Spare the Dying — Complete D&D 5e Spell Guide

Table of Contents

• •Quick Answer
• •Overview
• •Stat Block
• •When NOT to Use This
• •Spell Slot Efficiency
• •Pro Tips
• •Common Mistakes to Avoid
• •Usage Tips
• •Rules Notes
• •Synergies
• •Anti-Patterns
• •Tactical Modules
• •Countermeasures
• •Spare the Dying in the 2024 Rules
• •Frequently Asked Questions

Quick Answer

Spare the Dying is a necromancy cantrip. In the 2014 rules it is on the Cleric list and works by touch: a living creature with 0 hit points becomes stable. It has no effect on undead or constructs. In the 2024 rules Clerics and Druids get it, and it reaches 15 feet, doubling at levels 5, 11, and 17.

Overview

A creature at 0 hit points makes a death saving throw at the start of each of its turns. Three failures and it dies. A stable creature stops making those saves. It stays unconscious at 0 hit points, but it is no longer dying.

Spare the Dying makes a creature stable with no roll. The Medicine check that does the same thing can fail, and a healer's kit has limited uses. The cantrip costs only your action.

It doesn't heal. If the fight is still on, Healing Word usually does more, because it puts the ally back on their feet. Spare the Dying is for when you have no slot to spare or want to keep an enemy alive for questioning.

Stat Block

When NOT to Use This

• •You have a slot and a bonus action. Healing Word gets the ally up from 60 feet.
• •Enemies can still reach the downed ally. Stable ends the moment the creature takes damage. Getting them up, or moving them away, may matter more.
• •The target is already stable, or is dead. The spell needs a creature at 0 hit points that isn't dead. Use Revivify within a minute of death.
• •The target is undead or a construct (2014). The spell has no effect on them.

Spell Slot Efficiency

When worth the action: Out of slots, after the fight, or when several allies are down and you can only heal one.

Range by character level (2024)

Pro Tips

Tip #1: Stabilize the ally Healing Word can't reach this turn.

Why it works: You can cast only one Healing Word per turn. With two allies down, Healing Word one and use your action on Spare the Dying for the other. In the 2014 rules, a bonus-action spell limits your action spell to a cantrip with a casting time of 1 action, and Spare the Dying is one. In 2024, only one spell per turn can use a slot, and the cantrip uses none.

This avoids the mistake of: Leaving the second ally to roll death saves.

Tip #2: Save enemies you want to question.

Why it works: The spell works on enemies too. A stable enemy stays unconscious until you're ready to talk.

This avoids the mistake of: Losing the only person who knows where the cult meets.

Tip #3: Use the 2024 range.

Why it works: At 5th level the 2024 version reaches 30 feet, so you can stabilize an ally without stepping next to the enemy who dropped them.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Thinking stable means safe

Why it's bad: A stable creature that takes any damage stops being stable and starts death saves again. In both editions, any attack that hits an unconscious creature from within 5 feet is a critical hit, and a critical hit at 0 hit points counts as two death save failures.

Do this instead: Stabilize, then block access to the ally or get them up.

Casting it on a creature that's already dead

Why it's bad: The 2014 text needs a living creature. The 2024 text needs a creature that isn't dead.

Do this instead: Revivify (3rd level) returns a creature that died within the last minute.

Usage Tips

• •Worked example (death save odds): A creature at 0 hit points rolls a d20 for each death save. A 10 or higher is a success, 9 or lower a failure, a 1 counts as two failures, and a 20 restores 1 hit point. Starting from no successes and no failures, with no help and no further damage, the creature dies about 40% of the time, stabilizes on its own about 41% of the time, and wakes up from a natural 20 about 18% of the time. With one failure already marked, the death chance rises to about 58%. With two, about 79%.
• •Worked example (Medicine vs the cantrip): A wizard with Wisdom 12 and no Medicine proficiency has +1, so a DC 10 check needs a 9 or higher: 60%. A cleric with Wisdom 16 and proficiency (+2) has +5, so it needs a 5 or higher: 80%. Spare the Dying always works.
• •Healer's kit: A healer's kit stabilizes without a check, using one of its ten uses. It takes an action in 2014 and a Utilize action in 2024. Spare the Dying does the same job with no uses to track.
• •Monsters: In the 2014 SRD, the androsphinx has Spare the Dying among its cleric cantrips.
• •See the death saving throws guide and the unconscious condition for the full rules. Related spells: Healing Word, Cure Wounds, Revivify. Browse the full spell guide index.

Rules Notes

• •2014: touch a living creature that has 0 hit points. It becomes stable. No effect on undead or constructs.
• •Stable: the creature doesn't make death saving throws, but it remains unconscious at 0 hit points.
• •If a stable creature takes any damage, it stops being stable and resumes death saves.
• •A stable creature that isn't healed regains 1 hit point after 1d4 hours.
• •Damage equal to or greater than the creature's hit point maximum while at 0 hit points kills it outright, stable or not.
• •The 2014 SRD leaves it to the GM whether a monster dies the instant it drops to 0 hit points or falls unconscious like a player character. If the monster died, there's nothing to stabilize.

Synergies

• •Healing Word: Bonus action to raise one ally, action to stabilize another.
• •Knocking out (2014): A melee attacker who drops a creature to 0 hit points can choose to knock it out, making it unconscious and stable. Spare the Dying covers creatures dropped by spells or ranged attacks.
• •Sanctuary: Protect the stabilized ally from follow-up attacks.

Anti-Patterns

• •Spending your action on Spare the Dying when Healing Word was available and the ally's next turn mattered.

Tactical Modules

• •Two down: Healing Word on the striker, Spare the Dying on the other.
• •Prisoner: Drop the bandit leader with a spell, stabilize them, question them after the fight.

Countermeasures

• •Threat: An enemy keeps attacking the downed ally. Response: Heal them instead so they can move away. Fallback: Stand between them and the enemy, or cast Sanctuary on them.
• •Threat: You can't reach the target (2014 touch). Response: Healing Word at range.

Spare the Dying in the 2024 Rules

The 2024 Player's Handbook makes three changes.

• •Range: 15 feet instead of touch. It doubles at levels 5 (30 feet), 11 (60 feet), and 17 (120 feet).
• •Classes: Druids get it as well as Clerics.
• •Targets: "a creature within range that has 0 Hit Points and isn't dead." The 2014 line excluding undead and constructs is gone, and "living creature" became "isn't dead."

More characters can get it in 2024. A Cleric who chooses the Thaumaturge Divine Order learns one extra Cleric cantrip, and a Druid who chooses the Magician Primal Order learns one extra Druid cantrip. A Paladin's Blessed Warrior fighting style teaches two Cleric cantrips, and a Ranger's Druidic Warrior style teaches two Druid cantrips. The Magic Initiate origin feat (Cleric or Druid) also offers it to anyone.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does Spare the Dying do in 5e?

It makes a creature at 0 hit points stable. A stable creature stops making death saving throws but stays unconscious at 0 hit points.

What is the range of Spare the Dying?

Touch in the 2014 rules. In the 2024 rules it is 15 feet, rising to 30 feet at level 5, 60 feet at level 11, and 120 feet at level 17.

Is Spare the Dying better than a Medicine check?

It's more reliable. A DC 10 Medicine check can fail, while the cantrip always works. Both take your action.

Does Spare the Dying heal hit points?

No. The creature stays at 0 hit points. If no one heals it, it regains 1 hit point after 1d4 hours.

Can Spare the Dying be used on enemies?

Yes. The 2014 text targets any living creature with 0 hit points, and the 2024 text any creature at 0 hit points that isn't dead.

Does Spare the Dying work on undead or constructs?

Not in the 2014 rules, which say it has no effect on them. The 2024 text drops that line and only requires a creature at 0 hit points that isn't dead.

What happens if a stabilized creature takes damage?

It stops being stable and starts making death saving throws again. A critical hit counts as two failures, and any hit from within 5 feet on an unconscious creature is a critical hit.

Which classes get Spare the Dying?

Clerics in the 2014 SRD. Clerics and Druids in the 2024 SRD, plus anyone who takes Magic Initiate (Cleric or Druid) or a feature that grants cantrips from those lists.

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.