> **Casting Time:** Action > **Range:** Touch > **Components:** V, S, M (a porcupine's carapace) > **Duration:** [[Concentration]], up to 10 minutes or 10 minutes (see below) You touch a willing creature, forcing spiked bone plates to grow and pierce through its skin. It takes 1 Piercing damage. For the duration of the spell, the first time on a turn that the target is hit with a melee attack, the attacking creature takes 2d4 Piercing damage. **Using a Higher-Level Spell Slot.** The damage dealt to attacking creatures increases by 1d4 for each slot level above 1. If you use a spell slot of 5th level or higher, the spell doesn't require [[Concentration]].