New Spells: Major Geomancies
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: www.deviantart.com/dleoblack/art/quicksand-344138109
Today's spells are Geomancy spells, much like the Minor Geomancies I already previewed. These are Major Geomancies, though, and those were Minor. The terminology I'm using is that Minor spells are levels 1-4, Major spells are levels 5-7, and Master spells are levels 8 and 9, though there's no mechanical meaning to it. Geomancy spells appear on the spell list for the Geomancer feat, one of six spellcaster specialization feats with spell lists appearing in The Elements and Beyond. These feats provide bonuses for spells from their spell list and have special abilities that activate when you cast them, and since there are few cross-overs between lists, they are intended to be as meaningful and character-defining as weapon feats like Sharpshooter or Great Weapon Master.
Both of these Major Geomancies enable you to manipulate the earth to plunge your foes into the ground, but they do so in different ways. Sinking Maw resembles the also-5th-level spell maelstrom in some ways, and differs in others. The swirling liquefied ground doesn't deal damage over time, but can be much more confining and harder to escape from than swirling water. Once you've got enough enemies caught in the spell, you end it and force them into the solid ground with injurious results on par with a 3rd-level fireball. This spell doesn't leave difficult terrain behind, but it will still smash up a fancy marble floor when you leave the orcish invaders (or a confused group of PCs) half-buried in the stonework. If you really want to completely smother your foes beneath the earth and you don't mind hitting only one target, Living Burial at 7th-level is what you're looking for. This terrifying spell shoves a single creature deep enough beneath the earth that they can barely move and can't breathe and then crushes them with the very ground that imprisons them. You'll be hard-pressed to damage them so far down, but they'll be hard-pressed to escape! The short range and concentration on this spell makes it liable to be interrupted by other enemies, but the entombed target will likely have to focus their efforts on escape. Just don't cast this spell on a creature that can burrow!
This content is a preview from The Elements and Beyond. One of the three upcoming compendiums planned, The Elements and Beyond is focused on not just the classic four elements, but the powers of the natural world and the planes surrounding it, and will contain not just dozens of new spells, but spellcaster specialization feats like the Geomancer feat, new subclasses, and even races like the Pixie!
PDF Link / D&D Beyond Links: Sinking Maw, Living Burial
