Spell Redesign: Spike Growth

“Player traps are only allowed to work against willing victims”

I had a whole rant written up about this spell ostensibly not working with forced movement. This was a common opinion near the beginning of 5th edition. To be perfectly honest, it makes discussing this spell a tad difficult. Whether this spell is one of the few deserving of the evil concentration tag, or a clear example of designer laziness, depends wholly on whether forced movement procs the excellent 2d4 piercing damage. I love my meat grinder spell, it has tremendous combinations with various other druid and ranger abilities (and even more, should you multiclass), especially post-Tasha’s.

But I ditched that rant just in case. Normally forced movement doesn’t proc effects requiring movement, unless otherwise specified. There are Sage Advice answers explicitly contradicting this approach to spike growth. I still feel bad about my beast bond redesign getting a few details wrong in the spell critique section; best not to risk repeating the mistake here. Besides! I need to output these redesigns way more often than once per week.

My Version (Cooler)

I wiped out the movement/forced move interpretations with this spell. Some of you may have noticed my ever-hated concentration stayed on for this redesign; yes! I found what I consider to be one of the few useful justifications for the mechanic out there. I took the idea from 5e’s wall of stone, where “finishing” concentration makes the effect semi-permanent.

My Version (Even Cooler)

Bonus Spell: River Briars

River briars is making its first published appearance in Chill Mist Valley. I think it’s a fun example of alternate or “spinoff” spells. The fact it needs to be learned from a weird critter (I think) emphasizes the uncommon nature, and might just get your magic user thinking; could I make a spinoff spell? What would it look like?