Limitations of Geas in 5E

[honeybunch]

I find the wording of the Geas spell rather confusing. I'm very new to 5E, and D&D in general, so although I've discovered that the spell apparently worked differently in previous editions, I don't have any preconceived notions.

For anyone who is not familiar with the spell, searching "Geas 5E SRD" should bring up the wording (I've made too few posts to be able to just link to it).

Anyway, my issues are as follows:

First of all, it's unclear how complicated the magical command can be. Could a wizard demand the target obey the local laws? Could a wizard read off a contract? If not, could a wizard hand the target a contract and say, "Obey this and do not alter it"? I feel like demanding the target follow the law is within the spirit of the spell, but writing up a contract is not. However, I don't see any consistent way to allow the former and disallow the latter.

Second, can the caster issue more instructions to the target while the spell is still active, either to replace or amend the original command?

Finally, can the caster use Geas multiple times to "stack" the damage for disobedience? Obviously the Charmed effect doesn't stack, but I can't see any RAW reason the caster shouldn't be able to use multiple redundant Geas spells to increase the damage to 10d10, 15d10 or more. Alternatively, if only simple commands are allowed with Geas, could the caster use the spell multiple times to issue multiple simple commands?


I feel like I should mention that I'm not asking these questions to try to powergame. Mostly I'm just frustrated by the ambiguity of the spell, both as a player and as a prospective DM. I'm hoping that some of the more experienced players and DMs in here will be able to figure out a more logical and consistent interpretation of the spell than I've been able to.

I appreciate any advice you guys can give.

[SharkForce]

to most of it, the answer is that there is no one official answer. basically whatever you can persuade your DM to allow.

but as far as stacking, nope. you can't stack it. in general, spells don't stack, the most powerful one sticks and the rest don't.

the best you can do for increasing the damage that i am aware of is to cast a long-duration bestow curse and increase the damage of your spells against the target with it. for multiple things that the person must obey, no that isn't possible at all (you could, however, use a geas and a mass suggestion spell, for example).

[honeybunch]

to most of it, the answer is that there is no one official answer. basically whatever you can persuade your DM to allow.

but as far as stacking, nope. you can't stack it. in general, spells don't stack, the most powerful one sticks and the rest don't.

the best you can do for increasing the damage that i am aware of is to cast a long-duration bestow curse and increase the damage of your spells against the target with it. for multiple things that the person must obey, no that isn't possible at all (you could, however, use a geas and a mass suggestion spell, for example).

That's fair enough, although I wish it was a little more descriptive about what kind of command(s) the caster can give. Suggestion, for example, says the suggestion should be "limited to a sentence or two". A similar guideline would have been nice for Geas.

As for stacking, I guess I missed that section in the PHB when I was browsing through it. If anyone else is reading this and curios, the relevant section is "Combining Magical Effects" on page 205 of the PHB.

Thanks for the response. I wish the spell was a bit more detailed, but that's on WotC.