by Claude Helper | Sep 8, 2026 | Spells
Level 3 Evocation spell available to Paladins. Your next melee hit deals an extra 3d8 Radiant damage and Blinds the target on a failed Constitution save. It is a smite with a condition attached, and the condition is worth more than the dice.
Spell description: Evoke a heavenly flare and possibly Blind your target.
Spell properties
- Range: Weapon range
- Duration: 10 turns
- Save: CON save
- Attack type: Melee weapon Attack Roll
- Damage: 3d8 Radiant + normal weapon damage
- Conditions applied: Blinded
- Cost: Action + Bonus Action + Spell Slot
- Recharge: Per action
Spell upcasting
Casting Blinding Smite at higher levels provides no additional benefits.
How to obtain Blinding Smite
Source item: None. No item in the game grants Blinding Smite.
When to cast Blinding Smite
3d8 Radiant is respectable, but Blinded for ten turns is the actual prize. A blind enemy attacks at Disadvantage and everyone attacks it back with Advantage, which for the rest of the fight is worth far more than any burst of damage.
So it goes on the boss, not the mook. Something that dies to a normal smite does not need this. Something that is going to be swinging at your party for the next eight turns very much does.
The Constitution save is the weakness, and bosses tend to have monstrous Constitution. Land it with Advantage if you can, and remember that a failed save still leaves you with a full 3d8 smite, so it is never a wasted cast.
Paladins do not see a Level 3 slot until Class level 9, so you will have one or two of these a day at most. It is a boss button. Treat it like one.
by Claude Helper | Sep 8, 2026 | Spells
Level 3 Necromancy spell available to Bards, Clerics, and Wizards. Touch a creature and pick your curse: cripple an ability, cripple its attacks, add damage to everything you throw at it, or simply take its turns away. Nine variants, one slot, and the last one is the reason you take it.
Spell description: Curse a creature with your touch. The curse either bestows Disadvantage on Ability Checks and Saving Throws, Disadvantage on Attack Rolls, lets you deal additional damage to the target, or robs it of its Actions.
Spell properties
- Range: Melee: 1.5m (5ft)
- Duration: 10 turns
- Concentration spell
- Save: WIS save
- Conditions applied: Bestow Curse (varies by variant)
- Cost: Action + Spell Slot
- Recharge: Per action
Spell upcasting
Upcasting increases the duration: 20 turns at Level 4, 50 turns at Level 5, and 100 turns at Level 6. The effect itself does not change.
How to obtain Bestow Curse
- Bard, Cleric, Wizard at Class level 5
Source item: Scroll of Bestow Curse
Curse a creature with your touch. The curse either bestows Disadvantage on Ability Checks and Saving Throws, Disadvantage on Attack Rolls, lets you deal additional damage to the target, or robs it of its Actions.
Bestow Curse spell variants
You choose the curse when you cast. All nine cost the same slot and all nine last the same ten turns, so the only question is what you want the target to stop doing.
1. Bestow Curse: Strength
The cursed creature has Disadvantage on Strength Ability Checks and Strength Saving Throws.
2. Bestow Curse: Dexterity
The cursed creature has Disadvantage on Dexterity Ability Checks and Dexterity Saving Throws.
3. Bestow Curse: Constitution
The cursed creature has Disadvantage on Constitution Ability Checks and Constitution Saving Throws.
4. Bestow Curse: Intelligence
The cursed creature has Disadvantage on Intelligence Ability Checks and Intelligence Saving Throws.
5. Bestow Curse: Wisdom
The cursed creature has Disadvantage on Wisdom Ability Checks and Wisdom Saving Throws.
6. Bestow Curse: Charisma
The cursed creature has Disadvantage on Charisma Ability Checks and Charisma Saving Throws.
7. Bestow Curse: Attack Rolls
The cursed creature has Disadvantage on Attack Rolls against you.
8. Bestow Curse: Additional Damage
You deal an additional 1d8 Necrotic damage to the cursed creature with every attack.
9. Bestow Curse: Lose Action
At the start of each of its turns, the cursed creature has a chance to lose its Action entirely.
When to cast Bestow Curse
Take the Lose Action variant and stop reading. A boss that spends half its turns doing nothing is a boss that is not killing anyone, and there is no other Level 3 spell that shuts a single enemy down this hard for this long.
The additional damage variant is the one to pick when the target is going to die anyway and you just want it dead faster. 1d8 Necrotic on every attack from every source adds up over ten turns, especially with a party that all attacks twice.
The ability variants look weak and mostly are, with one exception: cursing a caster’s spellcasting ability wrecks their save DCs and their Concentration checks. Against an enemy Wizard that is a fight-ender.
The problem is the range. It is Touch, which means your Wizard has to walk into melee with the thing he is trying to disable, which is not what Wizards are for. Cast it from a Cleric who is already there, or accept the risk and bring Misty Step.
by Claude Helper | Sep 8, 2026 | Spells
Level 3 Abjuration spell available to Clerics. Every heal your party receives rolls maximum, and everyone gets Advantage on Wisdom and Death Saving Throws. It is the spell that turns your Cleric from a healer into a very annoying problem.
Spell description: Your allies will regain the maximum Hit Points possible when healed. They also gain Advantage on Wisdom Saving Throws and Death Saving Throws.
Spell properties
- Range: Self
- Area: 9m (30ft) radius
- Duration: 10 turns
- Concentration spell
- Conditions applied: Beacon of Hope
- Cost: Action + Spell Slot
- Recharge: Per action
Spell upcasting
Casting Beacon of Hope at higher levels provides no additional benefits.
How to obtain Beacon of Hope
Source item: Till Death Do Us Part
When to cast Beacon of Hope
Maximum healing is a bigger number than it sounds. Every Healing Word, every potion, every Cure Wounds, every Lay on Hands, all rolling top of the dice. A Cleric running Beacon of Hope roughly doubles the output of your entire party’s healing for ten turns.
It is at its best in the fights that grind: the ones with waves, the ones where you are being chipped down rather than deleted. In a fight that ends in three turns it does almost nothing, so do not lead with it.
Advantage on Wisdom saves is quietly the second best thing here. Most of the nastiest crowd control in the game, Hold Person, Fear, Hypnotic Pattern, Dominate, is a Wisdom save, and Advantage on all of it for the whole party is a real defensive buff.
It is Concentration, which means it is competing with Spirit Guardians for the same slot in your Cleric’s head. Spirit Guardians usually wins. Beacon of Hope is what you cast when the fight is about surviving rather than winning.
by Claude Helper | Sep 8, 2026 | Spells
Level 3 Necromancy spell available to Clerics and Wizards. Raises a corpse as an undead servant that fights for you until it dies or you Long Rest. It costs one slot, once, out of combat, and then you have a permanent extra body. That is a very good deal.
Spell description: Animate a corpse to create an undead servant while not in combat.
Spell properties
- Range: 3m (10ft)
- Duration: Until Long Rest or destroyed
- Conditions applied: Summons an undead servant
- Cost: Action + Spell Slot
- Recharge: Per action
- Cannot be cast in combat
Spell upcasting
At Level 4, raise up to 3 Skeletons or Zombies instead of 1. At Level 5, raise a Ghoul or Flying Ghoul. At Level 6, raise up to 3 Ghouls or Flying Ghouls instead of 1.
How to obtain Animate Dead
- Cleric, Wizard at Class level 5
Source items: Circle of Bones, Scroll of Animate Dead
Animate a corpse to create an undead servant while not in combat.
When to cast Animate Dead
Cast it before the fight, because you cannot cast it during one. Walk over a corpse, spend the slot, and go into the next encounter with an extra body that soaks hits nobody has to heal.
The upcast is where it gets silly. A Level 6 slot raises three Ghouls at once, and Ghouls paralyse. Three of them do a lot more than any single Level 6 spell you were considering.
The undead persist until they die or you Long Rest, which makes this the most slot-efficient thing a Necromancy Wizard does. Spend your leftover slots on it at the end of the day and start tomorrow with an army.
The catch is the corpse. You need one, it has to be intact, and the game will not always give you a body where you want one. Keep an eye out for a convenient graveyard before a hard fight.
by Claude Helper | Sep 8, 2026 | Spells
Level 1 Abjuration spell available to Sorcerers and Wizards. It sets an unarmoured caster’s Armour Class to 13 plus Dexterity until Long Rest. Near-mandatory on a robe-wearer.
Spell description: Surround an unarmoured creature in a protective magical force. Its Armour Class increases to 13 + its Dexterity modifier.
Spell properties
- Range: Melee (1.5m)
- Duration: Until Long Rest
- Cost: Action + Spell Slot
- Recharge: Per action
Spell upcasting
Casting Mage Armour at higher levels provides no additional benefits.
How to obtain Mage Armour
- Sorcerer, Wizard at Class level 1
- Arcane Trickster (Rogue) and Eldritch Knight (Fighter) at Class level 3
- Granted by features: Magic Initiate: Sorcerer, Magic Initiate: Wizard
- Source item: Moon Devotion Robe
- Warlocks can gain a permanent version through the Armour of Shadows Invocation
Surround an unarmoured creature in a protective magical force. Its Armour Class increases to 13 + its Dexterity modifier.
When to cast Mage Armour
Cast it the moment you stand up from a Long Rest and never think about it again. It sets an unarmoured caster’s Armour Class to 13 plus Dexterity, which is a big jump for a robe-wearer and lasts the whole day for a single slot.
It does nothing for anyone already wearing armour, so it is strictly a caster buff. On a Wizard or Sorcerer it is close to mandatory; on a Warlock, take the Armour of Shadows Invocation instead and save the slot entirely.
Range: Weapon range
Save: CON save
Duration: 10 turns
Disadvantage.
Advantage.
AoE: 9m (30ft) Radius 
