Everything Wrong with Telekinesis in 5e, and how to fix it.
Right now I am working on a ruleset that essentially takes the original wording and intent from the original set of D&D spells (published in Men and Magic and the Greyhawk Supplement) and translates those spells into 5th Edition terms. I found that there are quite a few spells in 5th Edition that have changed drastically from their roots with Gygax and Arneson.
In many cases, things that were ‘cool’ at the time have been watered down or put through so many iterations that they aren’t fun any more. In other words, each time a spell is published for a new edition of D&D, the authors decide to make changes — individually, those changes were made with good reason but their sum total amounts to something unfun and totally unrecognizable. The best example of this is Telekinesis.
Try to keep in mind these critiques as you read the description below: the description is very long, the spell is limited in its scope despite the broadness of its name and associated powers, and the spell creates a bunch of hard and fast rules for gamers to follow that don’t exist anywhere else. It certainly wouldn’t be a good model for telekinesis as we imagine it if we wanted to include, say, Magneto, in a D&D5e game.
5th Edition System Reference Document, WotC
In contrast, the spell description of from Men and Magic is the following:
“By means of this spell objects may be moved by mental force. Weight limits are calculated by multiplying the level of the Magic-User by 200 Gold Pieces weight [20 lbs]. Thus a ‘Necromancer’ [10th level MU] is able to move a weight equal to 2000 Gold Pieces. Duration: 6 turns (1 hr). Range: 12” [120 feet or yards].”
The actual description of the spell is simply “Objects may be moved by mental force.” This simple English phrase carries a whole lot with it, and if you’re like me and too young to have experienced this first-hand at the time, you can only the fun players must have had abusing this spell (and it should be abusable, it was 5th level!).
While I won’t go into details as to when or how the spell slowly transformed into the wall of mechanically specific text it currently is in 5e, I will share the telekinesis spell that I prefer. It’s description is easy to remember, it uses existing rules in 5e, and it keeps the creative element of using the spell alive.
TELEKINESIS
5th level transmutation
Casting Time: 1 bonus action
Range: Self, 360’
Components: S
Duration: 1 hour, special*
By means of this spell, objects may be moved by mental force. The weight limit of any particular object is equal to 25 lbs/caster level.
The referee should use common sense to determine in game terms what is possible — for example, stopping incoming projectiles might be a reaction, while opening or closing a door is likely an object interaction. More complex uses might even mimic lower level spells (a barrage of stones might inflict damage like the rain of hail of ‘ice storm’).
*Note: The caster must focus during the sustained manipulation of an object as if concentrating on a spell. If they lose concentration, the item falls to the ground.
Before this, I’ve never had a player interested in taking telekinesis as one of their spells or a GM particularly interested in running it for one of their monsters or NPCs. This new version certainly leans on the relaxed side of GMing, and you could easily modify it for the same Magneto example we used earlier (Magneto would have telekinesis but without a weight limit so long as the manipulated objects are primarily metal). If you think it’s too much, don’t pile on restrictions like previous designers, simply increase the spell’s level instead.