Speak with Dead

Level 3 Necromancy spell available to Bards and Clerics, and it is a Ritual. Ask a corpse five questions. It is pure story, it costs you nothing outside combat, and it will hand you information the game otherwise makes you work very hard for.

Spell description: Grant a semblance of life to a corpse, allowing it to answer questions. Creatures killed with Acid, Fire, Lightning, Necrotic, or Radiant damage no longer have a mouth and can’t be made to talk.

Spell properties

• Range: 9m (30ft)
• Duration: Until Long Rest
• Ritual spell
• Conditions applied: Recast Speak with Dead
• Cost: Action + Spell Slot
• Recharge: Per action

Spell upcasting

Casting Speak with Dead at higher levels provides no additional benefits.

How to obtain Speak with Dead

• Bard, Cleric at Class level 5

Source items: The Amulet of Lost Voices, Necromancy of Thay

When to cast Speak with Dead

It is a Ritual, so out of combat it costs you nothing at all. There is no reason not to cast it on every interesting corpse you find, and Baldur’s Gate 3 is generously stocked with interesting corpses.

It solves quests. Murder mysteries, locked doors, missing people, hidden stashes, and more than one whole investigation can be short-circuited by asking the victim directly. It is the single best story spell in the game.

The restriction is the mouth. Anything you killed with Fire, Acid, Lightning, Necrotic, or Radiant damage cannot talk. If you want answers, kill them with a sword, and think about that before you open with a Fireball on someone who clearly knows something.

The Amulet of Lost Voices gives you it without the class, which is the way most parties end up carrying it. Take the amulet.