Blade Barrier

Level 6 Evocation spell available to Clerics. Wall of Fire’s bigger, angrier sibling: a 36m line of blades doing 6d10 Slashing a turn to anything in or beside it, for as long as you hold Concentration. The wall itself lasts 60 turns, which in practice means until the fight is over.

Spell description: Summon a wall of razor-sharp blades that turns the area into Difficult Terrain and damages anyone foolish enough to come close.

Spell properties

• Damage: 6d10 Slashing per turn
• Damage type: Slashing
• Range: 18m (60ft)
• Area: 36m (120ft) line
• Duration: 60 turns
• Concentration spell
• Save: DEX save (half damage on success)
• Conditions applied: Blade Barrier. Creatures in or next to the wall take 6d10 Slashing per turn. The area is Difficult Terrain.
• Cost: Action + Spell Slot
• Recharge: Per action

Spell upcasting

Casting Blade Barrier at higher levels provides no additional benefits.

How to obtain Blade Barrier

• Cleric at Class level 11

BLADE BARRIER

Level 6 Evocation Spell

Summon a wall of razor-sharp blades that turns the area into Difficult Terrain and damages anyone foolish enough to come close.

On save: Targets still take half damage.

Range: 18m (60ft) Save: DEX save AoE: 36m (120ft) line Duration: 60 turns

Action Level 6 Spell Slot

AREA: BLADE BARRIER

Duration: 60 turns

AoE: 36m (120ft) line

A wall of whirling blades up to 36m long. Creatures in the area take 6d10 Slashing when the wall appears, when they enter, and at the start of each turn inside or beside it. The area is Difficult Terrain.

Condition: Blade Barrier

• Takes 6d10 Slashing damage per turn.
• Dexterity Saving Throw for half damage.
• Movement through the area is halved.

When to cast Blade Barrier

Cast it across the path the enemy has to take. A corridor, a bridge, the gap between their line and yours. Anyone who walks through takes 6d10, anyone who ends a turn next to it takes 6d10 again, and the Difficult Terrain means they take longer to get through.

Slashing is resisted by very little, which puts it ahead of Wall of Fire against devils and ahead of Cloudkill against undead. It is one of the few Cleric spells that does real damage to everything.

It is Concentration, so it competes with Spirit Guardians. In a fight with a clear chokepoint the barrier wins, because it does more damage to more enemies and does not require your Cleric to stand in the middle of them.

The saves are currently a bit broken. The DC to avoid damage when starting a turn inside the wall is fixed at 3, so enemies who stand in it essentially always take half, and the DC on entry is fixed at 15. It still does plenty of damage either way.