Longstrider is a 1st-level transmutation spell for Bards, Druids, Rangers, and Wizards. You touch a creature and its speed increases by 10 feet for 1 hour. It doesn't need concentration. Each slot level above 1st lets you touch one more creature.
Longstrider is a flat +10 feet of speed for an hour, with no concentration. That last part is the reason to take it. You can cast it before a fight and still concentrate on Bless, Hold Person, or Entangle during the fight.
Dash doubles the bonus. Dash gives extra movement equal to your speed after modifiers, so a creature under Longstrider gains 20 feet on a Dash turn, not 10. A 30-foot character who Dashes covers 80 feet instead of 60.
It helps three kinds of characters most. Slow characters, like the 25-foot dwarves, gnomes, and halflings of the 2014 rules, reach 35 feet. Melee characters who need to reach a back-line caster close the gap a round sooner. Ranged characters who kite slow monsters can stay out of reach longer.
The downside is the cost: an action and a 1st-level slot for a modest bonus. It's best cast before combat, when the hour duration covers several rooms of a dungeon.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Level | 1 |
| School | Transmutation |
| Casting Time | 1 action |
| Range | Touch |
| Components | V, S, M |
| Material | A pinch of dirt. |
| Duration | 1 hour |
| Concentration | No |
| Ritual | No |
| Save/Attack | None |
| Classes | Bard, Druid, Ranger, Wizard |
| Metric | Assessment |
|---|---|
| Slot Efficiency | Fair. A 1st-level slot buys an hour of +10 feet with no upkeep. |
| Action Economy | Costs an action, so cast it before combat. |
| Opportunity Cost | No concentration. The only real cost is the slot and the action. |
When worth the slot: Before a dungeon delve, a chase, or a fight where you expect to run or kite.
When NOT worth the slot: Mid-combat in tight quarters, or when you're short on slots.
Each slot level above 1st adds one target. Every target gets the full +10 feet.
| Slot | Targets | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | 1 | The usual cast |
| 2nd | 2 | Two slow characters |
| 3rd | 3 | Most of a small party |
| 4th | 4 | A four-person party for an hour |
Why it works: One hour covers several encounters. Since there's no concentration, you lose nothing when the fighting starts.
This avoids the mistake of: Spending your first action in combat on a speed boost.
Why it works: A party moves at the pace of its slowest member when it runs. A 2014 dwarf in plate at 25 feet is the one who gets caught.
This avoids the mistake of: Buffing the elf who was never going to be left behind.
Why it works: A fighter with 40 feet of speed can reach a caster 40 feet away and still attack. With 30 feet, it can't.
This avoids the mistake of: Spending a whole round walking.
Why it works: Expeditious Retreat gives a bonus-action Dash, and Longstrider makes each Dash bigger. A 30-foot wizard with both Dashes covers 120 feet a turn instead of 90.
This avoids the mistake of: Thinking the two conflict. Only Expeditious Retreat needs concentration.
Why it's bad: A grappled creature's speed is 0, and in the 2014 rules it can't benefit from any bonus to its speed. The 2024 condition says its Speed is 0 and can't increase.
Do this instead: Escape the grapple first, or cast Misty Step.
Why it's bad: The effects of the same spell cast more than once don't combine. Two Longstriders still give +10 feet.
Do this instead: Upcast one casting to cover more people.
Why it's bad: Dash adds your speed after modifiers. A Longstrider target gains 20 feet on a Dash turn.
Do this instead: Count the full number when planning escapes and charges.
Why it's bad: The travel pace rules give distance per minute, hour, and day for the whole group. They don't use each character's speed.
Do this instead: Treat any overland benefit as a DM ruling, not rules text.
The 2024 Player's Handbook keeps Longstrider as a level 1 transmutation spell for Bards, Druids, Rangers, and Wizards. It has the same casting time, range, components (a pinch of dirt), 1-hour duration, +10 feet, and one extra target per slot level above 1. No concentration.
The spell text didn't change in any way that matters. The rules around it did. The 2024 glossary says that if an effect increases your Speed, any special speed you have, like a Fly Speed or Climb Speed, increases by the same amount. A flying creature under Longstrider gains 10 feet of flying speed too.
The 2024 Grappled condition says your Speed is 0 and can't increase, so Longstrider still doesn't help a grappled creature.
Access changed too. In the 2024 rules, Wood Elves learn Longstrider at character level 3 through their Elven Lineage, always have it prepared, and can cast it once per Long Rest without a spell slot. Every species in SRD 5.2.1 also has a base Speed of at least 30 feet, so the 25-foot dwarves, gnomes, and halflings of the 2014 SRD are gone.
It increases one creature's speed by 10 feet for 1 hour. It doesn't need concentration. You can touch one extra creature for each slot level above 1st.
No. That's its main advantage. You can cast it before a fight and still concentrate on another spell.
Yes. Dash adds movement equal to your speed after modifiers, so a creature under Longstrider gains 20 extra feet on a turn it Dashes.
In the 2024 rules, yes: an increase to your Speed applies to your special speeds too. The 2014 text doesn't say, so it's a DM ruling in that edition.
No. The effects of the same spell don't combine on one creature. Upcast it instead to give more creatures the bonus.
No. A grappled creature's speed is 0 and can't be raised by bonuses in either edition.
The spell just says "a creature," so you can, but it only makes the target faster. There's rarely a reason to.
It's a solid pre-combat buff when you have slots to spare. No concentration and an hour of duration make it easy to fit in. In combat, an action and a slot for +10 feet is usually a poor trade.
Citations: SRD 5.1 (2014 rules), SRD 5.2.1 (2024 rules)
Includes material from the System Reference Document 5.1 and 5.2.1 by Wizards of the Coast LLC, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
This page includes material from the System Reference Document 5.1 and 5.2.1 by Wizards of the Coast LLC, available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Loreify is not affiliated with Wizards of the Coast.
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