Last Updated on March 12, 2024 by Asfa Rasheed
All About Locate Creature 5e
The fifth edition of Dungeons and Dragons has many spells, weapons, items, and other things that can aid you in finding creatures. One specific spell is the locate creature spell, which will be explained below. The locate creature 5e spell will allow you to find a specific type of creature. Players can specify the particular subtype or species name, but it has to be unique. If you search for “man,” in this case, all men players come across will disappear from your spell’s area of effect. However, if you search for “human” or “half-orc,” they will not disappear from the spell’s area of effect.
Locate Creature 5e Spell
The spell does not give the player a visual image. It simply tells you which direction your target is in and how far away they are. So if the player search for a specific type of human to the east, then northwest of your position, the player will know that your target is in this general direction.
As with all spells, there are ways to avoid them. A creature can sense the spell, which will allow them to determine their exact location if they so desire. This can be prevented by making a successful saving throw vs. spells or against your spellcasting check, depending on what you use to cast your locate creature 5e spell.
The spell lasts for as long as you wish, but if you lose concentration, it will end immediately, and any information gathered during its duration will be lost. Also, any physical barriers that block the line of sight (such as walls) could stop the spell from working correctly since it requires that your target is currently within range of your senses for the spell to work.
Effects
Comparable to finding objects, this spell can locate a creature that the caster is familiar with within a range of at least 560 feet (170 meters). The range grows with the caster’s degree of experience, but it cannot traverse moving water. If the cast had previously encountered or at least glimpsed one from a distance of thirty feet (9.1 m) or fewer, Locate Creature might also identify a monster by breed or type (such as an elf or an umber hulk). This spell could not locate items and was susceptible to the effects of polymorph, nondetection, and misdirection spells.
Player Can Select and Locate Creature Spell.
It is finding and tracking prey from Survival (Wis) to the Locate Creature spell. Despite several sources saying that it can’t be used near settlements.
For those unaware, Locate Creature lets you pick a specific creature to track down (DnD players. Trying to find the Green Dragon mentioned in the intro scene of the Descent board game). Unlike other spells such as Scrying or Find The Path, which only find things relative to yourself, not specific beings. Locate Creature only gets a vague direction to the nearest such creature. Traveling for 1 minute at an average pace should bring you within medium range of your target if it moves too fast, and 10 minutes will let you get accurate bearings on them (even if they run like hell). There may also be additional ways to use this spell which we will discuss in the future.
Be warned that being very close to its teleportation limit when it senses you trying to track it down might cause the said creature to teleport away from whatever danger or threats have been chasing after them, so keep your distance. If Locate Creature fails due to this reason, then immediately put up a Scrying spell instead. To find their exact location.
Well, as NPCs have no notion of morality or goals, dungeons and dragons players, from my experience, tend towards being suitable chaotic types. They would never kill an innocent. Unless their lives were on the line or they dealt with a very evil monster that needed killing. If you are ever playing a ranger character, I will use this spell to help me find my dog. If he got lost in the forest, as mentioned above, after going missing at night.
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How to Locate Creature 5e Spell Works?
Looking closely at how Locate Creature works, it becomes apparent that it is not a very powerful spell. Moving fast or having teleport spells available, you can encounter it. They are advised to create more accurate directions of the creature rather than approximate their general direction, especially if they are near towns, cities, roads, etc.
What is Attributes Locate Creature? This LVL 2 spell grants you the ability to sense the direction of particular creatures with unique attributes. The creature must have either an intelligence, wisdom, or charisma score of 8 or more and cannot be undead, elementals, or constructs. You do not learn anything beyond that about these creatures. Other than their general direction from your current location (i.e., north, south, east, or west). Suppose multiple beings meet this requirement. You only sense the being with the highest score, which remains within range for you to detect.
How to Use The Spell?
First off, this is a level 2 spell. The utility of Locate Creature will depend on what direction you are facing and where you want to go. For example, if you are facing North-East and wish to go South-West, using the spell would require you first to turn 90 degrees away from the North (toward the East), then re-cast the spell reflecting that change in orientation. The caster does not know what’s behind them, so turning won’t help there.
It’s also worth mentioning that if another creature uses Locate Creature while within range of you doing so, they get their sense of where you are instead of you sensing them. This means that if they want to avoid you, you won’t be able to detect them (provided they meet the requirements of the spell).
Best Uses of Spell Locate Creature 5e
Overall this is a good utility spell. It’s quick and straightforward to use and can help locate creatures with special abilities or items useful in any adventure. Examples include an opposing caster with Locate Creature, locating dragons for combat purposes, finding NPCs who would provide quests or other rewards, and finding treasure vault entrances that require keys generated by high intelligence/wisdom/charisma scores, etc.
How High You Gotta Go?
If you’re looking for something specific, like an NPC with the highest score of 16 or more, I advise you NOT to go too high. The creatures you’re looking for likely won’t even be within the same region and will wander far and wide, forcing you to cast this spell often at a high mana cost. It’s not worth it.
Maximum Range To Locate the Creature
The maximum range of Locate Creature is 400 feet or 100 meters. Suppose you are on another plane of existence, such as the Feywild (also called the Faerie) or Shadowfell (called the Shadow). Self-explanatory names, of course, things like size and space, may mean that distance means something different than it usually does in other planes.
About Locate Creature 5e Dead
Observe how Nature speaks to you in your surroundings when you close your eyes. This information helps you to find out where the closest creature or plant is within five miles. Suppose there are no such creatures within range. You know this but do not learn the direction or distance to them if they are farther away.
Rarity: Uncommon
Type: Action
Classes: Druid, Ranger, Wizard
Long Rest
Once during a long rest before making an attack roll or saving throw with an advantage. You can choose to replace that role with one of these results instead. You can’t use this feature again until you finish a short rest.
- The modifier becomes 18 rather than 2.
- The player automatically succeeds in saving the throw.
Short Rest
During a short rest, you can choose one of the following. You cannot use this feature again until you complete a long rest.
- One feature is saving throws against being charmed or frightened.
- Resistance to either cold damage or non-magical bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage (your choice).
- Locating creatures in all forms of rugged terrain are treated as usual while your speed is not reduced by more than half.
Sense for Invisible Creature
You gain an additional bonus equal to your Wisdom modifier (maximum +5). You can sense all invisible creatures within 30 feet of you. They are no longer invisible. They are concealed by non-magical means. You can still see them until they move or take action. You gain resistance to both fire damage and necrotic damage.
When making any ability check within Nature’s focus, you have an advantage on all rolls with this feat. This includes checks made to harvest materials from natural surroundings for crafting purposes.