5th Edition Spells – Spare the Dying

Spare the Dying

Artificer, Cleric - Cantrip Level Spell

School: Necromancy
Casting Time: 1 Action
Range: Touch
Components: Verbal and Somatic
Duration: Instantaneous
Attack/Save: None
Reference: PHB 277

You touch a living creature that has 0 hit points. The creature becomes stable. This spell has no effect on undead or constructs.

Spare-the-Dying D&D 5th edition Cantrip spellMy Comments: A long time ago, in a game near-forgotten, I remember somebody saying at a table one night “If you have access to Spare the Dying and you don’t take it, you’re probably just a jerk.

I wouldn’t go that far, but anybody with an urge to play a healer should definitely have it. Especially the first version. I was in one of the test groups that was playing “D&D Next” before the official version of 5th edition came out. In that case, Spare the Dying didn’t just stabilize the creature, it bumped them to 1 hp.

We had a great time with a Dwarf fighter getting knocked down, my Life Cleric bringing him back to 1 hit point, he would do damage and then get knocked down…. wash, rinse, repeat. I think I did the spell on him 4 times before we finished that battle. It was fun and ridiculous and a great example of why WotC nerfed it to just stabilization. Basically, it’s very similar to just an auto-success with a medicine check.

 

[pssst… want to draw a card from The Deck of Many Things?]

[P.S. Check out the Wacky Dungeon game just above the footer!]

Dave Goff

Writing and creating in my spare time to avoid going crazy in this mad, mad, world. Check out some of my materials on DMsGuild and let me know what you think! subscribe to keep up with new posts and leave comments to keep the conversation going.

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