L2 Shape Wood
Targets: an unworked piece of wood up to 20 cubic feet in volume
"You shape the wood into a rough shape of your choice. The shaping power is too crude to produce with intricate parts, fine details, moving pieces, or the like. You cannot use this spell to enhance the value of the wooden object you are shaping."
I was imagining the spell for bypassing doors, walls, and other trick plays. However, I just noticed the "unworked" requirement. A piece of wood is worked the moment a tool touches it for any purpose but harvesting it from the tree. I wouldn't count a log worked if it were hacked down with an axe or sawed down. I would count it as worked the moment it is cut into lumber, sanded, or maybe even de-barked.
What does that leave? How often do people encounter raw, unworked wood and need to shape it in a way that, as the spell puts it, "cannot... enhance the value of the wooden object you are shaping."
Any clever uses, or is this being home ruled to be more lenient on the definition of "unworked?"
Well, you could essentially create a ladder in a tree for scouting purposes, making it much easier to climb. You could use it to quickly create rough wooden items like shields and spears in a pinch, though they would likely be Shoddy taking a penalty to attack rolls and making them easier to destroy in the case of shields.
You could use it to create what equates to a large-ish improvised shelter in a large enough tree for weathering a storm. You could use it to block a forest path to slow pursuers or mask your trail.
Basically, let your imagination run a bit and there are plenty of uses for the spell. It's not exactly a super overpowered spell that can solve all your problems, but it does have some nice niche uses.
Edit: And those uses only expand depending on your GM's interpretation of what "unworked wood" consists of. Does cut but not split wood work? So a piece of unworked firewood? If so you could use it to create any number of pieces of adventuring gear in a pinch. Never know when you could use a convenient 10 foot pole, or ladder or bucket or....
You have some examples, but only one source to work with, maybe two if you count firewood which I personally think is fine. That makes the spell seem super niche. You can't expect to use it in urban, subterranean, desert, or water environments. You have to have trees or trees nearby in the case of firewood.
I can imagine some creative uses there, but I'm left feeling underwhelmed at the restricted availability of unworked wood. There's so much you could do with this in a dungeon or city if it was simply a volume of wood.
Anyone see any mind-blowing uses in play?
And speaking of trees as the source, are they even valid? They're not "pieces" of wood (the spell's target). They're living organisms made of wood. Does this just leave logs and firewood? Dead branches?
I would rule it basically the same way I rule Shape Stone. So any amount of contiguous wood that is un-worked, even if part of a larger tree than the called for area. Otherwise Shape Stone is barely useable, requiring a literal cube of stone to work.
Ah, but if you use it on a "cube" at the foot of a mountain, do all the mountain goats who critically fail their reflex save fall off and die? /s
I don't know about you but my games have had A LOT of forest scenes and encounters. Even if it is just limited to trees it could see a lot of use.
There's also things like tree-cities, bandit camp palisades, logging communities, tree-ridden ruins, stacks of firewood, stumps, and log traps.
Certainly it's more niche than other spells and you wouldn't take it in a megadundeon campaign, but it's far from useless.
Share some cool uses?
You can sculpt giant claw marks into the trees of the forest around your wizard tower to keep curious townfolk away.
Fun idea. It's a Primal only spell, but still fun.
Really there are a bunch of options for preparing a battlefield available. With prep time, the spell just gets more useful. Creating seamless barricades, covering hiding places with solid looking stumps, weakening trees for easy rapid felling. Basically, if you want to prepare a woodland ambush, this spell can do a LOT for you. Does eat spell slots rather rapidly, but given time (by time, I mean days...) it can shine. I'd be down with my players creating areas of rough terrain using it, if not full on palisade style walls.
Caveat: So can any similar spell to be honest. Shape Stone can be used similarly, as can something like Wall of Stone, albeit in a more limited fashion.