New Spells: Anti-Projectile Abjurations
Today from Legends of Prestige and Prowess we have two spells that counter the use of ranged weapon attacks in different ways. These spells were directly inspired by two sources: the first being the deflect missiles and reverse missiles spells from GURPS, and the second being The Way of Kings (and the Stormlight Archive generally) by Brandon Sanderson. I'll let you figure out which contributed more to which!
Art Credit: reddit.com/r/imaginarycosmere/comments/ct168m/do_you_know_the_words_by_me/
Attract Projectiles can be neatly inserted into the spell lists of any Surgebinder paladin oaths you out there may want to homebrew yourselves, but it's got much broader utility than that! Paladins and clerics especially, with their ability to get very high AC, will enjoy casting this spell to defend their squishy backline from ranged attackers. This spell makes a solid frontline much more effective, since it makes it more difficult to target a group's backline with ranged attacks and thus melee attackers must close the distance to threaten them... unless you've got spellcasters who can punish the group for staying within the radius of the spell all the time, of course. Be careful you don't take too much damage using this spell, though. Reverse Projectiles, on the other hand, automatically defends against ranged weapon attacks for the short duration without any saving throws or anything, and then reverses those attacks on the attackers! These reversed attacks are very likely to hit, which gives the spell a damaging edge, but most ranged weapon attacks don't deal enough damage to send the spell's balance out of control. However, once the enemies know that a spellcaster has this spell available, they may be more hesitant to use ranged attacks in the future, potentially enabling the spell to act as a deterrent even after the duration has ended. All this together should hopefully justify its 5th-level spell slot cost despite its short duration.
These spells both use bracelets as a material component, enabling paladins and clerics to cast them with a proper shield and furthering my tiny references to the Dresden Files's shield bracelets! Recall that the previous two new abjurations also use bracelets as material components, too!
PDF Link / D&D Beyond Links: Attract Projectiles, Reverse Projectiles
