Insect Plague

Level 5 Conjuration spell available to Clerics, Druids, and Sorcerers. A 6m cloud of locusts that does 4d10 Piercing a turn to everything inside it for ten turns and slows them down while they try to leave. It is Cloudkill for classes that do not get Cloudkill, with a damage type nothing resists.

Spell description: Locusts attack everyone within range, make the area Difficult Terrain, and impose Disadvantage on Perception Checks.

Spell properties

• Damage: 4d10 Piercing per turn
• Damage type: Piercing
• Range: 18m (60ft)
• Area: 6m (20ft) radius
• Duration: 10 turns
• Concentration spell
• Save: CON save (half damage on success)
• Conditions applied: Insect Plague. Creatures in the area take 4d10 Piercing per turn, treat it as Difficult Terrain, and have Disadvantage on Perception Checks.
• Cost: Action + Spell Slot
• Recharge: Per action

Spell upcasting

Deals an extra 1d10 Piercing damage for each spell slot level above the 5th.

How to obtain Insect Plague

• Cleric, Druid, Sorcerer at Class level 9
• Nature Domain and Tempest Domain Clerics (Domain spell) and Circle of the Land Druids (Desert, Grassland, or Swamp) at Class level 9

INSECT PLAGUE

Level 5 Conjuration Spell

Locusts attack everyone within range, make the area Difficult Terrain, and impose Disadvantage on Perception Checks.

On save: Targets still take half damage.

Range: 18m (60ft) Save: CON save AoE: 6m (20ft) radius Duration: 10 turns

Action Level 5 Spell Slot

AREA: INSECT PLAGUE

Duration: 10 turns

AoE: 6m (20ft) radius

Swarming, biting locusts fill the air. They deal 4d10 Piercing per turn, make the area Difficult Terrain, and impose Disadvantage on Perception Checks.

Condition: Insect Plague

• Takes 4d10 Piercing damage per turn. Constitution Saving Throw for half.
• The area is Difficult Terrain.
• Disadvantage on Perception Checks.

When to cast Insect Plague

Cast it on a group and let it tick. 4d10 a turn, for up to ten turns, to everything in a 6m circle is an absurd amount of total damage for one slot, and Piercing is resisted by almost nothing in the game. Undead, fiends, and constructs all take it in full.

The Difficult Terrain is what makes it work. Enemies inside move at half speed, so most of them take a second tick before they get out, and anything you knock Prone or Restrain inside it just stays there dying.

It is Concentration and it does not move, unlike Cloudkill. Place it where enemies already are or where they have to walk through, and keep the caster out of it, because it does not check whose side you are on.

The Constitution save makes half damage common, but half of 4d10 every turn is still good. Upcasting adds 1d10 per level per turn, which is worth it if you have the slot.