New Spell: Caldera
This content can now be found at its most updated version in The Elements and Beyond, a free 246-page compendium that you can download right here, filled with 23 subclasses, 8 spellcasting feats, 134 spells, 213 spell variants, 85 monsters, 30 magic items, 4 races plus 12 new subraces each with racial feats, and even more goodies for both players and DMs!
Art Credit: http://christopherburdett.blogspot.com/2016/04/today-i-have-for-you-process-and-steps.html
Let’s cut to the chase: this spell lets you create a freaking volcano. A permanent, growing, active volcano. Do we even need to say anything else?
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Well, we will anyways. Today’s preview is caldera, named for the open, lava-filled top of many volcanoes, the caldera — the part of the volcano where cinematic battles tend to occur. This spell transforms a massive circular area of ground into a pit of lava, forcing all land-bound creatures to escape deadly molten ground or else sink into the lava, which is about as bad as it sounds. It’s a fantastic spell for villains and player characters alike, especially those who are resistant or immune to fire damage themselves.
Of course, this mighty spell does have its downsides. For one thing, flying creatures have an easy time avoiding the lava, so the spell fails to accomplish much against many more powerful enemies. Then there’s the fact that many high-level enemies are resistant or even immune to fire damage — caldera won’t be of much help against fire giants or devils, for example. And the huge area can make the spell difficult to avoid threatening or impeding allies with. And it still takes multiple turns for the spell to match the instantaneous damage of a spell like meteor swarm which it competes with. Not to mention that if you’re anywhere important, the spell’s damage to objects (and the potential for it to flow elsewhere) can cause huge collateral damage that make the spell unappealing. But for all those downsides, the spell can still deal incredible damage to enemies that become trapped in the lava.
Despite its power, the out-of-combat utility of this spell may be the most interesting part of it. Certainly you can use the spell to create the obsidian floors for your imposing villain palace, to match the obsidian walls created by the new wall of lava spell. But casting caldera over 1 hour instead of only 1 action enables the creation of a permanent, real, full-sized volcano at any given location, so long as you can afford it and you meet a timely schedule. The magma usage of this spell borrows from other similar spells such as mighty fortress that can be used continually over a period of time to make the spell permanent. Once the volcano is born, the caster can keep casting the spell to make it quickly grow in size and strength. This spell helps DMs to tell stories about their world in a similar manner to some other spells such as imprisonment, but it can also be used by late-game player characters with an excess of not only wealth, but in-universe time. It’s one thing to come back after a time skip with a small castle — it’s another thing to come back with a small volcano! We don’t need to explain how this bit of D&D Unleashed can help you unleash your game.
