by Claude Helper | Sep 8, 2026 | Spells
Level 2 Evocation spell available to Clerics. Heals every ally you can see within 9m for 2d8 plus your spellcasting modifier, and it can only be cast outside combat. It is the spell that stops you needing a Short Rest, and once you see it that way it is very good.
Spell description: Heal all allies you can see within range for 2d8 + Spellcasting Modifier hit points. Can only be used outside of combat. This spell has no effect on undead and constructs.
Spell properties
- Range: 9m (30ft)
- Area: 9m (30ft)
- Damage: 2d8 + Spellcasting modifier Healing
- Conditions applied: Heals all allies you can see. Can only be used outside of combat. No effect on undead or constructs.
- Cost: Action + Spell Slot
- Recharge: Per action
Spell upcasting
Heals an extra 1d8 Hit Points for each spell slot level above the 2nd.
How to obtain Prayer of Healing
Source item: Scroll of Prayer of Healing
Heal all allies you can see within range for 2d8 + Spellcasting Modifier hit points. Can only be used outside of combat. This spell has no effect on undead and constructs.
When to cast Prayer of Healing
Cast it after the fight, not during, because you cannot cast it during. Everyone within 9m gets 2d8 plus your Wisdom modifier, which across four characters is around 50 HP for one slot. That is a Short Rest’s worth of healing without spending the Short Rest.
Which is the whole point. Short Rests are limited, and Warlocks and Fighters want them for slots and Action Surges rather than for HP. Prayer of Healing lets the Cleric top the party up between fights while the rest of the party saves its rests for the things only rests can do.
Upcast it with leftover slots before a Long Rest? No. Cast Aid with those. Use Prayer of Healing mid-day, when the HP matters and the slot would otherwise sit there.
It does not touch undead or constructs, so it will not heal your skeleton. And gather the party first, because the companion still looting a chest across the room gets nothing.
by Claude Helper | Sep 8, 2026 | Spells
Level 2 Illusion spell available to Bards, Sorcerers, and Wizards. Fails an Intelligence save and a creature takes 1d6 Psychic damage every turn for ten turns, and the damage type changes to whatever last hurt it. It is a slow burn with one clever trick and a Concentration cost that makes the trick hard to justify.
Spell description: Flood a creature’s mind with an illusion of the last thing that attacked it. Each turn, it takes 1d6 Psychic damage. Each time it takes damage from another source, the damage type of Phantasmal Force changes to that damage type.
Spell properties
- Range: 18m (60ft)
- Duration: 10 turns
- Concentration spell
- Save: INT save
- Damage: 1d6 Psychic
- Conditions applied: Deals damage each turn. The damage type changes to the last type the creature suffered.
- Cost: Action + Spell Slot
- Recharge: Per action
Spell upcasting
Casting Phantasmal Force at higher levels provides no additional benefits.
How to obtain Phantasmal Force
- Bard, Sorcerer, Wizard at Class level 3
Source item: Scroll of Phantasmal Force
Flood a creature’s mind with an illusion of the last thing that attacked it. Each turn, it takes 1d6 Psychic damage. Each time it takes damage from another source, the damage type of Phantasmal Force changes to that damage type.
Duration: 10 turns
- Takes 1d6 Psychic damage at the start of each turn.
- The damage type changes to the last type of damage the creature took.
When to cast Phantasmal Force
The Intelligence save is the sell. Almost nothing in the game has a good Intelligence save, so this lands on the ogre, the giant, the brute, all the things that shrug off your Wisdom and Constitution spells. Against a big dumb enemy it is close to guaranteed.
Then the damage type shifts. Hit the target with Fire and the phantasm does Fire. Hit it with Radiant against an undead and it does Radiant. Line it up with whatever the enemy is weakest to and the 1d6 a turn quietly becomes something real.
It is still 1d6 a turn for a Concentration slot. Over ten turns that is 35 damage if it runs the whole way, which Cloud of Daggers does in three. Take it for the save type on a specific boss, not as a general damage spell.
by Claude Helper | Sep 8, 2026 | Spells
Level 2 Evocation spell available to Druids. A column of pale light that burns anything entering it or starting its turn inside it for 2d10 Radiant damage, and you can move the beam 18m each turn with an Action. It is the Druid’s answer to everything that regenerates, and it keeps earning its slot for the entire game.
Spell description: Call down a silvery beam of pale light that deals 2d10 Radiant damage to any creature that enters it or starts its turn in the light. You can use an action to move the beam 18m. On a successful save, targets still take half damage.
Spell properties
- Range: 18m (60ft)
- Area: 1m (3ft)
- Concentration spell
- Save: CON save
- Damage: 2d10 Radiant
- Conditions applied: Grants the Move Moonbeam action.
- Cost: Action + Spell Slot
- Recharge: Per action
Spell upcasting
Damage increases by 1d10 Radiant for each spell slot level above the 2nd.
How to obtain Moonbeam
Source items: Sorrow, Scroll of Moonbeam
Call down a silvery beam of pale light that deals 2d10 Radiant damage to any creature that enters it or starts its turn in the light. You can use an action to move the beam 18m. On a successful save, targets still take half damage.
Duration: Until Concentration ends
AoE: 1m (3ft) Radius
Creatures that enter the beam or start their turn inside it take 2d10 Radiant damage (Constitution save for half). The caster can move the beam 18m as an Action.
When to cast Moonbeam
Radiant is the reason you take this. It shuts down a great many of the game’s undead and regenerating enemies, and the shadows and wraiths of Act 2 take it especially badly. A Druid with Moonbeam prepared has a hard counter to the whole Shadow-Cursed Lands.
The 1m radius is the price. This is not an area nuke, it is a single-target burn that happens to live on the ground. Park it on top of one dangerous enemy and leave it there.
The trick is that it hits a creature when it enters the beam and again when it starts its turn inside. Something that gets pushed out and walks back in takes two ticks. Combine it with anything that forces movement, or simply move the beam onto an enemy who has already been burned once.
Moving it costs your Action, which is the tension in the spell. Every turn you spend maintaining it is a turn you cast nothing else. Against one big target that is a fine trade. Against a crowd it is not.
by Claude Helper | Sep 8, 2026 | Spells
Level 2 Illusion spell available to Sorcerers, Warlocks, and Wizards. Three illusory duplicates of you, each worth +3 Armour Class. Ten turns, no Concentration. It is the best defensive spell a squishy caster can put on themselves and it is not close.
Spell description: Create 3 illusory duplicates of yourself that distract attackers. Each duplicate increases your Armour Class by 3. Whenever you successfully evade an attack, one of the duplicates disappears.
Spell properties
- Range: Self
- Duration: 10 turns
- Conditions applied: Three duplicates, each granting +3 Armour Class. A duplicate is destroyed each time an attack misses you.
- Cost: Action + Spell Slot
- Recharge: Per action
Spell upcasting
Casting Mirror Image at higher levels provides no additional benefits.
How to obtain Mirror Image
- Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard at Class level 3
Source items: Shelter of Athkatla, Scroll of Mirror Image
Create 3 illusory duplicates of yourself that distract attackers. Each duplicate increases your Armour Class by 3. Whenever you successfully evade an attack, one of the duplicates disappears.
Duration: 10 turns
- Three duplicates, each granting +3 Armour Class.
- A duplicate is destroyed each time an attack misses.
When to cast Mirror Image
+9 Armour Class is an absurd number. A Wizard sitting on 13 goes to 22, which is better than a Paladin in full plate, and most of Act 1 and Act 2 simply cannot roll that. The duplicates only pop when an attack misses, so a good Mirror Image can eat an entire enemy turn and still leave you with images to spare.
The bit people miss: it is not Concentration. That is what makes it exceptional. Your Wizard can be holding Web or Hold Person and still be wrapped in +9 AC. Nothing else at this level competes.
Cast it before the fight, not during. Ten turns covers a whole encounter if you put it up on the approach, and spending your Action on defence once combat is live is a turn where you dealt no damage.
Stack it with Blur if you like. Blur imposes Disadvantage, Mirror Image raises AC, and the two multiply rather than overlap. A caster running both is effectively unhittable by anything ordinary. Blur is Concentration though, so that is your control spell gone.
by Claude Helper | Sep 8, 2026 | Spells
Level 2 Evocation spell available to Wizards. A green bolt for 4d4 Acid damage on impact and another 2d4 at the end of the target’s next turn, and even on a miss it still deals half the initial damage. It is the Wizard’s most reliable single-target Level 2 nuke for exactly that reason: it cannot fully whiff.
Spell description: Shoot a green arrow that covers the target and the ground with acid. Deals 4d4 Acid damage immediately and 2d4 Acid damage at the end of the target’s turn. If the spell misses, the target still takes half the initial damage.
Spell properties
- Range: 18m (60ft)
- Attack: Attack roll
- Damage: 4d4 Acid
- Conditions applied: Deals 4d4 Acid damage immediately and 2d4 Acid damage at the end of the target’s turn. On a miss, the target still takes half the initial damage.
- Cost: Action + Spell Slot
- Recharge: Per action
Spell upcasting
Deals an extra 2d4 Acid damage for each spell slot level above the 2nd. 1d4 on impact and 1d4 at the end of the target’s turn.
How to obtain Melf’s Acid Arrow
Source items: Melf’s First Staff, Scroll of Melf’s Acid Arrow
Shoot a green arrow that covers the target and the ground with acid. Deals 4d4 Acid damage immediately and 2d4 Acid damage at the end of the target’s turn. If the spell misses, the target still takes half the initial damage.
Duration: 1 turn
- Takes 2d4 Acid damage at the end of the creature’s turn.
- On a miss, the target still takes half the initial 4d4 damage.
When to cast Melf’s Acid Arrow
The miss clause is what earns this spell its place. Scorching Ray can miss all three rays and do nothing at all. Melf’s cannot. Even a total whiff returns half of 4d4, which makes it the safe pick against a high-AC target on a turn you cannot afford to waste.
Acid is also the right damage type more often than people expect. It gets past most of the game’s common resistances, and Acid stops Troll regeneration alongside Fire. If your party has no Fire caster, Melf’s is your answer to the trolls in the Underdark.
The delayed 2d4 is easy to forget and easy to waste. It lands at the end of the target’s next turn, so if you kill them first it evaporates. Do not open with Melf’s on something you are about to finish. Open with it on something that will still be standing next round.
Melf’s First Staff gives you a free cast per Long Rest and boosts Acid damage, which is a genuinely strong Act 1 pickup for an Evocation Wizard.
Range: 9m (30ft)
Save: INT save 
