D&D: Five Great Spells to Save the Party
The chips are down. The bad guys might win. And then you break out one of these five D&D party saving spells.
We’ve all been there. Whether your dice decided to abandon you, or “the DM is out to get you” because they have the audacity to say that your reckless actions have consequences that you didn’t intend and now have to deal with. Or maybe you just got in a fight with three too many goblins.
Whatever the reason, when the chips are down, magic is often the answer. Just as we’ve all felt the icy hand of defeat closing around our throats, so too have we felt the roar of triumph when a single turn of combat turns everything around.
And these five spells might not win you every single fight. Not on their own. But they can definitely turn the tide when it seems to be rising. Even just by buying you enough time to finally roll above a 7.
Compelled Duel
Compelled duel is one of my all time favorite Paladin spells. It feels very cool, because when you cast it, you can imagine the caster saying “face me, fiend” and then it actualy works, and then on top of that, its mechanical effect is powerful, and it only takes a bonus action to cast.
For relatively little effort, you can shut down an enemy. Your target, if they fail their save, has disadvantage to attack anyone other than you, and it has to make a Wisdom saving throw if it wants to be able to move to a square more than 30 feet away from you.
So you can potentially lock down that enemy, they ony get one save vs. the spell’s effects. And if it works, you can make them fight you and prevent them from reaching your other allies. Or you can fight defensively yourself, taking the Dodge Action to give the enemy disadvantage to attack you. A spell like this can force a powerful enemy to stop rampaging through your squishy backline, and give your party the chance to pull together.
Beacon of Hope
This spell is a good one to bust out when you’ve got multiple party members down and you’re scrambling for something to do. Again, it feels cool, but also has a potent in-game effect. First of all, you give allies advantage on Wisdom and Death saving throws, making it more likely your party won’t just die while they’re downed.
And then second, it maximizes the effects of any healing your allies receive. From a spell, from a class feature, from anywhere at all. If you’re roling dice to regain hit points, and under the effects of this spell, you get the maximum result. And that alone can turn the tide of a whole fight.
Sanctuary
If you’ve been struggling on Honour Mode in Baldur’s Gate 3, you probably haven’t discovered just how busted Sanctuary can be in a harrowing combat situation. A single spell can protect an ally from all but the most powerful threats, and then sometimes, even them.
Any target that wants to attack a creature under the effects of a Sanctuary spell has to first make a Wisdom saving throw. And if they fail, they’re unable to target the creature, which means you can throw it on a healer or someone important in need of protection and they can basically get out there and keep supporting your party free of worry. As long as they don’t start dealing damage, they’re fine.
Rime’s Binding Ice
This spell is an incredible value for a 2nd level spell. With it, you can blast everyone in a 30 foot cone with a deep, freezing ice that deals 3d6 damage but, more importantly, if they fail their save, binds enemies in place. An affected creature has their speed reduced to 0 until they take an action to break out of the ice (or someone else takes an action for them). So you can damage creatures and make a whole crew waste their actions just trying to get to you.
Command
Finally, Command is the heart of many a party’s legendary success story. It buys you a single instant, but if you can capitalize upon it, you can turn the whole course of your game on that single moment. So much so that it’s one of the most powerful sells in Baldur’s Gate 3, where a properly placed Command spell can make an enemy drop their weapon and become utterly helpless if you can snatch it up from them before their turn comes up.
What are your favorite spells for turning around a fight?
