Flame Strike

Level 5 Evocation spell available to Clerics. 5d6 Fire plus 5d6 Radiant in a 3m radius, Dexterity save for half. It is the Cleric’s Fireball: smaller area, same total dice, and half the damage is Radiant, which almost nothing resists.

Spell description: Make a pillar of divine fire roar down from the heavens like the wrath of affronted angels.

Spell properties

• Damage: 5d6 Fire + 5d6 Radiant
• Damage type: Fire, Radiant
• Range: 18m (60ft)
• Area: 3m (10ft) radius
• Save: DEX save (half damage on success)
• Cost: Action + Spell Slot
• Recharge: Per action

Spell upcasting

Deals an extra 1d6 Fire and 1d6 Radiant damage for each spell slot level above the 5th.

How to obtain Flame Strike

• Cleric at Class level 9
• Light Domain and War Domain Clerics get it as a Domain spell at Class level 9
• The Fiend Warlocks at Class level 9

When to cast Flame Strike

Cast it when a group of enemies is bunched up and you need real damage from your Cleric. Ten dice is a lot at Level 9, and the Fire and Radiant split means fire-resistant enemies still eat half of it in full.

The two damage types are two separate hits, so anything Concentrating in the area has to make two Concentration saves. Dropping it on an enemy caster is a reliable way to break whatever they are holding.

The 3m radius is small, roughly half of Fireball’s footprint, so it is more of a precision strike than a room-clearer. The upside is you can drop it right next to your melee without catching them.

It does not need a line of sight path like Fireball does, just a target you can see, so it comes down through cover and over walls. Upcasting adds 2d6 per level, which is one of the better upcast rates on any damage spell.