Protection from Energy

Level 3 Abjuration spell available to Clerics, Druids, Sorcerers, Wizards, and Rangers. Resistance to one elemental damage type of your choice, lasting until Long Rest. It sits in your book doing nothing for hours and then halves an entire boss fight.

Spell description: Touch a creature to grant it Resistance to Acid, Cold, Fire, Lightning, or Thunder damage.

Spell properties

• Range: Melee: 1.5m (5ft)
• Duration: Until Long Rest
• Concentration spell
• Conditions applied: Resistance to the chosen damage type
• Cost: Action + Spell Slot
• Recharge: Per action

Spell upcasting

Casting Protection from Energy at higher levels provides no additional benefits.

How to obtain Protection from Energy

• Cleric, Druid, Sorcerer, Wizard at Class level 5
• Ranger at Class level 9

Source item: Scroll of Protection from Energy

When to cast Protection from Energy

This is a spell you cast because you know what is coming. Walking into a fight against a Fire elemental, a red dragon, or a room full of lava, put Fire resistance on the party’s frontline first and halve the entire encounter.

Baldur’s Gate 3 telegraphs its boss fights very clearly, and the game is generous with the chance to prepare. If you are the sort of player who reloads and tries again, this is the spell that makes the second attempt easy.

The frustrating part is that it is Concentration, so one caster can only protect one person, and a solid hit takes it away. It is not the party-wide buff its duration implies.

Blind, it is a wasted slot. Cast in the right fight, it is the difference between a wipe and a walkover. Prepare it when you know, and swap it out when you do not.