Hallucinatory Terrain
2024 Rules
- Level & School
- 4th-level illusion
- Casting Time
- 10 minutes
- Range
- 300 feet
- Components
- V, S, M (a mushroom)
- Duration
- 24 hours
- Classes
- Bard, Druid, Warlock, Wizard
You make natural terrain in a 150-foot Cube in range look, sound, and smell like another sort of natural terrain. Thus, open fields or a road can be made to resemble a swamp, hill, crevasse, or some other difficult or impassable terrain. A pond can be made to seem like a grassy meadow, a precipice like a gentle slope, or a rock- strewn gully like a wide and smooth road. Manufactured structures, equipment, and creatures within the area aren't changed.
The tactile characteristics of the terrain are unchanged, so creatures entering the area are likely to notice the illusion. If the difference isn't obvious by touch, a creature examining the illusion can take the Study action to make an Intelligence (Investigation) check against your spell save DC to disbelieve it. If a creature discerns that the terrain is illusory, the creature sees a vague image superimposed on the real terrain.
2014 Rules
- Level & School
- 4th-level illusion
- Casting Time
- 10 minutes
- Range
- 300 feet
- Components
- V, S, M (a stone, a twig, and a bit of green plant)
- Duration
- 24 hours
- Classes
- Bard, Druid, Warlock, Wizard
You make natural terrain in a 150-foot cube in range look, sound, and smell like some other sort of natural terrain. Thus, open fields or a road can be made to resemble a swamp, hill, crevasse, or some other difficult or impassable terrain. A pond can be made to seem like a grassy meadow, a precipice like a gentle slope, or a rock-strewn gully like a wide and smooth road. Manufactured structures, equipment, and creatures within the area aren't changed in appearance.
The tactile characteristics of the terrain are unchanged, so creatures entering the area are likely to see through the illusion. If the difference isn't obvious by touch, a creature carefully examining the illusion can attempt an Intelligence (Investigation) check against your spell save DC to disbelieve it. A creature who discerns the illusion for what it is, sees it as a vague image superimposed on the terrain.
Hallucinatory Terrain 5.5e 2024 vs. 5e 2014 edition differences
Hallucinatory Terrain popularity
How popular is Hallucinatory Terrain? It is a seldom seen spell in the game, and it is almost never chosen when available. This spell is one that few spellcasters would ever acquire.
- Top 50% of all level 4 spells
- Bottom 50% of all 5e spells
- Bottom 25% picked level 4 Druid spell
- Bottom 10% picked level 4 Bard spell
- Bottom 10% picked level 4 Wizard spell
- Bottom 10% picked level 4 Warlock spell
Spells similar to Hallucinatory Terrain
Programmed Illusion 6th-level illusion
Creates persistent, customizable illusions that can be set and left in place, which parallels making an area look like different natural terrain.
Players prefer Programmed Illusion over Hallucinatory Terrain
Mordenkainen's Private Sanctum 4th-level abjuration
Alters the properties of a bounded area for a full day, offering a utility effect on the environment with long duration like the target spell.
Players prefer Mordenkainen's Private Sanctum over Hallucinatory Terrain
Major Image 3rd-level illusion
Provides a versatile, sensory illusion over an area to deceive multiple creatures, functioning as a shorter‑term, lower‑level analogue to terrain illusions.
Players prefer Major Image over Hallucinatory Terrain
Silent Image 1st-level illusion
A basic area illusion that changes what people perceive in a region, useful for the same kind of deception on a smaller scale.
Players prefer Hallucinatory Terrain over Silent Image
Mirage Arcane 7th-level illusion
It's the larger, higher‑level spell that also makes wide swaths of terrain appear as something else for a long time, so it matches the same illusionary environment niche.
Players prefer Hallucinatory Terrain over Mirage Arcane