New Spells: Minor 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: https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=seismic+stomp
Each of the new spells in this pdf appears on the list of Geomancy Spells in the upcoming compendium. Geomancer is one of the available spellcaster specialization feats coming in The Elements and Beyond, which each have their own list of 40-50 spells (including original and new homebrew spells) that count for the feat's special abilities, which activate upon casting a spell from their list. The Geomancer feat in particular grants the caster defensive bonuses whenever they cast a geomancy spell, armoring themselves in the earth that they wield, in addition to a few other benefits. These specialization feats are intended to be as meaningful for spellcaster PCs who are willing to specialize as feats like Great Weapon Master, Dual Wielder, or Sharpshooter can be for martial characters.
Now, onto today's spells. These spells do explicitly nonmagical physical damage, which leaves almost as many creatures resistant or immune to them as for fire damage, with fewer vulnerabilities. And that doesn't count temporary spells and effects such as stoneskin or gaseous form. This, combined with their other limitations in terms of needing suitable earth, affords them a bit of extra potential power in other situations.
Stone Blast is similar to a lower level scorching ray in some regards, with the feature of being able to attack from a different location than your own, enabling you to attack creatures around corners or behind cover (so long as you can see them). It scales well with higher level slots, so whether you're a dedicated geomancer looking for a bread-and-butter offense, a pragmatic war mage seeking an answer for enemies behind cover, or a dwarf mage crushing goblins with dwarven magic as a dwarf should, stone blast might be for you.
Terra Spike is a simple spell that tries to impale your enemies on a big spike made of earth. It can be used to punish enemies who are knocked prone, but can also do the same to enemies who are pressed up against a thick stone wall for cover, or who are crawling on a thick stone ceiling. Some DMs may rule (as I do) that oozes, though immune to prone, are always pressed against the ground and thus imperiled by the spike.
Quakewalk is one of the rare spells accessible to sorcerers but not wizards, and it serves as a nice new spell for rangers and moon druids too. By carefully using this concentration spell to knock your enemies prone as you wade into their ranks and combining it with your other geomancies that care about prone targets, your fights will be a cakewalk!
And finally, Boulder Shot acts as a suped-up single-attack version of stone blast with longer range and a bonus Strength saving throw to knock a target prone and push them. Because you can control the direction of the boulder attack, you can control the direction of the push, and even push enemies closer to you. If you're underground, you can summon the boulder from the ceiling and attack straight downward to avoid pushing your target. The boulder even deals double damage to objects and structures, just like an earth elemental, for some extra utility.
(Man, all this talk of "the boulder" has got me feeling nostalgic...)
We’re still in the middle of previewing content from one of the three upcoming compendiums planned, this one focused on not just the classic four elements, but the powers of the natural world and the planes surrounding it. Called The Elements and Beyond, it will contain not just dozens of new spells, but spellcaster specialization feats, new subclasses, and even races like the Pixie!
PDF Link / D&D Beyond Links: Stone Blast, Terra Spike, Quakewalk, Boulder Shot
