Bones of the Earth: Give Them the Shaft

Usable By: Druid

Spell Level: 6

School: Transmutation

Casting Time: 1 Action

Range: 120 ft

Duration: Instantaneous

Components: V, S

You cause up to six pillars of stone to burst from places on the ground that you can see within range. Each pillar is a cylinder that has a diameter of 5 feet and a height of up to 30 feet. The ground where a pillar appears must be wide enough for its diameter, and you can target ground under a creature if that creature is Medium or smaller. Each pillar has AC 5 and 30 hit points. When reduced to 0 hit points, a pillar crumbles into rubble, which creates an area of difficult terrain with a 10-foot radius. The rubble lasts until cleared.

If a pillar is created under a creature, that creature must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw or be lifted by the pillar. A creature can choose to fail the save.

If a pillar is prevented from reaching its full height because of a ceiling or other obstacle, a creature on the pillar takes 6d6 bludgeoning damage and is restrained, pinched between the pillar and the obstacle. The restrained creature can use an action to make a Strength or Dexterity check (the creature’s choice) against the spell’s saving throw DC. On a success, the creature is no longer restrained and must either move off the pillar or fall off it.

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 7th level or higher, you can create two additional pillars for each slot level above 6th.

Review by Sam West, Twitter:@CrierKobold

6th level spells need to be doing a lot to justify their space on your sheet; Bones of the Earth ticks a lot of boxes Druids tend to want as far as spells go, making it reasonable consideration for your prepared list with one major condition: you’re adventuring indoors or underground.

The first big element that makes the spell even a consideration is it doesn’t take your concentration. Of all the classes, Druids tend to draw most of their power from their concentration spells, usually in the form of a summoned ally or a large damaging or controlling region. Bones of the Earth slots onto your sheet as something splashy to do when you’re planning on having one of those concentration effects up.

What effect it produces is… odd. I think it most aptly compares to something like Wall of Stone and Wall of Fire, as you can position them next to each other to produce a large wall, and the wall is capable of dealing damage. Without the restrain and damage, this is way over costed. However, there are some upsides you can immediately take advantage of.

30 ft. pillars can take ranged allies out of reach of up 20 ft. tall melee-only enemies. While getting knocked off the pillar is a bit of a concern, you can simultaneously out smaller melee-only creatures up in the air and force them to take 3d6 damage to get down while still being out of range of you. This effect on its own I don’t think is worth the slots, still, but is interesting.

If you can restrain up to six creatures at once with 6d6 damage, this spell is insanely good. It will deny multiple creatures multiple turns in the best-case scenario, sometimes ending an encounter before it begins. That encounter just needs to be specifically in a space with lower than 35-foot ceilings, which isn’t always a given.

Prior to this review, I never thought much of Bones of the Earth; having thoroughly investigated it, I think there is a lot of potential here. You can probably do some interesting stuff with it regardless of environment, but in small spaces it seems great.

5e Spells

Bones of the Earth: Give Them the Shaft