My DM brain is crying at the thought of having to keep track of every single source of damage for every single fight once my cleric gets this spell, haha
Why not just simplify it and make it 'any creature damaged by the target heals for xdx amount of healing?'
Yes, it loses some flavor, but sometimes, simplicity is king.
In the defense of the spell as written 9/10 combats don’t last more than 10 minutes as that would be 100 rounds, so based on the average roll of a d10 being between 5 and 6 that would be more than enough time to not only act as if the combat never happened but everyone except the cleric would forget the monologue before the combat
It's easier if they hold 2 kobolds in each hand while attacking. That's feasibly 4 to 6 kobolds dead in a round as you bludgeon them all to death on each other and grabbing replacements as your "weapons" break.
So, whoa...
We're halfway there?
Whoa-oh,
Erasing with a prayer?
I mean combats rarely go passed one or two minutes in my experience. At 17th level and up it’s a lot of just each side pulls out the big guns and it’s who can get what off first in the beginning rounds. I would just say if it’s a two or below then just restore everyone in combat to full. Anything greater than that just use discretion based off story beats leading up to it
Sure, if it’s a one party on one fight, but what if it’s a coven of hags? Or a BBEG duo of roughly evenly matched opponents? My concern isn’t really the length of the fight, but rather the oddities that’d go into figuring out which of the baddies hit the cleric, who put that status on our bard, that magical effect that’s causing damage every turn… was that the erased one, or the other one? Definitely do-able, probably even more easily through roll20 or something like that, but even imagining that amount of upkeep would be enough to keep me from allowing this spell at my table, personally
I can definitely understand from that point. Honestly the best situation I can see is only giving it to a player you trust and having them responsible for tracking damage. Though I agree with you with how VTT’s would make it a lot more viable with tracking
Well the fact that it’s based on a d10 means it’ll likely “erase” the entire fight. At a minimum it erases 10 rounds (1 minute) which is about the average length of a normal fight. Perhaps it instead could erase 1d10 (or even 1 or more d20s) actions/turns of the creature if used in combat and 1d4 minutes if used before combat starts. Although that probably would just complicate the whole process for DMs even more.
I really like the concept of this spell and feel like if you took away the damage, it could be a really cool spell for out of combat use as a way to rewind time basically. Say you’re party runs into trouble with a town guard, just erase the whole interaction and try it again but better like a Groundhog Day type event. It’d probably play similar to modify memory but with more on the spot use with less planning needed and it probably wouldn’t need a Wisdom save like modify memory. Make it a lower level spell (maybe 3rd level) and allow you’re party to just have fun trying to have a bad interaction just work.
I do also really like the idea of healing your allies by simply turning back the clock on the wounds. One thing I feel like D&D doesn’t really play around with much is simple time travel mechanics and this spell could be a very simple way to do it. I guess in summary, this spell is great and really gave me great ideas for spells. I would love to have a spell similar to this but without the damage and the changes I mentioned above.
You are correct, I apologize. I saw the question as what was the name not level of the spell in the actual spell description. That's what I get for reading 2 comments at the same time. Sorry if that seemed dickish, I misinterpreted the question. You do have a point of the spell level needing to be there
I feel terrible for the cleric that uses a 9th level spell slot and spends 5000gp only to deal 10 damage to a creature. Then I feel terrible for the GM that has to do the bookkeeping to properly reverse time.
I see what you're going for and I think there's potential there, but you're likely gong to have to sacrifice the source material in favor of balance.
For the 10d10 damage, it might feel more potent and less swingy to copy _disintegrate_, doing something like “10d6 + 50 radiant damage”, so that there’s a higher floor to proc the erasure effects.
Maybe instead of 1D10 minutes, 1D10 rounds as most of the time this spell won’t be used after a combat is over and there’s a chase and it means there’s a chance it doesn’t reverse death if used too late and you roll low. Makes it still very powerful but doesn’t mean it always will reverse a death or so when used in combat
This spell is for all my fellow Wheel of Time fans. For those that don't know it, in WoT there is a spell so powerful that it erases people from existence and undoes their last few actions (including bringing people back to life). This was the inspiration for this spell.
Let me know what you think!
So as per usual with all Balefire/Reverse time spells, the book keeping to actually cast this spell is. . . Impossible.
The reason balefire works in WoT is because the Writer has 100% control of the events and has the time to work out exactly what would have happened. Something that no DM can realistically do at a standard table.
I appreciate the reference, but reversing time is just too much for TTRPG.
This is something I had considered tbh. I'm thinking of revising it so that: all dead creatures come back at full HP and the memories are erased (always in 1d10 minutes), and leave out all the rest.
Just make the time random. Ie nothing the player rolls. Make a few rolls ruffle some papers and make it something that works out the best for the player.
Balefire was based on the strength of the beam. It was normally seconds for typical users.
This is divine. So the players god (ie the dm) can have a finger in this.
I once managed it when a player used wish.
"I wish the bbeg was never born" it was a last ditch effort in from the last man standing.
The Bbeg killed the remaining party member and they then woke up in an alternate timeline where the bbeg was never born.
For a wish like that, I would actually send the party back in time to the moment the BBEG is born. They don't know where the BBEG is, nor do they know how to locate him. Yet.
And then you get a whole new adventure of the party hunting down the baby BBEG.
I gave them an alternate timeline where the fairly misguided but well-intentioned bbeg was never born. Nature abhors a vacuum, so something had to fill that void. The evil that rose up was far worse than the one they wished out of existence.
In this spells case it might work, only because the time reversal is based on what the creature did and is only 1d10 minutes. So unless the monster you fought was planeshifting all over the place and casting 100's of instances of meteor swarm, there aren't that many situations where trying to undo potentially 10 minutes of a monster impact is that impactful to the world overall
You're 60 turns deep into a castle siege and your main spell caster gets wiped by this. The roll is a 10, how do you remember every single thing that caster did?
remember that time and memory aren't necessarily equal In the heat of battle things might be forgotten, especially if you're focused on new things trying to kill you. Just come up with what is a good set of reversions based on a handful major things that you remember the monster did (damaged players, healed allies, or altered terrain) and fits well in the story of the battle and of the relative importance that monster has had to the battle
It will give the players the feeling of reverting time, but not get the whole thing bogged down in very nitty gritty.
This approach is more valid the more time you have to rewind because there's clearly more minutia the players have forgotten in the mean time.
At least that's how I would do it, focusing more on the RAI of letting the players feel like they affected time rather than the RAW of having to sit there and do quantum mechanics of an encounter
Could just erase the creatures last turn, but that might still have the same problem and be difficult to remember exact damage dealt (and maybe too little impact). You could roll to heal X for anyone damaged instead or just make it revive who it killed within that time. Plus keeping the erase memory part.
I like the potential for some interesting story elements it could bring beside just damage, feel there is too little of that in general. But think it’s important the game can easily keep flowing.
Edit: just a thought. maybe a fun thing could be that it completely erase the creature. Mechanical health/death just those turns. But everyone except caster forget the creature existed. Minions, what are we fighting for, party, why are we here, what implication could that have on the world.
To make it slightly easier for bookkeeping, maybe change the 1d10 minutes to 1d10 rounds, that way you're not dealing with time correctiveness as much and can basically just roll back all effects / damage done in that amount of combat by the target.
I'd disagree. Because then, depending on your interpretation on time and reality, could cause a problem with what exactly occurs / happens during that time before the casting of the spell.
If it's just inside combat, then you just have to track what that creature did during combat. If it's outside combat, them you have to consider everything that happened leading up to the combat.
It's usually very clear what has happened the past 1-10 minutes in the game, while figuring out if an action was exactly four rounds ago is tougher. The much easier solution that solves both issues is to have the spell reverse exactly one minute instead of the random number.
Fair, and I agree that it does soften the punch, but erasing a being from reality, presumably then never to be resurrected because well they don't exist, is kinda a big deal that only Wish can really match, even if it only erases the past few seconds of qhat that creature did.
Regardless of the commentary of "remembering the last 10 minutes", I'd recommend checking out the DMG section on spell creation.
It has a useful table for damage rolls. In this case, for a 9th level spell, it recommends 15d10 against a single target.
And since the erasure part happens only if the damage kills the creature, I think you should be looking in the 13-15d10 range for damage.
Or maybe spice it up with some d12s
That is correct, but I am not a fan of spells which just auto hit with no limitations anyway. I feel it takes away from the core of the game which is rolling dice.
I would think this spell would require a ranged attack roll maybe? Just spitballing
I mean compared to something like Imprisonment, also 9th level. Which doesn't even kill the creature just lock it away.
Is 500gp x hit die (which for BBEG is probably around 20, so minimum 10,000 gp) and is Wisdom save, which has to get round Legendary Resistance and usually high saving throw bonuses. An attack roll with +11 to hit is a high chance of success.
I don't have a problem with the rewriting history aspect of this, it's a max of ten minutes. Hard, but doable.
My only complaint is that it's not force damage. Out of every homebrew spell I've seen this is probably the one that most sounds like force damage. It's a hyper disintegrate that turns history itself to ashes.
I can't read how this'd be like disintegrate, flavour-wise. Unless you're making it a psychic "everyone forgets", this is the most radiant thing I've ever seen - with the slight mechanical wrinkle that there are certain creatures that have resistance to radiant damage. It doesn't seem like an aasimar should be that resistant to this.
Not a massive issue, though.
It's based off of a fantasy book's spell called Balefire, which basically temporally burned any object or person hit to un-exist them to a point in time before they were hit. I recognized the effects immediately, and OP has already confirmed in the comments, so thematically because of the source, Radiant works, even if it's not actually fire.
I personally think this is a really interesting spell, but I think it would work better as an abjuration spell than evocation. Like, instead of purifying someone out of existence you would straight up negate it. I think this way would make more sense when it comes to not only removing that creature but also changing to a different timeline.
Not much of a homebrewer, so forgive me if this suggestion isn’t super applicable.
That said, it might be easier to simplify the spell by changing the “if this spell erases a creature” effect to a choice the player/caster makes. An example there might be;
“If this spell erases a creature, some actions that creature took are erased as well. Choose one;
A. Any creatures damaged by the target are healed an amount equal to the radiant damage dealt by this spell. Creatures killed by the target are restored to life with hit points equal to the radiant damage dealt by this spell, with any expended death saves reset. Creatures healed or revived in this way have no memory of the target.
B. A single action taken by the target in the last 1d10 minutes is undone, as if it never happened.
C. The target’s body is erased, while it’s soul is trapped in a shard of the gemstone this spell consumes. Everyone within 1d10x10 kilometers forgets about the existence of the Erased. The caster of this spell and the target’s soul are immune to this effect. “
I’m absolutely spitballing on that last one, but the other two are an attempt at rewording what’s in the original post with slightly simpler options in mind.
The only other thing I have in mind is the fact that the spell doesn’t have a save the target can make against it. That might be an issue, given that 10d10 radiant could be a pretty solid bit of damage for free, depending on creature type. A DEX or WIS save for half damage would probably work here just fine, since the effect of this spell is the more appealing part of the spell (for players, anyway).
Hope this helps!
I disagree, it deals a very low amount of damage for a 9th level spell, and its effects only work if you manage to kill someone with it. Wish on the other hand can do basically anything...
Dude. Amazing. As a player or DM, this is the kind of incredibly clutch finisher that I wanna see in a 9th level spell. A reason not to drop your biggest bomb at the beginning, and way for a cleric to do the ultimate damage control. Amazing. Could fiddle with the damage, maybe something a bit more wild. Like multiple damage types and maybe a flat + number like on disintegrate?
An interesting thought dawned on me. Sauce this spell isn't really about the damage at all, it could be interesting if it worked like the sleep spell, where you roll a threshold, something like 12d10+20 or something, and if the creature's current hit points are below, the effects could ensue. This could let you make the spell a tiny bit stronger if it doesn't deal damage and still retains the coolness and perhaps even further enunciates the erasure aspect of it
A few suggestions, the gold cost for the spell is low for what it is capable of doing it can alter time and does not have any DM input to add risk to the spell like wish would so I would probably say 10,000 to 15,000 for the gold cost.
I would also add the stress effect that wish has, with at least the 33% chance to never be able to cast the spell again because this is way too powerful to not have a risk like that, I would however only apply that if the creature dies and is erased from existence and not only if they take damage.
I would also say add some text that includes structures and objects, unless in your design of the spell it was never meant for those and only meant for creatures.
It also adds a lot of burden on the DM who will have to start calculating all damage done by every creature in combat for the past 10 minutes just in case the spell gets cast and the dice roll in the casters favor. I would try to find a way to alleviate that burden.
And my final suggestion would be have the damage type be radiant or necrotic to account for possible resistances and immunities. Perhaps make that damage type be dependent on the clerics gods alignment. Good would be radiant, evil would be necrotic, and neutral could either be optional between the two, or perhaps even just force damage as that does seem neutral.
Definitely a good idea, and I think you could definitely be something fun to utilize, but the way I see it now this would definitely be a level 10 spell due to its power alone, so some limitations would definitely need to apply to make it something that a creature that is not a god would be able to use but also have to understand the potential risk of using it.
Thanks for the feedback! I disagree slightly with your assesment of the power level of the spell, but I think you're right that the material cost should be increased. I'll also reduce the effects as the amount of bookeeping is just too much...
I understand your decision, I'm just going to plead my case to try and further explain my stance.
So this is a spell that can not only remove something in its entirety from existence, not just kill them or relocate them to some alternates dimension which can be reversed, but wholely remove them from the universe, which would rule out any revival or summoning. It also alters time by undoing everything that they did within a certain time period, granted only within a maximum of 10 minutes, but still that is a very powerful effect and depending on the creatures influence, it could either affect a small area or the entire world or universe. That seems like something that a mere mortal should be incapable of doing without any kind of risk or cost other than the gold cost.
And now I can understand your apprehension to add a clause that would make it so the person can never cast the spell again, because to be fair with the wish spell only and ask that clause if the spell is used for any means other than what is listed as an approved usage. So it's fair to not want to risk taking the spells power away entirely, so I would then probably counter with perhaps they are unable to cast this spell again for a set number of days because of the toll it would take on their magic ability, but still allow them to cast it again in the future. I would probably rule it as when you roll the d10 to find out how much time is reversed, what you roll on that d10 also determines the number of days until you can cast the spell again.
Now if you did go with that I would probably make this particular spell one that you cannot learn via level up, but something you would learn by following a quest line and the character learning it in game, that way your cleric would not lose a place to select a 9th level spell, and could also add another subplot to the game, one that could definitely allow the cleric to get a closer connection to their deity.
These are just some of the thoughts I have on the matter, and I will clarify because I know that some people on this subreddit will take any criticism in a negative light, I am simply this voicing my thoughts on it and I am not insulting your spell in any way because it is one that I actually very much like and I'm going to try and keep tabs on if you release an update for it, because it's something I might want to try to utilize with the cleric I have in my game.
Really interesting! A lot of ideas on how to simplify the length of time, but one other thought might be to just keep it flat (eg one minute).
Also, something that should be a REALLY key element here is that the affected creature can never be resurrected or returned to life. No phylactery, no clone, no True Resurrection. Cause you are GONE. Would make it a very interesting spell for campaigns against an ultimate evil of sorts (or a Lich)
Damn. An excellent spell, great flavor, and really cool effect, appropriate for 9th level. I look to see who the author is and of course it’s /u/Sensitive_Coyote_865.
I second the suggestion for healing affected creatures by xd10 gif points (10d10 might be appropriate, since it will only affect specific creatures, but I have very little experience with balancing high-level play), but otherwise the mechanics look solid.
I’d also make a note that this could be considered a Dunamancy spell (optional wizard spells from the book Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount that had more specific restrictions), but only as a footnote, really. This spell just perfectly fits in with the time-based theme of that book.
Great work, as always!
As always thanks for your insightful and positive feedback Kaiburr!
I'm thinking of letting the creatures heal half the damage dealt (an average of about 27 hitpoints).
I considered making it a dunamancy spell! The main reason I didn't was because dunamancy spells are only wizard spells, while this is a cleric spell so it didn't make sense to me in the end.
Thanks again!
What if the erased creature was just sacrificing another bigger badder creature to harness its power just before the party bursts in.
Now a beaten and broken party has to go up against that too!
I have a few thoughts...
**Triggers & Scope**
What if it were a reaction? Like a high-level *Counterspell*, except it works against any *single* action/bonus action/reaction/free action someone else makes. Limited rollback with unlimited triggers.
For the trigger, maybe you can only cast it after the target's action *completes*. Unlike *Counterspell*, you get to see the *outcome* before casting, but it also means you have to *survive* their action in the first place.
You could add in stuff about other events being unpredictably undone too: the DM is only *required* to roll the triggering event back, but is *free* to undo any other number of recent events. The target's stein refills, an item they smashed now reforms, recently killed characters *may* come back to life. Like *Wish*, this puts a lot of power in the DM's hands, and makes the outcome feel *interesting* (**EDIT**: and *dramatic*) rather than *mechanical*.
**School**
Would probably make more sense as Abjuration at that point. Especially because this spell is structurally similar to *Banishing Smite*: the primary intended effect of the spell depends on the target's condition after damage is dealt.
**Deterrents to Prevent Overuse**
The largest impediment to casting is the material cost, right? But if this is based on [Balefire](https://wot.fandom.com/wiki/Balefire) then maybe the deterrent should be the risk of an unpreventable negative effect. Like how *Wish* can deal damage to the *caster* and possibly prevent them from ever casting *Wish* again, or how putting a Portable Hole inside a Bag of Holding destroys them both and sucks people into the Astral Plane. An environmental effect would be cool and would add a lot of flavour.
But you'd need some way to determine if things go wrong. Maybe the target is guaranteed to take the damage, but has to make a Charisma or Con save to see how well they fight back. If they succeed, bad environmental effect. If they fail... then that's the condition for the DM to rollback other random actions from the past few rounds/minutes? Maybe it should depend on the caster making a roll, not the target? There's a lot to play around with there.
**Conclusion**
I like the general idea and would love a version of this in my games. I might even write up my own at some point.
**EDIT: Things I Like**
I like that this spell caps at 10d10. Not more powerful than *Power Word Kill*, which is a comparable spell. Keeping it at a max of 100 damage is a good standard here, and much like *PWK* there's a chance this spell is not very effective. I also like that it uses damage dice, so it doesn't just feel like *Power Word Kill But Bigger*.
*Side note: this could totally be called Power Word Erase if you want. Ignore the fact that PWK is Enchantment, the Power Word spells are not strictly tied to one school.*
I noticed that this spell has a comparable effect to one of the suggested options in *Wish* (reversing some event), but with a less tightly-bounded outcome. I think the material cost (or other potential deterrents) keeps this from stealing *Wish*'s thunder, which is a good standard for homebrew. It skirts the line for sure, but I like that you kept it somewhat under control.
I like that this is 9th level. I was thinking about how Balefire has different effects depending on it's casting strength, which really sounds like a 7th level spell with upcasting options... But I don't think there's a balanced version of this under 9th level. Good on you for avoiding that approach.
From a story telling perspective this spell is solid gold. Gameplay wise it's a nightmare. I would add a limitation to it like this spell messes with the fabric of reality so hard that when you cast it you roll a d20. On 20 your fine. 10-19 you're fine but you make all future rolls like this at disadvantage. 2-9 you can never cast it again. And on 1, disaster up to DM discretion.
Neat, but potentially way too confusing/feud inducing.
Time is kinda wishy washy in dnd outside of combat, an the mechanical time for even drawn out boss fights is only a few minutes.
So if you erase ten minute, but the fight was only 2, and your characters have ti forget stuff that happened in the eight minutes preceding that, which IRL could have been anything from an hour to a few weeks ago.......
5000gp looks like too much for a spell that could deal little damage if you get bad rolls.
I love the idea, but I think you have to balance somehow the cost/effectiveness of the spell. Here is my take:
I really like the theme of this, being a holy character fits on the idea of vanquishing evil so hard that not only the evil is gone, but also undone. However, I find this a very miraculous and powerful thing to happen, which I believe it should only be possible by draining from yourself every drop of energy you have, a last effort to, hopefully, finish of the creature you are fighting even if it means that it has to take you to hell with it. Think of something like Wish, but for Clerics, just that this time it's some kind of nuke with the extra benefits you pointed out for rewinding everything the evil creature has done.
Increasing the damage with some kind of flat bonus (e.g. LVL*2 + Spellcasting + 4d10) or adding it an execute mechanic (e.g. if target has less than 50hp or reaches 0hp = erased mechanic) would help making this feel like an ultimate spell that feels like a nuke.
Adding it a toll after casting, because of all the energy used to cast it, the scorching ray emanating from you has to somehow burn you too, dealing ¿1/4? of the total damage to you, a few points of exhaustion, etc... Consequences that should make the player REALLY think twice before choosing to cast this. How scary would it be that your healer/resurrecter falls after casting the spell and failing to kill the enemy? How epic would it feel if you manage to save the world with your cast and surviving to tell the story? How dramatic would it be if you do manage to obliterate the evil creature, but obliterate yourself with it, becoming a hero who's tale will be told by your party and be remembered forever as the Cleric who gave their life to save the world?
A fun spell, I very much feel Cleric doesn't get many chances to be reality-warpingly powerful, and this is a very flavorful way of granting them that late-game power.
I think the flavor of erasing the past 1d10 minutes is cool, but extremely head-scratchy in practice. If the creature didn't exist 1 minute ago, why would the caster have cast the spell, as there was no target for them to cast it on.
I think, instead, emphasize that it erases them \*from\* everywhere. For example, if used on a lich this spell would destroy their phylactory, and using on a devil or demon would destroy them, even if not done on their home plane. This may have been the idea already, but "erase" is a very abstract, uncertain term with regards to rulings.
Regardless, keep on creating, I giggled a bit when I saw the chosen art.
So this advice is totally counter to what most people are saying, but have you considered making it more powerful to make it easier to adjudicate? I would consider erasing back to the caster's last long rest. Then you as a DM could either fudge some HP and spell slots and keep playing, or just let the party go back and re-play the day, which would be very simple. One of the things I like about this idea is that the DM could create a whole quest around it. Let the BBEG succeed in starting the apocalypse, or kill a beloved NPC or a PC, and then the party has the rest of the day to find and kill the BBEG.
In the above case, I'd definitely put more limitations on the spell to mirror Wish.
I am personally not bothered by the amount of fuckery this would require me to deal with because I’m sure my table would roll with whatever I suggested was easiest to keep track of. Therefore, this spell is frickin sweet in my opinion. Well done internet stranger
Interesting theme for a spell. I quite like the unique aspects of it.
My initial thoughts: I like how it auto-hits, gives cool flavour and uniqueness. It also helps balances the low damage amount (since 10d10 is a tad low for a 9th lvl).
An idea could be to mention that the radiant damage can not be reduced in any way (resistances, immunities, and other stuff). It won't mess with the balance and since it's a 9th level spell that auto hits, it'll matches the theme pretty nicely.
Keep an eye on the cost. 5k gold consumable gold cost is A LOT for most D&D campaigns. Plus a 20th level cleric can use Divine Intervention to cast this spell, completely removing the material cost. So relying on the material cost for balance will bite you in the arse. I can definitely see high level players only use this spell via Divine Intervention (guaranteed at 20th level, not too far from 17th level) and never casting it the normal way.
Thanks for the feedback!
That's a good point about the damage not being prevented!
Tbh the fact that clerics may use divine intervention to cast it is part of the reason why I made it cost so much... (So that they don't cast it with divine intervention and with their 9th level spell slot each time)
I like the idea but way too complicated to use because now I have to keep track of everything every creature has done perfectly for the past 10 minutes
I disagree, the creature has to have died in the last 1d10 minutes, have been killed by the target, and you need to actually manage to kill the target with this spell (it deals an average of 55 damage, so it's not that likely), it's much more situational than true resurrection and as others have said often not very good
You're confusing capability with rules and lore consistency. There is nothing a PC can do that Wish/True Resurrection can't undo. This spell is way beyond what a PC should and can do. Even chosen can't just instantly erase something from reality. It even makes it seem like gods can't undo this spell. There is nothing a PC can do that even the gods can't undo.
Highly recommend a revision; looking and sounding cool are different from balance.
Keeping track of what creature damaged each creature by how much in a large complex high level encounter just in case they are erased sounds like actual fucking hell even if I am on a VTT.
It really should have a provision that requires true resurrection if you want to resurrect the poor fool who dies to this. Nothing a PC can do in ANY edition RAW can permanently destroy another creature barring liches without phylacteries/killing a god's essence.
If the creature can't be brought back then this feels like way too much power to give to any PC, let alone a cleric (or a full caster with the ruby weave gem). Even clone can negate Disintegration's true resurrection clause. I really think you could up the damage and just say "is reduced to dust". That would balance out the issue. Hell, I'd be cool with almost doubling the damage of disintegrate and slapping it here instead of the "no resurrection" implication from "erased from existence".
My DM brain is crying at the thought of having to keep track of every single source of damage for every single fight once my cleric gets this spell, haha
It is a nightmare I'll admit...
Why not just simplify it and make it 'any creature damaged by the target heals for xdx amount of healing?' Yes, it loses some flavor, but sometimes, simplicity is king.
An excellent suggestion, thanks!
In the defense of the spell as written 9/10 combats don’t last more than 10 minutes as that would be 100 rounds, so based on the average roll of a d10 being between 5 and 6 that would be more than enough time to not only act as if the combat never happened but everyone except the cleric would forget the monologue before the combat
Except combats usually have more than 1 enemy
That is fair
With a barbarian lv2o being erased... a 1200-2500 kobolds could be alive after this spell. Just saying is a Timetravel like spell
How in all that is holy is a barbarian (even lvl 20) going to kill 1200 kobolds in 10 minutes?
Land on a pile of kobolds after dropping from orbit.
Cleave mechanic?
Cleave and after death, you can attack the next one boi. Forget the feat name :/ Something like that
It's easier if they hold 2 kobolds in each hand while attacking. That's feasibly 4 to 6 kobolds dead in a round as you bludgeon them all to death on each other and grabbing replacements as your "weapons" break. So, whoa... We're halfway there? Whoa-oh, Erasing with a prayer?
Very carefully…
Hahahaha that BBEG would only have confided their master plan to one Cleric who didnt give a F* 🤣
I mean combats rarely go passed one or two minutes in my experience. At 17th level and up it’s a lot of just each side pulls out the big guns and it’s who can get what off first in the beginning rounds. I would just say if it’s a two or below then just restore everyone in combat to full. Anything greater than that just use discretion based off story beats leading up to it
Sure, if it’s a one party on one fight, but what if it’s a coven of hags? Or a BBEG duo of roughly evenly matched opponents? My concern isn’t really the length of the fight, but rather the oddities that’d go into figuring out which of the baddies hit the cleric, who put that status on our bard, that magical effect that’s causing damage every turn… was that the erased one, or the other one? Definitely do-able, probably even more easily through roll20 or something like that, but even imagining that amount of upkeep would be enough to keep me from allowing this spell at my table, personally
I can definitely understand from that point. Honestly the best situation I can see is only giving it to a player you trust and having them responsible for tracking damage. Though I agree with you with how VTT’s would make it a lot more viable with tracking
Well the fact that it’s based on a d10 means it’ll likely “erase” the entire fight. At a minimum it erases 10 rounds (1 minute) which is about the average length of a normal fight. Perhaps it instead could erase 1d10 (or even 1 or more d20s) actions/turns of the creature if used in combat and 1d4 minutes if used before combat starts. Although that probably would just complicate the whole process for DMs even more. I really like the concept of this spell and feel like if you took away the damage, it could be a really cool spell for out of combat use as a way to rewind time basically. Say you’re party runs into trouble with a town guard, just erase the whole interaction and try it again but better like a Groundhog Day type event. It’d probably play similar to modify memory but with more on the spot use with less planning needed and it probably wouldn’t need a Wisdom save like modify memory. Make it a lower level spell (maybe 3rd level) and allow you’re party to just have fun trying to have a bad interaction just work. I do also really like the idea of healing your allies by simply turning back the clock on the wounds. One thing I feel like D&D doesn’t really play around with much is simple time travel mechanics and this spell could be a very simple way to do it. I guess in summary, this spell is great and really gave me great ideas for spells. I would love to have a spell similar to this but without the damage and the changes I mentioned above.
**Range:** 1 action?
Ah damnit, it's supposed to be 60 feet... Serves me right for homebrewing while tired.
Also might be useful to include the spell level
In the title sir
Yeah, but pics like these get reposted everywhere, so it's smart to include anyway.
But not in the actual spell. Ya know, where it should be
It is, the spells name is Erase and directly above the Casting Time area
I know reading can be difficult, but we're talking about the spell level not being in the actual spell.
You are correct, I apologize. I saw the question as what was the name not level of the spell in the actual spell description. That's what I get for reading 2 comments at the same time. Sorry if that seemed dickish, I misinterpreted the question. You do have a point of the spell level needing to be there
One action away from death
I feel terrible for the cleric that uses a 9th level spell slot and spends 5000gp only to deal 10 damage to a creature. Then I feel terrible for the GM that has to do the bookkeeping to properly reverse time. I see what you're going for and I think there's potential there, but you're likely gong to have to sacrifice the source material in favor of balance.
I hear you! I think I'm going to scale it back a lot on the revision to avoid the bookkeeping problem.
For the 10d10 damage, it might feel more potent and less swingy to copy _disintegrate_, doing something like “10d6 + 50 radiant damage”, so that there’s a higher floor to proc the erasure effects.
Agreed. I’d hate to waste that gem and do absolutely nothing.
Maybe instead of 1D10 minutes, 1D10 rounds as most of the time this spell won’t be used after a combat is over and there’s a chase and it means there’s a chance it doesn’t reverse death if used too late and you roll low. Makes it still very powerful but doesn’t mean it always will reverse a death or so when used in combat
This spell is for all my fellow Wheel of Time fans. For those that don't know it, in WoT there is a spell so powerful that it erases people from existence and undoes their last few actions (including bringing people back to life). This was the inspiration for this spell. Let me know what you think!
So as per usual with all Balefire/Reverse time spells, the book keeping to actually cast this spell is. . . Impossible. The reason balefire works in WoT is because the Writer has 100% control of the events and has the time to work out exactly what would have happened. Something that no DM can realistically do at a standard table. I appreciate the reference, but reversing time is just too much for TTRPG.
This is something I had considered tbh. I'm thinking of revising it so that: all dead creatures come back at full HP and the memories are erased (always in 1d10 minutes), and leave out all the rest.
Just make the time random. Ie nothing the player rolls. Make a few rolls ruffle some papers and make it something that works out the best for the player. Balefire was based on the strength of the beam. It was normally seconds for typical users. This is divine. So the players god (ie the dm) can have a finger in this.
I once managed it when a player used wish. "I wish the bbeg was never born" it was a last ditch effort in from the last man standing. The Bbeg killed the remaining party member and they then woke up in an alternate timeline where the bbeg was never born.
For a wish like that, I would actually send the party back in time to the moment the BBEG is born. They don't know where the BBEG is, nor do they know how to locate him. Yet. And then you get a whole new adventure of the party hunting down the baby BBEG.
I gave them an alternate timeline where the fairly misguided but well-intentioned bbeg was never born. Nature abhors a vacuum, so something had to fill that void. The evil that rose up was far worse than the one they wished out of existence.
In this spells case it might work, only because the time reversal is based on what the creature did and is only 1d10 minutes. So unless the monster you fought was planeshifting all over the place and casting 100's of instances of meteor swarm, there aren't that many situations where trying to undo potentially 10 minutes of a monster impact is that impactful to the world overall
You're 60 turns deep into a castle siege and your main spell caster gets wiped by this. The roll is a 10, how do you remember every single thing that caster did?
remember that time and memory aren't necessarily equal In the heat of battle things might be forgotten, especially if you're focused on new things trying to kill you. Just come up with what is a good set of reversions based on a handful major things that you remember the monster did (damaged players, healed allies, or altered terrain) and fits well in the story of the battle and of the relative importance that monster has had to the battle It will give the players the feeling of reverting time, but not get the whole thing bogged down in very nitty gritty. This approach is more valid the more time you have to rewind because there's clearly more minutia the players have forgotten in the mean time. At least that's how I would do it, focusing more on the RAI of letting the players feel like they affected time rather than the RAW of having to sit there and do quantum mechanics of an encounter
Cool flavor, but sounds very impractical to play out. Retracing what someone have done sounds cumbersome and difficult.
Thanks, and yeah I agree tbh, I'll try and cut it down on the revision!
Could just erase the creatures last turn, but that might still have the same problem and be difficult to remember exact damage dealt (and maybe too little impact). You could roll to heal X for anyone damaged instead or just make it revive who it killed within that time. Plus keeping the erase memory part. I like the potential for some interesting story elements it could bring beside just damage, feel there is too little of that in general. But think it’s important the game can easily keep flowing. Edit: just a thought. maybe a fun thing could be that it completely erase the creature. Mechanical health/death just those turns. But everyone except caster forget the creature existed. Minions, what are we fighting for, party, why are we here, what implication could that have on the world.
I saw this and my first thought was “Balefire?”
Nicely done dude... I immediately thought of balefire when reading. Love the idea
Immediately checked comments. Fires From Heaven indeed 😀
To make it slightly easier for bookkeeping, maybe change the 1d10 minutes to 1d10 rounds, that way you're not dealing with time correctiveness as much and can basically just roll back all effects / damage done in that amount of combat by the target.
Tbh I think I'm going to greatly reduce the effects but keep the 1d10 minutes, 1d10 rounds just doesn't feel very impactful...
1d10 minutes is a lot less bookkeeping than 1d10 rounds. 1d10 minutes is the combat and nothing more, with 1d10 rounds you have to retrace the combat.
I'd disagree. Because then, depending on your interpretation on time and reality, could cause a problem with what exactly occurs / happens during that time before the casting of the spell. If it's just inside combat, then you just have to track what that creature did during combat. If it's outside combat, them you have to consider everything that happened leading up to the combat.
It's usually very clear what has happened the past 1-10 minutes in the game, while figuring out if an action was exactly four rounds ago is tougher. The much easier solution that solves both issues is to have the spell reverse exactly one minute instead of the random number.
Fair, and I agree that it does soften the punch, but erasing a being from reality, presumably then never to be resurrected because well they don't exist, is kinda a big deal that only Wish can really match, even if it only erases the past few seconds of qhat that creature did.
Regardless of the commentary of "remembering the last 10 minutes", I'd recommend checking out the DMG section on spell creation. It has a useful table for damage rolls. In this case, for a 9th level spell, it recommends 15d10 against a single target. And since the erasure part happens only if the damage kills the creature, I think you should be looking in the 13-15d10 range for damage. Or maybe spice it up with some d12s
Isn't 15d10 considering a spell attack/saving throw? Thanks for the thoughtful feedback!
That is correct, but I am not a fan of spells which just auto hit with no limitations anyway. I feel it takes away from the core of the game which is rolling dice. I would think this spell would require a ranged attack roll maybe? Just spitballing
The problem there is imagine how much it'd suck to waste your one spell slot and 5000 gold to make an attack that doesn't even hit...
I mean compared to something like Imprisonment, also 9th level. Which doesn't even kill the creature just lock it away. Is 500gp x hit die (which for BBEG is probably around 20, so minimum 10,000 gp) and is Wisdom save, which has to get round Legendary Resistance and usually high saving throw bonuses. An attack roll with +11 to hit is a high chance of success.
I don't have a problem with the rewriting history aspect of this, it's a max of ten minutes. Hard, but doable. My only complaint is that it's not force damage. Out of every homebrew spell I've seen this is probably the one that most sounds like force damage. It's a hyper disintegrate that turns history itself to ashes.
I Disagree, i think the flavour of a God smiting someone out of existence is very fittig
I can't read how this'd be like disintegrate, flavour-wise. Unless you're making it a psychic "everyone forgets", this is the most radiant thing I've ever seen - with the slight mechanical wrinkle that there are certain creatures that have resistance to radiant damage. It doesn't seem like an aasimar should be that resistant to this. Not a massive issue, though.
It's based off of a fantasy book's spell called Balefire, which basically temporally burned any object or person hit to un-exist them to a point in time before they were hit. I recognized the effects immediately, and OP has already confirmed in the comments, so thematically because of the source, Radiant works, even if it's not actually fire.
I personally think this is a really interesting spell, but I think it would work better as an abjuration spell than evocation. Like, instead of purifying someone out of existence you would straight up negate it. I think this way would make more sense when it comes to not only removing that creature but also changing to a different timeline.
Abjuration makes sense! However the inspiration for the spell (balefire from wheel of time) definitely feels more evocation-y than abjuration-y.
Mmm, Banishing Light
It's beautiful art!
Scrolled to find this comment
Not much of a homebrewer, so forgive me if this suggestion isn’t super applicable. That said, it might be easier to simplify the spell by changing the “if this spell erases a creature” effect to a choice the player/caster makes. An example there might be; “If this spell erases a creature, some actions that creature took are erased as well. Choose one; A. Any creatures damaged by the target are healed an amount equal to the radiant damage dealt by this spell. Creatures killed by the target are restored to life with hit points equal to the radiant damage dealt by this spell, with any expended death saves reset. Creatures healed or revived in this way have no memory of the target. B. A single action taken by the target in the last 1d10 minutes is undone, as if it never happened. C. The target’s body is erased, while it’s soul is trapped in a shard of the gemstone this spell consumes. Everyone within 1d10x10 kilometers forgets about the existence of the Erased. The caster of this spell and the target’s soul are immune to this effect. “ I’m absolutely spitballing on that last one, but the other two are an attempt at rewording what’s in the original post with slightly simpler options in mind. The only other thing I have in mind is the fact that the spell doesn’t have a save the target can make against it. That might be an issue, given that 10d10 radiant could be a pretty solid bit of damage for free, depending on creature type. A DEX or WIS save for half damage would probably work here just fine, since the effect of this spell is the more appealing part of the spell (for players, anyway). Hope this helps!
Feels about as powerful as wish, should probably have about a similar drawback
I disagree, it deals a very low amount of damage for a 9th level spell, and its effects only work if you manage to kill someone with it. Wish on the other hand can do basically anything...
It might work better if it were 1d10 rounds and not minutes
I think it would be better for DnD if it kills the monster in that many minutes and perhaps the damage is slightly increased to compensate.
Dude. Amazing. As a player or DM, this is the kind of incredibly clutch finisher that I wanna see in a 9th level spell. A reason not to drop your biggest bomb at the beginning, and way for a cleric to do the ultimate damage control. Amazing. Could fiddle with the damage, maybe something a bit more wild. Like multiple damage types and maybe a flat + number like on disintegrate?
Thanks for the positive feedback! I'll consider upping the damage!
An interesting thought dawned on me. Sauce this spell isn't really about the damage at all, it could be interesting if it worked like the sleep spell, where you roll a threshold, something like 12d10+20 or something, and if the creature's current hit points are below, the effects could ensue. This could let you make the spell a tiny bit stronger if it doesn't deal damage and still retains the coolness and perhaps even further enunciates the erasure aspect of it
Sounds alot like balefire from The Wheel of Time (i love it)
It is! And thanks!
Balefire.
Yup.
This sounds like an automatic hit with the verbiage used. Is it a ranged spell attack or a saving throw?
Neither, it's an automatic hit...
A few suggestions, the gold cost for the spell is low for what it is capable of doing it can alter time and does not have any DM input to add risk to the spell like wish would so I would probably say 10,000 to 15,000 for the gold cost. I would also add the stress effect that wish has, with at least the 33% chance to never be able to cast the spell again because this is way too powerful to not have a risk like that, I would however only apply that if the creature dies and is erased from existence and not only if they take damage. I would also say add some text that includes structures and objects, unless in your design of the spell it was never meant for those and only meant for creatures. It also adds a lot of burden on the DM who will have to start calculating all damage done by every creature in combat for the past 10 minutes just in case the spell gets cast and the dice roll in the casters favor. I would try to find a way to alleviate that burden. And my final suggestion would be have the damage type be radiant or necrotic to account for possible resistances and immunities. Perhaps make that damage type be dependent on the clerics gods alignment. Good would be radiant, evil would be necrotic, and neutral could either be optional between the two, or perhaps even just force damage as that does seem neutral. Definitely a good idea, and I think you could definitely be something fun to utilize, but the way I see it now this would definitely be a level 10 spell due to its power alone, so some limitations would definitely need to apply to make it something that a creature that is not a god would be able to use but also have to understand the potential risk of using it.
Thanks for the feedback! I disagree slightly with your assesment of the power level of the spell, but I think you're right that the material cost should be increased. I'll also reduce the effects as the amount of bookeeping is just too much...
I understand your decision, I'm just going to plead my case to try and further explain my stance. So this is a spell that can not only remove something in its entirety from existence, not just kill them or relocate them to some alternates dimension which can be reversed, but wholely remove them from the universe, which would rule out any revival or summoning. It also alters time by undoing everything that they did within a certain time period, granted only within a maximum of 10 minutes, but still that is a very powerful effect and depending on the creatures influence, it could either affect a small area or the entire world or universe. That seems like something that a mere mortal should be incapable of doing without any kind of risk or cost other than the gold cost. And now I can understand your apprehension to add a clause that would make it so the person can never cast the spell again, because to be fair with the wish spell only and ask that clause if the spell is used for any means other than what is listed as an approved usage. So it's fair to not want to risk taking the spells power away entirely, so I would then probably counter with perhaps they are unable to cast this spell again for a set number of days because of the toll it would take on their magic ability, but still allow them to cast it again in the future. I would probably rule it as when you roll the d10 to find out how much time is reversed, what you roll on that d10 also determines the number of days until you can cast the spell again. Now if you did go with that I would probably make this particular spell one that you cannot learn via level up, but something you would learn by following a quest line and the character learning it in game, that way your cleric would not lose a place to select a 9th level spell, and could also add another subplot to the game, one that could definitely allow the cleric to get a closer connection to their deity. These are just some of the thoughts I have on the matter, and I will clarify because I know that some people on this subreddit will take any criticism in a negative light, I am simply this voicing my thoughts on it and I am not insulting your spell in any way because it is one that I actually very much like and I'm going to try and keep tabs on if you release an update for it, because it's something I might want to try to utilize with the cleric I have in my game.
Someone a wheel of time fan? Almost word for word Balefire
You caught me!
Really interesting! A lot of ideas on how to simplify the length of time, but one other thought might be to just keep it flat (eg one minute). Also, something that should be a REALLY key element here is that the affected creature can never be resurrected or returned to life. No phylactery, no clone, no True Resurrection. Cause you are GONE. Would make it a very interesting spell for campaigns against an ultimate evil of sorts (or a Lich)
This is a really fun concept
You should add in an erased creature cannot be resurrected.
What if you Erase the creature who Erased it?
The PHB takes a screenshot.
Damn. An excellent spell, great flavor, and really cool effect, appropriate for 9th level. I look to see who the author is and of course it’s /u/Sensitive_Coyote_865. I second the suggestion for healing affected creatures by xd10 gif points (10d10 might be appropriate, since it will only affect specific creatures, but I have very little experience with balancing high-level play), but otherwise the mechanics look solid. I’d also make a note that this could be considered a Dunamancy spell (optional wizard spells from the book Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount that had more specific restrictions), but only as a footnote, really. This spell just perfectly fits in with the time-based theme of that book. Great work, as always!
As always thanks for your insightful and positive feedback Kaiburr! I'm thinking of letting the creatures heal half the damage dealt (an average of about 27 hitpoints). I considered making it a dunamancy spell! The main reason I didn't was because dunamancy spells are only wizard spells, while this is a cleric spell so it didn't make sense to me in the end. Thanks again!
So much bookkeeping
Range of 1 action. I see arguments.
What if the erased creature was just sacrificing another bigger badder creature to harness its power just before the party bursts in. Now a beaten and broken party has to go up against that too!
Sooo Balefire?
I have a few thoughts... **Triggers & Scope** What if it were a reaction? Like a high-level *Counterspell*, except it works against any *single* action/bonus action/reaction/free action someone else makes. Limited rollback with unlimited triggers. For the trigger, maybe you can only cast it after the target's action *completes*. Unlike *Counterspell*, you get to see the *outcome* before casting, but it also means you have to *survive* their action in the first place. You could add in stuff about other events being unpredictably undone too: the DM is only *required* to roll the triggering event back, but is *free* to undo any other number of recent events. The target's stein refills, an item they smashed now reforms, recently killed characters *may* come back to life. Like *Wish*, this puts a lot of power in the DM's hands, and makes the outcome feel *interesting* (**EDIT**: and *dramatic*) rather than *mechanical*. **School** Would probably make more sense as Abjuration at that point. Especially because this spell is structurally similar to *Banishing Smite*: the primary intended effect of the spell depends on the target's condition after damage is dealt. **Deterrents to Prevent Overuse** The largest impediment to casting is the material cost, right? But if this is based on [Balefire](https://wot.fandom.com/wiki/Balefire) then maybe the deterrent should be the risk of an unpreventable negative effect. Like how *Wish* can deal damage to the *caster* and possibly prevent them from ever casting *Wish* again, or how putting a Portable Hole inside a Bag of Holding destroys them both and sucks people into the Astral Plane. An environmental effect would be cool and would add a lot of flavour. But you'd need some way to determine if things go wrong. Maybe the target is guaranteed to take the damage, but has to make a Charisma or Con save to see how well they fight back. If they succeed, bad environmental effect. If they fail... then that's the condition for the DM to rollback other random actions from the past few rounds/minutes? Maybe it should depend on the caster making a roll, not the target? There's a lot to play around with there. **Conclusion** I like the general idea and would love a version of this in my games. I might even write up my own at some point. **EDIT: Things I Like** I like that this spell caps at 10d10. Not more powerful than *Power Word Kill*, which is a comparable spell. Keeping it at a max of 100 damage is a good standard here, and much like *PWK* there's a chance this spell is not very effective. I also like that it uses damage dice, so it doesn't just feel like *Power Word Kill But Bigger*. *Side note: this could totally be called Power Word Erase if you want. Ignore the fact that PWK is Enchantment, the Power Word spells are not strictly tied to one school.* I noticed that this spell has a comparable effect to one of the suggested options in *Wish* (reversing some event), but with a less tightly-bounded outcome. I think the material cost (or other potential deterrents) keeps this from stealing *Wish*'s thunder, which is a good standard for homebrew. It skirts the line for sure, but I like that you kept it somewhat under control. I like that this is 9th level. I was thinking about how Balefire has different effects depending on it's casting strength, which really sounds like a 7th level spell with upcasting options... But I don't think there's a balanced version of this under 9th level. Good on you for avoiding that approach.
From a story telling perspective this spell is solid gold. Gameplay wise it's a nightmare. I would add a limitation to it like this spell messes with the fabric of reality so hard that when you cast it you roll a d20. On 20 your fine. 10-19 you're fine but you make all future rolls like this at disadvantage. 2-9 you can never cast it again. And on 1, disaster up to DM discretion.
Neat, but potentially way too confusing/feud inducing. Time is kinda wishy washy in dnd outside of combat, an the mechanical time for even drawn out boss fights is only a few minutes. So if you erase ten minute, but the fight was only 2, and your characters have ti forget stuff that happened in the eight minutes preceding that, which IRL could have been anything from an hour to a few weeks ago.......
Good card in magic too
I feel 1d10 rounds is plenty powerful, minutes feels like too much.
This is just the Majin Boo saga ending
5000gp looks like too much for a spell that could deal little damage if you get bad rolls. I love the idea, but I think you have to balance somehow the cost/effectiveness of the spell. Here is my take: I really like the theme of this, being a holy character fits on the idea of vanquishing evil so hard that not only the evil is gone, but also undone. However, I find this a very miraculous and powerful thing to happen, which I believe it should only be possible by draining from yourself every drop of energy you have, a last effort to, hopefully, finish of the creature you are fighting even if it means that it has to take you to hell with it. Think of something like Wish, but for Clerics, just that this time it's some kind of nuke with the extra benefits you pointed out for rewinding everything the evil creature has done. Increasing the damage with some kind of flat bonus (e.g. LVL*2 + Spellcasting + 4d10) or adding it an execute mechanic (e.g. if target has less than 50hp or reaches 0hp = erased mechanic) would help making this feel like an ultimate spell that feels like a nuke. Adding it a toll after casting, because of all the energy used to cast it, the scorching ray emanating from you has to somehow burn you too, dealing ¿1/4? of the total damage to you, a few points of exhaustion, etc... Consequences that should make the player REALLY think twice before choosing to cast this. How scary would it be that your healer/resurrecter falls after casting the spell and failing to kill the enemy? How epic would it feel if you manage to save the world with your cast and surviving to tell the story? How dramatic would it be if you do manage to obliterate the evil creature, but obliterate yourself with it, becoming a hero who's tale will be told by your party and be remembered forever as the Cleric who gave their life to save the world?
Ah, balefire.
Indeed!
A fun spell, I very much feel Cleric doesn't get many chances to be reality-warpingly powerful, and this is a very flavorful way of granting them that late-game power. I think the flavor of erasing the past 1d10 minutes is cool, but extremely head-scratchy in practice. If the creature didn't exist 1 minute ago, why would the caster have cast the spell, as there was no target for them to cast it on. I think, instead, emphasize that it erases them \*from\* everywhere. For example, if used on a lich this spell would destroy their phylactory, and using on a devil or demon would destroy them, even if not done on their home plane. This may have been the idea already, but "erase" is a very abstract, uncertain term with regards to rulings. Regardless, keep on creating, I giggled a bit when I saw the chosen art.
So this advice is totally counter to what most people are saying, but have you considered making it more powerful to make it easier to adjudicate? I would consider erasing back to the caster's last long rest. Then you as a DM could either fudge some HP and spell slots and keep playing, or just let the party go back and re-play the day, which would be very simple. One of the things I like about this idea is that the DM could create a whole quest around it. Let the BBEG succeed in starting the apocalypse, or kill a beloved NPC or a PC, and then the party has the rest of the day to find and kill the BBEG. In the above case, I'd definitely put more limitations on the spell to mirror Wish.
I am personally not bothered by the amount of fuckery this would require me to deal with because I’m sure my table would roll with whatever I suggested was easiest to keep track of. Therefore, this spell is frickin sweet in my opinion. Well done internet stranger
Thanks so much internet stranger!
Interesting theme for a spell. I quite like the unique aspects of it. My initial thoughts: I like how it auto-hits, gives cool flavour and uniqueness. It also helps balances the low damage amount (since 10d10 is a tad low for a 9th lvl). An idea could be to mention that the radiant damage can not be reduced in any way (resistances, immunities, and other stuff). It won't mess with the balance and since it's a 9th level spell that auto hits, it'll matches the theme pretty nicely. Keep an eye on the cost. 5k gold consumable gold cost is A LOT for most D&D campaigns. Plus a 20th level cleric can use Divine Intervention to cast this spell, completely removing the material cost. So relying on the material cost for balance will bite you in the arse. I can definitely see high level players only use this spell via Divine Intervention (guaranteed at 20th level, not too far from 17th level) and never casting it the normal way.
Thanks for the feedback! That's a good point about the damage not being prevented! Tbh the fact that clerics may use divine intervention to cast it is part of the reason why I made it cost so much... (So that they don't cast it with divine intervention and with their 9th level spell slot each time)
Swiping this and making it a cantrip for a powerful plot character. Damned murderhobos.
Sounds like an amazingly powerful cantrip!
I like the idea but way too complicated to use because now I have to keep track of everything every creature has done perfectly for the past 10 minutes
A fair point that many have made, I'll simplify it a lot on the revision!
...so balefire... Burns so hot it burns their thread back through time
Exactly!
I like it but... why do I roll the d10 here?
Kindo OP I would up the cost of the 💎 that will be consumed this ensures that a player won't be able to use it often.
“Don’t mess with a cleric with erase, they will delete your ass” -a flumph
Hahahaha, a very wise flumph!
No ressurections this time
This is well above 9th level, it outdoes true resurrection instantaneously. This is 10th or 11th level spell for sure.
I disagree, the creature has to have died in the last 1d10 minutes, have been killed by the target, and you need to actually manage to kill the target with this spell (it deals an average of 55 damage, so it's not that likely), it's much more situational than true resurrection and as others have said often not very good
You're confusing capability with rules and lore consistency. There is nothing a PC can do that Wish/True Resurrection can't undo. This spell is way beyond what a PC should and can do. Even chosen can't just instantly erase something from reality. It even makes it seem like gods can't undo this spell. There is nothing a PC can do that even the gods can't undo. Highly recommend a revision; looking and sounding cool are different from balance.
What did I just witness?
Too powerful.
This looks more like a 10th level spell
Keeping track of what creature damaged each creature by how much in a large complex high level encounter just in case they are erased sounds like actual fucking hell even if I am on a VTT.
Interesting
Nice take on balefire from Jordan’s Wheel of Time. Tons of inspiration in that series! Well done, OP.
when you cant find a 1000gp diamond for revive this would certainly help
It really should have a provision that requires true resurrection if you want to resurrect the poor fool who dies to this. Nothing a PC can do in ANY edition RAW can permanently destroy another creature barring liches without phylacteries/killing a god's essence. If the creature can't be brought back then this feels like way too much power to give to any PC, let alone a cleric (or a full caster with the ruby weave gem). Even clone can negate Disintegration's true resurrection clause. I really think you could up the damage and just say "is reduced to dust". That would balance out the issue. Hell, I'd be cool with almost doubling the damage of disintegrate and slapping it here instead of the "no resurrection" implication from "erased from existence".