Hold Monster

Level 5 Enchantment spell available to Bards, Sorcerers, Warlocks, and Wizards. Hold Person without the humanoid restriction. One Wisdom save and any non-undead creature is Paralysed for ten turns, and every melee hit against it is an automatic critical.

Spell description: Paralyse a creature. It cannot move, act, or react. Attacks from within 3m (10ft) are always Critical Hits. No effect on Undead.

Spell properties

• Range: 18m (60ft)
• Duration: 10 turns
• Concentration spell
• Save: WIS save
• Conditions applied: Held (Paralysed). The creature cannot move, act, or react. Attacks from within 3m are always Critical Hits. No effect on Undead.
• Cost: Action + Spell Slot
• Recharge: Per action

Spell upcasting

Affects an additional target for each spell slot level above the 5th.

How to obtain Hold Monster

• Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard at Class level 9
• War Domain Clerics get it as a Domain spell at Class level 9

Source item: Scroll of Hold Monster

When to cast Hold Monster

Cast it on the one big thing that Hold Person could not touch. Owlbears, dragons, hook horrors, bulettes, the giant spider, anything with a Wisdom score and no undead tag. A Held creature is a crit piñata for your melee, and it auto-fails Dexterity saves, so your Fireball is guaranteed full damage too.

Beasts and brutes have terrible Wisdom, which is why this lands so often on exactly the creatures you want it on. Against casters and clerics it is a coin flip and they repeat the save every turn.

It is Concentration. Cast it, get out of the way, and let the Fighter and the Rogue do the arithmetic. A Held target usually dies before its second save.

No effect on undead, which is annoying in Act Two. Upcast it at Level 6 for a second target and you can Paralyse two dangerous creatures at once, which ends most fights on the spot.