In a campaign I recently misread the wording in the Vortex Warp spell, and was fighting a mounted knight. I used the spell to whip the horse out from under him and have it appear 90ft in the air above him.
Mechanically this was 9d6 damage to both the horse (when it landed) and the rider (when it landed on his now prone form).
I then realised that the spell only allows you to teleport creatures onto a surface, so it got me thinking what level the spell would be if it could teleport creatures anywhere, such as in the air.
My thinking:
- 2nd level: This is the original spell, so it has to be higher
- 3rd level: Adding a bit of damage to a 2nd level spell should bump it up a level, and a well placed fireball will do a lot more damage so why would it be higher?
- 4th level: 9d6 damage is about on par with blight (which really highlights how poor blight is). Also as it becomes a single target version of scatter (with less range) it needs to be less than level 6 and I think 2 levels less makes sense
- 5th level: Blight is single target and this new spell has battlefield control elements and can potentially hurt 2 targets
The new spell:
Name goes here
x-Level Conjuration
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 90 feet
Components: V, S
Duration: Instantaneous
You magically twist space around another creature you can see within range. The target must succeed on a Constitution saving throw (the target can choose to fail), or the target is teleported to an unoccupied space of your choice that you can see within range (this can be on the ground or in the air).