You create an invisible hand that wraps around the throat of Large or smaller creature within range and begins to choke it. The target must make a Constitution saving throw. On a failure it takes 1d12 bludgeoning damage and becomes grappled, until the end of their next turn. If the target is a Medium or smaller creature they are also lifted by the hand 5 feet above the ground. On a success, the target take half the amount of damage, and is neither grappled nor lifted into the air. If the target moves, the hand stays wrapped around their throat, moving with them.
Undead, constructs, and creatures that do not need to breathe are immune to damaging effects of the spell, but can still be grappled.
On each of your turns after you cast this spell, you can use an action to tighten the hand again, forcing the target to make another saving throw or suffer the spells effects again.
At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 3rd level or higher, the damage of the spell increases by 1d12 for each spell slot level above 2nd.