by Claude Helper | Sep 25, 2026 | Spells
Level 5 Abjuration spell available to Bards, Clerics, Druids, and Wizards. Dominate Person for the things Dominate Person cannot touch: fiends, elementals, fey, and celestials. Wisdom save or it fights for you for ten turns.
Spell description: Target an otherworldly creature and attach its consciousness to your own. It will follow and fight for you as an ally. The target must be a Celestial, Elemental, Fey, or Fiend.
Spell properties
- Range: 18m (60ft)
- Duration: 10 turns
- Concentration spell
- Save: WIS save
- Conditions applied: Seized by Planar Binding. A Celestial, Elemental, Fey, or Fiend fights for you for 10 turns. It repeats the save whenever it takes damage.
- Cost: Action + Spell Slot
- Recharge: Per action
Spell upcasting
Casting Planar Binding at higher levels provides no additional benefits.
How to obtain Planar Binding
- Bard, Cleric, Druid, Wizard at Class level 9
Source item: Scroll of Planar Binding
Target an otherworldly creature and attach its consciousness to your own. It will follow and fight for you as an ally. The target must be a Celestial, Elemental, Fey, or Fiend.
Duration: 10 turns
- The creature follows and fights for the one who bound it.
- Every time it takes damage, it may break free with a successful Wisdom Saving Throw.
- Only Celestials, Elementals, Fey, and Fiends can be targeted.
When to cast Planar Binding
Cast it on the biggest fiend or elemental in the fight. Cambions, elementals in the Underdark, the devils in the House of Hope. Taking one of those off the enemy side and putting it on yours is the same enormous swing as Dominate Person, on a creature list nothing else controls.
Fiends tend to have good Wisdom, so it will fail more often than Dominate Person does on cultists. Elementals are the softer target. Check the save before you spend the slot.
Same rules as every domination: it repeats the save on damage, so your party leaves it alone and lets the enemy hit it. It is Concentration, so the caster stays out of reach.
It is also a surprisingly strong pick for a Cleric, who otherwise has no way to steal an enemy. Against Raphael’s house it is one of the best Level 5 slots you can spend.
by Claude Helper | Sep 25, 2026 | Spells
Level 5 Evocation spell available to Bards, Clerics, and Druids. 3d8 plus your spellcasting modifier to up to six allies at once, at 18m range. It is the first proper group heal, and on a character stacked with heal-trigger gear it becomes a group buff as well.
Spell description: Unleash a soothing hum of energy that heals you and nearby allies. No effect on Undead and Constructs.
Spell properties
- Damage: 3d8 + Spellcasting modifier Healing
- Damage type: Healing
- Range: 18m (60ft)
- Conditions applied: Heals up to 6 allies. 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 5th.
How to obtain Mass Cure Wounds
- Bard, Cleric, Druid at Class level 9
- Life Domain Clerics (Domain spell) and Circle of the Land Druids (Forest) at Class level 9
Unleash a soothing hum of energy that heals you and nearby allies. No effect on Undead and Constructs.
When to cast Mass Cure Wounds
Cast it when three or more party members are hurt at once, which usually means right after an enemy area spell or a bad round against a boss. Healing six people for 3d8 plus modifier each is far more total healing than any single-target spell.
It is an Action and it is a Level 5 slot, so it is not something you cast every turn. The rule is the same as always: healing is worse than killing the thing doing the damage, unless someone is about to go down.
The real trick is the heal-trigger items. Hellrider’s Pride, The Whispering Promise, and Boots of Aid and Comfort all fire on every target healed, so one Mass Cure Wounds can give the whole party Blade Ward, Bless, and temporary Hit Points at once.
No effect on undead or constructs, and summons count as allies. Upcasting adds 1d8 per level to everyone, which is a decent rate when you have a Level 6 slot to spare.
by Claude Helper | Sep 25, 2026 | Spells
Level 5 Conjuration spell available to Clerics, Druids, and Sorcerers. A 6m cloud of locusts that does 4d10 Piercing a turn to everything inside it for ten turns and slows them down while they try to leave. It is Cloudkill for classes that do not get Cloudkill, with a damage type nothing resists.
Spell description: Locusts attack everyone within range, make the area Difficult Terrain, and impose Disadvantage on Perception Checks.
Spell properties
- Damage: 4d10 Piercing per turn
- Damage type: Piercing
- Range: 18m (60ft)
- Area: 6m (20ft) radius
- Duration: 10 turns
- Concentration spell
- Save: CON save (half damage on success)
- Conditions applied: Insect Plague. Creatures in the area take 4d10 Piercing per turn, treat it as Difficult Terrain, and have Disadvantage on Perception Checks.
- Cost: Action + Spell Slot
- Recharge: Per action
Spell upcasting
Deals an extra 1d10 Piercing damage for each spell slot level above the 5th.
How to obtain Insect Plague
- Cleric, Druid, Sorcerer at Class level 9
- Nature Domain and Tempest Domain Clerics (Domain spell) and Circle of the Land Druids (Desert, Grassland, or Swamp) at Class level 9
Locusts attack everyone within range, make the area Difficult Terrain, and impose Disadvantage on Perception Checks.
On save: Targets still take half damage.
When to cast Insect Plague
Cast it on a group and let it tick. 4d10 a turn, for up to ten turns, to everything in a 6m circle is an absurd amount of total damage for one slot, and Piercing is resisted by almost nothing in the game. Undead, fiends, and constructs all take it in full.
The Difficult Terrain is what makes it work. Enemies inside move at half speed, so most of them take a second tick before they get out, and anything you knock Prone or Restrain inside it just stays there dying.
It is Concentration and it does not move, unlike Cloudkill. Place it where enemies already are or where they have to walk through, and keep the caster out of it, because it does not check whose side you are on.
The Constitution save makes half damage common, but half of 4d10 every turn is still good. Upcasting adds 1d10 per level per turn, which is worth it if you have the slot.
by Claude Helper | Sep 25, 2026 | Spells
Level 5 Enchantment spell available to Bards, Sorcerers, Warlocks, and Wizards. Hold Person without the humanoid restriction. One Wisdom save and any non-undead creature is Paralysed for ten turns, and every melee hit against it is an automatic critical.
Spell description: Paralyse a creature. It cannot move, act, or react. Attacks from within 3m (10ft) are always Critical Hits. No effect on Undead.
Spell properties
- Range: 18m (60ft)
- Duration: 10 turns
- Concentration spell
- Save: WIS save
- Conditions applied: Held (Paralysed). The creature cannot move, act, or react. Attacks from within 3m are always Critical Hits. No effect on Undead.
- Cost: Action + Spell Slot
- Recharge: Per action
Spell upcasting
Affects an additional target for each spell slot level above the 5th.
How to obtain Hold Monster
- Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard at Class level 9
- War Domain Clerics get it as a Domain spell at Class level 9
Source item: Scroll of Hold Monster
Paralyse a creature. It cannot move, act, or react. Attacks from within 3m (10ft) are always Critical Hits. No effect on Undead.
Duration: 10 turns
- The creature cannot move or take Actions, Bonus Actions, or Reactions.
- Attack Rolls against it have
Advantage, and attacks from within 3m are always Critical Hits.
- It automatically fails Strength and Dexterity Saving Throws.
- It repeats the Wisdom Saving Throw at the end of each of its turns.
When to cast Hold Monster
Cast it on the one big thing that Hold Person could not touch. Owlbears, dragons, hook horrors, bulettes, the giant spider, anything with a Wisdom score and no undead tag. A Held creature is a crit piñata for your melee, and it auto-fails Dexterity saves, so your Fireball is guaranteed full damage too.
Beasts and brutes have terrible Wisdom, which is why this lands so often on exactly the creatures you want it on. Against casters and clerics it is a coin flip and they repeat the save every turn.
It is Concentration. Cast it, get out of the way, and let the Fighter and the Rogue do the arithmetic. A Held target usually dies before its second save.
No effect on undead, which is annoying in Act Two. Upcast it at Level 6 for a second target and you can Paralyse two dangerous creatures at once, which ends most fights on the spot.
by Claude Helper | Sep 25, 2026 | Spells
Level 5 Abjuration spell available to Bards, Clerics, and Druids. Touch someone and they are no longer Charmed, Petrified, Stunned, or Cursed. It is the big-brother version of Lesser Restoration, and the only spell that fixes Petrification.
Spell description: Touch a creature and negate any Charm, Petrification, Stun, or Curse.
Spell properties
- Range: Melee: 1.5m (5ft)
- Conditions applied: Removes Charmed, Petrified, Stunned, and Cursed conditions from the target.
- Cost: Action + Spell Slot
- Recharge: Per action
Spell upcasting
Casting Greater Restoration at higher levels provides no additional benefits.
How to obtain Greater Restoration
- Bard, Cleric, Druid at Class level 9
- Life Domain Clerics (Domain spell) and Circle of the Land Druids (Coast or Grassland) at Class level 9
Touch a creature and negate any Charm, Petrification, Stun, or Curse.
When to cast Greater Restoration
Cast it when someone in the party is Stunned or Petrified and you cannot afford to wait. Stunned is the worst common condition in the game and this is the clean fix. Petrified is worse and this is one of two fixes, the other being Basilisk Oil.
Charm and Curse are the other two. If a party member gets Dominated by an enemy, this brings them back on your side, which is the difference between a rough fight and a wipe.
It is a touch spell, so the caster has to walk over. In a fight where someone is Stunned in the middle of the enemy, that is a real cost. Plan your positioning around who can reach whom.
Out of combat it is quality of life. Petrified statues, cursed allies, and the odd quest state all get resolved with one cast. Keep it prepared once you have Level 5 slots; it is not a spell you cast often, but when you need it nothing else will do.
Range: 18m (60ft)
Save: WIS save
AoE: 6m (20ft) radius 
Disadvantage on Perception Checks.
