Feign Death

Level 3 Necromancy spell available to Bards, Clerics, Druids, and Wizards. Puts an ally into a coma where they are Resistant to everything except Psychic. They also cannot do anything at all. It is a strange spell and it has exactly two good uses.

Spell description: Put an ally in a protective coma. They become Resistant to all damage except Psychic. Disease and poison no longer have any effect.

Spell properties

• Range: 1.5m (5ft)
• Duration: 10 turns
• Conditions applied: Feigning Death
• Cost: Action + Spell Slot
• Recharge: Per action

Spell upcasting

Casting Feign Death at higher levels provides no additional benefits.

How to obtain Feign Death

• Bard, Cleric, Druid, Wizard at Class level 5

Source item: Boots of Apparent Death

When to cast Feign Death

Use one: end combat. A comatose party member reads as dead to the enemy AI, so Feign Death on your last standing character can drop you out of a fight you were about to lose. It is a very cheap escape from a very expensive mistake.

Use two: park someone who is about to die. Resistance to everything is an enormous defensive buff, and ten turns of it on an ally who is one hit from the floor buys you the fight. They will not thank you for it, because they cannot.

The cost is that they are gone. No Actions, no attacks, no reactions, no healing. You are trading a party member’s entire turn count for their survival, which is only ever worth it in the specific moment where the alternative is a corpse.

It is not Concentration, which is a nice detail, and the Boots of Apparent Death let you do it for free. Mostly, though, this is a spell you prepare for one encounter and then forget you own.