by Claude Helper | Sep 25, 2026 | Spells
Level 4 Evocation spell available to Wizards. Ten turns of Resistance to Fire or Cold, plus 2d8 to anyone who hits you in melee. It is a self-buff that punishes enemies for doing the thing they were going to do anyway.
Spell description: Wreathe your body in flames that shed light in a 3m radius, provide Resistance to Fire or Cold damage, and retaliate against melee attackers.
Spell properties
- Range: Self
- Duration: 10 turns
- Conditions applied: Fire Shield: Warm (Resistance to Cold, 2d8 Fire to melee attackers) or Fire Shield: Chill (Resistance to Fire, 2d8 Cold to melee attackers).
- Cost: Action + Spell Slot
- Recharge: Per action
Spell upcasting
Casting Fire Shield at higher levels provides no additional benefits.
How to obtain Fire Shield
- Wizard at Class level 7
- The Fiend Warlocks at Class level 7
- Bard via Magical Secrets at Class level 10
Source items: Emblazoned Plate of the Marshal, Scroll of Fire Shield
Wreathe your body in flames that shed light in a 3m radius, provide Resistance to Fire or Cold damage, and retaliate against melee attackers.
Fire Shield spell variants
You choose the shield when you cast it. Both last 10 turns, both punish melee attackers for 2d8, and you cannot have both up at once. The names are backwards from what you might expect: Warm resists Cold, Chill resists Fire.
1. Fire Shield: Warm
Scorching flames shed light in a 3m radius. You take only half the damage of all Cold damage, and deal 2d8 Fire damage to anyone who hits you with a melee attack.
Duration: 10 turns
- Wreathed in scorching flames.
- Resistance to Cold damage.
- Deals 2d8 Fire damage to anyone who hits with a melee attack.
2. Fire Shield: Chill
Ice-cold flames shed light in a 3m radius. You take only half the damage of all Fire damage, and deal 2d8 Cold damage to anyone who hits you with a melee attack.
Duration: 10 turns
- Wreathed in ice-cold flames.
- Resistance to Fire damage.
- Deals 2d8 Cold damage to anyone who hits with a melee attack.
When to cast Fire Shield
Cast it when you know you are going to be hit. A Wizard who keeps getting rushed by melee enemies, or an Abjuration Wizard who is deliberately standing in front, gets a lot of mileage out of 2d8 per hit taken. Against a pack of goblins or gnolls it adds up fast.
Pick the variant by the damage you expect. Chill resists Fire and is the one for fire-heavy fights, which is most of Act Three and every fight with a spellcaster who likes Fireball. Warm resists Cold and is the one for the Underdark and anything with breath weapons.
It does not need Concentration, which is the best thing about it. You can have Fire Shield up and still Concentrate on Haste or Hold Person.
The retaliation only triggers on melee hits. Archers and casters ignore it completely, so it is a waste of a slot against a ranged enemy line.
by Claude Helper | Sep 25, 2026 | Spells
Level 4 Conjuration spell available to Wizards. A 6m circle of tentacles that grabs anyone who fails a Strength save, holds them in place, and chews on them for 3d6 every turn. It is a zone control spell that also happens to do respectable damage.
Spell description: Tentacles sprout from the ground, turning the area into Difficult Terrain, attacking and Smothering creatures within.
Spell properties
- Damage: 3d6 Bludgeoning
- Damage type: Bludgeoning
- Range: 18m (60ft)
- Area: 6m (20ft) radius
- Duration: 10 turns
- Concentration spell
- Save: STR save
- Conditions applied: Black Tentacles (Restrained). The creature cannot move and takes 3d6 Bludgeoning per turn. The area is Difficult Terrain.
- Cost: Action + Spell Slot
- Recharge: Per action
Spell upcasting
Casting Evard’s Black Tentacles at higher levels provides no additional benefits.
How to obtain Evard’s Black Tentacles
- Wizard at Class level 7
- The Great Old One Warlocks at Class level 7
Source items: Strange Tendril Amulet, Scroll of Evard’s Black Tentacles
Tentacles sprout from the ground, turning the area into Difficult Terrain, attacking and Smothering creatures within.
When to cast Evard’s Black Tentacles
Drop it on a chokepoint or right on top of a group of enemies who do not want to be there. Anything Restrained is stuck, has Disadvantage on its attacks, and gets hit with Advantage by everyone on your side. Ten turns of that is a very long time.
Strength save is the interesting part. Casters, archers, and most of the sneaky stuff in this game have poor Strength, so it holds exactly the enemies you want held. Ogres and big melee brutes will walk out of it.
The Restraint only applies while the creature is standing on the tentacles, so a Misty Step or a Dimension Door gets them out with their movement intact. The damage only ticks on creatures who were already grabbed at the start of their turn.
It is Concentration and it lasts ten turns. Cast it early, stand somewhere safe, and let your ranged party members pick off whatever is stuck in the circle. Do not drop it where your own melee needs to go.
by Claude Helper | Sep 25, 2026 | Spells
Level 4 Conjuration spell available to Bards, Sorcerers, Warlocks, and Wizards. Fifty metres of teleport for you and one friend standing next to you, no save, no attack roll. It is Misty Step with a much longer leash and room for a passenger.
Spell description: Teleport yourself and up to one adjacent ally to a place you can see. The ally cannot be larger than Medium.
Spell properties
- Range: 50m (167ft)
- Conditions applied: Teleports the caster and one adjacent ally of Medium size or smaller to any point in sight within range.
- Cost: Action + Spell Slot
- Recharge: Per action
Spell upcasting
Casting Dimension Door at higher levels provides no additional benefits.
How to obtain Dimension Door
- Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard at Class level 7
- Trickery Domain Clerics get it as a Domain spell at Class level 7
Source items: Spaceshunt Boots, Scroll of Dimension Door
Teleport yourself and up to one adjacent ally to a place you can see. The ally cannot be larger than Medium.
When to cast Dimension Door
Use it to get out. A caster surrounded in melee, or a downed-and-revived ally who is about to get hit again, can be 50m away in one Action. The ally has to be within 2m of you when you cast it, so step next to them first.
It also gets you in. Ledges, rooftops, and the far side of a chasm are all fair game as long as you can see the landing spot. Teleport your Rogue up to the high ground with you and let them Sneak Attack from where nobody can reach them.
It costs an Action, not a Bonus Action, which is the real difference from Misty Step. That is a whole turn of not casting, so save it for when the reposition matters more than the damage.
Out of combat it is a puzzle solver. Plenty of locked-off areas are just a visible spot you cannot walk to, and this spell does not care about the walking part.
by Claude Helper | Sep 25, 2026 | Spells
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
Protect a creature from death. The next time damage would reduce it to 0 Hit Points, it remains conscious with 1 Hit Point left.
Duration: Until Long Rest
- The next time damage would reduce the creature to 0 Hit Points, it stays conscious with 1 Hit Point instead.
- The ward is consumed when it triggers.
- It does not protect against being shoved or thrown into a chasm.
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.
by Claude Helper | Sep 25, 2026 | Spells
Level 4 Conjuration spell available to Druids. One slot, one Dryad, until Long Rest. The Dryad then summons her own Wood Woad, so you are actually getting two summons for the price of one, and one of them casts Spike Growth and Entangle for free.
Spell description: Conjure a dryad to fight alongside you. She can use Nature’s Step, Entangle enemies, and summon a wood woad.
Spell properties
- Range: 18m (60ft)
- Duration: Until Long Rest
- Conditions applied: Summons a Dryad with Strengthened Shillelagh, Entangle, Spike Growth, and Fallen Lover (summons a Wood Woad). One instance per caster.
- Cost: Action + Spell Slot
- Recharge: Per action
Spell upcasting
Casting Conjure Woodland Being at higher levels provides no additional benefits.
How to obtain Conjure Woodland Being
Conjure a dryad to fight alongside you. She can use Nature’s Step, Entangle enemies, and summon a wood woad.
When to cast Conjure Woodland Being
Cast it after every Long Rest. The Dryad lasts until you rest again, and the first thing she should do is use Fallen Lover to summon a Wood Woad. That gives you a tanky melee summon and a caster summon from a single Level 4 slot.
The Dryad is a control unit. Entangle and Spike Growth from a summon means your actual Druid is free to Concentrate on something else, like Moonbeam or Call Lightning, while she locks down the enemy frontline.
The Wood Woad is the one to put in front. It hits hard, has decent Hit Points, and if the Dryad dies the Woad stays under your control, so you do not lose everything at once.
You can only have one Dryad out per caster, and she can only have one Woad. Recasting the spell dismisses the old pair, so do not do that mid-fight.
Range: Self
Save: STR save 
AoE: 6m (20ft) radius 
Advantage.
Disadvantage.
