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Befuddlement

Befuddlement
  • Level: 8
  • School: Enchantment
  • Class: Bard, Druid, Warlock, Wizard
  • Casting Time: Action
  • Range: 150 feet
  • Components: V, S, M (a key ring with no keys)
  • Duration: Instantaneous

You blast the mind of a creature that you can see within range. The target makes an Intelligence saving throw.

On a failed save, the target takes 10d12 Psychic damage and can't cast spells or take the Magic action. At the end of every 30 days, the target repeats the save, ending the effect on a success. The effect can also be ended by the Greater Restoration, Heal, or Wish spell.

On a successful save, the target takes half as much damage only.

Tactical Usage​

When to Choose Befuddlement:

  • Ultimate solution for permanently disabling enemy spellcasters
  • Excellent for removing high-level mages from long-term threats
  • Strong choice against intelligent enemies relying on magical abilities
  • Valuable for creating lasting consequences in major conflicts

Target Prioritization:

  • Enemy Spellcasters: Primary targets who lose all magical abilities
  • High-Intelligence Enemies: More likely to fail Intelligence saves
  • Long-term Threats: Enemies that might return to trouble the party later
  • Campaign Villains: Permanent removal without killing

Risk Assessment:

  • 150-foot range allows safe casting distance
  • Instantaneous duration means no concentration required
  • High damage on successful save still provides value
  • Intelligence save targets often weaker save for spellcasters

Spell Combinations​

Setup Enhancement:

  • Hold Monster: Ensure target cannot escape before casting
  • Counterspell: Prevent target from defending with their own magic
  • Silvery Barbs: Force reroll on successful Intelligence saves
  • Maze: Isolate target for safe casting opportunity

Follow-up Options:

  • Suggestion: Command now-helpless spellcaster
  • Charm Monster: Turn disabled enemy into ally
  • Dominate Monster: Control non-magical enemy actions
  • Banishment: Remove permanently disabled but dangerous enemy

Material Component Details​

Key Ring with No Keys:

  • Symbolism: Represents locked doors with no way to open them
  • Irony: Keys without locks mirror mind without access to knowledge
  • Cost: Minimal (few copper pieces for empty key ring)
  • Preparation: Empty key ring more symbolically powerful than full one

Roleplay Opportunities:

  • Describe keys jingling emptily as mental pathways close
  • Reference the futility of seeking entrance to locked knowledge
  • Use component to emphasize the devastating mental isolation
  • Symbolize the target's loss of access to their own intellect

Creator Notes​

Adjudication Guidance:

  • Prevents all spellcasting and Magic actions permanently until cured
  • 30-day save intervals provide hope for eventual recovery
  • Greater Restoration, Heal, or Wish are only magical cures
  • High psychic damage provides immediate combat impact

Campaign Integration:

  • Creates long-term consequences for major villains
  • Provides non-lethal but devastating solution to spellcaster threats
  • May become central plot point if used on important NPCs
  • Establishes precedent for mind-affecting permanent disabilities

Balancing Considerations:

  • 8th-level slot cost restricts frequency of use
  • Intelligence saves are often weak for spellcaster targets
  • Permanent effect balanced by multiple cure options
  • High-level spell requires significant character investment

Environmental Interactions​

Mental Devastation:

  • Target becomes unable to comprehend complex magical concepts
  • Retains basic intelligence but loses magical understanding
  • May struggle with academic or scholarly pursuits
  • Personality remains but magical identity is shattered

Social Ramifications:

  • Former spellcasters lose professional identity and status
  • May require care from family or institutions
  • Could become dependent on others for previously simple tasks
  • Significant psychological trauma from loss of abilities

Long-term Recovery:

  • Monthly saves provide hope for eventual recovery
  • Support from allies may improve morale during recovery attempts
  • Some targets might find alternative life paths during disability
  • Recovery could be gradual rather than instantaneous

Common Rulings & Clarifications​

Frequently Asked Questions:

Q: Can the target still use magic items? A: Creator discretion, but likely no for items requiring the Magic action.

Q: Does this affect innate spellcasting or only learned magic? A: Affects all spellcasting and Magic actions regardless of source.

Q: Can the target learn new spells while affected? A: No, they cannot comprehend or cast any magic while befuddled.

Q: Do class features that aren't spells still work? A: Non-magical class features typically continue to function normally.

Alternative Applications​

Non-Combat Uses:

  • Information Denial: Prevent enemy spellcasters from sharing magical knowledge
  • Political Manipulation: Remove magical advisors from rival factions
  • Justice System: Alternative to execution for magical criminals
  • Research Prevention: Stop dangerous magical experimentation

Creative Problem-Solving:

  • Disable magical defenses by targeting their controllers
  • Create openings in magically protected areas
  • Neutralize threats without creating martyrs
  • Establish dominance over magical communities

Mind-Affecting Magic:

  • Feeblemind: Similar but affects Intelligence and Charisma
  • Mental Prison: High-level incapacitation
  • Modify Memory: Alter rather than destroy mental capabilities
  • Geas: Long-term behavioral compulsion

Permanent Disabling:

  • Blindness/Deafness: Sensory disabilities
  • Bestow Curse: Versatile long-term penalties
  • Contagion: Disease-based permanent effects
  • Imprisonment: Complete removal from play

8th-Level Alternatives:

  • Feeblemind: Similar effect with different mechanics
  • Dominate Monster: Control rather than disable
  • Mind Blank: Ultimate mental protection
  • Power Word Stun: Instant but temporary incapacitation

Scaling Analysis​

Level Requirements:

  • Available at Level 15: High-level campaign option only
  • Resource Investment: Major spell slot for campaign-changing effect
  • Strategic Value: Can permanently alter power dynamics

Target Effectiveness:

  • Spellcasters: Devastating loss of primary abilities
  • High-Intelligence Creatures: Vulnerable to Intelligence saves
  • Campaign Villains: Creates lasting consequences for major threats

Long-Term Impact:

  • Permanent until cured creates ongoing story implications
  • May influence entire campaign trajectory
  • Establishes caster as wielder of terrible power
  • Could become central element in political or social conflicts

Narrative Flavor​

Extended Description: You hold the empty key ring aloft, its hollow jangling echoing with the weight of lost possibilities. As you speak the words of mental devastation, the keys seem to multiply into countless phantom duplicates that swirl around your target before diving into their skull. In an instant, every mental door that leads to magical understanding slams shut with the finality of rusted locks, leaving your victim's mind a maze of sealed pathways and inaccessible knowledge, their magical capabilities scattered like keys thrown into an infinite void.

Sensory Details:

  • Auditory: Empty jingling followed by profound mental silence
  • Visual: Phantom keys swirling before vanishing into target's mind
  • Psychological: Sudden awareness of vast mental emptiness
  • Magical: Complete severance from mystical understanding

Cultural Context: Befuddlement represents one of the most feared forms of magical warfare, striking at the very core of a spellcaster's identity and purpose. Different magical traditions may view such spells as necessary tools of war, ultimate violations of magical ethics, or tragic necessities in extreme circumstances.