Death Ward

Level 4 Abjuration spell available to Clerics. Touch an ally and the next hit that would have downed them leaves them at 1 Hit Point instead. It lasts until Long Rest, so you cast it in the morning and forget about it until it saves someone.

Spell description: Protect a creature from death. The next time damage would reduce it to 0 Hit Points, it remains conscious with 1 Hit Point left.

Spell properties

• Range: Melee: 1.5m (5ft)
• Duration: Until Long Rest
• Conditions applied: Death Ward. The next hit that would drop the creature to 0 Hit Points leaves it at 1 instead, then the ward ends.
• Cost: Action + Spell Slot
• Recharge: Per action

Spell upcasting

Casting Death Ward at higher levels provides no additional benefits.

How to obtain Death Ward

• Cleric at Class level 7
• Life Domain and Death Domain Clerics get it as a Domain spell at Class level 7
• Bard via Magical Secrets at Class level 10

When to cast Death Ward

Cast it on whoever is going to get hit the most, right after a Long Rest. It costs a slot once and sits there all day. On a Fighter or Barbarian who lives in melee it will trigger in almost every hard fight.

It is also a good answer for boss fights with big single hits. A Death Ward on your frontliner means the one enormous crit does not end their contribution to the fight, and your Cleric does not have to burn a turn on a revive.

Two things to know. Multi-hit spells like Magic Missile can chew through the ward and the last Hit Point in one cast, and a shove into a chasm ignores it entirely. It saves you from damage, not from physics.

If the Cleric unprepares Death Ward, every copy they cast disappears. Keep it in the prepared list until you Long Rest.