At your command, shadows reach out, grab hold of your foes, and wreathe the area in darkness.
Target: each creature in burst
Attack: Intelligence vs. Will
Hit: 1d8 + Intelligence modifier psychic damage, and the target is slowed until the end of your next turn.
Effect: The burst creates a zone of writhing shadows that lasts until the end of your next turn. Each creature that enters the zone takes psychic damage equal to your Intelligence modifier and is slowed until the end of its next turn. A creature can take this damage only once per turn.
Grasping shadows is a 1st-level wizard encounter attack power. Creatures within its burst that are hit take psychic damage and become slowed until the end of the user's next turn. In addition, grasping shadows creates a zone until the end of the user's next turn. Creatures that enter the zone take psychic damage and become slowed for a round.
Grasping shadows was originally published in the "Class Acts: Wizard" article about illusion powers by Rodney Thompson in Dragon #364.[Dr364:68] Grasping shadows was republished in Arcane Power with hit damage of 2d8 + Intelligence modifier.[AP:102] The hit damage was corrected back to 1d8 + Intelligence modifier in the April 2009 update.[U :4/2009] The December 2011 update limited the damage dealt by persistent effects created by a number of powers, including grasping shadows, to once per creature per turn. This change was made to prevent characters from using forced movement in and out of an effect's area to deal large amounts of damage.[U :12/2011]