Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Touch
Components: V, S
Duration: Instantaneous
Damage Type: Lightning
Lightning springs from your hand to deliver a shock to a creature you try to touch. Make a melee spell attack against the target. You have advantage on the attack roll if the target is wearing armor made of metal. On a hit, the target takes 1d8 lightning damage, and it can't take reactions until the start of its next turn.
The spell's damage increases by 1d8 when you reach 5th level (2d8), 11th level (3d8), and 17th level (4d8).
Verbal Component:
Manus di Fulmen
Verbal Component (Alternative):
My hands become an electric clasp, shudder now under my shocking grasp.
Classes: Sorcerer, Wizard, Rogue, Artificer
Tags: Damage
Source: Player's Handbook [5th Edition] (page 275)
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Other Planes and Effects
Below is information about this spell as it relates to other planes and area of effects (i.e. underwater). Some of the information is pulled official D&D sources (such as books and the twitter feeds of D&D officials), but other information is derived from forums and online discussions. As always, it is up to the DM to decide how they wish to handle spell effects.
Underwater - Verbal Component
Official rules have been verified by Jeremy Crawford - "No rule prohibits verbal components from working underwater. Keep in mind that if you're talking, you're not holding your breath." Hence, while submerged underwater and holding its breath, a creature can cast a spell that requires a verbal component. After casting the spell, if the creature can't breathe underwater, it immediately runs out of breath. The creature can survive for a number of rounds equal to its Constitution modifier (minimum of 1 round).
Underwater - Lightning Effects
None of the lightning spells mention water interaction in any way. In addition, the section in the PHB about underwater combat (pg. 198) doesn't mention anything about lightning spells behaving differently in water. So officially, there are no rules amplifiying or diminishing the spell effects. In addition, Jeremy Crawford has made a comment regarding a fireball in water that relates to this subject, "Nothing in the rules causes a fireball to vaporize water. Magic ≠ physics. DMs may apply whatever magical/scientific logic they like."
