D&D: Five Spells For Getting Away With Murder
So, you want to do a murder with magic in D&D. With these five spells you can do exactly that. Take a look at our favorite murder spells.
Adventurers can do pretty much anything. So much so that you could use the expression “get away with murder.” But what if that’s literally what you want to do, not just metaphorically? Well, these five spells will help you do a murder and leave no trace.
Of course, there’s no guarantee that some detective-who-may-or-may-not-be-a-detective won’t come sniffing around asking questions. But you’re too smart to be tripped up by a bumbling fool in a tan trenchcoat who just wants to know one more thing.
Disguise/Alter Self
The first step to getting away with murder and not leaving a trace is to be someone else. With something as simple as disguise self or alter self, you can put the blame on someone else entirely. You don’t even need any other magic, a knife will do.
However, this method still draws attention to the fact that there was a murder. So, you know, there’s always the chance that the detective may put those little grey cells to use in figuring out that the person who seems to have done the murder can’t have actually done it.
Sickening Radiance
Besides with Disguise Self or Alter Self you have to actually kill someone. That can be hard. Sickening Radiance, on the other hand, deals continuous damage (an okay amount) but better still, it deals a level of exhaustion.
Exhaustion in 5E is a dangerous thing. The more you have, the harder it is to do anything. And unlike hit points, there’s a hard limit everyone faces. Take 6 levels of exhaustion and you’re dead. This is true whether you’re a Tarrasque or a peasant.
With Sickening Radiance, though, you need a way to hold someone in place. The common pairing is the 7th level spell, Forcecage, which traps the creature in place for an hour with no save, so they can’t help but be in the area of Sickening Radiance until they either die from radiant damage or exhaustion.
Dream
Again though, it’s pretty obvious someone has done something there. But that’s where dream comes in. This spell lets you interfere with the reams of a creature “known to you.” You can either appear and talk to someone – or you can sic horrible nightmares upon your target. If you do the latter, they wake up with some damage, but also no benefit from the rest.
If all goes well, you can kill someone in six days and it looks like they died of natural causes. Surely there’s no way the detective can trace that back to you.
Magic Jar
Maybe the target dying of “natural causes” is too much of a giveaway. What if instead, you could make the target do whatever you want, even appear to take themselves out. Magic Jar lets you cast your soul into a jar, which is really a gem or something, and then as an action, you can attempt to possess anyone within one hundred feet of it.
So far so good. Now here’s the tricky part. While controlling the host body, if you cause the body to die, the host dies, and your soul will either try to return to the jar or your own body unless you’re too far away. So just get close and stay close.
Power Word Kill
Okay, but if you can cast ninth-level spells, Power Word Kill lets you kill someone with a word. And if you’re a sorcerer with a subtle spell, there’s no component needed at all, so you can just Death Note someone and they’re gone.
How do you get away with murder?
