In this guide, I will try to give both new and experienced players some tips on using this spell and give dungeon masters some story ideas to trick your unsuspecting players. I will answer some frequently asked questions about this spell at the end of the article, so make sure you read until the end! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you enjoy reading about obscure spells or spells that are very underappreciated, you should check out my guide on Life Transference<\/a> and how to use this spell! <\/p>\n\n\n\n Simply put, you touch a creature, NPC, or player character, and it gets put into a state that is as good as impossible to distinguish from being dead. The duration of this spell is about an hour, and the creature you touched will only be put out of this state if you touch it again and explicitly dismiss the spell. Of course, the creature can make a saving throw, so it does not take effect. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Feign Death is a spell from the necromancy school<\/a>. It is a level 3 spell, and you need a casting time for a single action. You do need to touch your target since it has 0 range. When the spell has been cast, the target appears dead to everyone who does an outward inspection. Before 5e, you needed to have a pinch of graveyard dirt to cast the spell. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The target creature of your spell, of course, has a couple of status conditions. First, the target is blinded, so it can not see anything going on, and it is incapacitated, so it can not move. Thus the speed has dropped to 0. However, this does mean the target can still hear and feel what is going on. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Now here comes the interesting part. The target has resistance to ALL DAMAGE<\/strong> except for damage that is of a psychic nature. So when the creature or player you cast a spell on already has a status condition like poisoned, or you try to give it an (additional) status effect, it has no effect until the spell has ended.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Maybe you can already see how broken – and hilarious – this spell can be if you use it right. So if you are a DM, watch out for players who have read this guide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some of you have probably glanced over this spell and thought, “Meh, who is ever going to use this?” Well, I will, and I do it all the time. Both as a DM and as a player<\/a>, this is one of my favorite spells to throw a curveball into any plan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Let me give you a couple of examples on how to use Feign Death:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Faking your own dead – Pretty obvious that this is one of the ways you can use a spell with this name, but you might not have thought about how to do this exactly. When the spell is cast, you are immune to all damage. So you fall from a building and use the spell mid-air, and you will be completely fine. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If you are a DM like I am, I am sure you will enjoy using this spell to surprise cocky adventurers; you think they have got your plans all figured out. It is a great spell to surprise your players or get them to have the wrong idea. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Dungeons and Dragons wouldn’t be the same if there wasn’t a counter for (smart) players and DMs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n To determine what you need to be able to cast the spell, I am using the player’s handbook as a source. This is your main source for the rules on spells and other cool things. However, there is quite a lot you can interpret so and such. The final arbiter of the rules is going to be your DM<\/a>, so make sure you have one that knows how important it is to not be too strict with the rules but also doesn’t do whatever he wants. <\/p>\n\n\n\n To use this spell, you need to have it in your spell list. You can do this by having it in your class’ spell casting feature, as a racial feature, or as part of the background of your character. <\/p>\n\n\n\n To cast the spell, you need to have a spell slot of level three or higher available for you to use. When you opt to pick a spell slot higher than level three, the spell can become more powerful. In this case, the duration will last longer. So you won’t be able to play super Death. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The spell has a verbal component<\/a>, so you will need to be able to speak the words. Your voice needs to be audible, that does not mean you need to shout, but just normal talking noises are fine. Your mouth can not be restricted due to a magical spell, nor can a physical element stop your lips and vocal cords if you want to use the spell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Feign Death also has a somatic component. That means you need to be able to use your hands when you want to cast the spell. Your hands can not be restricted by anything physical or magically. You will need to be able to use your hands freely enough to make gestures. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As mentioned, you need to touch your target. Some DM’s will tell you you need to actually touch the skin of the target, and others are fine with you just touching the clothing or armor. This will depend almost fully on what your dungeon master sees as touching. It might be a good idea to clear this out with your DM before you start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You need to be able to cast an action when it is your turn. So this isn’t a bonus action or a movement action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes and no. The spell is great if you can find a niche for it to use. However, the spell can cause quite some chaos if you can use it right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Imagine yourself at a party, and you cast feign Death on one of the guests just when he is drinking from his cup. If you have timed it well, you can cause quite some chaos. But, of course, besides incapacitating your enemies, you can also pretend that you are dead or your allies are to shake off any enemies or to plot something that your foes won’t suspect. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Maybe I am a little bit biased, but just like create bonfire this spell is absolutely underrated and fantastic<\/a> as a 5e Dungeon Master. Not many people know of the existence, and it has a ton of potential for elaborate stories. You can pretend a villain has died due to the party’s interference and have him pop up later, or you can make your party seem to be the bad guys when they are a bit too violent, and you have your antagonist cast feign Death on innocent civilians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The possibilities are limitless if you think hard enough! <\/p>\n\n\n\n Answer: If you don’t count Homebrew classes, three classes can use feign Death in Dungeons and Dragons: Clerics, Wizards and Druids. The Cleric class is one of these, even though they are not very well known for their ability to use necromancy-like magic. The spell can be used too by the druids. It is advised that you learn the spell if you are playing as this class and enjoy role-playing. , and finally, the wizard class has access to learning this spell.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Answer: The target of your spell is incapacitated and is as good as impossible to distinguish from someone who is actually dead. Moreover, the target can not move and can not take damage. It is also impossible to inflict any additional status conditions. However, it is also impossible to heal the target. The spell lasts for up to one hour, and to stop it; you need to touch your target again.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Answer: The spell lasts one hour. However, you can stop the effect of the spell by touching the target again. Since the spell is not a concentration spell, you can not stop the spell before the one hour is up if you can’t touch the target. This is the same amount of time a short rest would take if you are not using catnap 5e <\/a>to speed it up. As a DM you can give your players the benefits of having done a short rest if they were under the influence of this spell.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Answer: No, you will have to use this spell as a normal action. So you can not use it as a bonus action. The spell will cost you one action to cast, so you won’t be able to use another action to cast another spell.\u00a0So as an example, you can still use a command to control your undead army if you did cast animate<\/a> dead the turn before since that requires only a bonus action. However, the spell itself requires you to do an action, so you can not raise zombies and skeletons in the same turn.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n What spell besides Feign Death 5e do you think is (very) underappreciated in DnD? Let us know here in the comments, and we will make sure we write a great article about it! In our Dungeons and Dragons blog we are always looking for amazing spells and monsters to discuss. If you like combat spells, our guide on Agonizing Blast<\/a> might be just what you are looking for! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When in doubt, play… euh feign Death! I love taking a deep dive into the more obscure and under-appreciated spells in the vast world of Dungeons and Dragons. Feign Death in 5e, in my opinion, is one of those spells.\u00a0 In this guide, I will try to give both new and experienced players some tips … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":576,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dnd","no-featured-image-padding","resize-featured-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/creaturecollege.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/creaturecollege.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/creaturecollege.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/creaturecollege.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/creaturecollege.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=570"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/creaturecollege.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/creaturecollege.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/creaturecollege.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/creaturecollege.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/creaturecollege.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}What does Feign Death do in D&D 5e<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Feign](\"https:\/\/external-preview.redd.it\/uJcEQWd6cYOyoKHYReCp3vjoF2eArp38CgWHuLlU4CY.jpg?auto=webp&s=4b3762cb0395ba7dd1a0a4b726df24179009623b\")
Feign Death Uses <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Uses as a player<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Uses as a Dungeon Master<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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![\"Faking](\"https:\/\/creaturecollege.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/image.jpeg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nThe downsides of Feign Death in 5e<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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The requirements to use Feign Death in D&D<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
1. Spell list<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
2. Feign Death is a level 3 spell<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
3. Speak freely<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
4. Use your hands<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
5. Touch the target<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
6. Have an action turn<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"D&D:](\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/mtgazone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Acererak-the-Archlich-Art-by-Andrey-Kuzinskiy.jpg?fit=768%2C432&ssl=1\")
Final thoughts:<\/strong> Is Feign Death a good spell in 5e?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
FAQs about Feign Death\u00a0<\/h2>\n\n\n
Question: What classes can use Feign Death?<\/h3>\n
Question: What are the effects of Fencing Death?<\/h3>\n
Question: How long does feign Death last?<\/h3>\n
Question: Can Feign Death be used as a bonus action<\/h3>\n