CANTRIP #25: Mold Earth (5E)

[@ChancesSpellbook]

*ADVENTURE IS CALLING! If you have a craving to play D&D or want to experiment with a new character, please come to our Interactive Campaign!* kzbin.info/door/9psrDU3oftnU49mrbUNWLA

[@cyruslupercal9493]

This is one of the most broken spells when comes to economy. Moving a 5-foot cube of earth every turn is very valuable. You can make a small motte and bailey in no time and without breaking a sweat. Moving that much earth around manualy takes a lot of time and effort (and tools). You are basicly playing Minecraft. You can also jam traps hidden in walls and the floor by just shaping the stone around them. (holes for spikes? Plug them by making shapes appear in them. Presure plate? make it's edges rest on the nearby stone floor.) Just minor alterations but they do screw up a precise mechanisms.

[@ChancesSpellbook]

Great points and ideas!

[@cyruslupercal6087]

I just came up with another use on stone. You can smoothen it to perfection. That makes it very slippery, specialy when wet. Set up a slip trap on the stone floor or you can do it under the hands/feet of someone who is climbing a stone surface.

[@alexjones5261]

Your talking about Stone Shape not Mold Earth right?

[@cyruslupercal9493]

@@alexjones5261 1:30

[@michaelsandy2869]

Shape water and mold earth can be used to move a wheel or piston. 5' cube of water is 9000 pounds. a 5' cube of sand is a lot more. Imagine a 15-20' wheel with a container that can hold a 5' cube of sand, cast the spell and you move the sand to the bucket on the other side of the axle. Yes, it can't be moved fast enough or with enough force to hurt someone, but if you move 10 tons of sand over a lever, that lever is going to go down with a lot of force, and that lever can be connected to anything.

[@brandelgastfergandill1757]

I like to whisper my explanations beneath an 80s synth track, too

[@ChancesSpellbook]

And here I thought I was alone this whole time haha

[@spagandhi]

This is my favorite cantrip by FAR I played an air genasi once who made a hole, jumped into it, went prone and buried myself. I don’t have to breathe so I could stay under ground indefinitely. I also like to use it to create spikes in the stone for positioning purposes

[@ChancesSpellbook]

Haha now THAT'S what I call a surprise round!

[@alanschaub147]

Perfect for a Necromancer who needs to dig up some allies! 💀

[@ChancesSpellbook]

Haha very true!

[@Keyce0013]

But people are buried 6 feet under.

[@Nyrufa]

Wizard: Alright, I'm going to sneak attack this boss monster. Rogue: But you're a wizard... you don't have sneak attack! Wizard: I cast Mold Earth to dislodge a 5 cubic foot chunk of the ceiling over the boss' head!

[@ChancesSpellbook]

Fatality! Haha!

[@firestorm165]

That's evil I love it

[@remor698]

Soo, I think there might be ways in which this could be used other than creating walls and pits. Let's begin with something subtle: It might require an additional check for something like survival, but you could potentially make your footprints on normal dirt paths disappear and create a fake set of them to shake of pursuers. Probably works best at long range. Alternatively, you could place a small ditch or bump in someone's way to make them trip over, perhaps opening them up to attacks or just stop them from coming closer. Now for something more noticeable: By making use of the "painting" option of the spell, you could trick others in various ways. From a spooky shadow figure to a fake gold vein to hiding inscriptions in the rock to a faked crack in the rock, that could signal an imminent cave collapse, perhaps underlined by some auditory illusion, I'd say this option certainly is far from useless. And finally, something more catastrophic: Start an avalanche by removing some of the dirt, supporting a rock or a tree at the side of a mountain, cause a mine to collapse by digging up the supports or just simply break a bridge by, again removing its supports.

[@ChancesSpellbook]

Hahah VERY GOOD! Those are some awesome uses, I'll have to make this the new pinned comment!

[@remor698]

@@ChancesSpellbook Thank you very much!

[@IlRoccoIl]

So, with cantrip i coud dig trench or make a wall to stay cover ? i cfreating a sharpshooter ans i thin it will be really cool if i could do that!

[@seanlynch9000]

I never actually got the chance to do this but a great way to use it is to effect the world around you, especially rivers. If you look at history, entire towns have been destroyed by someone diverting a river. If you need to drown a cave, or take a strong hold and there is a river nearby , this cantrip could easily make your task moot since the river would do all the work after you excavate a path. On a much nicer note, you could also help a town by setting up an irrigation system for them over several weeks if that is more your style.

[@ChancesSpellbook]

What a GREAT use! If you mix in the Shape Water Cantrip, you could abuse the "Reverse Flow" function to make this process much easier and effective haha. Great job though, thank you soooo much!

[@RedXIIRed13]

Ended up using this with my party to defeat a young dragon by dropping stones on it. Approved by my DM we were in a decrepit circular stone tower upon entering I noticed the roof was pretty torn up so I asked if I could use mold earth to pull some of the roof down. It caused a collapse and the dragon took a bunch of damage from rocks falling on its head.

[@ChancesSpellbook]

Haha That's AWESOME!!! Thank you sooo much for the story!!!

[@AzureIV]

Rocks fall, dragon dies.

[@JamesFores007]

The DM of my current campaign ruled that most "earth" is able to be molded. So its fairly fun to use in my campain so the limited uses become easier to use. We raised a boat from shallow water using sand, created multiple bases using dirt, and even created difficulties in combat for earth/lava based enemies.

[@ChancesSpellbook]

I LOVE this! A good DM can make a huge difference in games!

[@arwolfseye]

The spell does not state that a Shape, Words, Images or Shaping Patterns is limited to being just 2-Dimensional. When reading, you are allowed to make Shapes, Words, Images or Shaping Patterns within a 5ft x 5ft x 5ft Cube (Length,Width and Height ). (Cube Effect in PHB pg. 204) In that space you can "Manipulate" the stone and give it any Shape as a 3-Dimensional as long it doesn't exceed the cube's limit. The Face or Origin of the cube has to be touching the or "ON" stone, in order to Manipulate the Stone in that Space. You can Manipulate and give Shapes to the stone for 1. Anchors to tie rope too, 2. Hand and Foot holds to climb a face of a cliff, 3. Forming a partial blockage for 1/2 or 3/4 cover, 4. Sealing a stone door, 5. Manipulate the Shape of stone into a hollow cylinder 4'11" x 4'11" x 4'11" to go through a Brick / Stone wall, 6. Take a Stone / rock, Manipulate the shape, color and turn it to look like a Raw uncut precious stone - sell it and you have 1 hour to make your escape.

[@bjornsworkshop9288]

I'm currently playing a character that uses Mold earth for creating sand castles when he is bored. He also uses a combination of mold earth and shape water to make intricately patterned pottery. Both very much flavor things, but fun little additions for the character.

[@ChancesSpellbook]

Very cool idea!

[@AzureIV]

You can also use it to create maps on the ground for when your party is trying to plan an attack or infiltration or something.

[@gxbmb]

according to xanathars guide if you have the thieves tool skill you can make traps.... while adventuring when you rest at night dig some pit traps and then use your skill with thieves tool to make an effective pit traps by covering it up and camouflaging it. this works so fast that you could in theory use it to create traps quickly then have your party rogue shoot some arrows and funnel the baddies to your traps, or alternatively have the baddies do it to unsuspecting party of heros who already went thru an area... and look at the surprise when the area they thought was clear of traps are now trapped ;)

[@ChancesSpellbook]

Haha I love this! As a DM I'd certainly reward this with Inspiration!

[@keyryn8380]

Love this cantrip! I had an earth bending Druid who would take unconscious enemies and bury them up to their heads, until we could send someone to retrieve them later.

[@caramonmajere447]

Clay is still "loose earth" by definition. The only thing binding it together is moisture. Rocks are a different thing altogether.

[@milltary64vs5]

See! I thought zee had a damn video! I couldn't find it anywhere.

[@toughfff712]

Can you target under an enemy? And after concentrating stops the earth moves back the original spot? I imagine pulling the ground out from under a target and placing the dirt mound in the space in front. So the target now sits in a 5' hole with a 10' dirty mound in front of him. I then stop concentrating, and the dirt falls back in the hole trapping the target.

[@ChancesSpellbook]

By RAW you should be able to!

[@HumanKatamari]

This was my thought too.

[@zerasfenris4237]

boulder issues here, even if the boulder is 6/6 you should still be able to affect the stone within it to break it apart or make a hole into it. otherwise flat earth in general is larger than 5/5.

[@ChancesSpellbook]

Very interesting way to look at it!

[@Ignisrex]

the spell state "a portion of dirt or stone" so a larger rocks can be still be affected, but only what fits within the 5ft

[@stevemorris3746]

I had a build that was going to make heavy use of this spell. It was a Kobold beast master Ranger. The idea was to be a kind of trap and ambush master. you pick up magic initiate for a feat and grab mold earth, shape water and find familiar from the wizard list. With this you got an a beast companion, I picked giant wolf spider in hopes of harvesting web rope and venom with animal handling, and a familiar to use with your pack tactics. The idea was to use mold earth to make small pit fall traps. No more than the five to ten feet deep, but fill the bottom with spare daggers or caltrops or poisonous snakes or oil so that there is a bit more punishment than just the drop. Using the rock shaping feature to make maps and turn choke points into difficult terrain. Being a small Kobold you could also probably use it to make tunnels through dirt. Like most cantrips it has a lot of flexibility. Its basically a magic shovel with a few extra bits. Being able to dig trenches or make piles of loose dirt is always useful. Make shift traps and fortifications are probably not the only use for this spell. Depending on the terrain and weather you could probably set up a mud slide. I also imagine the loose earth also applies to mud and sand. Its a nice spell that can be used to effect the battle field if you have the time to prep for it.

[@ChancesSpellbook]

As always @Steve Morris, GREAT concept! I find that any one of the elemental control spells has an incredible amount of utility. Mold Earth is the perfect spell for the character who likes to plan in advance... Between the traps, and the difficult terrain, you can control the battle field with ease!

[@stevemorris3746]

@@ChancesSpellbook It would be nothing for a necromancer to use this to make cover for the ranged fighters and skeletons. To make choke points for the melee fighters. Hiding places for the rouge. All you need is a bit of time. It only takes six seconds to move 5 feet of loose earth. You can also use mold earth to flatten out the land and remove cover from your enemies.

[@kaleidoslug7777]

How on earth does a channel that's basically "Minute Physics but about D&D" have less than 400 subs?

[@ChancesSpellbook]

Haha I like to think that I have a very dedicated group of subscribers. The Channel is growing at a pretty decent speed though haha

[@kaleidoslug7777]

Chances' Spellbook Just subscribed, so I hope to see more content like this :P

[@ChancesSpellbook]

@@kaleidoslug7777 I appreciate it! I recently I've been aiming for 4 videos a day, I always get at least 1 out though. Thank you again for your support, it means a lot!

[@marcosguzman7858]

You know, if you are traveling in a difficult area. Like you have Horse or Any Animals pulling Wagon and your Playing in it. Just turn it to Solid Ground, like the desert. My group have to walk on feet, it be easy we have a ride.

[@ChancesSpellbook]

I would also make the argument, if you had multiple casters with Mold Earth. You could move at faster speeds as a result of ideal terrain

[@alanschaub147]

Great idea!

[@ArchArturo]

How about, removing the loose dirt in between the stone pieces, does help weakening the prison?.

[@ChancesSpellbook]

Hmm I like it!

[@fenrir546]

It says you can select dirt that fits within a 5 Square Cube and excavate it oh, so I don't see why the stone would have to be 5 by 5 or smaller. The only affect an area of dirt that's five-by-five even though it's still a part of the land and why couldn't you effect an area of stone that's five by five even though it's attached to more Stone? That being said, if you're in a stone cave or somethin and you can affect a portion of stone would be great for barring doors as it doesn't say the shapes you make have to be recessed

[@ChancesSpellbook]

Very interesting way to look at it. In mist ways I feel inclined to agree, I feel like it would come down to the DM! :)

[@thehiddenninja3428]

"You choose a portion of dirt or stone.. that fits within a 5 foot cube" A 6ft cube of rock contains portions of rock smaller than 5 foot. It doesn't have to say you have to target loose rock; of course you can create 5ft square images on a mountain side. Also, it doesn't specify the cube has to be vertical; you can imagine a slanted cube partway through a wall or floor (or rock ceiling), letting you create images 7ft long by 8.5ft wide

[@A_random_person-Heya]

Heres some uses. Hiding footsteps and making decoys. (Move dirt in the ground) Making a pit. (You get it) Engulfing yourself into a wall your leaning on to hide. (lean on the surface and cast the spell) Making a vietcong trap. (Levitate a thing layer of dirt which is thin enough that stepping on it causes it to fall but leaves are too light to break the spell.

[@ralphbutcher7294]

My sorcerer used this to redirect a stream to help the farm he grew up on

[@ChancesSpellbook]

Nice, great use!

[@Voitan]

Undermine any object that is resting on loose earth, make roads, help the initial excavation for a foundation, etc...

[@ChancesSpellbook]

I like it!

[@MeeraTheMooneyed]

Ran across on d&d beyond considering picking this one up on my magic initiate too just for some unique utility. Nice little explanation.

[@ChancesSpellbook]

Thank you so much! A member of my current party uses mold earth all of the time. Tons of versatility!! I'm more of a shape water guy personally, but with the right campaign mold earth 'rocks'!!

[@zhondortoth8699]

Any grunt with a shovel would take this in a second!

[@BeanLord69]

I've got a pretty cool use for it! If you're out of weapons, you can use this on pebbles to shape them in to throwing darts, and then use magic stone to add damage to them! Voila! You now have a makeshift weapon! You can also use it to create like a stone bayonet that you can attach to your staff, or you can mold into a doorstop to keep the door from opening while you escape! Edit: Also create stone arrow heads for your ranger and use Magic Stone. You could also first use something like plant growth, entangle or spike growth to create difficult terrain, and then make a massive pit underneath the enemy to slow him down. If you're on a hillside, you can also use the pit ability, to alter the earth beneath boulders which can then fall onto enemies, or block a road or something like that.

[@Raylen_Fa-ield]

D&d beyond says you can affect stone too in the character creator

[@ChancesSpellbook]

Haha very interesting!

[@Raylen_Fa-ield]

@@ChancesSpellbook makes it a bit more useful. Though I'm sure it has to be loose stone

[@0whatman]

depends on what you define as loose earth and also, from how it's worded, you can easily move the earth onto an occupied space, suffocating a not very strong small creature, or just trapping some medium creature from the waist bellow

[@ChancesSpellbook]

Lots of creative uses, I think the possibility of making traps with this cantrip is very exciting!

[@0whatman]

@@ChancesSpellbook yep

[@0whatman]

I really wish rangers and paladins had cantrips, mainly utility based cantrips for both (I'd personally give paladins 3 cantrips plus maybe 1 per subclass, and rangers 4 cantrips) specially rangers, they're ment to be this skilled hunters that can setup traps and have toolbets of utility, yet they got so very little avilities dedicated towards that, even less if you count the spells you get to pick (wich they also get the least spells of all classes like wtf), so having utility cantrips like mold earth, prestidigitasion, druidcraft, message, etc would be great for em and would fit perfectly with their lore and archetype

[@ChancesSpellbook]

@@0whatman I 100% agree, most players I know who play paladins and rangers always seem to go variant human to grab the magic initiate feat! At the very least I'd like to see them be able to ritual cast.

[@0whatman]

@@ChancesSpellbook ritual casting could be very powerful, but it's heavily dependent on the spells they've got, for a paladin ritual casting could come in handy as they can prepare spells, but rangers dont get to learn many spells, so it's unlikelly that ritual casting would be very useful for most of em, tho having it as an otion would be really neat I allways thought rangers should get at least the extra 5 spells on all subclasses, not just 2 of em, and should get 15 base spells like the rest of the classes that learn few spells (sorcerers, warlocks, and 1/3 casters) instead of the 11 that they learn (I get that it was kind of supposed to be half the number that bards get cause they're half casters and all, but they're still while too little and also paladins get to know 25 spells at the same time plus any subclass specific spells so yea, not that very balanced for the poor rangers haha) heck, if they wanted to restrict the selections of spells rangers get they could just add a few options rangers can choose from of an extra extended spell list (five spells each) each of wich is centered arround a part of what rangers can do, they could even all have 2 or 3 ritual spells to allow for ritual casting to be useful for all rangers (each option would have 5 spells each, so 5 spells on that plus 5 spells on subclass would actually give em the ammount of extra spells all other classes with extra spells get)

[@MocharaidThree]

My Kobold Druid uses this mainly to make walls to hide behind for extra cover. But it really depends how lenient your DM is with their definition of 'loose earth'. Personally if I was DM'ing, I'd say clay and mud, the examples you use are fine :)

[@moonmorth]

So I was really hoping this spell could be used to create keep systems or long-term shelters within boulders.

[@Fetch26291]

Can't find Animated Spellbook vid about this spell. I do recall watching it awhile back. But it seems to be missing now.

[@robertportersc]

This is one of the most powerful attack spells in the game. as long as your hand is out of sight, hopefully behind one of your Frontline fighters, you can take the 5-ft cube directly under an opponent and turn it upside down. No saving throw, they are buried 5 ft deep. if your DM wants to be a jerk, only the first 5 ft of them are buried so they cannot attack just their head is sticking out of the ground as a soccer ball size Target. Instant restraint, instant crushing damage, no counter spell, no saving throw. If you have decent performance or someone in the party has decent performance you can even blame it on someone else. I love nonverbal spells.

[@scuttlebucket2723]

I know this is on a super old video that no one may ever see this comment but you could slide the dirt from under the feet of an enemy causing them to trip and go prone wouldn't do any damage but can work as a support character making it easier for allies to take someone down.

[@meowmixphd]

Recently started a campaign where most of your gear is taken from you during the first encounter. My sorcerer was able to make fine sand for the Sleep spell component and colored sand for the Chaos Bolt spell component.

[@rymaxrules6416]

My dm is super fucking lenient with this, basically makes me a intermediate earth bender. I can bring earth up to give myself half cover, I can extend a gap to make it easier for my monk to jump across. He’s such a cool dm bro

[@modular_kellogs8023]

Take some dirt into a dungeon, keep it in front of you and use it as half or more cover. Good for Necromancers or other low AC builds. Also, if a DM is OK with it, a friendly archer or you can stand on it to get a better shot at enemies behind each other.

[@ChancesSpellbook]

So many great uses! Such a solid choice!

[@modular_kellogs8023]

@@ChancesSpellbook How do you feel about magic jar? I'm trying to use it to make a lich PC of sorts.

[@ChancesSpellbook]

@@modular_kellogs8023 I love the Magic Jar spell sooo much haha! It's pretty much a meme for one of my groups, kind of like checking for mimics. Basically our Rouge got possessed by a Lich via Magic Jar, and ever since he got back his body he destroys containers on sight haha! I really like it as a spell though, and has great roleplay potential!

[@animefreddiemercury]

I recently used mold earth to free friends who were tied up. They were tied via ropes to i-hooks in some stone dungeon walls. I changed the shape of the stone so as to open up the hole the hooks were in, thus they fell out, and the characters could cut the ropes.

[@OjamaIndigo]

This was a really useful vid! One suggestion, your audio is a bit quite and muffled and hard to hear, you should try to make it sound more clear. Other than that, creat vid! Really underrated

[@ChancesSpellbook]

Thank you so much, I'm working on fixing the audio for the 1st level spells.

[@davidgareau7453]

When its your turn to guard the camp will the other one sleep, use use mold earth to make 16 hole , 15 feet deep around the camps, if enemy approach use thorn wipe and trow the enemy in a hole

[@davidgareau7453]

The hole's have to be 10 feet from each other around the camp ground lol

[@ChancesSpellbook]

Pfft hahah! You almost made me spit out my drink! I love the idea of a group of Assassins trying to stealth towards the party. Only to have their plans thwarted by a trench and a single druid haha!

[@davidgareau7453]

If it a large. It wilk not work, but its might be a large beast , so you can use the spell animal friends on him

[@davidgareau7453]

48×6sec , that the number of time you need to make 16 hole of 15 feet deep

[@thehiddenninja3428]

Or enclose your entire camp in a 5ft earth wall, enclosed in a 5ft deep chasm, like a dry moat. It'll protect your camp from wild animals and small NPCs

[@otbaht]

since it takes almost no time to setup make basically an empty moat around yourself when you camp 10 feet wide and use the dirt to make a small 5 foot wall of dirt on both sides of the moat/pitfall for a quick basic defense setup.

[@libertylion6088]

This cantrip is way overpowered and has the ability to destroy many natural terrain obstacles. Now players can just tunnel under, through natural environments, including circumventing massive cliffs etc. By the way, sage advice already said that 'loose' earth is anything that is not stone.

[@ChancesSpellbook]

I agree, it's quite the nightmare for DM's

[@libertylion6088]

@@ChancesSpellbook The next campaign I run, this spell will be removed or limited in some way.

[@ChancesSpellbook]

@@libertylion6088 There are a couple creative ways to get around the spell. A few good ones are: Bedrock, Foundations, Earth dwelling creatures, and preemptive initiative rolls. Ultimately it's your call though

[@Meloncov]

A tunnel through loose earth is going to collapse unless you're also building supports as you go.

[@MunkeySpanc]

@@Meloncov depends on how deep you go, how big the tunnel is, the shape of the tunnel, and how long you need it to hold up. get more than 10 feet down, and a 5' high tunnel will be fine for a good long while. At least good enough for as long as most adventurers will be using it.

[@corpralcobra420]

Mud is "loose dirt" it's dirt that is loosend by water and not air, so mud should still count. And I would say the spell "affects" a 5' by 5' by 5' cube, so a mountain side could still be affected by an image, just no larger than 5' area because only the "affected" 5' cube side could be seen from one side.

[@ChancesSpellbook]

There was actually some Sage Advise that was released that addresses that point. Sadly I was only made aware of it after I made the video!

[@87seanroon]

Here is my scenario that I DMed. I built a cool swamp crawl mechanic for the players as part of a one-shot. They could only travel 12 miles per day before exhaustion setting it. Every mile after 12 they could roll a con save to see if they take a level of exhaustion. Swamp is 24 miles long. They would have rolled every 4 miles to see if they needed to do skills checks or not to make it to the next 4 miles. It would take 2 days to get to the other side if things go right and they don't push it. Well a Circle of the Moon Druid just cast mold earth and turned 5 feet of the swamp into regular terrain and they could travel 24 miles in a day effectively making it through the swamp eazy peazy. I let them have it. It's a cool solution to the swamp travel. I was also super miffed that my planned mechanic was obliterated. However, thinking about the RAW, I don't know if a swamp constitutes loose earth. I know I would be a stickler to say that muddy ground can't be molded, but even that doesn't make sense to me. I think my plan was just flat out junked by my player. Also, I think you could use mold earth on any size stone. Only a 5-foot cube amount of the stone would be affected. So I think with a little explanation, you could make the case that you could create steps on the side of a mountain cliff to get you and 2 companions up with no problem. Or if your falling cast mold earth to pull out a platform that you land on before you fall to far.

[@Words-er5ez]

I created a wall of dirt across a road then used an illusion to make the dirt look like the horizon behind the wall. Horse riders would either stop once they made their perception checks, or they would gallop into the loose wall of dirt at full speed leaving both rider and horse buried, prone, in dirt.

[@gaylynnhorncri]

How deep in the ground for dirt not to be considered as loose earth? That is what has always put me at pause of the power of this cantrip.

[@ChancesSpellbook]

I'm going to be redoing the cantrip videos in the near future, I'll do a better job explaining then. According to Sage Advice "Think dirt, not stone" is the official answer, and most DM's rule anything other than solid stone is effected. I really appreciate you taking the time to comment! Feel free to use the Discount Code 'COMMENT', and get a free One Shot at chancesguild.com/collections/job-board!

[@alexgracey]

I've had this combined with spike growth where the DM Ruled it was EXTRA difficult terrain. It helped slow and pump up the damage on a zombie hoard. Used it to create cover for our ranger attackers.

[@vadaritis]

As a forever dm i jumped at the chance to play in my friends game. Im a necromancer with this cantrip and have used it in many cool ways. First was this guy running away and started winching himself down on one of those archaic elevators to try and hide in the quarry/catacombs. I used Mold Earth to gum up the mechanism with dirt amd gravel. Second we were telling the local king what was about to happen politically cause of our unique combination of knowledge. I used it to make a color coded map as a visual aid. 3rd. I used it to diguise myself and the barbarian to blend into the cliffside wall. As we were hiding from manticore riders. I love this spell. Also, it specifies loose earth and stone. So i plan to equip my skeletons with pickaxes and shovels to loosen the dirt and stone while i use this to tunnel under enemy fortifications. It would still take forever, but if you got time like during a siege... then go for it.

[@MSReidpr]

I subscribed thanks to this video, keep at it and I can tell you will be big!

[@ChancesSpellbook]

I really appreciate it! I've gotten so much support for the series, and I'm incredibly grateful!!

[@thehiddenninja3428]

Can someone give a link to the animated mold earth video please?

[@ChancesSpellbook]

It looks like Zee might've taken it down, it's really strange!

[@thehiddenninja3428]

@@ChancesSpellbook :( I just looked at his last community post, and most of the comments are about missing videos kzbin.infocommunity?flow=grid Hmmm

[@zhondortoth8699]

I have a Land Druid elf who will use excavate to creat a trench and walls around campsites a small shrine, every night. This has actually made him quite popular with caravans. I planned to play with stone shaping when I could.

[@anthonykravitz6156]

"You cause shapes, colors, or both to appear on the dirt or stone, spelling out words, creating images, or shaping patterns. The changes last for 1 hour." With it being said then there is mold train, tank, stone house, mountain of the gods, mold landslide, mold costume, change appearances.

[@ChancesSpellbook]

So long as it fits within a 5ft cube! haha

[@casandrahampton376]

@@ChancesSpellbook So long as part of it fits within a 5 foot cube!

[@nooneinparticular5256]

Alright, so the plan is to take this portal that's been spitting out monsters & lost humanoids, and basically fortify the path out of it. Force them to make their way up difficult terrain, while we have height advantage to shoot at them. Additionally, this will help build up the town we're serving, by improving walls, expanding farms and the like. What's more, I'm also playing a fighter that just took the magic initiate feat to get this cantrip.

[@gaylynnhorncri]

So another thought of what mold earth could do is the SpongeBob covers himself with dirt meme to instantly disappear without a trace when being sneaky or being hunted

[@stanleyboulden1636]

I have a wizard spell-sniper that focuses on long range rays for most of his arsenal. Could he use this to give himself some cover? For instance, in a room with manufactured stone floors, could he mold the stone into a barrier in front of him with a slit in it for him to cast from? This would protect him from most ranged attacks, and with WarCaster he would get an attack/spell of opportunity if a melee attacker came around the barrier. If it is earth, he could make a 5' mound in front of him offering some cover as well. correct? Loved the video and looking forward to your feedback.

[@stanleyboulden1636]

Ok, I reread the spell. I can see not being able to use it on the stone, but it should work with earth for cover, right?

[@ChancesSpellbook]

@@stanleyboulden1636 Yes, that would be correct! It's something to run past your DM in advance though, just because it can potentially change how a lot of encounters are going to be ran. Thank you sooo much for the praise, and support it really means a whole lot to me. I'm looking forward to hearing your stories!

[@SpiderconPrime]

I see a lot of fun ideas in the comments, but doesnt the spell say form shapes on the stone or dirt? So you cant just create spikes, more like engravings and such. I mean if you could whats the point of taking stone shape?

[@somekid5001]

Mold earth can change shape and appearance, so you can take a bag of dirt, and make it look like a bag of gold

[@annabaelfire2173]

In a campaign I was in a few years ago we used mold earth to great effect. we allowed the guns that were available in the DnDBeyond equipment list like badnews and others. we basically used mold earth to create trenches around our resting camps and for traps and we made use of the cover rule. half cover gives +2 AC, 3/4 cover gives +5 AC and total covered negated being attacked by ranged weapons and spells that required a target and line of site

[@chiloutdude5130]

I had this on my blaster warlock. I would excavate dirt, create a mound in front of me, and go prone against it. Prone, so disadvantage from ranged attacks, and the DM ruled it as 3/4 cover because I was essentially creating a foxhole for myself. I could blast with relative safety from ranged attacks, and we had plenty of melee fighters to keep the close ranged enemies away.

[@davidpaikins3172]

So your modifying the spell by saying u can't go down father then 30 feet... that sounds like a house rule u need to tell the player

[@monkeymanwasd1239]

As a farm kid I was shocked when I saw the mold earth spell anything that Roots have gone through may as well be loose dirt considering that once you get the tiniest amount of dirt out everything else gets way easier to dig out

[@theprinterdude9687]

Could i use it right below someone for them to fall into a hole in dirt while it's slowly moving up so their legs are under ground and the body is trapped inside the excavated dirt?

[@lockskelington314]

You can move lava/magma with this as its loose stone.

[@ChancesSpellbook]

I think that might be a little bit of a stretch, I like where your head's at though!

[@lockskelington314]

@@ChancesSpellbook Is it? Your freezing a 5 Foot cube of water and walking across it. It'll be slow but you can do it.

[@Nyrufa]

"Excuse me, but I don't think the structural integrity of your fortress is up to code. You appear to have built it on top of a massive sink hole!"

[@amnaceia1325]

I have a character who is a drunken and drugged earth genesis who has a ring that allows her to shape stone aswell and she uses this to full effect by kidnapping caravans

[@ChancesSpellbook]

Sounds like a very cool character!

[@AzureIV]

Have a giant gourd the size of a barrel on your back filled with sand. Be Gaara.

[@Karina-Loves-Andreas]

Can I just drop a pit directly under an attacker on open ground/dirt??? Can I do instantaneous pits with small dirt walls around it?

[@rileysweet15]

Hand and foot holds in castle walls to scale them!

[@glorialiedtke8931]

It's great if you ever want to fortify your Camp with a moat. Cover plus forcing the enemy to stay at a distance.

[@WolfHreda]

If you have a decently narrow choke point and roughly five minutes to prep, you could make a ridiculously horrible defensive position with this spell. Say you have a corridor with a width of 15 feet. In about two and a half minutes, you could create a 20 foot long cordon of rough terrain that ends in a 10 foot pit. This would be especially effective against monsters that have a low intelligence and would thus be less likely to understand their predicament.

[@Karina-Loves-Andreas]

If I'm fighting on mud, could I use this to pull the mud up over an attacker to significantly slow them down??

[@trajan1026]

I want to use this in a sandman build

[@ChancesSpellbook]

Now that sounds like a ton of fun!

[@cosmomind7469]

Can I use this to combine 3 pebbles I casted magic stone on for 1 big rock?

[@charlottewalnut3118]

Use it to make punji stick traps

[@CitanulsPumpkin]

Mold Earth is one of my go to cantrips. Whenever I make just about any spell caster character I always have to consider adding a level of sorcerer for Mold Earth, mage hand, minor illusion, either control flame or shape water, and a couple 1st level utility spells. It's insane how many situations there are where Mold Earth can be the highlight of a scene. Stuck in Ravenloft and need to dig up or bury a body with the wave of a hand? Mold Earth. Need to dig up or bury a chest of pirate treasure in an island hopping pirate campaign? Mold Earth. Set off a "the room is slowly filling with sand" trap in an ancient tomb and you need to buy time? Mold Earth. People complained about the Strixhaven backgrounds being too powerful because they give you a feat. Fools. Go read the actual Strixhaven initiate feat. The cantrip lists you can pick from are terrible. They don't even have the good druid, sorcerer, and wizard utility cantrips.

[@rileysweet15]

could you not make divots in a castle wall to climb it?

[@skavies2351]

Not so useful, are you crazy? Holes may not be all that effective normally, but what about a tome warlock with devil sight and darkness? Now it's hilarious. Sandy area? Dig out the sand under someone (I'd give them a dex save to get out of the way) move it 5 feet straight up and it will instantly bury them up to around their neck. Normal dirt probably will not work for this, but if you have a prisoner you can hold in place, it's much better than tying him to a tree. I'm guessing you didn't see the part about making shapes in stone. Ladder rungs are shapes, and that castle wall is made of stone. Speaking of shapes, most dungeon doors are wooden in a stone door frame, a 1 inch adjustment will keep that door closed for an hour so you can rest. If the door frame is wood, there's always the floor. Take a small rock and shape it into a thin rod, start shoving it in a lock and change the inserted part back to what it was, that should gum things up. In jail? No problem, shape those bar holes a little bigger, or start digging, make those stones a little thinner and a little longer, then simply pull them out of the wall. You don't even have to be stealthy doing it if you lock the door first... This is easily on par with prestidigitation for actually having good uses, and almost on par for general flexibility.

[@ChancesSpellbook]

Great ideas! I was speaking in terms of how useful a lot of players believe it to be. I just feel like it's not nearly as broken as most believe!

[@skavies2351]

​@@ChancesSpellbook It depends on the area and the player's creativity/gm's tolerance how broken or weak it is. The lack of description on how much stone you can alter other than "rough terrain/shapes makes it's usefulness dependant on a reasonable compromise between gm and player. I think of it as basically a stoneshape for a sling stone sized rock or smaller, or you can adjust the surface of a rock face by about 2 inches in that 5 foot cube. the ladder would basically be a trench 2 inches deep with the contents extended outward, so you've got a 4 inch ledge. Just enough to not require a climb check for that small distance, cast it again above you, climb up to the new area, drop the previous one. A very slow but safe way to scale a wall as long as no one is shooting at you. (5 feet per 2 rounds movement doing this).

[@capy-karma186]

Well if you eventually get a floor limit, there is nothing stopping you from burying the unlucky goblin alive in the 15ft hole.

[@firestorm165]

So this is not the spell I use to turn a hunk of granite into a garden centrepiece. Well that's disappointing. Unless anyone has any recommendations for a spell that'll fit the bill I guess I'll have to commission that statue after all.

[@jhonstockings2989]

I've used this spell to repair a wall by filling it in with dirt.

[@felixros8439]

You mentioned Zee talks about this spell; could I get a link? I cant seem to find where he talks about Mold Earth and I'm curious what he has to say about it

[@benthomason3307]

he took the video down. He does that whenever he fin out he mislead people.

[@dumplingduppy1502]

What is the size of the difficult terrain ?

[@gabris1559]

I love the style of the video but I cant hear you very well because the music is higher than your voice

[@ChancesSpellbook]

Yeah! This was a pretty annoying problem with the earlier videos, I promise it gets better later on!

[@imdavid78]

My DM lets me use mold earth like earthbending. I can create earth spikes to impale targets and encase them in stone.

[@ChancesSpellbook]

Haha your DM sounds very flexable!

[@anthonykravitz6156]

stone fortress given enough time and underground dirty labyrinth trap hole with pungy sticks trap hole !!

[@ChancesSpellbook]

The only real limits are time, and imagination!

[@Meloncov]

You can't move stone, just reshape it temporarily. So stone fortress is out.

[@kelvinrodriguezjr2184]

There's actually a really cool item that does this cantrip for you it's called a shovel

[@Keyce0013]

Shovel takes way longer than 6 seconds.

[@zhondortoth8699]

I will have this on any pc with a military background!

[@ReverseUnicorn]

Clay, list stone and rock, is a part of earth.

[@ZombieChimpanzee]

used this spell to bury some enemies alive.

[@sacrificed9]

Audio is very quietly

[@ChancesSpellbook]

The first couple episodes were a little rough with the audio, but we've fixed it in later videos!

[@SodaPopBarbecue]

I had a very stingy DM once who made it so that I had to have the dirt(And only dirt or dust, no mud, sand or pebbles) touching the ground while I manipulated it. DM's word is final, but THAT was an over-nerf IMO.

[@ChancesSpellbook]

Haha that's a little strange!

[@FormerRuling]

The first part is definitely strict as the Excavate portion says "Loose Earth" not just "Dirt/Dust" - some sand, pebbles, grass, etc dont change the fact that it is loose (while heavy root growth, presence of big stones, etc would). On the second part if I'm reading right how is he being strict? The spell text itself says the excavated earth has to be moved "along the ground" (think of it like magically pushing a cube 5ft, instead of magically flying a cube through the air)

[@isaackarr6576]

I could have fun uprooting trees.

[@viggo5229]

Cast sleep move dirt up and put over a ton of dirt into a 5 foot free fall onto a sleeping dude in a hole

[@Daile0303]

I remember using this to make a rock appear like an emerald. I also used it to make a tunnel and escape a gladiatorial arena by simply dismissing the walls in front of me

[@murtamp9828]

Trap building

[@ChancesSpellbook]

Murtamp haha for sure!

[@DavitAbulashvili]

Turn off music please, it's so annoying

[@dee-wreck]

Dude it's just so hard to hear you over the music

[@Winterheart786]

put the speed up to 1.25, you will thank me.

[@Spiceodog]

It is way better then eldritch blast, even with invocations . The spells broken af

[@douglasbunch3313]

I used it to fight fires