D&D: Five of the Best 9th-Level Spells
In D&D, you can’t beat 9th-level spells. If b you’re lucky enough to cast ’em, they’re some of the most dramatic spells in the game.
9th-level spells are the most powerful spells in D&D. They’re not necessarily the rarest—that’s actually 7th level spells, because people are more likely to play 20th level one shots, and they’re usually the first place you jump to. But it doesn’t get much better than 9th.
These are the kinds of spells that let you really get in there and reshape a campaign. Or at least a few encounters. Let’s take a look.
Foresight
Foresight may well be the best single buff spell in the game. It lasts for 8 hours and doesn’t require you to concentrate on it. Meaning that you can cast it in the morning with your breakfast and be good pretty much throughout the rest of your day.
While under the effects of the Foresight spell, you can’t be surprised, and have advantage on any d20 check you might have to make, including death saves. And all other creatures have disadvantage on you (or whomever you target). Know the future, basically, and use those premonitions to dodge like a Jedi.
True Polymorph
True Polymorph, on the other hand, is the kind of spell you wish Polymorph was. This is one of the best 9th-level spells because you can make semi-permanent changes. True Polymorph works by letting you transform someone into a magical creature. You can change one creature into another, or you can turn a nonmagical object into a creature or vice versa. Which means you can transform that evil wizard into a chair, for instance.
And if you concentrate on the spell for a full hour, the transformation lasts until it is dispelled by some kind of effect or by the target dropping to 0 hit points or the like. This means you can semi-permanently transform one of your party members into, say, an adult gold dragon. Complete with all the hit points, fire breath, special attacks, and the ability to transform into a humanoid shape at will.
Not a bad way to level up your party.
Prismatic Wall
Probably one of the best 9th-level defensive spells in the game, Prismatic Wall creates a magical wall of rainbow light, which can appear as either a long wall or a sphere up to 30 feet in diameter. Any creature that even comes within 20 feet of the spell, or starts its turn that close, must make a Constitution save or be blinded for a minute, and it only gets worse from there.
If a creature tries to pass through the wall, that creature is subjected to seven different effects, each requiring its own save. In order, a creature might take:
- Red – 10d6 fire damage
- Orange – 10d6 acid damage
- Yellow – 10d6 lightning damage
- Green – 10d6 poison damage
- Blue – 10d6 cold damage
- Indigo – creature is restrained and then later petrified
- Violet – creature is blinded and transported to another plane of existence
And it’s almost impossible to deal with unless you have a specific sequence of spells and effects. Even an Antimagic Field won’t take out a Prismatic Wall.
Meteor Swarm
Meteor Swarm, on the other hand, is the best offensive 9th-level spell in the game. It’s just such overkill. You create four different 40-foot radius spheres that each deal 40d6 damage total and creatures can only be affected by one sphere total, but that means you can catch whole armies in this spell. Burn a village to the ground with a single action. It doesn’t get more 9th-level than that.
Wish
Except for Wish. Wish is the best 9th-level spell in D&D. It lets you reshape reality with but a word. At the most basic level, you can duplicate any spell of 8th level or lower as a single action, so even spells that take a long time to cast, like say, Simulacrum, happen instantaneously, with no costly material components needed.
Or you can create a number of other effects, including telling the DM what you want to have to happen and leaving it up to them to figure out how or if it does. However, doing anything besides replicating another spell runs the risk of you losing the ability to cast wish ever again. Even so, it’s worth it.
What are your picks for best 9th-level spell?
