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The spell druid grove (XGtE, pg. 154) lists several effects that the caster may impose on the spell's area (30-90 ft. cube). The spell also comes with an "Additional Spell Effect"; this reads:

You can place your choice of one of the following magical effects within the warded area:

So you select one of these spell effects and choose the location of its point of origin within the druid grove area.

The each spell's listed area of effect can easily extend beyond the boundaries of the druid grove, especially if you only create a 30 foot cube grove.

Can the area of effect of the additional spell effect extend beyond the boundaries of the grove, or does the grove restrict the spell's listed area?

As an example see this diagram. Here we have a 30 by 30 foot druid grove, and a 20 foot radius spike growth centered at the center of the grove:

enter image description here

Does such an arrangement work? Or must the spike growth be confined to the 30 x 30 foot area of the grove?

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1 Answer 1

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The spike growth effect must be within the druid grove area; it's unclear whether it must be entirely within the area

The druid grove spell includes a few potentially helpful lines (emphasis mine):

[...] The area can be as small as a 30-foot cube or as large as a 90-foot cube. [...]

[...] The spell creates the following effects within the area. [...]

[...] A dispel magic cast on the area, if successful, removes only one of the following effects, not the entire area. [...]

[...] You can place your choice of one of the following magical effects within the warded area: [...]

From the first quote we can conclude that "the area" refers to the actual grove itself not the various effects of the spell. Thus we know that the effects (including the additional spell effects) are created within the area. We also know from the fourth quote that these effects are placed within the area. What we do not know is whether "the effect" means the point-of-origin or the entire effect. I could see a GM using either interpretation.

My own personal thoughts

If I tell you to put a book on the table and you have the book teetering off the edge, I will smile, say "really?", and move the book to be actually on the table.

While the spike growth might be inside the druid grove it also goes outside the grove. It would be meeting a technical requirement because the spell did not include the word "entirely" but I wouldn't allow it to be placed in such a way.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ What if the book is bigger than your table? \$\endgroup\$ Jul 8, 2020 at 9:41
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Pure Well... Hmmm, that's an upsettingly fair point. I'm still learning towards that going against being within the Grove. That said it's probably an exceedingly rare scenario though spike growth is 44% larger than the Grove this can literally only happen if the Grove is 30 feet around... Actually, if spike growth can extend into that space, the Grove certainly can as well so I'd just tell them to make a 35-foot grove \$\endgroup\$ Jul 8, 2020 at 13:59

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