Speak with Dead is a 3rd-level necromancy spell for Bards and Clerics (the 2024 rules add Wizards). You pick a corpse within 10 feet, and for 10 minutes you can ask it up to five questions. The corpse must have a mouth and can't have been undead. It knows only what it knew in life, answers in its own languages, and can lie if it sees you as an enemy. The same corpse can't be targeted again for 10 days.
Speak with Dead turns a body into a witness. The cultist you killed knows where the ritual is. The murdered merchant saw who stabbed him. The guard captain knew the vault's password. Five questions is enough to get a location, a name, and a plan, if you ask well.
The spell doesn't call back the soul, only the "animating spirit." That has three effects. The corpse can't learn anything new, so it doesn't know it is dead or what happened after. It can't guess about the future. And its answers are usually brief, cryptic, or repetitive.
It also isn't a truth spell. A corpse that recognizes you as an enemy, or that you are hostile to, has no obligation to tell the truth. Interrogating the bandit your party just killed may get you lies.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Level | 3 |
| School | Necromancy |
| Casting Time | 1 action |
| Range | 10 feet |
| Components | V, S, M |
| Material | Burning incense. |
| Duration | 10 minutes |
| Concentration | No |
| Ritual | No |
| Save/Attack | None |
| Classes | Bard, Cleric |
Bards and Clerics can cast 3rd-level spells from 5th level. In the 2014 SRD, a warlock with the Whispers of the Grave invocation (9th level) casts it at will without a spell slot. In 2024 Wizards also have it, and the invocation needs warlock level 7.
| Metric | Assessment |
|---|---|
| Slot Efficiency | High when the corpse knew something the party needs. Wasted on a corpse that knew nothing or will lie. |
| Action Economy | One action. The questions take up to 10 minutes, outside combat. |
| Opportunity Cost | A 3rd-level slot and a stick of incense. No concentration, so it doesn't break another spell. |
Speak with Dead has no higher-level effect. You still get five questions.
Why it works: You get five, and answers are often short or cryptic. Specific questions with short answers ("Which door leads to the shrine?") hold up better than open ones ("Tell me about the cult").
This avoids the mistake of: Wasting a question on "Who are you?" when the body's clothes already told you.
Why it works: The corpse can lie if you are hostile to it or it recognizes you as an enemy. A caster who wasn't in the fight, or a question about something it has no reason to hide, is more likely to get a straight answer. Whether a disguise fools a corpse is a DM ruling, not rules text.
This avoids the mistake of: Asking the bandit you killed where his friends are hiding.
Why it works: The corpse knows only the languages it knew in life. A 2014 gnoll speaks only Gnoll, and 2014 lizardfolk speak only Draconic. Tongues on yourself lets you understand its language and lets it understand you.
This avoids the mistake of: Asking five questions in Common to a corpse that never spoke it.
Why it works: The 10-day limit applies per corpse. If you killed a cult fanatic and four cultists, the fanatic likely knows more. You can still cast it on the others, one casting each.
This avoids the mistake of: Spending your only 3rd-level slot on the least informed body.
Why it's bad: Comprehend Languages lets you understand what you hear. It doesn't let the corpse understand you, so it can't answer questions it can't follow.
Do this instead: Use Tongues, a party member who speaks the language, or ask the corpse in a language you share.
Why it's bad: The corpse is under no compulsion to be truthful if it sees you as an enemy, and even honest answers can be cryptic.
Do this instead: Ask questions you can check. "How many guards are at the gate?" can be verified. "Is your master good?" can't.
Why it's bad: The corpse doesn't comprehend anything that happened since it died and can't learn new information.
Do this instead: Ask what it knew: plans, names, places, passwords, who it was meeting.
The core spell is the same: 3rd-level necromancy, an action, 10 feet, burning incense, 10 minutes, five questions, and a 10-day lockout per corpse.
The changes are small. Wizards join Bards and Clerics on the class list. The undead clause is rewritten: the spell fails if the creature was Undead when it died, which rules out destroyed zombies, ghouls, and vampire spawn in plain words. The truthfulness clause says "antagonistic toward it" instead of "hostile to it"; the text doesn't define antagonistic, so that call is a DM ruling. The first sentence drops "and intelligence," which changes nothing in play.
Outside the spell, the 2024 Whispers of the Grave invocation needs warlock level 7 instead of 9, and adult and ancient black dragons cast Speak with Dead once per day.
Five, within the 10-minute duration. Answers are usually brief, cryptic, or repetitive.
Not within 10 days. The spell fails if the corpse was the target of Speak with Dead in that time, whoever cast it.
The corpse must have a mouth, and it can't have been undead. A plain skeleton with a jaw might qualify; a skull without a jaw doesn't. How much of a mouth counts is a DM ruling. An animated skeleton that you destroyed was undead, so it can't be questioned.
No. It is under no compulsion to be truthful if you are hostile to it or it recognizes you as an enemy. Even friendly answers can be cryptic.
Only languages it knew in life. Use Tongues if you don't share one. Comprehend Languages lets you understand it but doesn't let it understand you.
No. It lasts 10 minutes without concentration, so you can keep another spell running.
In the 2024 rules, yes. In the 2014 SRD it is only on the Bard and Cleric lists, and warlocks can cast it through the Whispers of the Grave invocation.
No. It gives the corpse only its animating spirit, so it can't learn new things, doesn't understand what happened after death, and can't speculate about the future.
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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