Playing as a support character may not seem like the most exciting choice in Dungeons & Dragons, but many players will find it rewarding when they are the reason their party survives a big encounter. While support characters offer everything from increasing the party’s damage to impairing enemies, perhaps the most important thing they bring to the table is healing. There is a variety of healing spells players can choose in Dungeons & Dragons, so it is important that they understand which are the most powerful and why.
Some of the healing spells available early on in Dungeons & Dragons remain useful even at higher levels. One example is Healing Word, a first-level spell available to Clerics, Bards, and Druids. The spell’s initial healing output is low – only 1d4 plus spellcasting modifier at first level – but that doesn’t stop the spell from being useful. Healing Word can be cast using a bonus action, meaning a character can still make their normal attack on the same turn. Since unconscious characters usually just need a small amount of healing to get back into the action, Healing Word can be the difference between life and death for party members in Dungeons & Dragons.
Requiring only a second-level spell slot, Clerics receive another powerful, early-game spell: Prayer of Healing. Prayer of Healing is capable of targeting a maximum of six creatures and supplies healing equal to 2d8 plus spellcasting modifier to each of those targets. The important drawback with this spell is the 10-minute cast time, making it more practical to use at the end of a long fight than during the action. The spell Mass Cure Wounds does not have such a long casting time, and it even heals for an extra 1d8 of health, making it a more realistic combat choice. However, since Mass Cure Wounds requires a fifth-level spell slot, it will be available much later than Prayer of Healing.
High-Level Healing Spells In Dungeons & Dragons
As with most spells in Dungeons and Dragons, the best healing magic only becomes available at higher levels of play. Heal is a sixth-level spell that heals a single creature, and it has an important benefit that most other healing magic does not. The spell will always heal 70 damage, at least when cast with a sixth-level spell slot, meaning the user does not need to rely on a good roll for the spell to be worthwhile. This is important, considering higher-level spell slots tend to be in short supply, and wasting one with bad rolls is costly.
The most powerful healing spell is Dungeons & Dragons is Power Word Heal. This ninth-level spell automatically restores a creature to full health points, as well as freeing them of any impairing effects they may have fallen victim to. Although the spell is strong, the need for a ninth-level spell slot limits its practicality. Even with that limitation in mind, the potential to heal hundreds of points of damage in a single round may remain too tempting for healers to pass up.
Healing magic is an important part of any adventuring party, whether that healing comes during combat or directly following it. While Clerics are often the primary healers in Dungeons and Dragons, classes such as Druids and Bards have access to many of the same spells. Players can select a combination of high- and low-level healing magic to ensure they have a spell for every situation.