Spirit Shroud 5e Spell D&D Guide

You call forth spirits of the dead, which flit around you for the spell’s duration. The spirits are intangible and invulnerable.

Until the spell ends, any attack you make deals 1d8 extra damage when you hit a creature within 10 feet of you.

This damage is radiant, necrotic, or cold (your choice when you cast the spell). Any creature that takes this damage can’t regain hit points until the start of your next turn.

In addition, any creature of your choice that you can see that starts its turn within 10 feet of you has its speed reduced by 10 feet until the start of your next turn.

At Higher Levels

If you use a spell slot of 4th level or higher to cast this spell, the damage goes up by 1d8 for every two spell slot levels above 3rd.

Spirit Shroud 5e Stats

• Level 3 Necromancy
• Casting Time: 1 bonus action
• Range: Self
• Components: V, S
• Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute
• Damage Type: Multiple

Spirit Shroud 5e

Spirit Shroud used to be feared because it was too strong, but now it is seen as a strong spell—but only for some character builds. It didn’t stop the fifth version of Dungeons and Dragons from working.

Let’s talk about how Spirit Shroud works and how to use it to your advantage.

Who Can Cast Spirit Shroud In 5e?

Spirit Shroud is on the spell list of the following classes:

• Cleric 
• Paladin
• Warlock
• Wizard

Spirit Shroud is not a free ability for any subclasses.

What Does Spirit Shroud Do In 5e?

It makes the caster’s strikes do 1d8 more damage to creatures within 10 feet of them whenever they hit.

This damage can be warm, rotten, or cold, depending on what the user chooses. When this damage is done, a monster can’t get hit points back for one round.

Also, the move speed of any creature chosen by the caster that starts its turn within 10 feet of the caster is slowed by 10 feet for one round.

This spell can be used more than once to deal an extra 1d8 damage for every two slots above 3rd. So, a Spirit Shroud of 5th level does 2d8 damage, a 7th level does 3d8, and a 9th level does 4d8 damage when it hits.

It costs an extra action to cast and can protect you for up to a minute, if you can keep your focus up.

The type of damage is chosen when the spell is cast and cannot be changed in later rounds.

What Are The Rules For Spirit Shroud In 5e?

Spirit Shroud has the following rules in DnD 5e:

Spirit Shield only does damage when you hit. So things like created minions, your Find Familiar friend, and Animated Objects won’t make it do extra damage or stop regeneration. Even the backup target of Green-Flame Blade wouldn’t get the extra damage or effect of Spirit Shroud, since it doesn’t involve an attack roll.

It only affects your attacks (melee, ranged, spells, etc.)—if you roll an attack against a monster in range, you get to add Spirit Shroud’s damage and rider effect if the attack hits.

This Spell goes off every time you take damage. So, for spells that have more than one attack roll (Eldritch Blast after level 5, Scorching Ray, etc. ), each hit attack gets an extra 1d8 damage from Spirit Shroud and the rider effect that stops hit point recovery.

How Do I Use Spirit Shroud In 5e?

It can be used in a few different ways in D&D 5e:

Improve your combat character’s Extra Attack. The range requirement of 10 feet is a big problem for spellcasters who like to stay far away from the creatures they’re targeting. But a spell like Spirit Shroud really shines for a Paladin, who is almost always in close range.

It is automatically more powerful because Extra Attack makes it do more damage on average per round.

It could be useful for other gish-type characters like the Hexblade Warlock, Bladesinging Wizard, and Eldritch Knight Fighter, but the fact that they have to concentrate on it makes me wonder what they could be doing instead.

Improve your skills that can hit more than one target. Most of the crazy damage scaling stories you hear about Spirit Shroud involve Eldritch Blast, a cantrip that already has a lot of crazy ways to change damage. And this is a good combination if you can regularly keep a 10-foot distance without getting someone in your face, which hurts your ranged attack rolls.

This also works with spells like Scorching Ray, but not with spells like Magic Missile that don’t involve an attack roll.

Stop hit points from coming back. If you don’t have a good source of the right kind of damage to stop a creature’s hit point recovery (like vampires, trolls, revenants, etc.), Spirit Shroud is a good way to stop this power for good.

Use the weaknesses of certain types of damage. It’s other strength is that you can choose whether it does cold, radiant, or necrotic damage. Sometimes, the damage from radiant damage (from vampires, revenants, etc.) is enough to stop hit point recovery on its own.

Also, radiant damage is a great way to stop the Undead Fortitude trait of zombies. This makes Spirit Shroud the star of the show for brain-eaters who hit last.

Is Spirit Shroud 5e A Good Spell?

It’s a good spell that works well for Paladins, some mixed warrior/caster characters, and Eldritch Blast builds that are very well optimized.

But on the last point, Hex is generally a better choice because it has a longer range, which gives you more freedom of movement in battle. It does slightly less damage, though.

And gish-type characters usually do better with a weapon like Shadow Blade.

Still, It’s a great spell with a lot of promise for flavor for Paladins and situations where stopping health regeneration is the most important thing.

Who are these ghosts of the dead fighting with you?

Are you like Aragorn, who led an army of the damned, or are they the angry ghosts of people who died at the hands of your enemies?

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