A spell that helps you practice extreme social distancing, Antilife Shell is a bit of a dud. The best way to think about it is you create a magical hamster ball to protect yourself from melee attacks. Or maybe like jake gillenhall in bubble boy.
Today we’re looking at Antilife Shell, a 5th level spell from the school of Abjuration in DnD 5e. Available to Druids, Death Domain Clerics and Grave Domain Clerics, Antilife Shell protects you from getting melee’d to death for an hour.
I mentioned that it’s a bit of a dud and that’s because it is a flaky spell. It’s concentration for up to one hour, but if you force someone into the magic force field, the spell ends. That means for the duration you need to make sure you don’t move within 10 feet of an enemy AND you are in big trouble if your foes have any sort of ranged attack like bows or ranged casting. Antilife Shell, more like Antilife Selfish. Your friends can’t even join you in the bubble. The internet pretty consistently bashes this spell and I get it, but it definitely has its time and place.
After all, Antilife shell is really the only true shielding abjuration spell a druid gets in their arsenal other than primordial ward which is level 6 and only 1 minute in duration. It also is only effective against one damage type. Antilife shell protects against all damage types…as long as it’s not ranged.
You can find uses for Antilife Shell and its history later on in the video, I’ll add a chapter specific to that. First, let’s take a look at RAW to see what’s going on.
Who Can Cast Antilife Shell in DnD 5e?
Antilife Shell is a late-game spell that is available to Druids, Death Domain Clerics and Grave Domain Clerics.
Rules As Written Explained for Antilife Shell in DnD 5e
A shimmering barrier extends out from you in a 10-foot radius and moves with you, remaining centered on you and hedging out creatures other than undead and constructs.
The barrier lasts for the duration. The barrier prevents an affected creature from passing or reaching through. An affected creature can cast spells or make attacks with ranged or reach weapons through the barrier.
If you move so that an affect creature is forced to pass through the barrier, the spell ends.
Player’s Handbook
A shimmering barrier extends out from you in a 10-foot radius and moves with you, remaining centered on you and hedging out creatures other than undead and constructs. Say what you mean rules! “Hedging out,” like repelling? Turning them into shrubs? Hedging out here is used to mean preventing anything from coming through, with a quick clarification that Undead and Constructs COULD come through. After all, they already don’t have life, and they ain’t got no souls, so who cares? Meanwhile you get the ability to say “when I move, you move, just like that” and it will stay centered on you the whole time, almost like a 20-foot diameter hoola hoop. What color it shimmers is entirely up to the caster.
The barrier lasts for the duration. Duration in this case is 1 hour or until concentration is broken.
The barrier prevents an affected creature from passing or reaching through. Why not say this earlier instead of “hedging out.” At least we have clarification, non-constructs and non-undead cannot pass through or reach through. Meaning they can’t attack you, right? Some folks get confused by affected creature in this statement, but to me it just means those who are not constructs nor undead. That also means that your party can also not be in the shell with you. Possibly controversial, but it is anti-life. No living creature can be in there. If you party member tries to hop in, they will be unable for the hour duration.
An affected creature can cast spells or make attacks with ranged or reach weapons through the barrier. So, they can’t get through, but they CAN hit you with ranged attacks, reach weapons, or ranged spells.
If you move so that an affected creature is forced to pass through the barrier, the spell ends.
Seems pretty straight-forward overall, but I think my main beef is with the barrier allowing folks through if you move and they’re within 10 feet of you. The spell just ends. For a fifth level spell. Before we get into the debate of push or end, let us first remember that most abjuration spells are for defensive purposes only.
The verbiage of “forced to pass through” causes a majority of the debate as to whether they are repelled or if moving within 10 feet of them is forcing them through.
As an adjudicator, you must decide between two interpretations. One, do creatures get pushed out as the caster moves? Or does moving into an occupied space immediately end the spell? Drop your thoughts in the comments below and we’ll see if we can solve this.
We asked on Threads and the results were surprisingly mixed, with over 50% saying the shell is a bulldozer.
Personally I would love it if the spell pushed folks away like a true barrier, but rules as written and likely intended appears to mean that you are using this spell to recover or stop a bunch of scimitar wielding goblins from getting closer to you. You are essentially a cork in the dungeon hallway, unless you get hit and break concentration.
Also, what happens if you cast the spell and an affected creature is already within the radius? Does the spell immediately end? Do they get bumped out? The answer should likely NOT be “the spell ends” which would mean that the creatures are pushed out. So if they’re pushed out then why not allow the bulldozing?
A comparable spell is Wall of Force, though there is no overlap in terms of who can cast. Wall of Force is very specific about pushing folks around, noting “If the wall cuts through a creature’s space when it appears, the creature is pushed to one side of the wall (your choice which side).”
The clarity and specificity in Wall of Force leads me to believe that Antilife Shell DOES NOT allow for pushing enemies around like a druidic bulldozer, which in my mind lowers the spell in terms of usefulness tiers.
People that really want this spell to work as a bulldozer will cite “forced to pass” as the key phrase and that technically forced to pass would be like if they were pushed up against a wall and couldn’t be pushed back further. It’s a fair argument, but what really gets me scratching my head again is the specificity of “it extends out from you,” so thinking in a visual sense, it starts with me and will extend out to a 10 foot radius. As it does so it “hedges out” any affected creatures, which could be enough to point to Antilife Shell being able to push creatures around.
Another way to think about it is that in edition 3.5, there was a specific line that said “This spell may be used only defensively, not aggressively. Forcing an abjuration barrier against creatures that the spell keeps at bay collapses the barrier.”
Again, rules as written, no bumper car ward here, just a defensive barrier to prevent against those gnarly melee manticores
I’m still on the side of no bulldozing, but it could go either way I think. But go ahead, fight me in the comments. I welcome your logic.
What are the Best Uses of Antilife Shell in DnD 5e?
It seems as though the best use for this spell is in a situation where there are only melee-weapon wielding enemies that are too dumb to pick something up and chuck it at the caster.
Don’t bother casting this in a graveyard because all those undead are going to cupid shuffle their way past the barrier without any issue. That said, what ARE some of the uses for Antilife Shell?
Here are 6 uses for Antilife Shell in DnD
- As a Druid it would make sense that one of your best bets when using Antilife shell is in the forest against the beasties. Take that nice forest stroll with no worries because no bear, badger or bodak can get near you.
- Clog a dungeon hallway as your party awakens a feral aldani whose daily dip in his sensory deprivation tank was interrupted by your allies
- Let your friends run away while you take down an entire group of goblins by spamming your damage-dealing cantrips. Sure it’s going to take a bit of time, but by my math 1 hour is the same as 360 rounds. Pretty confident you’ll unalive them all before that time runs out.
- In a situation where it is literally raining cats and dogs, antilife shell will prevent you from being pummeled by the furry terminal velocity felines and fidos. What happens to the animals I’ll leave for someone else to decide
- As you’ll rarely encounter any undead or constructs in the water, slap on a cloak of manta ray and use this spell to get the treasure at the bottom of the ocean without any nasty sharks tearing into you
- Protect against a particularly punchy dragon that has lost its breath weapon ability. Sit there and pummel it with Ice Storm or Blight over and over.
Overall Antilife shell doesn’t have as many cheeses as some spells, but that’s totally fine. Let us know below some other uses you’ve seen in your games!
History of Antilife Shell Across DnD Editions
1st and 2nd edition had a bunch of anti-shells with Anti-plant shell, anti-animal shell, both were protection spells, again leaning into that non-aggressive usage. 2nd edition also had anti-mineral shell, for those days where you get really worried about aluminum. Okay, so it was to prevent against mephits and elementals, but I still think it’s funny.
As mentioned earlier, 3rd edition is the most clear about how Antilife shell should be used. Defensively. It even says “this spell may be used only defensively, not aggressively.” So stop pushing for the fullback approach! 3rd edition also allowed elementals to pass through the barrier without any issues.
4th edition conveniently left this one out and then we get to the somehow more oddly worded 5th edition version that has people bickering over whether you can shove your enemies around.
Final Thoughts on Antilife Shell Spell in DnD 5e
Final thoughts on antilife shell, it’s a shell of a good spell. Your party can’t join inside the barrier (unless they’re a construct or undead), you can’t use the barrier offensively, and it is way too easy to lose concentration or break the spell.
All that in mind, this definitely sits in the lower tiers for 5th level spells, though it does have its uses. Let us know what we missed in the comments below and until next time roll high and stay ridiculous, thanks for watching.
