Death Ward

Death Ward is a level 4 abjuration spell. This spell allows spellcasters to prevent a target from dying.

Description

Protect a creature from death. The next time damage would reduce it to 0 Hit Points, it remains conscious with 1 Hit Point left.

Properties

Details

 Melee: 1.5 m / 5  ft

At higher levels

Casting this spell at a higher level grants no additional benefit.

Condition: Death Ward

 Death Ward

Duration: Until Long rest

• The next time damage would reduce the affected entity to 0 Hit Points. it remains conscious with 1 Hit Point left.

How to learn

Classes:

• Class Level 7: Cleric

• Class Level 10: Bard (via Magical Secrets)

Notes

• When the creature affected is hit with spells like  Magic Missile and is receiving multiple attacks as part of one spell, assuming the 1st attack was sufficient to  down the creature with  Death Ward applied, the 2nd attack appears to apply before the  Death Ward activates, which means that after 2 attacks the creature would lose the  Death Ward but remain with 1HP. If the initial attack would have 3 applications then the creature would be  Downed] on 1st attack and again on 3rd attack. In case of Avatars it means that, whilst having a  Death Ward applied, they would need to receive 6 attack applications to fully die: 2 to break down the ward, 1 to get downed and 3 more to fail 3 Death Saves. This effect seems to apply to all multi-application attacks, like  Scorching Ray and  Eldritch Blast (as of 4.1.1.3669438).

External Links

• Death ward (spell) on the Forgotten Realms Wiki