Sleep: Pick Off the Weak

Usable By: Bard, Sorcerer, Wizard

Spell Level: 1

School: Enchantment

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: 90 feet

Duration: 1 minute

Components: V, S, M (a pinch of fine sand, rose petals, or a cricket)

This spell sends creatures into a magical slumber. Roll 5d8; the total is how many hit points of creatures this spell can affect. Creatures within 20 feet of a point you choose within range are affected in ascending order of their current hit points (ignoring unconscious creatures).

Starting with the creature that has the lowest current hit points, each creature affected by this spell falls unconscious until the spell ends, the sleeper takes damage, or someone uses an action to shake or slap the sleeper awake. Subtract each creature’s hit points from the total before moving on to the creature with the next lowest hit points. A creature’s hit points must be equal to or less than the remaining total for that creature to be affected.

Undead and creatures immune to being charmed aren’t affected by this spell.

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 2nd level or higher, roll an additional 2d8 for each slot level above 1st.

Review by Sam West, Twitter: @CrierKobold

What if I told you out there in the wild world of D&D sourcebooks there was a 1st level spell that could deal up to 5d8 damage in a 20 ft. area? You’d call me crazy, you’d say thats bananas amounts of damage for a 1st level spell, obviously! Well, dear reader, you can do something akin to this, but have to work with it a bit and be prepared for wild variance.

Sleep offers you a conditional effect that knocks out creatures with low amounts of HP. It can kind of act as an AOE execute; once everyone is asleep, the party can just tromp about and bash their brains in. Its a rare spell that asks you to wait to cast it; you want as many creatures as low on HP as possible. This is a tactic that is uncommon for traditional 5e fights. The main objective in most 5e fights is to reduce the enemies actions as fast as possible, and this normally occurs through everyone focusing down one creature at a time. With Sleep, you can encourage the group to hit a spread of enemies near each other a bit, then finish them off with Sleep to possibly reduce huge amounts of actions at once for just a 1st level slot.

Even at less coordinated tables willing to risk and try out this varied tactic, Sleep still can act as a single target removal effect. Knocking out a creature with less than 5d8 HP at level one can just eat a few actions, sometimes entire turns. If two or more creatures go down to a Sleep, you’re getting a massive advantage that can trivialize a low tier fight by dropping monsters that should have been trying to kill you into deep, peaceful slumber.

But wait, there’s more! Sleep ALSO is a non-damaging means of knocking out people! Is a lone guard watching over a jail cell? Sleep him! Are a pair of angry wolves hovering around the cave entrance you’d like to pass into? Sleep them! Need to grab a courier carrying a damning message, and can’t afford for them to recognize you? Have you heard the good word of Sleep?

Sleep is superb. It is inconsistent in all of the prior cases, and won’t be something that easily works great at all tables. A lot of fights against larger beasties will leave it stranded in your prepared spells, but many more will offer clear moments to fire it off and sway the number of fighters in your favor. It has a plethora of out of combat utility, offers a solid in combat tool in the lower tiers, and while it doesn’t scale superbly well, does get enough extra dice it can even be something you think about burning upper level slots on to knock out bigger problems. I’m a big Sleep proponent; give it a shot!

Pleasant dreams.

5e Spells

Sleep: Pick Off the Weak