Hunger of Hadar

[Bullytt]

Hello all

Tons of advice on this spell about how to treat the darkness - but not what I need!!

Refresher:
You open a gateway to the dark between the stars, a region infested with unknown horrors. A 20-foot-radius sphere of blackness and bitter cold appears, centered on a point with range and lasting for the duration. This void is filled with a cacophony of soft whispers and slurping noises that can be heard up to 30 feet away. No light, magical or otherwise, can illuminate the area, and creatures fully within the area are blinded.

The void creates a warp in the fabric of space, and the area is difficult terrain. Any creature that starts its turn in the area takes 2d6 cold damage. Any creature that ends its turn in the area must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw or take 2d6 acid damage as milky, otherwordly tentacles rub against it.

So as I read this - time and space change to accommodate a sphere 40' in diameter which freezing cold and contains all sorts of nasty slurpy stuff. Cool!

I cast this on a dungeon crossroads

xxxx| |xxxx
xxxx| | MOB
xxxx| |xxxx
xxxx| |xxxx

xxxx| |xxxx
xxxx| |xxxx
xxxx| |xxxx
xxxx| |xxxx

Mobs that are either shoved in there or were in there originally have a chance to wander out and down a corridor n s e or w.

BUT The spell is about to end and the mob is stood (lets say) in the NE corner of the sphere. Spell ends. Is the mob squished/trapped by the sudden shift from void in space to solid rock?

Discuss.

Thanks for any input - myself and the DM need some direction on this.

Bullytt

[JackPhoenix]

No, there's no shift.

The spell still follows all the rules for AoE, if there's a solid object in the area, the the spell doesn't reach through it. If you cast it on the intersection, it fills out the corridors, walls will stay there.

[Bullytt]

No, there's no shift.

The spell still follows all the rules for AoE, if there's a solid object in the area, the the spell doesn't reach through it. If you cast it on the intersection, it fills out the corridors, walls will stay there.

Hmmm OK - I think the wording of the spell needs some serious re-vamping then:

20' radius sphere of blackness
warp in the fabric of space

All indicate something a bit more than you actually get... especially "this void". If it's full of rock - it's not really a void.

How about:

Fills an area of 40' with a deadly chill. Darkness pervades(same spiel) and grasping milky tentacles grow from any walls, floors and ceilings within that area.

[Millstone85]

Think of it as the spell needing to reach a space before it can start warping it.

The spell radiates from its point of origin in a 20-foot-radius. It doesn't go through walls, so the "void" stops before one.

And beside, the "void" is already full of tentacles and of whatever the cold blackness is.

[Armored Walrus]

I actually like your interpretation that it replaces reality within its area of effect. However, I would not rule as a DM that something that happened to wander into solid rock is going to be annihilated when the spell ends. That would make the spell unintentionally much more powerful. Instead I'd just have anything in that space shunted to the nearest unoccupied space, like other dimension-shift-type spells do.

[Bullytt]

I actually like your interpretation that it replaces reality within its area of effect. However, I would not rule as a DM that something that happened to wander into solid rock is going to be annihilated when the spell ends. That would make the spell unintentionally much more powerful. Instead I'd just have anything in that space shunted to the nearest unoccupied space, like other dimension-shift-type spells do.

I was thinking about the very same thing earlier - nearest unoccupied space - as you say like the dimension-shift lore goes.

However, looks like most accept the idea that it will not work like that. Its what I came here to find out.

Thanks for your time replying guys - appreciate it.

Bullytt

[Armored Walrus]

I don't see a RAW citation for that interpretation, though. And since this is for reference for you and your DM, I say go with what works for your table. I think it's infinitely cooler the way you presented it. (minus the insta-kill option, although, hell, what's wrong with that, even, once in awhile?)

[Bullytt]

Reading this conjures up a new idea ...

The Plane of Hadar - a plane filled with statues of rock and earth.

The spell ends and if the MOB is where there was solid rock/earth, the MOB remains... encased in rock. The resulting rock that could not return to the normal plane sits in Hadar's Plane.. adding to a grim cemetery of the trapped.

[Millstone85]

Hadar is going to have a lot of statues floating in it alright, since the obvious abuse logical use would be to cast the spell so enemies end up encased underground.

[Contrast]

Also played like this casting in inside would likely instantly cause a significant chunk of the building you were standing in to collapse on top of it. Plus you followed the line of thought sideways but not down - its a sphere so everyone in the area would drop down, you instantly cancel concentration and boom, trapped in the ground.

I don't think the spell was intended to be used as a way to collapse castle walls and the like :smalltongue:

Edit - Ha my edit was sniped :smalltongue:

[RSP]

I don't see a RAW citation for that interpretation, though. And since this is for reference for you and your DM, I say go with what works for your table. I think it's infinitely cooler the way you presented it. (minus the insta-kill option, although, hell, what's wrong with that, even, once in awhile?)

Well if allowed, why bother maintaining Concentration? Just cast the spell, then drop Concentration and all enemies are wiped from the plane. Good way to kill, well, anything.

[Millstone85]

One way to lessen the burying effect would be to make the blackness something you can swim through.

Creatures could also lose any sense of up or down, because who knows how your fantasy world's gravity and that of Hadar would interact through that gateway?

Still not a fan of the idea. How do you rule what goes into the blackness and what is temporarily replaced by it? Creatures go into it. Walls are replaced. Objects? Objects fastened to a surface?