Circle of Death

Level 6 Necromancy spell available to Sorcerers, Warlocks, and Wizards. 8d6 Necrotic in a 9m radius, which is the biggest area any damage spell has. The dice are low for the slot, but if you need to hit fifteen things at once, this hits fifteen things at once.

Spell description: Sculpt a massive sphere of entropic energy around a creature. Devastate the target and all surrounding creatures.

Spell properties

• Damage: 8d6 Necrotic
• Damage type: Necrotic
• Range: 18m (60ft)
• Area: 9m (30ft) radius
• Save: CON save (half damage on success)
• Conditions applied: Must target a creature. Hits everything within 9m of it, including allies.
• Cost: Action + Spell Slot
• Recharge: Per action

Spell upcasting

Casting Circle of Death at higher levels provides no additional benefits.

How to obtain Circle of Death

• Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard at Class level 11

Source item: Scroll of Circle of Death

When to cast Circle of Death

Cast it when the enemy is a horde. Fights with a dozen or more weak enemies, the kind where Fireball only catches half of them, are what a 9m radius is for. Half of a big room takes 8d6 and the trash is gone.

It has to be centred on a creature, not on the ground, so you cannot fine-tune the placement to miss your party. Pick a target on the far side of the enemy group and make sure your melee is more than 9m from it.

Necrotic does nothing to undead and constructs, and Constitution saves are the ones monsters pass most often. Against a strong group it will mostly do half damage to things that have plenty of Hit Points, and a Chain Lightning would have been much better.

For a Warlock it is the only damage spell on the Level 6 Mystic Arcanum list, so a Warlock who wants a big area nuke should look here. Everyone else should compare it to Chain Lightning first.