Casting Time: 1 bonus action, which you take immediately after hitting or missing a target with a ranged attack using a weapon
Range: Self
Components: V, S
Duration: Instantaneous
Damage Type: Lightning
Save: Dexterity
As your attack hits or misses the target, the weapon or ammunition you’re using transforms into a lightning bolt. Instead of taking any damage or other effects from the attack, the target takes 4d8 Lightning damage on a hit or half as much damage on a miss. Each creature within 10 feet of the target then makes a Dexterity saving throw, taking 2d8 Lightning damage on a failed save or half as much damage on a successful one.
The weapon or ammunition then returns to its normal form.
The damage for both effects of the spell increases by 1d8 for each spell slot level above 3.
Verbal Component:
Sie Sagitta Fulmen
Verbal Component (Alternative):
Empowered by air, this weapon most frightening, deliver forth an arrow of lightning.
Class: Ranger
Tags: Combat, Damage
Source: Player's Handbook (2024) (page 292)
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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."
