D&D: The Five Worst Healing Spells
While spells that can stitch together wounds, regenerate a body, and even bring the dead back to life abound, these are the worst.
In Dungeons & Dragons, healing spells are some of the most powerful magic you can take, because with a wave of your hand, you can take someone from dying (or even dead) and put them back in fighting form. You can all but undo a devastating round of attacks with the right spell. But these five healing spells have to try a little harder than most.
Of course, all bets are off if you’re a Life Cleric.
Cure Wounds
It takes your action to cast this, you have to be close enough to touch your target, and it only gets you, on average, about 2 points more healing back than Healing Word. Unless you’re a life Cleric, Cure Wounds is often one of the more expensive healing spells for what it does.
Lesser Restoration
Lesser Restoration is useful, certainly, as is Cure Wounds, but it’s not nearly as useful as you’d think–it can rid you of a disease or one of four conditions–but when was the last time your character was diseased in a game? Still worth taking and having, but compared to other healing spells, this one’s on the outs.
Mass Healing Word
This spell can be useful in a pinch, but it’s a 3rd level spot to deal 1d4 + modifier healing to multiple people at once. If you’re worried about healing the party, there are other spells which do more for less, like healing spirit or aura of vitality. But when you have no other option, still worth playing with.
Vampiric Touch
This is one of those spells that sounds much cooler than it is. As an action you can make a melee attack to deal 3d6 damage to an opponent, and you regain half of the amount you do. But you can only do this as a melee attack, and odds are good your opponent will still be standing long enough to punch through the paltry amount of hit points you just regained.
Fireball
This spell does 8d6 damage in a 20 ft. radius sphere. As a healing spell, it’s quite possibly the worst one WotC has ever designed.
