With a new form of magic, spellcasting characters in Dungeons & Dragons should combine their powers to enhance their effects even further. That it can escalate with the right planning is not only surprising for players; DMs must reckon with it as well.
What kind of magic is this? It is the so-called “Circle Magic”, introduced with the new expansion “Forgotten Realms: Heroes of Faerûn.” D&D Beyond describes it as “a ritual art that allows spellcasters to combine their powers and reshape the rules of magic”… and some players took this literally.
The player Vegetable_Variety_11 reports on Reddit that he and another player really wanted to find out how far they could go with Circle Magic and took one of the most popular spells in Dungeons & Dragons as an example, the beloved Fireball. More specifically, they looked at the “Delayed Blast Fireball,” a level 7 variant of the standard Fireball that becomes stronger with the duration of the delay and adds 1d6 per round to the regular damage of 12d6.
Normally, this duration cannot be extended beyond 10 rounds. Therefore, the maximum extra damage is 10d6, provided you can maintain your concentration for that long. However, Circle Magic offers a breakthrough through this limit, making the spell exponentially more dangerous.
Here you can see the trailer for the fourth campaign of Critical Role:
A Fireball Becomes a Targeted Nuclear Weapon Through Circle Magic
How does the use of Circle Magic enhance the Fireball? Through Circle Magic, the potential duration of a spell can be extended, which escalates with the number of supporting spellcasters… and the helping hands only have to sacrifice one action per round and one spell slot.
With 1 -3 helpers, the duration extends to one hour; with 4 – 6, it extends to 8 hours, and with at least 7 helpers, it extends to a full 24 hours. A delayed Fireball can, therefore, inflict a total of 14,400d6 extra damage if it deals 10d6 extra damage every minute and a group of 8 spellcasters concentrates on it together.
With an average rolled number of 3.5, a delayed Fireball with one spellcaster and 7 supporters during a 24-hour concentration period inflicts about 50,400 fire damage. This should please motivated min-maxers.
What does the community say about this calculation? The Reddit post received over 17,400 upvotes within a day, with some absolutely overwhelmed or fascinated by this wild use of Circle Magic.
“Is this even legal?” asks myflesh, but other players – and even DMs – respect this idea:
- “As a DM, I would endorse this way of thinking, but only for the following reason: If you have eight spellcasters, each of whom can cast a level 7 spell, performing what is essentially a ritual to charge a magical nuclear weapon, and somehow manage to maintain that spell in enemy territory long enough to build up that magical power without drawing attention from guards or others, then you have to grant them that opportunity somehow,” writes PyroTornado107 on Reddit.
- “The nature of D&D is that ultimately in every version someone discovers a nuclear weapon,” writes KamikazeArchon on Reddit.
The player lavahot summarizes it on Reddit in an atmospheric description you would want from your own DM:
Your fireball ignites. Your entire world turns into a blinding white, hot light. The roar is deafening. Your flesh dissolves from your bones. Your friends don’t even have a chance to scream before they explode into light. Then there is only darkness. Cold, unfeeling darkness. Unfeeling, endless darkness.
Then you feel a kick in your side. You wake up lying on your back and staring into the blue sky. A face with long hair appears in your view. “Wake up, Samurai,” he says, “We need to burn down a city.”
– lavahot on Reddit
However, it must be mentioned that such use of a fireball buffed by Circle Magic still has weaknesses: As a level 7 spell, it can still be stopped by dispel magic, the affected radius remains at the possible 6 meters, and the target must not have fire resistance… otherwise, all the lengthy preparation would be in vain.
The use of Circle Magic can do much more than just extend the duration of a spell. Other effects can also be summoned with the help of allied spellcasters, turning even seemingly inconspicuous spells into truly powerful weapons. If you want to find out what else can be done with Circle Magic, you can do that here on MeinMMO: A new form of magic in Dungeons & Dragons forces you into teamwork, but makes you that much more powerful
