Zone of Truth: Lie More Creatively

Usable By: Bard, Cleric, Paladin

Spell Level: 2

School: Enchantment

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: 60 feet

Duration: 10 minutes

Components: V, S

You create a magical zone that guards against deception in a 15-foot-radius sphere centered on a point of your choice within range. Until the spell ends, a creature that enters the spell’s area for the first time on a turn or starts its turn there must make a Charisma saving throw. On a failed save, a creature can’t speak a deliberate lie while in the radius. You know whether each creature succeeds or fails on its saving throw.
An affected creature is aware of the spell and can thus avoid answering questions to which it would normally respond with a lie. Such a creature can be evasive in its answers as long as it remains within the boundaries of the truth.

Review by Sam West, Twitter: @CrierKobold

One of my old parties had some in-game trust issues (everyone was having a blast with this dynamic out of game); rogues sneaking about stealing things they weren’t supposed to steal, warlocks communicating with forces beyond their understanding, barbarians picking fights with people they have no business picking fights with. So, in order to air out the dirty laundry in a safe, healthy way, the cleric set up Zone of Truth Fridays, where everyone entered into the Zone of Truth and made saves until they failed. Then, they had a pleasant little chat about the past week, and got all the dirty deeds out in the open. It was delightful.

For this reason I will forever and always love Zone of Truth; it led to a funny recurring gag at our table of scoundrels with one good intentioned cleric that led to many excellent, hilarious moments. Outside this particular example, though, Zone of Truth kind of slaps. It's a great little 2nd level spell that does something you’d want it to in an RPG by offering a mechanic that affects the actual roleplay more than other in-game elements, and does so in a perfectly reasonable way.

Of note, any creature who starts its turn in the area, regardless of if it passed a prior save, makes another Cha save to avoid the effect, and you’ll know every time whether they pass or fail. This puts it as an incredibly reliable truth extraction tool, as with a duration of 10 minutes, somebody will fail a save eventually. Then it's down to clever questioning and interrogation to get the truth out of them. It doesn’t entirely solve getting truths from enemies, but is a great supplementary tool, akin to an actually effective lie detector.

Outside of information gathering or secret sharing, Zone of Truth lives in a space where you’ll prepare it when you know you’re going to be doing some carousel, but not many times otherwise. It's not something you need on any given character, but it definitely fits on the inquisitive minded characters looking for a way to ensure what they’re hearing is truthful. Sure, truth can range in usefulness, and clever characters can navigate through a Zone of Truth without spilling the beans on something crucial, but not every character is bright, and sometimes the player asking the questions is brighter. It's neat. If you haven’t messed around with Zone of Truth, I highly recommend it.

5e Spells

Zone of Truth: Lie More Creatively