by Claude Helper | Sep 8, 2026 | Spells
Level 3 Transmutation spell available to Bards, Druids, and Rangers. Weeds erupt across a 6m area and cut movement to a quarter. No damage, no save, not Concentration. It is a wall that nothing can walk through in a reasonable amount of time.
Spell description: Make weeds burst from the ground and smother the area. Creatures moving through the weeds have their Movement Speed quartered.
Spell properties
- Range: 18m (60ft)
- Area: 6m (20ft) radius
- Duration: 10 turns
- Conditions applied: Area: Plant Growth
- Cost: Action + Spell Slot
- Recharge: Per action
Spell upcasting
Casting Plant Growth at higher levels provides no additional benefits.
How to obtain Plant Growth
- Bard, Druid at Class level 5
- Ranger at Class level 9
Source item: Armour of Landfall
Make weeds burst from the ground and smother the area. Creatures moving through the weeds have their Movement Speed quartered.
Duration: 10 turns
AoE: 6m (20ft) Radius
Creatures moving through the area have their Movement Speed quartered. There is no Saving Throw.
When to cast Plant Growth
Quartered movement with no save is a hard stop. An enemy that normally crosses the battlefield in one turn now needs four, and there is nothing they can roll to avoid it. For a ranged party, that is four free turns of shooting.
It is not Concentration, which is what separates it from Spike Growth and from every other control spell your Druid is holding. Cast it, keep concentrating on Call Lightning, and let the weeds do their job for free.
Layer it over Spike Growth. They stack. Anything crossing takes the spikes’ damage and is stuck in the field four times as long, which means four times the ticks. It is one of the nastiest combinations available to a Druid.
It does no damage at all, so it is a setup spell, not a solution. Pair it with something that punishes standing still, or with a party that can shoot.
by Claude Helper | Sep 8, 2026 | Spells
Level 3 Evocation spell available to Clerics. A Bonus Action heal of 1d4 plus your Spellcasting modifier to every ally in range at once. The number is small. The fact that it picks up your entire downed party for a Bonus Action is not.
Spell description: Heal your nearby allies. No effect on undead and constructs.
Spell properties
- Healing: 1d4 + Spellcasting modifier to each target
- Damage type: Healing
- Range: Self
- Area: 18m (60ft) radius, up to 6 targets
- Cost: Bonus Action + Spell Slot
- Recharge: Per action
Spell upcasting
Casting Mass Healing Word at a higher level heals each target for an additional 1d4 Hit Points for each spell slot level above the 3rd.
How to obtain Mass Healing Word
Source items: Amulet of Restoration, Scroll of Mass Healing Word
Heal your nearby allies. No effect on undead and constructs.
When to cast Mass Healing Word
This is a mass revive, not a heal. Downed characters stand up on any healing at all, so when a bad round drops two or three of your party, one Bonus Action gets all of them back on their feet and your Action is still free.
Do not cast it to top people up. 1d4 plus modifier is nothing against the damage enemies deal by the time you have Level 3 slots. Healing Word does the single-target version cheaper, and potions do the top-ups.
It is a Bonus Action, which is the whole point. Revive the party, then still Guiding Bolt or Spirit Guardians with the Action. A Cleric who spends a full Action healing is losing the fight slower, not winning it.
by Claude Helper | Sep 8, 2026 | Spells
Level 3 Evocation spell available to Sorcerers and Wizards. A 30m line of Lightning for 8d6, Dexterity save for half. Same damage as Fireball, different shape, better damage type. Most casters end up carrying both.
Spell description: Call forth a blast of lightning that hits all creatures in the line of the eruption.
Spell properties
- Damage: 8d6 Lightning
- Damage type: Lightning
- Range: Self
- Area: 30m (100ft) line
- Save: DEX save (half damage on success)
- Conditions applied: Electrifies water surfaces.
- Cost: Action + Spell Slot
- Recharge: Per action
Spell upcasting
Casting Lightning Bolt at a higher level deals an additional 1d6 Lightning damage for each spell slot level above the 3rd.
How to obtain Lightning Bolt
- Sorcerer, Wizard at Class level 5
- Tempest Domain (Cleric) at Class level 5, as a Domain Spell
- Eldritch Knight (Fighter) and Arcane Trickster (Rogue) at Class level 13
Source items: Markoheshkir, Scroll of Lightning Bolt
Call forth a blast of lightning that hits all creatures in the line of the eruption.
When to cast Lightning Bolt
Use it when the enemies are in a line rather than a clump: a corridor, a bridge, a row of archers on a ledge. The bolt goes 30m and hits everything in its path, so positioning your caster at one end of the room turns it into a whole-encounter spell.
Lightning is resisted far less often than Fire, which is the practical reason to keep this alongside Fireball. Fire-immune enemies in Act 2 and the Hells do not care about your Fireball. They do care about this.
Wet enemies take double Lightning damage, and a bolt through a puddle electrifies it for anyone standing there. A Tempest Cleric with Destructive Wrath turns this into a maximum-damage 48 on demand, which is one of the best combos in the game.
The line is straight and it does not stop for your friends. Aim it from an angle where nobody you like is standing in it.
by Claude Helper | Sep 8, 2026 | Spells
Level 3 Transmutation spell available to Rangers. A ranged attack for 4d8 Lightning that then bursts for 2d8 Lightning to everything within 3m of the target, and it still does half damage on a miss. A Ranger’s best single-slot damage by a wide margin.
Spell description: After the arrow hits, smaller bolts snake out from the target towards nearby creatures.
Spell properties
- Damage: 4d8 Lightning to the target, plus 2d8 Lightning to nearby creatures
- Damage type: Lightning
- Range: 18m (60ft)
- Area: 3m (10ft) radius burst
- Attack type: Ranged weapon Attack Roll
- Save: DEX save for the burst (half damage on success)
- Conditions applied: On a miss, the target still takes half damage.
- Cost: Action + Spell Slot
- Recharge: Per action
Spell upcasting
Casting Lightning Arrow at a higher level increases both the arrow damage and the burst damage by 1d8 Lightning for each spell slot level above the 3rd.
How to obtain Lightning Arrow
Source items: Hellfire Engine Crossbow, Scroll of Lightning Arrow
After the arrow hits, smaller bolts snake out from the target towards nearby creatures.
When to cast Lightning Arrow
Fire it at the enemy standing in the middle of a group. The target eats 4d8, everyone next to it eats 2d8, and even a miss still does half to the main target. There is no bad outcome, which is rare for a spell built on an attack roll.
Lightning plays with water. Get the enemies wet with a thrown bottle or a Create Water first and the whole burst does double. It also chains to anything standing in the same puddle, so a wet corridor is your best friend.
The upcast raises both parts of the damage, so a Level 4 slot on a Ranger who has reached level 9 is worth it. Ranger slots are scarce, though. This is the spell you save them for.
by Claude Helper | Sep 8, 2026 | Spells
Level 3 Illusion spell available to Bards, Sorcerers, Warlocks, and Wizards. Everything in a 9m radius that fails a Wisdom save simply stops. No moving, no acting, no attacking. It removes half an encounter from the board for a single slot.
Spell description: Hypnotise creatures that can see the pattern. They cannot attack you. They cannot move nor act.
Spell properties
- Range: 18m (60ft)
- Area: 9m (30ft) radius
- Duration: 2 turns
- Concentration spell
- Save: WIS save
- Conditions applied: Hypnotised
- Cost: Action + Spell Slot
- Recharge: Per action
Spell upcasting
Casting Hypnotic Pattern at higher levels provides no additional benefits.
How to obtain Hypnotic Pattern
- Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard at Class level 5
Source item: Scroll of Hypnotic Pattern
Hypnotise creatures that can see the pattern. They cannot attack you. They cannot move nor act.
On save: The creature is not Hypnotised.
Duration: 2 turns
WIS Save
- The creature cannot move or act.
- It cannot attack.
- Damaging the creature ends the effect immediately.
When to cast Hypnotic Pattern
The radius is enormous and it does not care how many creatures are in it. Six enemies in the area, six enemies doing nothing. There is no other Level 2 or Level 3 spell that takes that much off the board in one Action.
Which makes it the answer to being outnumbered. You are not going to out-damage eight enemies, but you can hypnotise five of them and kill the other three at your leisure.
The rule that ruins it: damaging a Hypnotised creature wakes it up. So tell your party, or they will happily Fireball the lot of them and undo your entire turn. Kill the ones outside the pattern first.
Two turns is not long and it is a Wisdom save, so expect two or three of them to shrug it off. That is fine. It is a spell about reducing the number of enemies acting, not about a clean sweep.
Range: 18m (60ft)
Save: DEX save 
