New Spells: Offensive Teleportation
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!
“Well, it worked fine in The Last Jedi. What’s the worst that could happen?”
Art Credit: https://www.deviantart.com/dekades8/art/Teleport-455847762
Most teleportation spells in 5th edition D&D don’t have combat applications other than simply changing the location of yourself, an ally, or an enemy. But the power of instantly changing a creature or object’s location can be used for so much more than simple re-positioning. These two spells were designed, among other reasons, to provide characters looking to specialize in teleportation magic with offensive options to use in combat that don’t feel out of place with the rest of the character concept.
The first spell has been dreamed about ever since that first crazy player looked at their little teleportation spell and asked their DM “Wait, can I try to teleport through the monster to damage it?” Beluud’s Brutal Jaunt is exactly what results when a mage attempts this little deadly trick. This spell combines the single-target damage of the best 1st-level spells, the teleportation of the 2nd-level misty step (normally a bonus action), and the prone effect. While its not the strongest at any of those effects alone, altogether it can make for a very potent turn at the cost of just one 2nd-level slot. This spell can even be used for teleportation without any offensive use: if you are desperate, you can simply teleport up to 30 feet without attacking any enemies at all. While this usage is essentially a worse version of misty step since it costs an action instead of a bonus action, it can still be worthwhile when the mage simply must reach a certain place on time and hasn’t prepared or learned another teleportation spell. It isn’t ideal, but sometimes you just gotta move!
The main combat use of Relocate may not be immediately apparent on the first read. Unlike scatter, this spell can actually teleport its target into the air, whether that’s off a cliff, over water or lava, or simply 90 feet up in the air. A 90 foot fall deals 9d6 nonmagical bludgeoning damage. That’s a pretty powerful effect for a 3rd-level spell, even despite the nonmagical damage, but the requirement to not only hit with a melee spell attack but to also force the target to fail a Charisma save combines with how easy it is to simply miss with the spell, gaining no effect for a 3rd-level spell slot, to help balance out the spell. Of course relocate can also be used just for utility, taking an action to teleport an ally three times the distance of a misty step, enabling greater teleportation-based mobility for allies an entire spell slot level before dimension door does.
Links: PDF | D&D Beyond: Beluud’s Brutal Jaunt, Relocate
