by Claude Helper | Sep 8, 2026 | Spells
Level 2 Necromancy spell available to Warlocks and Wizards. A ranged spell attack that halves the damage a creature deals with Strength-based weapon attacks for ten turns. No Concentration. It is a debuff aimed squarely at one kind of enemy, and against that enemy it is superb.
Spell description: A beam of enervating energy springs from your fingers to weaken a foe. The target deals half damage with Weapon Attacks using Strength.
Spell properties
- Range: 18m (60ft)
- Duration: 10 turns
- Save: CON save
- Conditions applied: Deals half damage with Weapon Attacks that use Strength.
- Cost: Action + Spell Slot
- Recharge: Per action
Spell upcasting
Casting Ray of Enfeeblement at higher levels provides no additional benefits.
How to obtain Ray of Enfeeblement
- Warlock, Wizard at Class level 3
Source item: Scroll of Ray of Enfeeblement
A beam of enervating energy springs from your fingers to weaken a foe. The target deals half damage with Weapon Attacks using Strength.
Duration: 10 turns
- Weapon attacks that use Strength deal half damage.
- The creature repeats a Constitution Saving Throw at the end of each of its turns to end the effect.
When to cast Ray of Enfeeblement
Half damage is a bigger deal than Disadvantage. A brute who was hitting your Fighter for 20 is now hitting for 10, every swing, for ten turns, and your caster is free to concentrate on something else. Against a single scary melee enemy this is the best defensive spell in the tier.
Read the target. It only touches Strength-based weapon attacks. Archers, Rogues with finesse weapons, spellcasters, and anything that bites or claws with Dexterity do not care. Ogres, minotaurs, gith warriors, and anything holding a greataxe care a great deal.
It is a ranged spell attack rather than a save, so Advantage and high ground help it land and Disadvantage makes it useless. Cast it from the ledge, and cast it before the brute reaches your line rather than after.
by Claude Helper | Sep 8, 2026 | Spells
Level 2 Abjuration spell available to Clerics, Druids, Paladins, and Rangers. Touch an ally and they get Resistance to Poison damage and Advantage on saves against being Poisoned until a Long Rest. No Concentration. It exists for the spider fights and the Underdark, and in those places it is excellent.
Spell description: Touch a creature to grant it protection against poisonous influences. You neutralise all poisons affecting it, grant it Advantage on Saving Throws against being Poisoned, and grant it Resistance to Poison damage.
Spell properties
- Range: Melee: 1.5m (5ft)
- Duration: Long Rest
- Conditions applied: Advantage on Saving Throws against being Poisoned, and Resistance to Poison damage.
- Cost: Action + Spell Slot
- Recharge: Per action
Spell upcasting
Casting Protection from Poison at higher levels provides no additional benefits.
How to obtain Protection from Poison
- Cleric, Druid at Class level 3
- Paladin, Ranger at Class level 5
Source item: Scroll of Protection from Poison
Touch a creature to grant it protection against poisonous influences. You neutralise all poisons affecting it, grant it Advantage on Saving Throws against being Poisoned, and grant it Resistance to Poison damage.
Duration: Until Long Rest
- Resistance to Poison damage.
Advantage on Saving Throws against being Poisoned.
When to cast Protection from Poison
The Poisoned condition is Disadvantage on every attack and every check, and Act 1 hands it out constantly: phase spiders, the Ettercaps, the Bulette, half the goblin archers. Advantage on the save means your frontliner mostly stops catching it.
It is not Concentration and it lasts all day, so it is a morning buff. Put it on whoever stands in front before you go into the spider caves and never think about it again.
Outside of Poison-heavy areas it does nothing at all, and a Cleric preparing spells for the day should swap it out the moment the spiders are behind you.
by Claude Helper | Sep 8, 2026 | Spells
Level 2 Evocation spell available to Clerics. Heals every ally you can see within 9m for 2d8 plus your spellcasting modifier, and it can only be cast outside combat. It is the spell that stops you needing a Short Rest, and once you see it that way it is very good.
Spell description: Heal all allies you can see within range for 2d8 + Spellcasting Modifier hit points. Can only be used outside of combat. This spell has no effect on undead and constructs.
Spell properties
- Range: 9m (30ft)
- Area: 9m (30ft)
- Damage: 2d8 + Spellcasting modifier Healing
- Conditions applied: Heals all allies you can see. Can only be used outside of combat. No effect on undead or constructs.
- Cost: Action + Spell Slot
- Recharge: Per action
Spell upcasting
Heals an extra 1d8 Hit Points for each spell slot level above the 2nd.
How to obtain Prayer of Healing
Source item: Scroll of Prayer of Healing
Heal all allies you can see within range for 2d8 + Spellcasting Modifier hit points. Can only be used outside of combat. This spell has no effect on undead and constructs.
When to cast Prayer of Healing
Cast it after the fight, not during, because you cannot cast it during. Everyone within 9m gets 2d8 plus your Wisdom modifier, which across four characters is around 50 HP for one slot. That is a Short Rest’s worth of healing without spending the Short Rest.
Which is the whole point. Short Rests are limited, and Warlocks and Fighters want them for slots and Action Surges rather than for HP. Prayer of Healing lets the Cleric top the party up between fights while the rest of the party saves its rests for the things only rests can do.
Upcast it with leftover slots before a Long Rest? No. Cast Aid with those. Use Prayer of Healing mid-day, when the HP matters and the slot would otherwise sit there.
It does not touch undead or constructs, so it will not heal your skeleton. And gather the party first, because the companion still looting a chest across the room gets nothing.
by Claude Helper | Sep 8, 2026 | Spells
Level 2 Illusion spell available to Bards, Sorcerers, and Wizards. Fails an Intelligence save and a creature takes 1d6 Psychic damage every turn for ten turns, and the damage type changes to whatever last hurt it. It is a slow burn with one clever trick and a Concentration cost that makes the trick hard to justify.
Spell description: Flood a creature’s mind with an illusion of the last thing that attacked it. Each turn, it takes 1d6 Psychic damage. Each time it takes damage from another source, the damage type of Phantasmal Force changes to that damage type.
Spell properties
- Range: 18m (60ft)
- Duration: 10 turns
- Concentration spell
- Save: INT save
- Damage: 1d6 Psychic
- Conditions applied: Deals damage each turn. The damage type changes to the last type the creature suffered.
- Cost: Action + Spell Slot
- Recharge: Per action
Spell upcasting
Casting Phantasmal Force at higher levels provides no additional benefits.
How to obtain Phantasmal Force
- Bard, Sorcerer, Wizard at Class level 3
Source item: Scroll of Phantasmal Force
Flood a creature’s mind with an illusion of the last thing that attacked it. Each turn, it takes 1d6 Psychic damage. Each time it takes damage from another source, the damage type of Phantasmal Force changes to that damage type.
Duration: 10 turns
- Takes 1d6 Psychic damage at the start of each turn.
- The damage type changes to the last type of damage the creature took.
When to cast Phantasmal Force
The Intelligence save is the sell. Almost nothing in the game has a good Intelligence save, so this lands on the ogre, the giant, the brute, all the things that shrug off your Wisdom and Constitution spells. Against a big dumb enemy it is close to guaranteed.
Then the damage type shifts. Hit the target with Fire and the phantasm does Fire. Hit it with Radiant against an undead and it does Radiant. Line it up with whatever the enemy is weakest to and the 1d6 a turn quietly becomes something real.
It is still 1d6 a turn for a Concentration slot. Over ten turns that is 35 damage if it runs the whole way, which Cloud of Daggers does in three. Take it for the save type on a specific boss, not as a general damage spell.
by Claude Helper | Sep 8, 2026 | Spells
Level 2 Evocation spell available to Druids. A column of pale light that burns anything entering it or starting its turn inside it for 2d10 Radiant damage, and you can move the beam 18m each turn with an Action. It is the Druid’s answer to everything that regenerates, and it keeps earning its slot for the entire game.
Spell description: Call down a silvery beam of pale light that deals 2d10 Radiant damage to any creature that enters it or starts its turn in the light. You can use an action to move the beam 18m. On a successful save, targets still take half damage.
Spell properties
- Range: 18m (60ft)
- Area: 1m (3ft)
- Concentration spell
- Save: CON save
- Damage: 2d10 Radiant
- Conditions applied: Grants the Move Moonbeam action.
- Cost: Action + Spell Slot
- Recharge: Per action
Spell upcasting
Damage increases by 1d10 Radiant for each spell slot level above the 2nd.
How to obtain Moonbeam
Source items: Sorrow, Scroll of Moonbeam
Call down a silvery beam of pale light that deals 2d10 Radiant damage to any creature that enters it or starts its turn in the light. You can use an action to move the beam 18m. On a successful save, targets still take half damage.
Duration: Until Concentration ends
AoE: 1m (3ft) Radius
Creatures that enter the beam or start their turn inside it take 2d10 Radiant damage (Constitution save for half). The caster can move the beam 18m as an Action.
When to cast Moonbeam
Radiant is the reason you take this. It shuts down a great many of the game’s undead and regenerating enemies, and the shadows and wraiths of Act 2 take it especially badly. A Druid with Moonbeam prepared has a hard counter to the whole Shadow-Cursed Lands.
The 1m radius is the price. This is not an area nuke, it is a single-target burn that happens to live on the ground. Park it on top of one dangerous enemy and leave it there.
The trick is that it hits a creature when it enters the beam and again when it starts its turn inside. Something that gets pushed out and walks back in takes two ticks. Combine it with anything that forces movement, or simply move the beam onto an enemy who has already been burned once.
Moving it costs your Action, which is the tension in the spell. Every turn you spend maintaining it is a turn you cast nothing else. Against one big target that is a fine trade. Against a crowd it is not.
Range: 18m (60ft)
Save: CON save
