Divine Magic • Core Spell Reference

Banishment

Created with Chat Gpt

Choose your edition before using the spell. Its level, casting procedure, targets, effects, and limits follow the rules in the selected panel.

Banishment at a Glance

5.5e (2024)	Level 4
5e (2014)	Level 4
Pathfinder 1e	Level 6
D&D 3.5e	Level 6
Browse	Cleric spells • Cleric class

Spell Rules

5.5e (2024)5e (2014)Pathfinder 1eD&D 3.5e

Banishment — 5.5e (2024)

Cleric spell level 4. Edition source.

Spell	Level 4 Abjuration (Cleric, Paladin, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard)
Casting Time	Action
Range	30 feet
Components	V, S, M (a pentacle)
Duration	Concentration, up to 1 minute

One creature that you can see within range must succeed on a Charisma saving throw or be transported to a harmless demiplane for the duration. While there, the target has the Incapacitated condition. When the spell ends, the target reappears in the space it left or in the nearest unoccupied space if that space is occupied. If the target is an Aberration, a Celestial, an Elemental, a Fey, or a Fiend, the target doesn’t return if the spell lasts for 1 minute. The target is instead transported to a random location on a plane (GM’s choice) associated with its creature type.

Using a Higher-Level Spell Slot. You can target one additional creature for each spell slot level above 4.

Banishment — 5e (2014)

Cleric spell level 4. Edition source.

Spell	4th-level abjuration
Casting Time	1 action
Range	60 feet
Components	V, S, M (an item distasteful to the target)
Duration	Concentration, up to 1 minute

You attempt to send one creature that you can see within range to another plane of existence. The target must succeed on a Charisma saving throw or be banished. If the target is native to the plane of existence you’re on, you banish the target to a harmless demiplane. While there, the target is incapacitated. The target remains there until the spell ends, at which point the target reappears in the space it left or in the nearest unoccupied space if that space is occupied. If the target is native to a different plane of existence than the one you’re on, the target is banished with a faint popping noise, returning to its home plane. If the spell ends before 1 minute has passed, the target reappears in the space it left or in the nearest unoccupied space if that space is occupied. Otherwise, the target doesn’t return.

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 5th level or higher, you can target one additional creature for each slot level above 4th.

Banishment — Pathfinder 1e

Cleric spell level 6. Edition source.

School	abjuration
Level	cleric 6, sorcerer/wizard 7
Casting Time	1 standard action
Components	V, S, F (see text)
Range	close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Targets	one or more extraplanar creatures, no two of which can be more than 30 ft. apart
Duration	instantaneous
Saving Throw	Will negates
Spell Resistance	yes

A banishment spell is a more powerful version of the dismissal spell. It enables you to force extraplanar creatures out of your home plane. As many as 2 Hit Dice of creatures per caster level can be banished.

You can improve the spell’s chance of success by presenting at least one object or substance that the target hates, fears, or otherwise opposes. For each such object or substance, you gain a +1 bonus on your caster level check to overcome the target’s spell resistance (if any), and the saving throw DC increases by 2.

Certain rare items might work twice as well as a normal item for the purpose of the bonuses (each providing a +2 bonus on the caster level check against spell resistance and increasing the save DC by 4).

Banishment — D&D 3.5e

Cleric spell level 6. Edition source.

School	Abjuration
Level	Clr 6, Sor/Wiz 7
Components	V, S, F
Casting Time	1 standard action
Range	Close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Targets	One or more extraplanar creatures, no two of which can be more than 30 ft. apart
Duration	Instantaneous
Saving Throw	Will negates
Spell Resistance	Yes

Arcane Focus: Any item that is distasteful to the subject (optional, see above).

Why This Spell Is Dangerous in the World

Banishment is dangerous because it allows mortal spellcasters to contest presence itself.

Steel kills. Fire destroys. But this spell acts at a higher level. It denies a creature the right to exist in the current place at all.

In a living world, this reshapes institutions. Temples become authorities of spiritual exclusion. Courts develop rites of removal. Sanctuaries, summoning halls, and royal courts become places where presence can be judged and revoked.

Its danger lies in its restraint. There is no explosion, no spectacle—only absence. A bodyguard vanishes. A witness disappears. A summoned envoy is removed mid-negotiation. The world quickly learns that such magic does not need drama to become power.

Why This Spell Is Dangerous in the World

Banishment is dangerous because it makes presence conditional.

In a world where the spell is known, strength is no longer enough to guarantee that a being may remain where it stands. Summoned creatures, infernal envoys, elemental servants, fey guests, and things dragged through ritual breach all become vulnerable to one disciplined act of refusal. That changes religion, law, diplomacy, and fear.

A king protected by bound outsiders is no longer merely powerful; he is exposed to anyone who can cast his protectors out. A cult that tears open the world for a patron spirit risks seeing its godling sent back in front of the faithful. A court that hosts extraplanar ambassadors must reckon with the fact that one priest, one magus, or one inquisitor may be able to turn hospitality into exile.

Even when used against native creatures, the spell alters institutions. It changes arrests, rescues, trials, duels, and sieges. A dangerous person can be removed from the room for one minute, and one minute is often long enough to decide who rules, who flees, who dies, and who survives.

Rules Sources and Licensing

This work includes material from the System Reference Document 5.2.1 and/or 5.1 by Wizards of the Coast LLC. The original documents are available at D&D Beyond and are licensed under CC BY 4.0. Presentation and formatting have been changed.

The Pathfinder and 3.5 spell mechanics and their tables are Open Game Content under the Open Game License v1.0a. Artwork and original setting prose are excluded from that designation.

Open Game License v1.0a and copyright notices

Permission to copy, modify and distribute the files collectively known as the System Reference Document (“SRD”) is granted solely through the use of the Open Gaming License, Version 1.0a.

This material is being released using the Open Gaming License Version 1.0a and you should read and understand the terms of that license before using this material.

The text of the Open Gaming License itself is not Open Game Content. Instructions on using the License are provided within the License itself.

The following items are designated Product Identity, as defined in Section 1(e) of the Open Game License Version 1.0a, and are subject to the conditions set forth in Section 7 of the OGL, and are not Open Content: Dungeons & Dragons, D&D, Player’s Handbook, Dungeon Master, Monster Manual, d20 System, Wizards of the Coast, d20 (when used as a trademark), Forgotten Realms, Faerûn, proper names (including those used in the names of spells or items), places, Red Wizard of Thay, the City of Union, Heroic Domains of Ysgard, Ever-Changing Chaos of Limbo, Windswept Depths of Pandemonium, Infinite Layers of the Abyss, Tarterian Depths of Carceri, Gray Waste of Hades, Bleak Eternity of Gehenna, Nine Hells of Baator, Infernal Battlefield of Acheron, Clockwork Nirvana of Mechanus, Peaceable Kingdoms of Arcadia, Seven Mounting Heavens of Celestia, Twin Paradises of Bytopia, Blessed Fields of Elysium, Wilderness of the Beastlands, Olympian Glades of Arborea, Concordant Domain of the Outlands, Sigil, Lady of Pain, Book of Exalted Deeds, Book of Vile Darkness, beholder, gauth, carrion crawler, tanar’ri, baatezu, displacer beast, githyanki, githzerai, mind flayer, illithid, umber hulk, yuan-ti.

All of the rest of the SRD is Open Game Content as described in Section 1(d) of the License.

More information on the Open Game License can be found at www.wizards.com/d20.

The terms of the Open Gaming License Version 1.0a are as follows:

OPEN GAME LICENSE Version 1.0a

1. Definitions: (a)”Contributors” means the copyright and/or trademark owners who have contributed Open Game Content; (b)”Derivative Material” means copyrighted material including derivative works and translations (including into other computer languages), potation, modification, correction, addition, extension, upgrade, improvement, compilation, abridgment or other form in which an existing work may be recast, transformed or adapted; (c) “Distribute” means to reproduce, license, rent, lease, sell, broadcast, publicly display, transmit or otherwise distribute; (d)”Open Game Content” means the game mechanic and includes the methods, procedures, processes and routines to the extent such content does not embody the Product Identity and is an enhancement over the prior art and any additional content clearly identified as Open Game Content by the Contributor, and means any work covered by this License, including translations and derivative works under copyright law, but specifically excludes Product Identity. (e) “Product Identity” means product and product line names, logos and identifying marks including trade dress; artifacts; creatures characters; stories, storylines, plots, thematic elements, dialogue, incidents, language, artwork, symbols, designs, depictions, likenesses, formats, poses, concepts, themes and graphic, photographic and other visual or audio representations; names and descriptions of characters, spells, enchantments, personalities, teams, personas, likenesses and special abilities; places, locations, environments, creatures, equipment, magical or supernatural abilities or effects, logos, symbols, or graphic designs; and any other trademark or registered trademark clearly identified as Product identity by the owner of the Product Identity, and which specifically excludes the Open Game Content; (f) “Trademark” means the logos, names, mark, sign, motto, designs that are used by a Contributor to identify itself or its products or the associated products contributed to the Open Game License by the Contributor (g) “Use”, “Used” or “Using” means to use, Distribute, copy, edit, format, modify, translate and otherwise create Derivative Material of Open Game Content. (h) “You” or “Your” means the licensee in terms of this agreement.

2. The License: This License applies to any Open Game Content that contains a notice indicating that the Open Game Content may only be Used under and in terms of this License. You must affix such a notice to any Open Game Content that you Use. No terms may be added to or subtracted from this License except as described by the License itself. No other terms or conditions may be applied to any Open Game Content distributed using this License.

3.Offer and Acceptance: By Using the Open Game Content You indicate Your acceptance of the terms of this License.

4. Grant and Consideration: In consideration for agreeing to use this License, the Contributors grant You a perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive license with the exact terms of this License to Use, the Open Game Content.

5.Representation of Authority to Contribute: If You are contributing original material as Open Game Content, You represent that Your Contributions are Your original creation and/or You have sufficient rights to grant the rights conveyed by this License.

6.Notice of License Copyright: You must update the COPYRIGHT NOTICE portion of this License to include the exact text of the COPYRIGHT NOTICE of any Open Game Content You are copying, modifying or distributing, and You must add the title, the copyright date, and the copyright holder’s name to the COPYRIGHT NOTICE of any original Open Game Content you Distribute.

7. Use of Product Identity: You agree not to Use any Product Identity, including as an indication as to compatibility, except as expressly licensed in another, independent Agreement with the owner of each element of that Product Identity. You agree not to indicate compatibility or co-adaptability with any Trademark or Registered Trademark in conjunction with a work containing Open Game Content except as expressly licensed in another, independent Agreement with the owner of such Trademark or Registered Trademark. The use of any Product Identity in Open Game Content does not constitute a challenge to the ownership of that Product Identity. The owner of any Product Identity used in Open Game Content shall retain all rights, title and interest in and to that Product Identity.

8. Identification: If you distribute Open Game Content You must clearly indicate which portions of the work that you are distributing are Open Game Content.

9. Updating the License: Wizards or its designated Agents may publish updated versions of this License. You may use any authorized version of this License to copy, modify and distribute any Open Game Content originally distributed under any version of this License.

10. Copy of this License: You MUST include a copy of this License with every copy of the Open Game Content You Distribute.

11. Use of Contributor Credits: You may not market or advertise the Open Game Content using the name of any Contributor unless You have written permission from the Contributor to do so.

12. Inability to Comply: If it is impossible for You to comply with any of the terms of this License with respect to some or all of the Open Game Content due to statute, judicial order, or governmental regulation then You may not Use any Open Game Material so affected.

13. Termination: This License will terminate automatically if You fail to comply with all terms herein and fail to cure such breach within 30 days of becoming aware of the breach. All sublicenses shall survive the termination of this License.

14. Reformation: If any provision of this License is held to be unenforceable, such provision shall be reformed only to the extent necessary to make it enforceable.

15. COPYRIGHT NOTICE

System Reference Document Copyright 2000-2003, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.; Authors Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, Skip Williams, Rich Baker, Andy Collins, David Noonan, Rich Redman, Bruce R. Cordell, John D. Rateliff, Thomas Reid, James Wyatt, based on original material by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson.