Forcecage

7th-Level Evocation
Casting Time: 1 Action
Range: 100 feet
Components: V, S, M (ruby dust worth 1,500+ GP)
Duration: 1 hour
Available To: Wizard
Alternative Name: Absolute Confinement

Effect

An immobile, invisible, cubic prison of force springs into existence in an area you choose within range. The prison takes one of two forms:

• a solid box up to 10 feet on a side, or
• a barred cage up to 20 feet on a side, formed by invisible bars spaced 1/2 inch apart.

Any creature completely inside the chosen area when the spell is cast is trapped. Any creature only partially inside the area, or too large to fit inside it, is pushed away from the center of the area until it is completely outside.

Nothing can physically pass through the cage. It is immune to all damage and extends into the Ethereal Plane, preventing ethereal movement through it. The cage can’t be ended by Dispel Magic. It is destroyed only by Disintegrate.

A creature inside the forcecage can’t leave by nonmagical means. If a creature tries to use teleportation or interplanar travel to leave, it must first make a Charisma saving throw. On a successful save, the creature can use that magic to escape. On a failed save, the attempt fails and the spell or effect is wasted.

Why This Spell Is Dangerous in the World

Forcecage is dangerous because it strips power of its usual defenses.

Strength does not solve it. Armor does not solve it. Speed does not solve it. Even magical escape is no longer certain. A creature can remain fully alive, fully dangerous, fully conscious of what is happening, and yet be reduced to the single fact that it is kept where it has been put.

That has consequences far beyond battle. A prison becomes more than a prison when it can no longer be battered open. A hearing becomes more than a negotiation when a witness cannot leave. A ruler, inquisitor, or archmage with access to this spell can turn capture into procedure rather than struggle. The spell does not merely restrain bodies. It changes what institutions can promise.

Its cruelty lies in how impersonal it is. Forcecage does not rage, strike, or punish. It simply closes, and then remains closed.

Best Uses

Absolute Containment:
Remove a powerful creature from freedom immediately, without relying on damage or ongoing control effects.

Isolate the Defining Threat:
Trap the enemy whose movement, spellcasting position, or sheer presence is shaping the encounter.

Secure Capture:
Take prisoners who cannot be trusted to remain restrained by mundane means.

Break Group Coordination:
Enclose part of an enemy force and deal with the remainder under safer conditions.

Deny Reliable Escape:
Force teleporters and planar travelers to risk failure at the moment escape matters most.

Tactics

Forcecage is a spell of commitment and geometry.

The choice between box and barred cage is not cosmetic. The box is pure enclosure: a sealed confinement that denies ordinary crossing entirely. The barred form creates a larger prison, but the spacing matters tactically because it changes what can interact across the boundary and what cannot. The correct choice depends on whether the goal is total separation or controlled containment.

Because the spell does not require Concentration, it is strongest when cast at a moment that lets the rest of the encounter continue on your terms. Once the prison exists, your attention is free. That alone makes it much harsher than many other control spells.

Use it against creatures that rely on movement, positioning, presence, or battlefield dominance. Use it when removal is more important than damage. Use it when the question is no longer “How do we beat this?” but “How do we make sure this does not get to keep participating?”

DM Notes

Run Forcecage as impersonal finality.

Its best presentation is minimal. A creature takes one more step and finds that freedom has ended. A claw strikes empty air and goes no farther. A chamber that looked open is now closed in the only way that matters. The less theatrical the effect, the more severe it feels.

Be exact about the distinction between the box and the barred cage, and be exact about the forced repositioning of creatures that are only partially inside or too large to fit. Those details are not decorative; they are load-bearing parts of the spell’s function.

This spell can end encounters abruptly, and that is part of its design. Encounters that depend entirely on one creature remaining free in the middle of the room are especially vulnerable to it. Stronger encounters will still have pressure, purpose, and consequences even after confinement begins.

Good Combinations

• Wall of Force: Shape the wider battlefield while the cage settles a key target’s position permanently for the next hour.
• Counterspell: Protect the confinement by denying escape magic before it resolves.
• Dispel Magic: Remove external magical support while the target remains enclosed.
• Cloudkill or similar ongoing pressure: Turn confinement into attrition when the situation calls for relentless pressure.
• Banishment: Separate one threat from the world and another from the battlefield.

Final Precision Note

The defining truth of Forcecage is:

It does not win a struggle.
It makes struggle occur inside a space that can no longer be left.

Forcecage

This material is Open Game Content, and is licensed for public use under the terms of the Open Game License v1.0a.

This powerful spell brings into being an immobile, invisible cubical prison composed of either bars of force or solid walls of force (your choice).

Evocation [Force]

Level Sorcerer/Wizard 7
Components V, S, M
Casting Time 1 standard action
Range Close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Area Barred cage (20-ft. cube) or windowless cell (10-ft. cube)
Duration 2 hours/level (D)
Saving Throw None
Spell Resistance No

Creatures within the area are caught and contained unless they are too big to fit inside, in which case the spell automatically fails. Teleportation and other forms of astral travel provide a means of escape, but the force walls or bars extend into the Ethereal Plane, blocking ethereal travel.

Like a Wall of Force spell, a forcecage resists dispel magic, but it is vulnerable to a disintegrate spell, and it can be destroyed by a sphere of annihilation or a rod of cancellation.

• Barred Cage This version of the spell produces a 20-foot cube made of bands of force (similar to a Wall of Force spell) for bars. The bands are a half-inch wide, with half-inch gaps between them. Any creature capable of passing through such a small space can escape; others are confined. You can’t attack a creature in a barred cage with a weapon unless the weapon can fit between the gaps. Even against such weapons (including arrows and similar ranged attacks), a creature in the barred cage has cover. All spells and breath weapons can pass through the gaps in the bars.
• Windowless Cell This version of the spell produces a 10-foot cube with no way in and no way out. Solid walls of force form its six sides.

Material Component Ruby dust worth 1,500 gp, which is tossed into the air and disappears when you cast the spell.