Imprisonment

  • Level & School
    9th-level abjuration
  • Casting Time
    1 minute
  • Range
    30 feet
  • Components
    V, S, M (a statuette of the target worth 5,000+ GP)
  • Duration
    Until dispelled
  • Classes
    Warlock, Wizard

You create a magical restraint to hold a creature that you can see within range. The target must make a Wisdom saving throw. On a successful save, the target is unaffected, and it is immune to this spell for the next 24 hours. On a failed save, the target is imprisoned. While imprisoned, the target doesn't need to breathe, eat, or drink, and it doesn't age. Divination spells can't locate or perceive the imprisoned target, and the target can't teleport. Until the spell ends, the target is also affected by one of the following effects of your choice:

Burial. The target is entombed beneath the earth in a hollow globe of magical force that is just large enough to contain the target. Nothing can pass into or out of the globe.

Chaining. Chains firmly rooted in the ground hold the target in place. The target has the Restrained condition and can't be moved by any means.

Hedged Prison. The target is trapped in a demiplane that is warded against teleportation and planar travel. The demiplane is your choice of a labyrinth, a cage, a tower, or the like.

Minimus Containment. The target becomes 1 inch tall and is trapped inside an indestructible gemstone or a similar object. Light can pass through the gemstone (allowing the target to see out and other creatures to see in), but nothing else can pass through by any means.

Slumber. The target has the Unconscious condition and can't be awoken.

Ending the Spell. When you cast the spell, specify a trigger that will end it. The trigger can be as simple or as elaborate as you choose, but the DM must agree that it has a high likelihood of happening within the next decade. The trigger must be an observable action, such as someone making a particular offering at the temple of your god, saving your true love, or defeating a specific monster.

A Dispel Magic spell can end the spell only if it is cast with a level 9 spell slot, targeting either the prison or the component used to create it.

Imprisonment 5e 2024 vs. 2014 edition differences

The 2014 version binds a creature with a chosen form of imprisonment, ending with dispel magic at 9th level, and only one prison per component. The 2024 version imposes a Wisdom save, with success granting 24-hour immunity, and offers multiple specific imprisonment effects, with a trigger for ending the spell, and dispel magic ending only if cast at 9th level.