D&D: Five Spells for Magical Mischief
Feeling tricksy? Then you might want to pick up one of these five spells for all sorts of magical mischief.
Magic can let you do all sorts of things in D&D. From crushing your enemies with the force of the cosmos, to making them chill out, magic is capable of much. But where it can really shine is in creating chaos. Sewing havoc. Making mischief, in other words.
Not to say you should go around thinking you’re a prankster, because that ends in tears. Always. But sometimes you don’t want to kill an NPC, because of “oh my actions have consequences” or they’re the DMs “pet NPC” or killing them would “destabilize the government.”
Which, first of all, if killing one guy can take out your government, it was NOT that strong to begin with. But more importantly, sometimes petty inconvenience is the best revenge. For that, try one of these five spells.
Arcane Lock
Arcane Lock is an incredibly underrated spell. If you’ve been playing Baldur’s Gate 3, you might have seen the havoc it can cause when used “offensively.” Notably, you can use it to keep Auntie Ethel from escaping into her lair, so you can whomp on the Hag until she surrenders or dies.
But even though that’s more an issue with the AI than anything else, the principle still applies in regular D&D. Sneak into an enemy’s sanctum and Arcane Lock the doors to any place you don’t want them getting into. Are you assaulting a bandit fortress? Arcane Lock the armory doors beforehand. Do you know that there’re a bunch of troops in the barracks? Barricade them in with Arcane Lock.
But for petty revenge? Arcane Lock the bathroom doors and force them to shit their own pants trying to break into the privy.
Prestidigitation
This is a perfect spell for all sorts of arcane trickery. With this spell, you can have a variety of magical effects happening at once. Including an instantaneous “harmless” sensory effect like a shower of sparks, puff of wind, or an “odd odor.” So while you can’t necessarily cast “shit pants” on your enemies, though more on that later, you can make it smell as though you have.
But even if you’re less prurient, you can chill, warm, or flavor up to 1 cubic foot of nonliving material for an hour. Meaning you can make your petty revenge target’s outfit uncomfortably warm in the middle of summer, or cool in the dead of winter. Or make everything they eat taste gross (use your imagination).
Just be sure to take something like “subtle spell” so you can do it without being detected. Otherwise it defeats the whole purpose of petty, non-lethal revenge.
Minor Illusion
This spell is absolutely one of the best arrows in your petty, mischief-fueled revenge. Use this to pull off some Shakespearean style prankery, causing it to create the voice of a love-lorn NPC’s crush, making them think they’re either being insulted or praised. Some real Midsummer Night’s Dream or Much Ado About Nothing he sayeth/she sayeth shenanigans there.
Or if not, create an image of an object, like a chair. Especially if you create it in place of a chair which you have previously removed. That way your target will sit down on a chair that isn’t there and fall to the ground, a classic comedy gag.
Grease
People falling down is great. And if you can cast Grease on a place, each creature standing in the area must succeed on a Dex save or fall prone. Same goes for if they end their turn in the area of Grease.
Of course, people might get mad at you when it happens, but this isn’t a concentration spell, so you can keep casting the spell for as many 1st-level spell slots as you have.
Nathair’s Mischief
It has mischief in the name. This spell is a new spell added in Fizban’s Treasury of Dragons. And it can help create some magical mischief, as the name suggests. When you cast the spell, you create both fey and draconic magic, resulting in one of four magical effects at the start of each of your turns:
- The smell of apple pie fills the air and charms creatures.
- Flowers appear and spray water in the faces of creatures in the area, blinding them.
- Infectious laughter spreads from target to target, incapacitating everyone in the area.
- Drops of molasses make the cube difficult terrain.
Of course, when casting any of these, you miiiight want Disguise Self on hand so that no one knows these harmless pranks are coming from your character.
