by Claude Helper | Sep 8, 2026 | Spells
Level 3 Conjuration spell available to Clerics. Spirits swirl around you dealing 3d8 a turn to every enemy within 3m and halving their movement. It turns your Cleric into a walking area of denial, and it is the best Level 3 spell in the game for anyone who can cast it.
Spell description: Call forth spirits to protect you. Nearby enemies take damage per turn, and their Movement Speed is halved.
Spell properties
- Range: Self
- Area: 3m (10ft) radius
- Duration: 10 turns
- Concentration spell
- Save: WIS save
- Damage: 3d8 Radiant or 3d8 Necrotic per turn
- Conditions applied: Movement Speed halved. Caster cannot become Invisible.
- Cost: Action + Spell Slot
- Recharge: Per action
Spell upcasting
Casting Spirit Guardians at a higher level increases the damage by 1d8 Radiant or 1d8 Necrotic for each spell slot level above the 3rd.
How to obtain Spirit Guardians
- Cleric at Class level 5
- College of Lore (Bard) at Class level 6 via Magical Secrets
- Bard at Class level 10 via Magical Secrets
Source item: None. No item in the game grants Spirit Guardians.
Call forth spirits to protect you. Nearby enemies take damage per turn, and their Movement Speed is halved.
On save: The creature takes half damage.
Duration: 10 turns
AoE: 3m (10ft) Radius
3d8 Radiant or Necrotic damage to enemies in the area each turn. Their Movement Speed is halved.
- Damage type depends on your Cleric’s alignment of domain: Radiant for most, Necrotic for others.
- The caster cannot become Invisible while it is active.
- Concentration.
When to cast Spirit Guardians
Cast it and then walk at people. The spirits damage every enemy in range every turn without you spending anything, so your Action is still free to swing a mace, cast Spiritual Weapon, or heal somebody. It is 3d8 a turn to everyone nearby, for free, for ten turns.
Halved movement is the other half of the spell, and it is what makes a Cleric a wall. Enemies trying to reach your backline have to cross the aura at half speed, taking 3d8 every turn they are in it. Most of them do not get through.
Stand in a doorway. This is the single most effective thing a Cleric can do in Baldur’s Gate 3 and it borders on parody. One Cleric with Spirit Guardians in a corridor can hold an entire encounter on their own.
It is Concentration, so armour up and stay standing. And it prevents you turning Invisible, which occasionally matters. Upcast it freely: +1d8 per slot level on a per-turn effect is much better scaling than it looks.
by Claude Helper | Sep 8, 2026 | Spells
Level 3 Conjuration spell available to Bards, Sorcerers, and Wizards. A 6m cloud of gas that makes enemies Nauseous, and Nauseous creatures cannot take Actions. No damage, and it does not need to do any.
Spell description: Create a cloud of gas so nauseating it prevents creatures from taking actions.
Spell properties
- Range: 18m (60ft)
- Area: 6m (20ft) radius
- Duration: 10 turns
- Concentration spell
- Save: CON save
- Conditions applied: Nauseous
- Cost: Action + Spell Slot
- Recharge: Per action
Spell upcasting
Casting Stinking Cloud at higher levels provides no additional benefits.
How to obtain Stinking Cloud
- Bard, Sorcerer, Wizard at Class level 5
Source item: Scroll of Stinking Cloud
Create a cloud of gas so nauseating it prevents creatures from taking actions.
On save: The creature is not Nauseous.
Duration: 10 turns
AoE: 6m (20ft) Radius
A cloud of nauseating gas. Creatures inside must save each turn or be Nauseous.
CON Save
- The creature cannot take Actions.
- It can still move and take Bonus Actions.
- The save repeats each turn the creature remains in the cloud.
When to cast Stinking Cloud
Losing your Action is losing your turn. An enemy in a Stinking Cloud cannot attack, cannot cast, and cannot do anything except shuffle out of it, and they have to save again every turn they stay. For one slot that is a lot of enemy turns deleted.
The Constitution save is the problem. It is the save that brutes are best at, which means this lands beautifully on casters and archers and gets shrugged off by exactly the ogre currently walking towards you.
So use it on the backline. Enemy casters and archers have poor Constitution and no reason to leave, and a Stinking Cloud parked on top of them removes them from the encounter without a single point of damage.
It is a cloud, so it can be blown away by Gust of Wind, and it will be if the enemy has one. It is also Concentration. Protect the caster and it holds all fight.
by Claude Helper | Sep 8, 2026 | Spells
Level 3 Necromancy spell available to Warlocks and Wizards. 3d6 Necrotic on touch and you heal for half of it, and then you can do it again every turn for ten turns without spending another slot. It is free sustain, if you are brave enough to be in melee.
Spell description: Touch an enemy to siphon their life force and regain half as many Hit Points. For 10 turns, you can use Vampiric Touch again without expending an additional Spell Slot.
Spell properties
- Range: Melee: 1.5m (5ft)
- Duration: 10 turns
- Concentration spell
- Damage: 3d6 Necrotic
- Attack type: Melee spell Attack Roll
- Conditions applied: Vampiric Touch
- Cost: Action + Spell Slot
- Recharge: Per action
Spell upcasting
Casting Vampiric Touch at a higher level deals an extra 1d6 Necrotic damage for each spell slot level above the 3rd.
How to obtain Vampiric Touch
- Warlock, Wizard at Class level 5
Source item: Scroll of Vampiric Touch
Touch an enemy to siphon their life force and regain half as many Hit Points. For 10 turns, you can use Vampiric Touch again without expending an additional Spell Slot.
Duration: 10 turns
- For 10 turns you can cast Vampiric Touch again without expending a Spell Slot.
- You heal for half the Necrotic damage dealt.
- Concentration.
When to cast Vampiric Touch
One slot, ten castings, and every one of them heals you. On paper that is the most efficient sustain a Wizard has, and the free recast structure means a long fight costs you nothing extra.
The problem is written on the card. It is Touch range, which means your Wizard has to stand in melee for ten turns to get the value, and a Wizard standing in melee for ten turns is a dead Wizard. The spell fights its own class.
So it belongs on someone who was going to be there anyway: a Hexblade-style Warlock, a Wizard with Shadow Blade and armour proficiency, or anything multiclassed into a body that can take a punch. In those builds it is genuinely good.
It is Concentration, and you are taking hits, so it will break. Which is the real verdict here: an efficient spell in a build that can hold it, and a trap in the one that usually has it.
by Claude Helper | Sep 8, 2026 | Spells
Level 3 Evocation spell available to Paladins. Sets up an aura that lets you heal 2d6 as a Bonus Action, every turn, for ten turns, without spending another slot. One slot buys you an entire fight’s worth of healing.
Spell description: While this aura lasts, you can cast Restore Vitality as a Bonus Action to heal yourself or nearby allies.
Spell properties
- Range: Self
- Duration: 10 turns
- Healing: 2d6 per Restore Vitality
- Conditions applied: Warden of Vitality
- Cost: Action + Spell Slot
- Recharge: Per action
Spell upcasting
Casting Warden of Vitality at higher levels provides no additional benefits.
How to obtain Warden of Vitality
Source item: None. No item in the game grants Warden of Vitality.
While this aura lasts, you can cast Restore Vitality as a Bonus Action to heal yourself or nearby allies.
Duration: 10 turns
- Cast Restore Vitality as a Bonus Action to heal 2d6.
- Can be used every turn for the duration.
- No additional Spell Slot is required for each heal.
- Not Concentration.
When to cast Warden of Vitality
It is not Concentration, and the healing is a Bonus Action. Both of those matter more than the 2d6. Your Paladin can heal every single turn while still attacking at full strength, and nothing you do can break it.
Compare it to Lay on Hands, which is a finite pool you will run dry. This is ten turns of healing from one slot, and in a long fight it comfortably out-heals everything else a Paladin has.
It also saves the Paladin from the usual dilemma, which is choosing between smiting and keeping someone alive. With Warden of Vitality up, you do both, every turn.
The catch is Class level 9 and the Action to set it up. Cast it on turn one of a fight you expect to grind, and do not bother in a fight that will be over in three rounds.
by Claude Helper | Sep 8, 2026 | Spells
Level 3 Necromancy spell available to Clerics and Paladins. Brings a dead companion back at 1 Hit Point, mid-combat, at 9m range. Scrolls do the same thing and Withers does it for 200 gold, but having it prepared means you never have to walk back to camp.
Spell description: Revive a companion. They return to life with 1 hit point.
Spell properties
- Range: 9m (30ft)
- Conditions applied: The target returns to life with 1 Hit Point.
- Cost: Action + Spell Slot
- Recharge: Per action
Spell upcasting
Casting Revivify at higher levels provides no additional benefits.
How to obtain Revivify
- Cleric, Paladin at Class level 5
- Oath of Devotion (Paladin) and Life Domain (Cleric) also gain it at Class level 5
Source items: The Reviving Hands, Scroll of Revivify
Revive a companion. They return to life with 1 hit point.
When to cast Revivify
Cast it the turn someone actually dies, not when they are downed. Downed characters get up from any heal. Dead ones need this, a scroll, or a trip to Withers. Being able to do it from 9m away in the middle of a fight is what the slot buys you.
They come back with 1 Hit Point, so follow it with a Healing Word or move them out of the way. Reviving someone next to the thing that killed them is a good way to pay for two revives.
Scrolls of Revivify are common and anyone can use them, so most parties do not prepare this. On a Cleric or Paladin with slots to spare it is worth having anyway, because the scroll costs an Action too and it is one fewer thing to keep stocked.
Range: Self
Save: WIS save
