Magic is both the glue that holds the D&D universe together and the grease that lets some of it’s weirder aspects spin without getting gummed up by the grit of reality. Being able to just turn it off – even in a limited area – is therefore incredibly, unbelievably powerful.

From the moment you cast Antimagic Field, all of the magic within 10ft. of you that isn’t caused by a god or an artefact is completely suppressed. Fireballs fizzle into nothingness. Magic wands turn into gaudy sticks. Demons temporarily wink out of existence.

It’s impossible to dispel and lasts for up to an hour if you can maintain concentration. For that time you can laugh off the efforts of even the most powerful Wizards and thoroughly mess with the DM’s most cunning plans.

Of course, it’s an eighth-level spell you aren’t going to be throwing it around until the later parts of the game. By the time you learn it, however, most of the threats you’re going to be facing are so far beyond the bounds of reality that being able to counter magic is more important than ever.

The biggest downside of Antimagic Field is that it’s a double-edged sword – it doesn’t just suppress your enemies’ spells, it turns yours off too. While you’re in the field you can’t be healed, can’t cast Shield to ward off incoming arrows and can’t rely on the magic items that you’ve been stocking up on over the campaign.

It also means that if you cast it in the middle of a battle then you’re going to have to rely on conventional weaponry – something that’s a little tricky for a character deep enough in the Wizard/Cleric class progression to learn the spell in the first place.

However, depending on the villain you’re battling – and the generosity of the DM – it can be an absolute gamechanger.

If shielding the entire party from fireballs and lightning storms, negating invisibility and scrying magic and causing flying fortresses to drop from the sky  doesn’t seem impressive enough, consider what happens if you’re fighting a Lich. With a little bit of planning you can run up to her, activate your Antimagic Field and then laugh as the Fighter lifts her off her feet, completely unable to fight back or sic her ghoulish followers on you.

It can make Beholders almost completely useless and potentially cause them to drop helplessly to the floor (depending on whether you can argue that their levitation is a magical effect or not), sever Mind Flayers’ connection to their Elder Brain and cut evil Warlocks off from their hellish patron. It’s not always going to work, but when it does the results can be spectacular.

Of course, your DM will quickly realise that his villains need to have non-summoned, non-magical minions on hand to break your concentration, but by that time you could have smashed the campaign wide open.

Rating: A

Who would have thought that one of the greatest spells was one that turned all the others off? With a bit of thought and a pinch of luck this can do some truly incredible things – make sure you pick it up!

Antimagic Field

School: Abjuration
Level: 8
Casting time: 1 Action
Range: Self (10-foot-radius sphere)
Components: V, S M (a pinch o f powdered iron or iron filings)
Duration: Concentration, up to 1 hour

A 10-foot-radius invisible sphere of antimagic surrounds you.

This area is divorced from the magical energy that suffeses the multiverse. Within the sphere, spells can’t be cast, summoned creatures disappear, and even magic items become mundane. Until the spell ends, the spere moves with you, centered on you.

Spells and other magical effects, except those created by an artifact or a deity, are suppressed in the sphere and can’t protrude into it. A slot expended to cast a suppressed spell is consumed. While an effect is suppressed, it doesn’t function, but the time it spends suppressed counts against its duration.

Targeted Effects.
Spells and other magical effects, such as magic missle and charm person, that target a creature or an object in the sphere have no effect on that target.

Areas of Magic.
The area of another spell or magical effect, such as fireball, can’t extend into the sphere. If the sphere overlaps an area of magic, the part of the area that is covered by the sphere is suppressed. For example, the flames created by a wall of fire are suppressed within the sphere, creating a gap in the wall if the overlap is large enough.

Spells.
Any active spell or other magical effect on a creature or an object in the sphere is suppressed while the creature or object is in it.

Magic Items.
The properties and powers of magic items are suppressed in the sphere. Forexample, a +1 longsword in the sphere functions as a nonmagical longsword. A magic weapon’s properties and powers are suppressed if it is used against a target in the sphere or wielded by an attacker in the sphere. If a magic weapon or piece of magic ammunition fully leaves the sphere (For example, if you fire a magic arrow or throw a magic spear at a target outside the sphere), the magic of the item ceases to be supressed as soon as it exits.

Magical Travel.
Teleportation and planar travel fail to work in the sphere, whether the sphere is the destination or the departure point for such magical travel. A portal to another location, world, or plane of existence, as well as an opening to an extradimensional space such as that created by the rope trick spells, temporarily closes while in the sphere.

Creatures and Objects.
A creature or object summoned or created by magic temporarily winks out of existence in the sphere. Such a creature instantly reappears once the space the creature occupied is no longer withinthe sphere.

Dispel Magic.
Spells and magical effects such as dispel magic have no effect on the sphere. Likewise, the spheres created by different Antimagic Field spells don’t nullify each other.