# Guards and Wards > [!info] Spell Details > | | | > |---|---| > | **Level** | 6th | > | **School** | [[Abjuration]] | > | **Casting Time** | 10 Minutes | > | **Range** | Touch | > | **Components** | V, S, M *(burning incense, sulfur and oil, a knotted string, umber hulk blood, and a silver rod worth at least 10 gp)* | > | **Duration** | 24 hours | > | **Classes** | Bard, Wizard | --- ## Description You create a ward that protects up to 2,500 square feet of floor space (an area 50 feet square, or one hundred 5-foot squares or twenty-five 10-foot squares). The warded area can be up to 20 feet tall, and shaped as you desire. You can ward several stories of a stronghold by dividing the area among them, as long as you can walk into each contiguous area while you are casting the spell. When you cast this spell, you can specify individuals that are unaffected by any or all of the effects that you choose. You can also specify a password that, when spoken aloud, makes the speaker immune to these effects. *Guards and wards* creates the following effects within the warded area: **Corridors** — Fog fills all the warded corridors, making them heavily obscured. In addition, at each intersection or branching passage offering a choice of direction, there is a 50 percent chance that a creature other than you will believe it is going in the opposite direction from the one it chooses. **Doors** — All doors in the warded area are magically locked, as if sealed by an *arcane lock* spell. In addition, you can cover up to ten doors with an illusion (equivalent to the illusory object function of the *minor illusion* spell) to make them appear as plain sections of wall. **Stairs** — Webs fill all stairs in the warded area from top to bottom, as the *web* spell. These strands regrow in 10 minutes if they are burned or torn away while *guards and wards* lasts. **Other Warding Spell Effect** — You can place your choice of one of the following magical effects within the warded area: *dancing lights* in four corridors, *magic mouth* in two locations, *stinking cloud* in two locations, *gust of wind* in one corridor or room, or *suggestion* in one location. See the PHB for full details. --- ## At Higher Levels When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 7th level or higher, the warded area increases by **2,500 square feet** for each slot level above 6th.