. Read literally any other spell to understand the limits here: (how often can things not be affected by magic because they are being carried, for example? You're not freezing blood with this. Not in this rule set. Not ever).
If you want a Waterbender feeling, this spell is awesome. :-)
Some other spells that can be reflavored:
- Hold Person / Monster: reflavor to freeze the enemies in ice
- Dominate Person / Monster: for your bloodbending needs
- Shield: block enemy attacks with a quick water slash or ice barrier
- Blindness / Deafness: if you really want the freezing eyes idea from this thread
- Eldritch Blast: turn the crackling force lightning into hits with a water whip
- Levitate: lift yourself up with a whirling column of water
- Black Tentacles: turn the black tentacles into water tentacles for the classic waterbending octopus.
- Cure Wounds / Lesser Restoration / Greater Restoration / Heal: for the healing capabilities of waterbenders
A lore bard with a single warlock level can gain all these spells by 7th level. Any bard with a single warlock level can get all of these spells except for Levitate.
The warlock (at least Hexblade) also has some other spells that work nicely, like Armor of Agathys and Misty Step.
Is it weird that one of the first things I thought of when I read this spell was “huh. Someone could use this to bath themselves near anywhere”. They could even make it into a vertical sort of shower stall, a five foot or lower sort of pillar. Just form it, step inside, comfortable cleaning is now yours.
The second thing I thought of was using it to animated a five foot vaguely person shaped entity, and then dancing with it on a stage or in a ring as a sort of performance deal. Granted, the character I imagined doing this currently has a 5 in Dexterity so dancing is probably not something he should be doing, but still, you could do some cool stuff with this.
As for the whole “human body is water, freeze it with this cantrip” bit… no, not a chance. Why? It invalidates literally any other attack spell in the game if you could do this with a single cantrip.
If u have a water skin with water, u can make two icicles (one for each hand) and use it as a ranged, improvised weapon and throw them like daggers at an opponent then use “the force” to retrieve ur icicles that shall stay frozen for 1 hour. Or even better, make some javelinnsss.
If I used this spell on a portion of rain to transform falling water into needles of ice, could I damage an enemy thanks to gravity?