Invulnerability: Your Weapons are Useless Against Me!
Usable By: Wizard
Spell Level: 9
School: Abjuration
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Self
Duration: Concentration, up to 10 minutes
Components: V, S, M (a small piece of adamantine worth at least 500 gp, which the spell consumes)
You are immune to all damage until the spell ends.
Review by Sam West, Twitter:@CrierKobold
Why, Wizards of the Coast: Why do wizards get all the best 9th level spells?
Truly, I can’t understand it. They get Wish, True Polymorph, Meteor Swarm, Time Stop; did they really need Invulnerability, too? Why couldn’t clerics get it, all they’ve got going for them is Mass Heal, a spell that is sometimes nice to have, but not something anyone is getting giddy with excitement over.
Bah. Anyway, if you couldn’t tell by my frustrations, Invulnerability is a super spicy 9th level spell. And they gave it to wizards only.
Turns out in a game where most features and mechanics in initiative involve dealing or mitigating damage, having an effect that makes you entirely immune to all of said damage can destroy some encounters. If the predominant way the villain is looking to fight you is via damage, Invulnerability simply says no.
The neat part about concentration is in order for you to make the save to maintain it, you have to take damage. Invulnerability says “you can’t take damage”. Neat! Unless you’re incapacitated some other way, or for some reason need to cast another concentration spell, you can consistently wade into the middle of thousands of baddies and be completely unscathed. From there you can fire out however many Lightning Bolts and Fireballs your heart desires.
If you’re a DM or player facing an Invulnerable wizard , the counter measures are pretty straightforward. Grappling and other conditions can be a more fun way to manage it, as a lot of magical effects can be mitigated with high level Counterspells taken to supplement the Invulnerable target. If you can stay out of Counterspell range, Polymorph is pretty silly with Invulnerability. Have you ever seen an Invulnerable hamster?
Invulnerability isn’t the BEST 9th level spell wizards have, but it is a solid addition that satisfies a specific fantasy at the top tiers of play. It's a bit wild to me that it can only ever affect you, as buffing your barbarian or paladin to be an invulnerable death machine sounds like the best time, but as is you’ll still be able to do some neat stuff while you can’t take damage. But come on, man. This should have been a cleric spell.
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