Sleep

Level 1 Enchantment spell available to Bards, Sorcerers, and Wizards. It drops the lowest-health enemies in an area with no save, and sleeping targets take automatic critical hits. Brutal in the early game.

Spell description: Put creatures up to a combined 24 Hit Points into a magical slumber. Sleeping creatures awaken if they take damage.

Spell properties

• Range: 18m (60ft)
• Duration: 2 turns
• Conditions applied: Sleeping. The creature cannot move or act.
• Cost: Action + Spell Slot
• Recharge: Per action

Spell upcasting

Casting Sleep at a higher level affects creatures with an additional 8 Hit Points for each spell slot level above the 1st.

How to obtain Sleep

• Bard, Sorcerer, Wizard at Class level 1
• Knowledge Domain (Cleric) and The Archfey (Warlock) at Class level 1
• Draconic Bloodline (Brass, Fire ancestry) Sorcerer at Class level 1
• Arcane Trickster (Rogue) and Eldritch Knight (Fighter) at Class level 3
• Granted by features: Magic Initiate: Bard, Sorcerer, or Wizard

When to cast Sleep

Sleep has no save. It simply puts the lowest-health enemies in the area under, up to a 24 HP budget, and a sleeping creature is helpless: it cannot act, and melee attacks against it are automatic critical hits. In the early game that is devastating.

The catch is the HP budget shrinks in relative terms as enemies get tougher, and any damage wakes them, so tell your party not to poke a sleeper you want kept down. Upcast it to raise the budget and it stays relevant longer than most Level 1 spells.